The Wi-Fi peer-to-peer (P2P) APIs allow applications to connect to nearby devices without needing to connect to a network or hotspot (Android‘s Wi-Fi P2P framework complies with the Wi-Fi Direct™ certification program). Wi-Fi P2P allows your application to quickly find and interact with nearby devices, at a range beyond the capabilities of Bluetooth.

This lesson shows you how to find and connect to nearby devices using Wi-Fi P2P.

Set Up Application Permissions

In order to use Wi-Fi P2P, add the CHANGE_WIFI_STATE,ACCESS_WIFI_STATE, and INTERNET permissions to your manifest. Wi-Fi P2P doesn‘t require an internet connection, but it does use standard Java sockets, which require the INTERNET permission. So you need the following permissions to use Wi-Fi P2P.

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="com.example.android.nsdchat"
    ...

    <uses-permission
        android:required="true"
        android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_WIFI_STATE"/>
    <uses-permission
        android:required="true"
        android:name="android.permission.CHANGE_WIFI_STATE"/>
    <uses-permission
        android:required="true"
        android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/>
    ...

Set Up a Broadcast Receiver and Peer-to-Peer Manager

To use Wi-Fi P2P, you need to listen for broadcast intents that tell your application when certain events have occurred. In your application, instantiate an IntentFilter and set it to listen for the following:

WIFI_P2P_STATE_CHANGED_ACTION

Indicates whether Wi-Fi P2P is enabled

WIFI_P2P_PEERS_CHANGED_ACTION

Indicates that the available peer list has changed.

WIFI_P2P_CONNECTION_CHANGED_ACTION

Indicates the state of Wi-Fi P2P connectivity has changed.

WIFI_P2P_THIS_DEVICE_CHANGED_ACTION

Indicates this device‘s configuration details have changed.

private final IntentFilter intentFilter = new IntentFilter();
...
@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.main);

    //  Indicates a change in the Wi-Fi P2P status.
    intentFilter.addAction(WifiP2pManager.WIFI_P2P_STATE_CHANGED_ACTION);

    // Indicates a change in the list of available peers.
    intentFilter.addAction(WifiP2pManager.WIFI_P2P_PEERS_CHANGED_ACTION);

    // Indicates the state of Wi-Fi P2P connectivity has changed.
    intentFilter.addAction(WifiP2pManager.WIFI_P2P_CONNECTION_CHANGED_ACTION);

    // Indicates this device‘s details have changed.
    intentFilter.addAction(WifiP2pManager.WIFI_P2P_THIS_DEVICE_CHANGED_ACTION);

    ...
}

At the end of the onCreate() method, get an instance of the WifiP2pManager, and call its initialize() method. This method returns a WifiP2pManager.Channel object, which you‘ll use later to connect your app to the Wi-Fi P2P framework.

@Override

Channel mChannel;

public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    ....
    mManager = (WifiP2pManager) getSystemService(Context.WIFI_P2P_SERVICE);
    mChannel = mManager.initialize(this, getMainLooper(), null);
}

Now create a new BroadcastReceiver class that you‘ll use to listen for changes to the System‘s Wi-Fi P2P state. In the onReceive() method, add a condition to handle each P2P state change listed above.

    @Override
    public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
        String action = intent.getAction();
        if (WifiP2pManager.WIFI_P2P_STATE_CHANGED_ACTION.equals(action)) {
            // Determine if Wifi P2P mode is enabled or not, alert
            // the Activity.
            int state = intent.getIntExtra(WifiP2pManager.EXTRA_WIFI_STATE, -1);
            if (state == WifiP2pManager.WIFI_P2P_STATE_ENABLED) {
                activity.setIsWifiP2pEnabled(true);
            } else {
                activity.setIsWifiP2pEnabled(false);
            }
        } else if (WifiP2pManager.WIFI_P2P_PEERS_CHANGED_ACTION.equals(action)) {

            // The peer list has changed!  We should probably do something about
            // that.

        } else if (WifiP2pManager.WIFI_P2P_CONNECTION_CHANGED_ACTION.equals(action)) {

            // Connection state changed!  We should probably do something about
            // that.

