Q:

How to periodically scan for bluetooth devices on android

Hi this may sound as a stupid question.But I was unable to find any answers for this, thus posting here.
I am building an indoor application which continuously scans the bluetooth dongles located at different locations in a place like a mall or library.As I move in the mall with android phone in my hand I should be able to get the nearest dongle which I can connect to(Stupid Idea but I want to do something else with this).For this I should be able to continuously scan for the bluetooth devices.
Please can someone tell me how do I make android scan the available Bluetooth devices periodically.

A:

I guess this was so simple but didnt strike me before. Here is the answer,
private BluetoothAdapter mBtAdapter;
mBtAdapter.startDiscovery();

private final BroadcastReceiver mReceiver = new BroadcastReceiver()
{
        @Override
        public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent)
        {
            String action = intent.getAction();

            // When discovery finds a device
            if (BluetoothDevice.ACTION_FOUND.equals(action))
            {
            //do something
            }

            else if (BluetoothAdapter.ACTION_DISCOVERY_FINISHED.equals(action))
            {
                Log.v(TAG,"Entered the Finished ");
                mBtAdapter.startDiscovery();
            }

Thus we should start discovery again on ACTION_DISCOVERY_FINISHED which will continuously scan for devices every 12 seconds.

A:

Here is the Code to get the list of all Active Bluetooth Devices[Paired or non-paired]
import java.util.Set;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.bluetooth.BluetoothAdapter;
import android.bluetooth.BluetoothDevice;
import android.content.BroadcastReceiver;
import android.content.Context;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.content.IntentFilter;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.util.Log;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.Window;
import android.view.View.OnClickListener;
import android.widget.AdapterView;
import android.widget.ArrayAdapter;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.ListView;
import android.widget.TextView;
import android.widget.AdapterView.OnItemClickListener;

/**
 * This Activity appears as a dialog. It lists any paired devices and
 * devices detected in the area after discovery. When a device is chosen
 * by the user, the MAC address of the device is sent back to the parent
 * Activity in the result Intent.
 */
public class DeviceListActivity extends Activity {
    // Debugging
    private static final String TAG = "DeviceListActivity";
    private static final boolean D = true;

    // Return Intent extra
    public static String EXTRA_DEVICE_ADDRESS = "device_address";

    // Member fields
    private BluetoothAdapter mBtAdapter;
    private ArrayAdapter<String> mPairedDevicesArrayAdapter;
    private ArrayAdapter<String> mNewDevicesArrayAdapter;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

        // Setup the window
        requestWindowFeature(Window.FEATURE_INDETERMINATE_PROGRESS);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_device_list);

        // Initialize the button to perform device discovery
        Button scanButton = (Button) findViewById(R.id.button_scan);
        scanButton.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {
            public void onClick(View v) {
                doDiscovery();
                v.setVisibility(View.GONE);
            }
        });

        // Initialize array adapters. One for already paired devices and
        // one for newly discovered devices
        mPairedDevicesArrayAdapter = new ArrayAdapter<String>(this, R.layout.device_name);
        mNewDevicesArrayAdapter = new ArrayAdapter<String>(this, R.layout.device_name);

        // Find and set up the ListView for paired devices
        ListView pairedListView = (ListView) findViewById(R.id.paired_devices);
        pairedListView.setAdapter(mPairedDevicesArrayAdapter);
        pairedListView.setOnItemClickListener(mDeviceClickListener);

        // Find and set up the ListView for newly discovered devices
        ListView newDevicesListView = (ListView) findViewById(R.id.new_devices);
        newDevicesListView.setAdapter(mNewDevicesArrayAdapter);
        newDevicesListView.setOnItemClickListener(mDeviceClickListener);

        // Register for broadcasts when a device is discovered
        IntentFilter filter = new IntentFilter(BluetoothDevice.ACTION_FOUND);
        this.registerReceiver(mReceiver, filter);

        // Register for broadcasts when discovery has finished
        filter = new IntentFilter(BluetoothAdapter.ACTION_DISCOVERY_FINISHED);
        this.registerReceiver(mReceiver, filter);

        // Get the local Bluetooth adapter
        mBtAdapter = BluetoothAdapter.getDefaultAdapter();

        // Get a set of currently paired devices
        Set<BluetoothDevice> pairedDevices = mBtAdapter.getBondedDevices();

