Bluetooth On Android: my Socket.connect() Blocks forever, and Socket.close does not unblock

Question

I have been working on a bluetooth app for android for awhile now and I just discovered this problem. When I preform mySocket.connect(); in my bluetooth service class it occasionally blocks indefinitely. I read the documentation for BluetoothSocket.close() and it says the following:

Immediately close this socket, and release all associated resources.

Causes blocked calls on this socket in other threads to immediately throw an IOException.

However, this does not seem to work for me. Here is my code for setting a timer and then trying to connect.

//code for starting timer and connecting
    MyRunnable runner = new MyRunnable(mySocket);
    Thread countThread = new Thread(runner);
    countThread.start();

    mySocket.connect();
    runner.setSocketConnected();


//code for MyRunnable
    private class MyRunnable implements Runnable{
        private boolean didSocketConnect = false;
        private boolean socketConnectFailed = false;
        private BluetoothSocket socket;

        public MyRunnable(BluetoothSocket socket){
            this.socket = socket;
        }

        public void run() {
            long start = System.currentTimeMillis();
            while(ESTABLISH_TIMEOUT + start >= System.currentTimeMillis() && !didSocketConnect && !socketConnectFailed){

            }
            if(!didSocketConnect && !socketConnectFailed){
                Log.v(TAG,"Reached Timeout and socket not open. Look for #");
                try {
                    socket.close();
                    Log.v(TAG,"#THIS CALL SHOULD BE MADE AFTER REACHED TIMEOUT AND SOCKET NOT OPEN");
                } catch (IOException e) {
                    Log.v(TAG,"Closing the socket connection fail--", e);
                }
            }else{
                Log.v(TAG, "Connected or Failed Before Timeout Thread Hit");
            }
        }

        public void setSocketConnected(){
            didSocketConnect = true;
        }

        public void setSocketFailed(){
            socketConnectFailed= true;
        }
    }

When I call close(), it also blocks indefinitely and the connect() call never throws an IOException, despite BluetoothSocket.close() documentation. What is the best way to make it work so that the connect() and close() do not block indefinitely?

NOTE: I am using Android 2.2 for this project.

Answer 1

BluetoothSocket.connect() - From the documentation:

Attempt to connect to a remote device. This method will block until a connection is made or the connection fails. If this method returns without an exception then this socket is now connected.

In order for your call to BluetoothSocket.connect() to quit blocking, it needs to make the connection. This is by design and it makes sense if you think about it, get the address of the Bluetooth device we want to connect to, call .connect(), and block until its connected. This is why you want separate threads.

As far as you calling .close(), if you work out the issues with .connect(), .close() should fall into place.

Please read this. It basically says you want a separate thread called "connecting" (.connect()) and "connected" (InputStream.read()). This way your UI will not be blocked.

Example (from the above link). ConnectThread initiates the connection. ConnectedThread manages the connection (reads/writes data, etc...).

private class ConnectThread extends Thread {
    private final BluetoothSocket mmSocket;
    private final BluetoothDevice mmDevice;

    public ConnectThread(BluetoothDevice device) {
        // Use a temporary object that is later assigned to mmSocket,
        // because mmSocket is final
        BluetoothSocket tmp = null;
        mmDevice = device;

        // Get a BluetoothSocket to connect with the given BluetoothDevice
        try {
            // MY_UUID is the app's UUID string, also used by the server code
            tmp = device.createRfcommSocketToServiceRecord(MY_UUID);
        } catch (IOException e) { }
        mmSocket = tmp;
    }

    public void run() {
        // Cancel discovery because it will slow down the connection
        mBluetoothAdapter.cancelDiscovery();

        try {
            // Connect the device through the socket. This will block
            // until it succeeds or throws an exception
            mmSocket.connect();
        } catch (IOException connectException) {
            // Unable to connect; close the socket and get out
            try {
                mmSocket.close();
            } catch (IOException closeException) { }
            return;
        }

        // Do work to manage the connection (in a separate thread)
        manageConnectedSocket(mmSocket);
    }

    /** Will cancel an in-progress connection, and close the socket */
    public void cancel() {
        try {
            mmSocket.close();
        } catch (IOException e) { }
    }
}


private class ConnectedThread extends Thread {
    private final BluetoothSocket mmSocket;
    private final InputStream mmInStream;
    private final OutputStream mmOutStream;

    public ConnectedThread(BluetoothSocket socket) {
        mmSocket = socket;
        InputStream tmpIn = null;
        OutputStream tmpOut = null;

        // Get the input and output streams, using temp objects because
        // member streams are final
        try {
            tmpIn = socket.getInputStream();
            tmpOut = socket.getOutputStream();
        } catch (IOException e) { }

        mmInStream = tmpIn;
        mmOutStream = tmpOut;
    }

    public void run() {
        byte[] buffer = new byte[1024];  // buffer store for the stream
        int bytes; // bytes returned from read()

        // Keep listening to the InputStream until an exception occurs
        while (true) {
            try {
                // Read from the InputStream
                bytes = mmInStream.read(buffer);
                // Send the obtained bytes to the UI Activity
                mHandler.obtainMessage(MESSAGE_READ, bytes, -1, buffer)
                        .sendToTarget();
            } catch (IOException e) {
                break;
            }
        }
    }

    /* Call this from the main Activity to send data to the remote device */
    public void write(byte[] bytes) {
        try {
            mmOutStream.write(bytes);
        } catch (IOException e) { }
    }

    /* Call this from the main Activity to shutdown the connection */
    public void cancel() {
        try {
            mmSocket.close();
        } catch (IOException e) { }
    }
}