        } else if (WifiP2pManager.WIFI_P2P_THIS_DEVICE_CHANGED_ACTION.equals(action)) {
            DeviceListFragment fragment = (DeviceListFragment) activity.getFragmentManager()
                    .findFragmentById(R.id.frag_list);
            fragment.updateThisDevice((WifiP2pDevice) intent.getParcelableExtra(
                    WifiP2pManager.EXTRA_WIFI_P2P_DEVICE));

        }
    }

Finally, add code to register the intent filter and broadcast receiver when your main activity is active, and unregister them when the activity is paused. The best place to do this is the onResume() and onPause() methods.

    /** register the BroadcastReceiver with the intent values to be matched */
    @Override
    public void onResume() {
        super.onResume();
        receiver = new WiFiDirectBroadcastReceiver(mManager, mChannel, this);
        registerReceiver(receiver, intentFilter);
    }

    @Override
    public void onPause() {
        super.onPause();
        unregisterReceiver(receiver);
    }

Initiate Peer Discovery

To start searching for nearby devices with Wi-Fi P2P, call discoverPeers(). This method takes the following arguments:

• The WifiP2pManager.Channel you received back when you initialized the peer-to-peer mManager
• An implementation of WifiP2pManager.ActionListener with methods the system invokes for successful and unsuccessful discovery.

mManager.discoverPeers(mChannel, new WifiP2pManager.ActionListener() {

        @Override
        public void onSuccess() {
            // Code for when the discovery initiation is successful goes here.
            // No services have actually been discovered yet, so this method
            // can often be left blank.  Code for peer discovery goes in the
            // onReceive method, detailed below.
        }

        @Override
        public void onFailure(int reasonCode) {
            // Code for when the discovery initiation fails goes here.
            // Alert the user that something went wrong.
        }
});

Keep in mind that this only initiates peer discovery. The discoverPeers() method starts the discovery process and then immediately returns. The system notifies you if the peer discovery process is successfully initiated by calling methods in the provided action listener. Also, discovery will remain active until a connection is initiated or a P2P group is formed.

Fetch the List of Peers

Now write the code that fetches and processes the list of peers. First implement theWifiP2pManager.PeerListListener interface, which provides information about the peers that Wi-Fi P2P has detected. The following code snippet illustrates this.

    private List peers = new ArrayList();
    ...

    private PeerListListener peerListListener = new PeerListListener() {
        @Override
        public void onPeersAvailable(WifiP2pDeviceList peerList) {

            // Out with the old, in with the new.
            peers.clear();
            peers.addAll(peerList.getDeviceList());

            // If an AdapterView is backed by this data, notify it
            // of the change.  For instance, if you have a ListView of available
            // peers, trigger an update.
            ((WiFiPeerListAdapter) getListAdapter()).notifyDataSetChanged();
            if (peers.size() == 0) {
                Log.d(WiFiDirectActivity.TAG, "No devices found");
                return;
            }
        }
    }

Now modify your broadcast receiver‘s onReceive() method to call requestPeers() when an intent with the actionWIFI_P2P_PEERS_CHANGED_ACTION is received. You need to pass this listener into the receiver somehow. One way is to send it as an argument to the broadcast receiver‘s constructor.

public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
    ...
    else if (WifiP2pManager.WIFI_P2P_PEERS_CHANGED_ACTION.equals(action)) {

        // Request available peers from the wifi p2p manager. This is an
        // asynchronous call and the calling activity is notified with a
        // callback on PeerListListener.onPeersAvailable()
        if (mManager != null) {
            mManager.requestPeers(mChannel, peerListListener);
        }
        Log.d(WiFiDirectActivity.TAG, "P2P peers changed");
    }...
}

Now, an intent with the action WIFI_P2P_PEERS_CHANGED_ACTION intent will trigger a request for an updated peer list.

Connect to a Peer

In order to connect to a peer, create a new WifiP2pConfig object, and copy data into it from the WifiP2pDevicerepresenting the device you want to connect to. Then call the connect() method.

