How to advertise an iBeacon using an iPad 5 in Swift 4 - ios

Question

So I found a good tutorial on using iBeacons, I created a receiver and a broadcaster, but when i ran the code, I couldn’t see that there was any beacon being broadcasted. Does anyone have a good solution that would solve my issue?
import UIKit
import CoreLocation
import CoreBluetooth
import Foundation
/// ibeacon class
class iBeaconConfiguration
{
// You can use uuidgen in terminal to generate new one.
static let uuid = UUID(uuidString: "7FA08BC7-A55F-45FC-85C0-0BF26F899530")!
private init() {}
}
If you’re wondering, the class above this is just for the UUID
class BroadcastViewController: UIViewController {
fileprivate var broadcasting: Bool = false
fileprivate var beacon: CLBeaconRegion?
fileprivate var peripheralManager: CBPeripheralManager?
#IBOutlet var statusLabel: UILabel!
#IBOutlet var triggerButton: UIButton!
override func viewDidAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
super.viewDidAppear(animated)
self.setNeedsStatusBarAppearanceUpdate()
}
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
statusLabel = UILabel()
triggerButton = UIButton(frame: CGRect(x: 130, y: 10, width: 100, height: 50))
triggerButton.backgroundColor = UIColor.blue
triggerButton.addTarget(self, action: #selector(broadcastBeacon(sender:)), for: .touchUpInside)
self.view.addSubview(triggerButton)
let button = UIButton(frame: CGRect(x: 10, y: 10, width: 50, height: 50))
button.backgroundColor = UIColor.red
button.addTarget(self, action: #selector(dismiss1), for: .touchUpInside)
self.view.addSubview(button)
self.view.backgroundColor = UIColor.white
let UUID: UUID = iBeaconConfiguration.uuid
let major: CLBeaconMajorValue = CLBeaconMajorValue(arc4random() % 100 + 1)
let minor: CLBeaconMinorValue = CLBeaconMinorValue(arc4random() % 2 + 1)
self.beacon = CLBeaconRegion(proximityUUID: UUID, major: major, minor: minor, identifier: "tw.darktt.beaconDemo")
self.peripheralManager = CBPeripheralManager(delegate: self, queue: nil)
}
deinit
{
self.beacon = nil
self.peripheralManager = nil
}
override func didReceiveMemoryWarning()
{
super.didReceiveMemoryWarning()
// Dispose of any resources that can be recreated.
}
#IBAction func dismiss1() {
//self.dismiss(animated: true, completion: nil)
present(ReceiverViewController(), animated: true, completion: nil)
}
}
// MARK: - Status Bar -
extension BroadcastViewController {
override var preferredStatusBarStyle: UIStatusBarStyle
{
if self.broadcasting {
return .lightContent
}
return .default
}
override var preferredStatusBarUpdateAnimation: UIStatusBarAnimation
{
return .fade
}
override var prefersStatusBarHidden: Bool
{
return false
}
}
//MARK: - Actions -
extension BroadcastViewController {
#IBAction fileprivate func broadcastBeacon(sender: UIButton) -> Void
{
let state: CBManagerState = self.peripheralManager!.state
if (state == .poweredOff && !self.broadcasting) {
let OKAction: UIAlertAction = UIAlertAction(title: "OK", style: .cancel, handler: nil)
let alert: UIAlertController = UIAlertController(title: "Bluetooth OFF", message: "Please power on your Bluetooth!", preferredStyle: .alert)
alert.addAction(OKAction)
self.present(alert, animated: true, completion: nil)
return
}
let titleFromStatus: (Void) -> String = {
let title: String = (self.broadcasting) ? "Start" : "Stop"
return title + " Broadcast"
}
let buttonTitleColor: UIColor = (self.broadcasting) ? UIColor.blue : UIColor.white
sender.setTitle("nil", for: .normal)
sender.setTitleColor(buttonTitleColor, for: .normal)
let labelTextFromStatus: (Void) -> String = {
let text: String = (self.broadcasting) ? "Not Broadcast" : "Broadcasting..."
return text
}
self.statusLabel.text = "broadcast started"
let animations: () -> Void = {
let backgroundColor: UIColor = (self.broadcasting) ? UIColor.white : UIColor.blue
self.view.backgroundColor = backgroundColor
self.broadcasting = !self.broadcasting
self.setNeedsStatusBarAppearanceUpdate()
}
let completion: (Bool) -> Void = {
finish in
self.advertising(start: self.broadcasting)
}
UIView.animate(withDuration: 0.25, animations: animations, completion: completion)
}
// MARK: - Broadcast Beacon
func advertising(start: Bool) -> Void
{
if self.peripheralManager == nil {
return
}
if (!start) {
self.peripheralManager!.stopAdvertising()
return
}
let state: CBManagerState = self.peripheralManager!.state
if (state == .poweredOn) {
let UUID:UUID = (self.beacon?.proximityUUID)!
let serviceUUIDs: Array<CBUUID> = [CBUUID(nsuuid: UUID)]
// Why NSMutableDictionary can not convert to Dictionary<String, Any> 😂
var peripheralData: Dictionary<String, Any> = self.beacon!.peripheralData(withMeasuredPower: 1) as NSDictionary as! Dictionary<String, Any>
peripheralData[CBAdvertisementDataLocalNameKey] = "iBeacon Demo"
peripheralData[CBAdvertisementDataServiceUUIDsKey] = serviceUUIDs
self.peripheralManager!.startAdvertising(peripheralData)
}
}
}
// MARK: - CBPeripheralManager Delegate -
extension BroadcastViewController: CBPeripheralManagerDelegate {
func peripheralManagerDidUpdateState(_ peripheral: CBPeripheralManager)
{
let state: CBManagerState = peripheralManager!.state
if state == .poweredOff {
self.statusLabel.text = "Bluetooth Off"
if self.broadcasting {
self.broadcastBeacon(sender: self.triggerButton)
}
}
if state == .unsupported {
self.statusLabel.text = "Unsupported Beacon"
}
if state == .poweredOn {
self.statusLabel.text = "Not Broadcast"
}
}
}
In addition to all that, i read the documentation that apple has on their website, but I didn’t get very far with that. I also went to probably like, 10 different Github projects and tried them but they’re all written in a way earlier version of swift.

