The Neopixel Client is a .NET MAUI applicaton using a BLE interface on Android and a HTTP interface on Windows desktop (For now, the third party BLE service used does not support Windows desktop)
I wanted to do a BLE Android App to support the Neopixel server, when I saw a .NET MAUI announcement, I decided that it would be a good experiment vs. using Android Studio or Xamarin. It also offered the possibility of single source Android, IOS, and / or MAC OS support.
BUT for the experiment, I also wanted to use pure C#, so this example does not utilize any XAML or BLAZOR sources.
I also wanted to dynamically create the device interface and representation from device metadata. The interface is implemented as IDynamicViewDevice, viewed and controlled using the DynamicView class.
The application is a single MainPage that presents available NeopixelServer device(s) and provides the ability to view / control the device(s).
In the case of BLE (Android), the available devices are presented using a CollectionView of NeopixelBleDevices via a BleTemplate. The CollectionView is populated by the NeoPixelBleScanner. The BleTemplate provides a Connect button as part of each device view.
In the case of HTTP (Windows), the available device is accessed via a IP Address text box and a Connect button.
When a Connect button is pressed, it's label changes to "Connecting ..." while attempting to connect to the device. "Connecting" establishes a connection with the selected BLE device device.ConnectAsync(), or with a new NeopixelHttpDevice() at the specified IP Address, respectively.
Once a device is connected, it's metadata is retrieved mdata = device.GetMetaDataAsync(), and a view / control page is created and displayed using CreateDynamicView(mdata, device). The device view includes a Disconnect button that returns to the collection view.
This application is a client of an esp32Neopxel device. If an esp32Neopixel device is not available, go to Neopixel Server and create one of them first.
At the time of this writing, .NET MAUI requires Visual Studio 2022 Preview. That is sort of a moving target, so I recommend going directly to the .NET MAUI documentation to install the most appropriate development tools.
Once the desired version of Visual Studio has been installed, use it to open NeopixelClient.sln.
Select "Windows Machine" for the target, then build and run. When the app launches, it will show a suggested IP address. Change the IP address to that of your NeoPixelServer, and press connect ... that's about it
You will need an android device (platform version 23.0 or newer), connected in developer mode. It will appear in the targets list under "Android Local Devices". Select that device for the target, then build and run. When the app launches, it will begin BLE scanning and present a list of available devices. Press connect on the device of interest, and you should be excactly where you ended with the Windows Target.
If you are ready to modify the software for your own needs or to follow this path into .NET MAUI, look here for more information about the design