    @Override
    public void connect() {
        // Picking the first device found on the network.
        WifiP2pDevice device = peers.get(0);

        WifiP2pConfig config = new WifiP2pConfig();
        config.deviceAddress = device.deviceAddress;
        config.wps.setup = WpsInfo.PBC;

        mManager.connect(mChannel, config, new ActionListener() {

            @Override
            public void onSuccess() {
                // WiFiDirectBroadcastReceiver will notify us. Ignore for now.
            }

            @Override
            public void onFailure(int reason) {
                Toast.makeText(WiFiDirectActivity.this, "Connect failed. Retry.",
                        Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
            }
        });
    }

The WifiP2pManager.ActionListener implemented in this snippet only notifies you when the initiation succeeds or fails. To listen for changes in connection state, implement the WifiP2pManager.ConnectionInfoListener interface. Its onConnectionInfoAvailable() callback will notify you when the state of the connection changes. In cases where multiple devices are going to be connected to a single device (like a game with 3 or more players, or a chat app), one device will be designated the "group owner".

    @Override
    public void onConnectionInfoAvailable(final WifiP2pInfo info) {

        // InetAddress from WifiP2pInfo struct.
        InetAddress groupOwnerAddress = info.groupOwnerAddress.getHostAddress());

        // After the group negotiation, we can determine the group owner.
        if (info.groupFormed && info.isGroupOwner) {
            // Do whatever tasks are specific to the group owner.
            // One common case is creating a server thread and accepting
            // incoming connections.
        } else if (info.groupFormed) {
            // The other device acts as the client. In this case,
            // you‘ll want to create a client thread that connects to the group
            // owner.
        }
    }

Now go back to the onReceive() method of the broadcast receiver, and modify the section that listens for aWIFI_P2P_CONNECTION_CHANGED_ACTION intent. When this intent is received, call requestConnectionInfo(). This is an asynchronous call, so results will be received by the connection info listener you provide as a parameter.

        ...
        } else if (WifiP2pManager.WIFI_P2P_CONNECTION_CHANGED_ACTION.equals(action)) {

            if (mManager == null) {
                return;
            }

            NetworkInfo networkInfo = (NetworkInfo) intent
                    .getParcelableExtra(WifiP2pManager.EXTRA_NETWORK_INFO);

            if (networkInfo.isConnected()) {

                // We are connected with the other device, request connection
                // info to find group owner IP

                mManager.requestConnectionInfo(mChannel, connectionListener);
            }
            ...

The first lesson in this class, Using Network Service Discovery, showed you how to discover services that are connected to a local network. However, using Wi-Fi Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Service Discovery allows you to discover the services of nearby devices directly, without being connected to a network. You can also advertise the services running on your device. These capabilities help you communicate between apps, even when no local network or hotspot is available.

While this set of APIs is similar in purpose to the Network Service Discovery APIs outlined in a previous lesson, implementing them in code is very different. This lesson shows you how to discover services available from other devices, using Wi-Fi P2P. The lesson assumes that you‘re already familiar with theWi-Fi P2P API.

Set Up the Manifest

In order to use Wi-Fi P2P, add the CHANGE_WIFI_STATE, ACCESS_WIFI_STATE, and INTERNET permissions to your manifest. Even though Wi-Fi P2P doesn‘t require an Internet connection, it uses standard Java sockets, and using these in Android requires the requested permissions.

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="com.example.android.nsdchat"
    ...

    <uses-permission
        android:required="true"
        android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_WIFI_STATE"/>
    <uses-permission
        android:required="true"
        android:name="android.permission.CHANGE_WIFI_STATE"/>
    <uses-permission
        android:required="true"
        android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/>
    ...

Add a Local Service

If you‘re providing a local service, you need to register it for service discovery. Once your local service is registered, the framework automatically responds to service discovery requests from peers.

To create a local service:

1. Create a WifiP2pServiceInfo object.
2. Populate it with information about your service.
3. Call addLocalService() to register the local service for service discovery.

     private void startRegistration() {
        //  Create a string map containing information about your service.
        Map<string,string> record = new HashMap<string,string>();
        record.put("listenport", String.valueOf(SERVER_PORT));
        record.put("buddyname", "John Doe" + (int) (Math.random() * 1000));
        record.put("available", "visible");

        // Service information.  Pass it an instance name, service type
        // _protocol._transportlayer , and the map containing
        // information other devices will want once they connect to this one.
        WifiP2pDnsSdServiceInfo serviceInfo =
                WifiP2pDnsSdServiceInfo.newInstance("_test", "_presence._tcp", record);

        // Add the local service, sending the service info, network channel,
        // and listener that will be used to indicate success or failure of
        // the request.
        mManager.addLocalService(channel, serviceInfo, new ActionListener() {
            @Override
            public void onSuccess() {
                // Command successful! Code isn‘t necessarily needed here,
                // Unless you want to update the UI or add logging statements.
            }