Answer 1

You cannot add anything extra to the iBeacon advertisement and have it be recognized as such. These two lines are a problem and must be removed:
peripheralData[CBAdvertisementDataLocalNameKey] = "iBeacon Demo"
peripheralData[CBAdvertisementDataServiceUUIDsKey] = serviceUUIDs
The first line attempts to add a broadcasted name to the advertisement. You can't do this, as there is no extra room in the packet for this kind of information.
The second line attempts to add a GATT service UUID to the advertisement. This does not make sense. An iBeacon advertisement is a Bluetooth LE manufacturer advertisement, which does not advertisement GATT services. Adding this will either make the advertisement invalid or cause the advertising API to fail.
There may be other issues with the code shown. I'd suggest simplifying the code to start tranission when the app begins, so you can eliminate any possible UI bugs. And I would use an Android detector like Locate so you can see the advertisement even if you have the ProximityUIID wrong. Android, unlike iOS can see any beacon advertisement.

Answer 2

Assuming you have an iBeacon scanning app working (otherwise, it'll be pretty tough to know if you get your device broadcasting correctly)...
I suggest starting simple... get the "start broadcasting" part working, then add in the extras.
Create a new project (or add a new VC to your current project). Add "Start" and "Stop" buttons, which you'll connect to the #IBAction funcs below.
Make this your new VC's class:
//
// BroadcasterViewController.swift
//
// Created by Don Mag on 3/16/18.
//
import UIKit
import CoreLocation
import CoreBluetooth
class BroadcasterViewController: UIViewController, CBPeripheralManagerDelegate {
var myBeacon: CLBeaconRegion!
var beaconData: NSDictionary!
var peripheralMgr: CBPeripheralManager!
let myRegionID = "myRegionID"
#IBAction func startBeacon(_ sender: Any) {
// don't do anything if myBeacon already exists
guard myBeacon == nil else { return }
let beaconUUID = "7FA08BC7-A55F-45FC-85C0-0BF26F899530"
let beaconMajor: CLBeaconMajorValue = 123
let beaconMinor: CLBeaconMinorValue = 456
let uuid = UUID(uuidString: beaconUUID)!
myBeacon = CLBeaconRegion(proximityUUID: uuid, major: beaconMajor, minor: beaconMinor, identifier: "MyIdentifier")
beaconData = myBeacon.peripheralData(withMeasuredPower: nil)
peripheralMgr = CBPeripheralManager(delegate: self, queue: nil, options: nil)
}
#IBAction func stopBeacon(_ sender: Any) {
// don't do anything if there's no peripheral manager
guard peripheralMgr != nil else { return }
peripheralMgr.stopAdvertising()
peripheralMgr = nil
beaconData = nil
myBeacon = nil
}
func peripheralManagerDidUpdateState(_ peripheral: CBPeripheralManager) {
if peripheral.state == .poweredOn {
peripheralMgr.startAdvertising(beaconData as! [String: AnyObject]!)
} else if peripheral.state == .poweredOff {
peripheralMgr.stopAdvertising()
}
}
}
Run the app on your "broadcaster" device, and tap the Start button. Then run your "scanner" app on another device, and see if you find your new "Device as iBeacon"
Note: as I'm sure you're aware, your scanner must be scanning for the same beaconUUID that you use on your broadcaster. In this example code, I used the same UUID string that you posted in your question.
This worked fine for me - so hopefully it will do the same for you. If you get this part working, then you can implement the rest of your app -- the UI, status labels, any other options -- and add some error handling (Bluetooth not enabled or not given permissions, etc).