Connection is not gained when trying WCL v6.7.0.0 Widcomm + MS BT stacks

[cjsoftlab]

Hi,

I know this topic should be in MFC section, but no one is posting in there, so that's why the issue is being posted in Common.

I would appreciate if someone could try and let me know the results about what I'm going to explain, as I haven't been able to use properly WCL since the last version of Widcomm SDK was introdued to compile the library. Of course, former versions have been working fine for me. The problem I have occurs when ONLY MS and Widcomm stacks are present which basically consists of NO CONNECTION GAINED if Widcomm driver is selected to work. When both stacks are present and MS is chosen, everything goes fine.

I've talked to Mike several times about this issue but he cannot reproduce the error in his lab, so I wonder if someone could try it. To show clearly what it is about, I prepared a video:

http://www.cjsoftlab.com/wcl_issue/test.htm

The only thing you have to do in order to reproduce it, is to compile BluetoothOPPClientDemo with the latest version of WCL and have BOTH MS and Widcomm stacks active. Preferable, ONLY those ones.

I've tried the latest version of WCL on three different computers, on 5 operating systems (two different XPSP2, two different XPSP3 and Vista Ultimate), with 3 different Widcomm-compatible BT adapters, with 3 different versions of Widcomm driver (5.1.0.1100, 5.0.1.1200, and an older version) and I have always got the same result: NO CONNECTION over Widcomm if MS and Widcomm stacks are present.

There are no issues related to my MFC as I have been using the latest version for more than 18 months without any problem. What's more, I tried a version of BluetoothOPPClientDemo that was compiled on Mike's machine and the same issue still happens on mine.

However, the video clearly shows that when using a former version of WCL (6.5.5.0) on the same PC, everything works fantastic and connection is established regardless the stack selected. I would be glad to hear someone's experiences when trying this with the latest version of WCL.

Thanks,

CJ

[Mike Petrichenko]

Hi,

Try the attached DLL instead one from the WCL package.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[cjsoftlab]

Hi Mike,

Connection and put operations are now achieved properly and I'll try it harder a bit later in a multi-connection environment. So, what did you do? Is a SDK issue? Do you expect to realease a new version?

CJ

[Mike Petrichenko]

It is DLL has been built with old WidComm SDK. So as soon as it works then it is not WCL issue just a latest WidComm SDK one. Unfortunatly I have nothing to do with it. Just can offer 2 DLLs - one with new WD SDK and one with old WD SDK. However, pairing with some devices may not work correctly with DLL built with old WD SDK.

[Mike Petrichenko]

Ah! One more thing. DO NOT use this DLL on Vista - it will cause stack detection issue and will not work correctly.

[cjsoftlab]

Do you mean it's never gonna work on Vista or just this particular DLL because it's still experimental? I don't care so much about pairing, but if there is no way to work properly on Vista for any further version of the DLL compiled with former BD SDK, it's a big problem.

I understand you cannot do anything as it depends on Widcomm drivers, but these issues do Widcomm adapters totally useless in any case:

1) If WCL is compiled with the latest version of BD SDK, the issue described in the first thread of this topic is gonna happen and connection won't never be gained.

2) if WCL is compiled by using a former version of BD SDK, your DLL can't be used with Widcomm adapters on Vista.

Hmmm...

CJ

[Mike Petrichenko]

There is no WidComm driver on Vista and Win7. WidComm works there as Native MS drivers extension on those platforms. New WD SDK allows to detect such case. The old one - does not. And as soon as WidComm extension presents on Vista and Win7 (if installed) then WCL detects both stacks. It is impossible to install both drivers (WidComm and MS) on Vista as soon as only MS will work. So the way to solve this problem is to use only MS driver. But WCL with this DLL will detect both (WD and MS). However, WD will not work because there is no FULL driver.

I hope I explained it .

==========

Try the attached DLL. It should detect stacks correctly on Vista and Win7 platforms.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[cjsoftlab]

Mike,

If there is no WD driver for Vista, what's this link for?

http://www.broadcom.com/support/bluetooth/update.php

Is it the extension you're talking about? Is that what I need to install on Vista to try the new version of your WCL?

CJ

[Mike Petrichenko]

Yes, this is just an extension.

[cjsoftlab]

The new Widcomm library (wcl2wbt.dll) you posted yesterday seems to work fine, at least on XP. I have not been able yet to try it on my Vista because it has many problems to install the extension, but I'll try again on a friend's computer that has Vista installed.

Just one doubt, you mentioned in a previous thread:

"New WD SDK allows to detect such case. The old one - does not"

However at the end of the same thread you said:

"Try the attached DLL. It should detect stacks correctly on Vista and Win7 platforms."

So, what does it exactly mean? that you supposedly got a DLL compiled with the old SDK that is able to detect both stacks, or that you compiled with the latest SDK and also found the way to prevent the connection issue I showed on the video?

How will the distributions of the DLL from now on?

CJ

[Mike Petrichenko]

Hi,

That just mean that I added some tricks to detect when DLL runs on Vista. It is the same DLL (with old SDK) just with Vista case detection

[martidem]

I'm posting on this topic because, even though it's a bit old, it seems to pertain to the issue I'm having.  If you'd prefer that I start a new topic, let me know.

I'm developing an application that connects to my customer's Bluetooth-enabled device.  The customer requirements state that the application must run on XP, Vista, and Windows 7 and support multiple radios (internal and external dongles).  Everything works fine for me on all OS versions and dongles.  However, one of the customer's staff is having problems with discovery timeout.  The application has a setting for timeout (similar to the discovery demo).  All my PC's (and all required OS versions) are using this value and timing out after the appropriate duration.  However, the customer's PC seems to be ignoring this value and takes over 1 minute to timeout and return with discovered devices (note that this is not a timeout error -- i.e. the discovery appears to be ending successfully and is not returning a timeout error code).

The customer has an HP Elite notebook, running XP SP3.    He has downloaded all current Bluetooth device drivers for his PC and is currently using a Broadcom 2.1 driver (version 5.5.0.8000).  He has used the internal Bluetooth module and multiple external dongles with the same result.

Also of possible note is that in his work environment he could have upwords of 30-50 discoverable Bluetooth devices in range at any given time.  In my environment, I typically have under 5 devices in range.  I don't know if that could slow the process and affect the timeouts.

In this thread, you also mentioned a change to the wcl2wbt dll.  I'm running/distributing version 6.8.0.0 of that dll, which I believe is that latest and greatest.  But is there a chance that I should be using a different dll (keeping in mind that the app needs to run on multiple OS versons)?  Any additional thoughts as to why timeouts would work on some machines but not others?

[Mike Petrichenko]

Hello,

WidComm doesn't support discovering timeout. The timeout works for MS, Toshiba and BlueSoleil drivers only.