Bleak (Bluetooth Low Energy platform Agnostic Klient) is a cross-platform Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) client library for Python. It provides a high-level, asynchronous API for discovering, connecting to, and interacting with BLE devices on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Pros

• Cross-platform compatibility (Windows, macOS, Linux)
• Asynchronous API for efficient handling of multiple BLE operations
• Simple and intuitive interface for common BLE tasks
• Active development and community support

Cons

• Limited support for some advanced BLE features
• Potential performance overhead due to its cross-platform nature
• Dependency on platform-specific backends (e.g., BlueZ on Linux)
• May require additional setup steps on some platforms

Code Examples

1. Scanning for BLE devices:

import asyncio
from bleak import BleakScanner

async def scan_devices():
    devices = await BleakScanner.discover()
    for d in devices:
        print(f"Device: {d.name}, Address: {d.address}")

asyncio.run(scan_devices())

2. Connecting to a device and reading a characteristic:

from bleak import BleakClient

async def read_characteristic(address, char_uuid):
    async with BleakClient(address) as client:
        value = await client.read_gatt_char(char_uuid)
        print(f"Characteristic value: {value}")

asyncio.run(read_characteristic("XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX", "00002a00-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb"))

3. Writing to a characteristic and receiving notifications:

async def write_and_notify(address, write_char_uuid, notify_char_uuid):
    def notification_handler(sender, data):
        print(f"Notification received: {data}")

    async with BleakClient(address) as client:
        await client.start_notify(notify_char_uuid, notification_handler)
        await client.write_gatt_char(write_char_uuid, b"Hello BLE!")
        await asyncio.sleep(5)  # Wait for notifications
        await client.stop_notify(notify_char_uuid)

asyncio.run(write_and_notify("XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX", "write_uuid", "notify_uuid"))

Getting Started

1. Install Bleak using pip:

   pip install bleak
   

2. Import the necessary modules in your Python script:

   from bleak import BleakScanner, BleakClient
   import asyncio
   

3. Use the examples above as a starting point for your BLE application, replacing the placeholder UUIDs and addresses with your specific device information.

4. Run your script using Python 3.7 or later, as Bleak requires asyncio support.