iBeacon Bluetooth Services

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This sdk documentation is deprecated and will not be updated. Check out our new docs at https://sdk.buildfire.com/docs/ibeacon-bluetooth/

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iBeacon

iBeacon is a protocol developed by Apple and introduced at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in 2013.[1] Various vendors have since made iBeacon-compatible hardware transmitters - typically called beacons - a class of Bluetooth low energy (BLE) devices that broadcast their identifier to nearby portable electronic devices. The technology enables smartphones, tablets, and other devices to perform actions when in close proximity to an iBeacon ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBeacon

buildfire.services.bluetooth.iBeacon

Use this service on the widget side of your plugins to monitor and range beacons

Requirements

• From the Widget

<script src="../../../scripts/buildfire/services/bluetooth/iBeacon.js"></script>

• in plugin.json add iBeacon in your feature array "features" : [{"name" : "iBeacon"}]

Constructor

none. iBeacon is a singleton namespace: buildfire.services.bluetooth.iBeacon

Methods

• createBeaconRegion (uuid,identifier,minor,major) : use this factory method to create a beacon region. Note: if you specify only a uuid and not the major or minor then it will scan all majors and minors

  • uuid: the universally unique id. Beacons are pre-set by the manufacturer with a uuid some provide an interface to change the uuid so beacons may be grouped together and vary based on major and minor

• startMonitoring function (beaconRegion, callback): used to tell the OS to begin listening for this region of beacons. When you enter or exit a region events will trigger such as onRegionEntered and onRegionExited. The OS will wake up the app in the background if it's killed and trigger these events. the app will be alive only for a few seconds.

  • beaconRegion: beacon region created by createBeaconRegion
  • callback(error): callback function called when command is completed.

• stopMonitoring function (beaconRegion, callback): use this method to tell the OS to stop listening for this region of beacons.

  • beaconRegion: beacon region created by createBeaconRegion
  • callback(error): callback function called when command is completed.

• startRanging function(beaconRegion, callback): begin aggressively ranging nearby beacon. This will help you determine the distance of each beacon detected. Updates will trigger the onRangingUpdate event.

  • beaconRegion: beacon region created by createBeaconRegion
  • callback(error): callback function called when command is completed.

• stopRanging function(beaconRegion, callback): stop ranging beacons in the region provided. Make sure you only range when needed since it will drain the battery if you don't.

  • beaconRegion: beacon region created by createBeaconRegion
  • callback(error): callback function called when command is completed.

Events/Handlers

• onRegionEntered: function(beaconRegion): gets called when entering a new beacon region matching a region you are monitoring
  • beaconRegion : object containing the region detected

Example

beaconRegion:
{
"region":
	{
	 "uuid" : "id provided to monitor"
	, "identifier" : "identifier provided to monitor"
        , "major" : "major provided to monitor"
        , "minor" : "minor provided to monitor"
	}
}

---

• onRegionExited: function(beaconRegion): gets called when exiting a new beacon region that's being monitored.
  • beaconRegion : object containing the region detected

Example

beaconRegion:
{
"region":
	{
	 "uuid" : "id provided to monitor"
	, "identifier" : "identifier provided to monitor"
        , "major" : "major provided to monitor"
        , "minor" : "minor provided to monitor"
	}
}

---

• onRangingUpdate: function(beaconRegion): gets called when an update on beacon region is detected.
  • beaconRegion : object containing the region detected and an array of beacons detected in that region

Example

beaconRegion:
{
"region":
	{
	 "uuid" : "id provided to monitor"
	, "identifier" : "identifier provided to monitor"
        , "major" : "major provided to monitor"
        , "minor" : "minor provided to monitor"
	}
,"beacons":[
     {"minor":42532,"rssi":0,"major":63878,"proximity":"ProximityUnknown","accuracy":-1,"uuid":"B9407F30-F5F8-466E-AFF9-25556B57FE6D"}
    ,{"minor":20151,"rssi":-45,"major":10068,"proximity":"ProximityImmediate","accuracy":0.02,"uuid":"B9407F30-F5F8-466E-AFF9-25556B57FE6D"}
    ,{"minor":807,"rssi":-81,"major":34751,"proximity":"ProximityFar","accuracy":2.33,"uuid":"B9407F30-F5F8-466E-AFF9-25556B57FE6D"}]}
}

• Proximity Values: ["ProximityUnknown", "ProximityImmediate", "ProximityNear", "ProximityFar"]

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Notes:

• Since this only works on a mobile device, iBeacons will only function on the widget side of your plugins
• There is a limit from the OS on how many UUIDs you can monitor. However, you can have thousands of major and minor ranges
• Monitoring a beacon region will trigger events even if your app is killed (unlike ranging). The app will wake up in the background and only live for a few seconds before its killed again
• Since Monitoring is always scanning, it does this very passively. For example, it will check only every few seconds (will vary) to see if you have entered a region. It will wait 30 seconds (or so) outside a region to be sure you have left before triggering the exited event