Android – AGAIN: read failed, socket might closed or timeout

I have finally found a workaround. The magic is hidden under the hood of the BluetoothDevice class (see https://github.com/android/platform_frameworks_base/blob/android-4.3_r2/core/java/android/bluetooth/BluetoothDevice.java#L1037).

Now, when I receive that exception, I instantiate a fallback BluetoothSocket, similar to the source code below. As you can see, invoking the hidden method createRfcommSocket via reflections. I have no clue why this method is hidden. The source code defines it as public though...

Class<?> clazz = tmp.getRemoteDevice().getClass();
Class<?>[] paramTypes = new Class<?>[] {Integer.TYPE};

Method m = clazz.getMethod("createRfcommSocket", paramTypes);
Object[] params = new Object[] {Integer.valueOf(1)};

fallbackSocket = (BluetoothSocket) m.invoke(tmp.getRemoteDevice(), params);
fallbackSocket.connect();

connect() then does not fail any longer. I have experienced a few issues still. Basically, this sometimes blocks and fails. Rebooting the SPP-Device (plug off / plug in) helps in such cases. Sometimes I also get another Pairing request after connect() even when the device is already bonded.

UPDATE:

here is a complete class, containing some nested classes. for a real implementation these could be held as seperate classes.

import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.io.OutputStream;
import java.lang.reflect.Method;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.UUID;

import android.bluetooth.BluetoothAdapter;
import android.bluetooth.BluetoothDevice;
import android.bluetooth.BluetoothSocket;
import android.util.Log;

public class BluetoothConnector {

    private BluetoothSocketWrapper bluetoothSocket;
    private BluetoothDevice device;
    private boolean secure;
    private BluetoothAdapter adapter;
    private List<UUID> uuidCandidates;
    private int candidate;


    /**
     * @param device the device
     * @param secure if connection should be done via a secure socket
     * @param adapter the Android BT adapter
     * @param uuidCandidates a list of UUIDs. if null or empty, the Serial PP id is used
     */
    public BluetoothConnector(BluetoothDevice device, boolean secure, BluetoothAdapter adapter,
            List<UUID> uuidCandidates) {
        this.device = device;
        this.secure = secure;
        this.adapter = adapter;
        this.uuidCandidates = uuidCandidates;

        if (this.uuidCandidates == null || this.uuidCandidates.isEmpty()) {
            this.uuidCandidates = new ArrayList<UUID>();
            this.uuidCandidates.add(UUID.fromString("00001101-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB"));
        }
    }

    public BluetoothSocketWrapper connect() throws IOException {
        boolean success = false;
        while (selectSocket()) {
            adapter.cancelDiscovery();

            try {
                bluetoothSocket.connect();
                success = true;
                break;
            } catch (IOException e) {
                //try the fallback
                try {
                    bluetoothSocket = new FallbackBluetoothSocket(bluetoothSocket.getUnderlyingSocket());
                    Thread.sleep(500);                  
                    bluetoothSocket.connect();
                    success = true;
                    break;  
                } catch (FallbackException e1) {
                    Log.w("BT", "Could not initialize FallbackBluetoothSocket classes.", e);
                } catch (InterruptedException e1) {
                    Log.w("BT", e1.getMessage(), e1);
                } catch (IOException e1) {
                    Log.w("BT", "Fallback failed. Cancelling.", e1);
                }
            }
        }

        if (!success) {
            throw new IOException("Could not connect to device: "+ device.getAddress());
        }

        return bluetoothSocket;
    }

    private boolean selectSocket() throws IOException {
        if (candidate >= uuidCandidates.size()) {
            return false;
        }

        BluetoothSocket tmp;
        UUID uuid = uuidCandidates.get(candidate++);

        Log.i("BT", "Attempting to connect to Protocol: "+ uuid);
        if (secure) {
            tmp = device.createRfcommSocketToServiceRecord(uuid);
        } else {
            tmp = device.createInsecureRfcommSocketToServiceRecord(uuid);
        }
        bluetoothSocket = new NativeBluetoothSocket(tmp);

        return true;
    }

    public static interface BluetoothSocketWrapper {

        InputStream getInputStream() throws IOException;

        OutputStream getOutputStream() throws IOException;

        String getRemoteDeviceName();

        void connect() throws IOException;

        String getRemoteDeviceAddress();

        void close() throws IOException;

        BluetoothSocket getUnderlyingSocket();

    }


    public static class NativeBluetoothSocket implements BluetoothSocketWrapper {

        private BluetoothSocket socket;

        public NativeBluetoothSocket(BluetoothSocket tmp) {
            this.socket = tmp;
        }

        @Override
        public InputStream getInputStream() throws IOException {
            return socket.getInputStream();
        }

        @Override
        public OutputStream getOutputStream() throws IOException {
            return socket.getOutputStream();
        }

        @Override
        public String getRemoteDeviceName() {
            return socket.getRemoteDevice().getName();
        }

        @Override
        public void connect() throws IOException {
            socket.connect();
        }

        @Override
        public String getRemoteDeviceAddress() {
            return socket.getRemoteDevice().getAddress();
        }

        @Override
        public void close() throws IOException {
            socket.close();
        }

        @Override
        public BluetoothSocket getUnderlyingSocket() {
            return socket;
        }

    }

    public class FallbackBluetoothSocket extends NativeBluetoothSocket {

        private BluetoothSocket fallbackSocket;

        public FallbackBluetoothSocket(BluetoothSocket tmp) throws FallbackException {
            super(tmp);
            try
            {
              Class<?> clazz = tmp.getRemoteDevice().getClass();
              Class<?>[] paramTypes = new Class<?>[] {Integer.TYPE};
              Method m = clazz.getMethod("createRfcommSocket", paramTypes);
              Object[] params = new Object[] {Integer.valueOf(1)};
              fallbackSocket = (BluetoothSocket) m.invoke(tmp.getRemoteDevice(), params);
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                throw new FallbackException(e);
            }
        }

        @Override
        public InputStream getInputStream() throws IOException {
            return fallbackSocket.getInputStream();
        }

        @Override
        public OutputStream getOutputStream() throws IOException {
            return fallbackSocket.getOutputStream();
        }


        @Override
        public void connect() throws IOException {
            fallbackSocket.connect();
        }


        @Override
        public void close() throws IOException {
            fallbackSocket.close();
        }

    }

    public static class FallbackException extends Exception {

        /**
         * 
         */
        private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

        public FallbackException(Exception e) {
            super(e);
        }

    }
}

This can be caused by lots of things - in my case I have found three:

1. Power issues - HC-05 wasn't stable, even through it didn't show this with a noticable LED blinking pattern. Battery replacement fixed this.

2. Another device was paired with HC-05 and sometimes "stole" the connection. Possibly fixable by some setup with AT commands, but I just simply unpaired everything but one device.

3. The device is off/out of range.