Add proper APIs to stop advertising, disconnect, and restart BLE services

[smart-fun]

My use case requires full control over the BLE lifecycle:

• When a device is connected, I need to stop advertising.
• When the user requests it, the device should be able to disconnect cleanly.
• Later, the user should be able to restart advertising and allow a new connection.

I could not find any way to achieve this with the current API.

I tried calling NimBLE APIs directly, but ESP32-BLE-Gamepad automatically reconnects the device as soon as I disconnect it. Also, BleGamepad::end() does not stop the server, does not stop advertising, and does not disconnect the client.

Here is a minimal example of what I attempted:

if (bleGamepad.isConnected()) {
    NimBLEServer* server = NimBLEDevice::getServer();
    if (server) {
        NimBLEAdvertising* advertising = server->getAdvertising();
        if (advertising) {
            advertising->stop();
        }
        NimBLEConnInfo connInfo = bleGamepad.getPeerInfo();
        server->disconnect(connInfo, BLE_ERR_REM_USER_CONN_TERM);
    }
}
bleGamepad.end();

Thank you.

[LeeNX]

Thanks @smart-fun, I have run into a similar yet opposite problem. I can't seem to keep my device advertising when connected to a host - #266

Just to confirm, when connected to a host, your ESP32-BLE-Gamepad sketch still advertises?

Adding these function might help others and bring this library more usage, but I am not sure if anybody has the time at the moment to implement. If you have a PR to test that moves in this direction, I am sure other people will test and it could be merge into the current code base.

[smart-fun]

Thanks @smart-fun, I have run into a similar yet opposite problem. I can't seem to keep my device advertising when connected to a host - #266

Just to confirm, when connected to a host, your ESP32-BLE-Gamepad sketch still advertises?

Adding these function might help others and bring this library more usage, but I am not sure if anybody has the time at the moment to implement. If you have a PR to test that moves in this direction, I am sure other people will test and it could be merge into the current code base.

The advertising stops as soon as the device is connected. And the advertising restarts as soon as the device is disconnected.
If I have time I could try to add the API.

[LeeNX]

@smart-fun have you looked at the ForcePairingMode sketch?

[smart-fun]

@smart-fun have you looked at the ForcePairingMode sketch?

No I haven't. Thanks I'll have a look at it :)