        // If there are paired devices, add each one to the ArrayAdapter
        if (pairedDevices.size() > 0) {
            findViewById(R.id.title_paired_devices).setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
            for (BluetoothDevice device : pairedDevices) {
                mPairedDevicesArrayAdapter.add(device.getName() + "\n" + device.getAddress());
            }
        } else {
            String noDevices = getResources().getText(R.string.none_paired).toString();
            mPairedDevicesArrayAdapter.add(noDevices);
        }
    }

    @Override
    protected void onDestroy() {
        super.onDestroy();

        // Make sure we're not doing discovery anymore
        if (mBtAdapter != null) {
            mBtAdapter.cancelDiscovery();
        }
         // Unregister broadcast listeners
        this.unregisterReceiver(mReceiver);
    }

    /**
     * Start device discover with the BluetoothAdapter
     */
    private void doDiscovery() {
        if (D) Log.d(TAG, "doDiscovery()");

        // Indicate scanning in the title
        setProgressBarIndeterminateVisibility(true);
        setTitle(R.string.scanning);

        // Turn on sub-title for new devices
        findViewById(R.id.title_new_devices).setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);

        // If we're already discovering, stop it
        if (mBtAdapter.isDiscovering()) {
            mBtAdapter.cancelDiscovery();
        }
         // Request discover from BluetoothAdapter
        mBtAdapter.startDiscovery();
    }

    // The on-click listener for all devices in the ListViews
    private OnItemClickListener mDeviceClickListener = new OnItemClickListener() {
        public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> av, View v, int i, long l) {
            // Cancel discovery because it's costly and we're about to connect
            mBtAdapter.cancelDiscovery();

            // Get the device MAC address, which is the last 17 chars in the View
            String info = ((TextView) v).getText().toString();
            String address = info.substring(info.length() - 17);

        }
    };

    // The BroadcastReceiver that listens for discovered devices and
    // changes the title when discovery is finished
    private final BroadcastReceiver mReceiver = new BroadcastReceiver() {
        @Override
        public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
            String action = intent.getAction();

            // When discovery finds a device
            if (BluetoothDevice.ACTION_FOUND.equals(action)) {
                // Get the BluetoothDevice object from the Intent
                BluetoothDevice device = intent.getParcelableExtra(BluetoothDevice.EXTRA_DEVICE);
                // If it's already paired, skip it, because it's been listed already
                if (device.getBondState() != BluetoothDevice.BOND_BONDED) {
                    mNewDevicesArrayAdapter.add(device.getName() + "\n" + device.getAddress());
                }
            // When discovery is finished, change the Activity title
            } else if (BluetoothAdapter.ACTION_DISCOVERY_FINISHED.equals(action)) {
                setProgressBarIndeterminateVisibility(false);
                setTitle(R.string.select_device);
                if (mNewDevicesArrayAdapter.getCount() == 0) {
                    String noDevices = getResources().getText(R.string.none_found).toString();
                    mNewDevicesArrayAdapter.add(noDevices);
                }
            }
        }
    };

}

I get the idea from API demo, i hope this could be useful for all developers.

A:

As stated in the documentation device discovery is a lofty process that will directly degrade the performance of any bonds you have with other devices.

Caution: Performing device discovery is a heavy procedure for the
  Bluetooth adapter and will consume a lot of its resources. Once you
  have found a device to connect, be certain that you always stop
  discovery with cancelDiscovery() before attempting a connection. Also,
  if you already hold a connection with a device, then performing
  discovery can significantly reduce the bandwidth available for the
  connection, so you should not perform discovery while connected.

With this in mind (error handling omitted): 
private final BroadcastReceiver deviceBroadcastReceiver = new BroadcastReceiver() {
        @Override
        public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
            String action = intent.getAction();

            if (BluetoothDevice.ACTION_FOUND.equals(action)) {
                 deviceFound = true;

                 adapter.cancelDiscovery();

                 //process new device.

                 deviceFound = false;

                 adapter.startDiscovery();
            }
}

private final BroadcastReceiver adapterBroadcastReceiver = new BroadcastReceiver() {
        @Override
        public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
            String action = intent.getAction();

            if (BluetoothAdaptor.ACTION_DISCOVERY_FINISHED.equals(action)) {
                 if (deviceFound == false) {
                      adapter.startDiscovery();
                 }
            }
}

