Connecting the Device
Objectives
Blecon allows you to quickly connect Bluetooth devices to your web application's API in a secure and scalable way.
In this quickstart, you will sign up to Blecon, create a Blecon Network, connect a Blecon Device and get ready to route device requests to your application.
When you build Blecon into your product, you can create a connection flow to suit your requirements. To find out more, see Device Connection.
To keep things simple, we'll just use the default developer-oriented connection flow.
You will need
A Blecon Device or Blecon Modem module
Your mobile device
Blecon routes requests from Bluetooth devices to your web application. To start seeing some requests, you'll need a device. It doesn't matter which device you have - all Blecon devices work the same way.
Before you start
On your mobile device, head over to https://blecon.app and install the app. The Blecon App creates coverage for Blecon Devices with any phone it is installed on.
Step 1: Create a Blecon Account
To get started, you'll need a Blecon Account. A Blecon Account is where you will define your Blecon Network and configure the connection to your application API.
Head over to https://console.blecon.net and create an account if you haven't already.
Step 2: Create your Blecon Network
Blecon Devices are connected to a Blecon Network. A Blecon Network defines a relationship between Devices and your web application. Click Create Network and then give your network a name.
Step 3: Connect a device to your network using the developer flow
Open your camera app on your smartphone and scan the Network QR code you see on the network details page. Make sure you scan your own QR code, not the one above. You will then see the below on your mobile device.
This is the Blecon Scanner. We use it to connect devices to a network. Once you scan a network, you will see that it is configured for that network.
Next, open the Blecon App and press the Identify Device button
You should see the below:
Now press the button on the device. If you are not yet logged into the Blecon Console on your mobile device you will need to log in to proceed.
To connect the device, confirm the connection via the prompt that appears in the Blecon Console.
Note that in a real-world deployment, it is expected that your own Connection Handler would be used here, not the Blecon Console. For more information about device connection and how you can prepare for a production device deployment, see Connecting Devices.
Step 4: Check for device requests
After your device is connected to your network, you should start seeing requests on the Live Network Activity Window on the network details page:
Your device is now connected!
Next Steps
You will notice that although your Blecon Network has received a request, the request is not successful. That's because we haven't connected your network to your application handler yet.
To see how we do that, head over to Part Two of this quick start guide, Handling Device Requests.
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