            @Override
            public void onFailure(int arg0) {
                // Command failed.  Check for P2P_UNSUPPORTED, ERROR, or BUSY
            }
        });
    }

Discover Nearby Services

Android uses callback methods to notify your application of available services, so the first thing to do is set those up. Create a WifiP2pManager.DnsSdTxtRecordListener to listen for incoming records. This record can optionally be broadcast by other devices. When one comes in, copy the device address and any other relevant information you want into a data structure external to the current method, so you can access it later. The following example assumes that the record contains a "buddyname" field, populated with the user‘s identity.

final HashMap<String, String> buddies = new HashMap<String, String>();
...
private void discoverService() {
    DnsSdTxtRecordListener txtListener = new DnsSdTxtRecordListener() {
        @Override
        /* Callback includes:
         * fullDomain: full domain name: e.g "printer._ipp._tcp.local."
         * record: TXT record dta as a map of key/value pairs.
         * device: The device running the advertised service.
         */

        public void onDnsSdTxtRecordAvailable(
                String fullDomain, Map<string,string> record, WifiP2pDevice device) {
                Log.d(TAG, "DnsSdTxtRecord available -" + record.toString());
                buddies.put(device.deviceAddress, record.get("buddyname"));
            }
        };
    ...
}

To get the service information, create a WifiP2pManager.DnsSdServiceResponseListener. This receives the actual description and connection information. The previous code snippet implemented a Map object to pair a device address with the buddy name. The service response listener uses this to link the DNS record with the corresponding service information. Once both listeners are implemented, add them to the WifiP2pManager using the setDnsSdResponseListeners() method.

private void discoverService() {
...

    DnsSdServiceResponseListener servListener = new DnsSdServiceResponseListener() {
        @Override
        public void onDnsSdServiceAvailable(String instanceName, String registrationType,
                WifiP2pDevice resourceType) {

                // Update the device name with the human-friendly version from
                // the DnsTxtRecord, assuming one arrived.
                resourceType.deviceName = buddies
                        .containsKey(resourceType.deviceAddress) ? buddies
                        .get(resourceType.deviceAddress) : resourceType.deviceName;

                // Add to the custom adapter defined specifically for showing
                // wifi devices.
                WiFiDirectServicesList fragment = (WiFiDirectServicesList) getFragmentManager()
                        .findFragmentById(R.id.frag_peerlist);
                WiFiDevicesAdapter adapter = ((WiFiDevicesAdapter) fragment
                        .getListAdapter());

                adapter.add(resourceType);
                adapter.notifyDataSetChanged();
                Log.d(TAG, "onBonjourServiceAvailable " + instanceName);
        }
    };

    mManager.setDnsSdResponseListeners(channel, servListener, txtListener);
    ...
}

Now create a service request and call addServiceRequest(). This method also takes a listener to report success or failure.

        serviceRequest = WifiP2pDnsSdServiceRequest.newInstance();
        mManager.addServiceRequest(channel,
                serviceRequest,
                new ActionListener() {
                    @Override
                    public void onSuccess() {
                        // Success!
                    }

                    @Override
                    public void onFailure(int code) {
                        // Command failed.  Check for P2P_UNSUPPORTED, ERROR, or BUSY
                    }
                });

Finally, make the call to discoverServices().

        mManager.discoverServices(channel, new ActionListener() {

            @Override
            public void onSuccess() {
                // Success!
            }

            @Override
            public void onFailure(int code) {
                // Command failed.  Check for P2P_UNSUPPORTED, ERROR, or BUSY
                if (code == WifiP2pManager.P2P_UNSUPPORTED) {
                    Log.d(TAG, "P2P isn‘t supported on this device.");
                else if(...)
                    ...
            }
        });

If all goes well, hooray, you‘re done! If you encounter problems, remember that the asynchronous calls you‘ve made take an WifiP2pManager.ActionListener as an argument, and this provides you with callbacks indicating success or failure. To diagnose problems, put debugging code in onFailure(). The error code provided by the method hints at the problem. Here are the possible error values and what they mean

P2P_UNSUPPORTED

Wi-Fi P2P isn‘t supported on the device running the app.

BUSY

The system is to busy to process the request.

ERROR

The operation failed due to an internal error.