Auto connecting wiimote like with wii (a+b buttons)

Hi Brian,

 

I would like to tell you that you did a great job with the wiimote. I have a problem with it because I would like to make something cool at home : a kind of wiimote controlled media center.

My problem is that I can't pair my wiimote with bluesoleil (it asks me a pincode that wiimote doesn't have, so it refuses the pairing) so I would like to autoconnect to my pc with the wiimote like you can do with the wii (by pressing a+b).

 

Do you think you can do something with that or giving me some informations ? because I tried to search every where on the web about bluetooth and how to use it with c# but there is no information !

I hope you can help us with that because at the moment, everyone has to connect manually the wiimote to the pc (imagine you have a pc connected on your tv and you want to watch a video, you will have to first connect your wiimote and then choose your video with the wiimote...).

 

Thanks by advance

BR,

 

Steeve 

You, me and everyone else. 

I've looked over the Bluetooth API's at a very high level, and I'm not even sure it's possible to do with the Wiimote.  I likely won't have time to attempt anytime soon, but if anyone figures it out and is able to make it happen reliably, I'd be happy to integrate it into the library...
 

Ok, so my searches were in the good direction but seems there're no solution... But ! take a look to glovepie 2.9 : there is an auto pairing function... I've tested it, and I don't know if it's because of my BT dongle or if the function doesn't works properly but it works when it wants. But I think there's a beginning of solution here.

I've actually tried contacting the GlovePIE author a couple times about his application and have never received a response.

I have never managed to get the "auto-pair" thing to work in GP with my adapter.  I didn't think it worked at all, but perhaps it does based on your experiences.
 

I thought about something but I don't have the knowledge to do it (but I think it is possible to do it)

Ok, so I've grabbed some new informations (there were old for me but I forgot them ^^) : here is what is interresting :

 On glovepie 2.9 :

* Automatically connect Wiimotes when you press 1+2
(bluesoleil only, you need to do it manually with other stacks)
 

You have probably noticed that he said "Bluesoleil Only". So that bring me to a thing : Bluesoleil API !!!!

I've tried some days ago to make bluesoleil API compatible with dot net by making a c++ wrapper but I've too much lack in c++ knowledge :( 

My beginning was quite good but I can't register Bluesoleil API Callback (And I think it's an error from me, not from the API).

So if you are interrested to make your wiimote lib working with auto pairing, We could make a good job together.

All I need is someone to help me register these callback, and I will try to make the wrapper (With what I've done, I can initialize BT, read the api and bluetooth stack version, start BT, stop BT, inquire) so I just need callbacks, that all.

If you want me to send you the source code of what I've done for the moment, Tell me where I've to upload it or send me an email at : zaxoum -*dot*- forum -*at*- free -*dot*- fr and I will reply to you by sending the source.

I neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed this feature !!!!!!! :D

Thanks,

 

BR,

 

Steeve 

That's the biggest issue with the whole thing.  You need to write to the API of the installed BT stack.  There's no universal solution.  I'd need to write a version for the Windows/MS stack, WIDCOMM, Toshiba, BlueSoleil, and every other stack on the planet.

I don't have BlueSoleil working with any of my PCs but I can take a look at the code if you wish.  If you register an acct on the board you should be able to upload a .zip and attach it to a msg.  You can also email me at my first name @ this domain.com
 

Brian,

I've sent you the source code and some explanation on your mail

Hope we will make something cool with your library and bluesoleil ;)

BR,

 

Steeve
 

This just came up on my mailing list.  If there isn't a generic way (and I'd obviously prefer that too), then another idea might be to have a seperate app that always runs in the background, and uses the respective stack's API to do the auto-connection.

The advantage would be that a) the app can be shared by all Windows Wiimote coders (and they can pool resources on the various stacks) as it would be language agnostic, and b) it could be a binary-only release, thus maybe avoiding any API licensing/NDA issues.

 Any thoughts?

 Anyone interested in working on this (or anything else Wiimote-related) is welcome on my list (see my sig).

I found a "solution" to this. Get a charging station, connect your Wiimotes, and just leave them on+connected 24/7 in the charger. :-p

great idea, gl.tter !! but just need to shout that: can anyone tell me why bluetooth sucks soo much? why isnt there a consistent api ? why are there different bluetooth stacks that do their own things differently? why doesnt the default xp bluetooth stack work properly ? what a shit. i wish they fix all that anytime soon, otherwise bluetooth wont survive wireless usb (if it works as nicely as normal usb).

 Don't count on wirless USB being faster than USB any time soon. (Think of it this way, WiFi is the wirless version of ethernet, Bluetooth is the wirless version of your old serial port... Wirless USB is still kind of up in the air, leastwise, I've never known anyone who used any form of Wirless USB, UWB, or anything else.)

 

As for this question, Brian is right. As far as I know (I've been looking as well) there is no global solution for this, you'll have to interface with the stack API for your specific adapter. If your media center is just for you though you can use that, if you plan on distributing it you may have to either go without or implement several popular stacks. 

offtopic: bluetooth vs. wirelss usb @leif902: i wasnt really hoping for higher transfer speed with wireless usb, but rather for a more robust connection establishment. i didnt used bluetooth very often, just once or twice with my mobile phone and to experiment with the wiimote. but exactly every time i tried to use bluetooth, i had some different kinds of problems getting the connection to work. its the complete contrary to usb: you plug it in, and it works, mostly right out of the box, and if not, just after a quick and painless driver installation. i never had any serious problems with usb. so it is my very personal rexperience that bluetooth sux big time - for whatever reason - i dont care. and i hope so much that wireless usb (wich is now built in to the latest dell notebooks) will work as smooth as normal usb.

I came across this thread while looking for a way to auto-pair the Wiimote.. it's definitely a feature I'd like to have.

I'm a Bluesoleil user and since I haven't been able to find anything, I too have started developing a solution based on the Blusoleil API. Haven't gotten very far yet but it does seem possible. Brian/Steeve, would one of you be able to upload the code that's been developed so far? I'd be very interested in seeing it.

I understand it's a pain having to develop a solution for each stack.. but there's really only 3 main stacks in use: MS, Blusoleil, Widcomm. To the .NET Wiimote API, we could add a BluetoothStack super-class, then each stack will inherit from it. This way we can add support for each different stack as they're developed. Then we could either try and auto-detect which stack to use or have the calling app specify it.

Having the auto-connect feature would go a long way in improving the usability of a Wiimote on PC.. especially in HTPC-style applications (where I plan on using it).

Don't forget the Toshiba stack.