Does a datafield support a companion app?

Hi, I am doing something with BLE. What I want to do is to use an iPhone to select which device is my ideal among many. Afterward, my app will notify my data field to connect to the device with a specific Mac address. So really curious about whether Datafield supports a companion app.

I didn't find any clarification about this except the API doc.

I saw

The Communications Module provides tools for communication.

With the Communications module, widgets and apps will be able to communicate with a mobile phone via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). The mobile phone may be sharing data with the device, or it may act as a bridge between the app and the Internet. This allows the device to become part of the Internet of Things.

Since:

API Level 1.0.0

App Types:

Watch App
Audio Content Provider
Background
Widget

Can I use background in a data field? Any better idea for this process? Thanks

Top Replies

jim_m_58 over 1 year ago +1

With a data field you can do Comm, but only in a background service. So you can communicate with a companion app but only every 5 minutes at most.

All Replies

jim_m_58 over 1 year ago

With a data field you can do Comm, but only in a background service. So you can communicate with a companion app but only every 5 minutes at most.

li2niu🏃🏻 over 1 year ago in reply to jim_m_58

Dear Jim, can I use registerForPhoneAppMessages API in my background service in a datafield?

Comms.registerForPhoneAppMessages(method as Communications.PhoneMessageCallback or Null) as Void

Will the callback be async to be called every 5 minutes or immediately?

jim_m_58 over 1 year ago in reply to li2niu🏃🏻

with a background, it can run at most every 5 minutes and at most, for 30 seconds at a time. Just like anytime you use a background service.

li2niu🏃🏻 over 1 year ago in reply to jim_m_58

So if a background service receives 2 messages, will the second one be put into a queue or discarded?