Desktop reader ACR122 with or without Software Development kit

[bob Parks]

Hi,

I'm new in the community, in fact I never develop any application/software using NFC. And if I'm here it's to be helped before to buy some hardware etc ...

I just want to create a java based software running on windows and/or linux. On the one hand, the software will write nfc tags and on the other hand it will be able to read tags (Mifare classics 1k).
I think I will use the ACR122U reader, but I don't know if I have to buy to Software development kit or no ? Can someone help me on this ?

Furthermore, I don't really understand how nfctools will help me ?
NFC Tools is a library to develop android app only and also to develop windows/linux java software ?

I'm really a beginner, I'm so sorry ... Is it really hard to read a tag using a java application on windows ? Or I just have few line to write thanks to the nfc tools ?
For exemple, have I to write some function to connect the reader with and the usb to my application ?

Thanks

[Adrian Stabiszewski]

Hi Bob

thanks for your interest in nfctools and welcome to the community.

I think I will use the ACR122U reader, but I don't know if I have to buy to Software development kit or no ? Can someone help me on this ?

I have the ACR122 reader with the SDK but it is only usable if you want to write you app in C. Also it does not contain any functions to handle NDEF records. For me it was useless.

 

Furthermore, I don't really understand how nfctools will help me ?
NFC Tools is a library to develop android app only and also to develop windows/linux java software ?

Nfctools is a library to write NFC app on the desktop (windows/linux) mainly. You can use the NDEF encoders and decoders on Android as well, but most parts are only for desktop java development.
 

I'm really a beginner, I'm so sorry ... Is it really hard to read a tag using a java application on windows ? Or I just have few line to write thanks to the nfc tools ?

It always depends on the app you want to write. But I must admit, that there isn't much documentation about nfctools. Basically for every use case there is a demo app and thats it. You can use the demo apps as a template and go from there.

 

For exemple, have I to write some function to connect the reader with and the usb to my application ?

No, you cannot access the USB from java so this problem is solved ;)


Regards,
Adrian.

[bob Parks]

Many thanks for your answer !
I think I'll buy the ACR122U alone, without SDK. You make me save some dollars !


You said :

No, you cannot access the USB from java so this problem is solved ;)

So how can I read tag from my USB reader (ACR122U) ?


And you talk about a demo, do you speak about http://www.grundid.de/nfc/ ?
Where I can find the demo, and the source code of the demo ?

Thanks a lot. I'm very glad to join the nfc community. I can't wait to start to play with NFC tags, readers and so on ...

[Adrian Stabiszewski]

You said :
No, you cannot access the USB from java so this problem is solved ;)
So how can I read tag from my USB reader (ACR122U) ?

Java offers a special API that allows you to access a smartcard reader without all the USB hassle. It's called the smartcard IO API.
You will find the JavaDoc here:
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/jre/api/security/smartcardio/spec/javax/smartcardio/package-summary.html
 

And you talk about a demo, do you speak about http://www.grundid.de/nfc/ ?
Where I can find the demo, and the source code of the demo ?

Yes, this demo is based on the nfctools. There is a separate github repo for all the demos at
https://github.com/grundid/nfctools-examples

If you want to read and write tags, please have a look at the NdefUltralight demo:
https://github.com/grundid/nfctools-examples/blob/master/src/main/java/org/nfctools/examples/ndef/NdefUltralight.java
and the corresponding NdefWriter
https://github.com/grundid/nfctools-examples/blob/master/src/main/java/org/nfctools/examples/ndef/NdefWriter.java

Regards,
Adrian.

[Carlos Luis Valverde]

Hi Adrian

A favor, we could describe the operation and that the following examples are used

snepDemo

isodepDemo

nfcipDemo

I ask because in the readme file there is no information on these programs and I've been checking and they look very interesting.

Thank you.

[Adrian Stabiszewski]

Hi Carlos.

Sorry for the missing description but the IsoDepDemo and the NFCIPDemo do not work.

With the IsoDepDemo I wanted to try if it is possible to establish an IsoDep connection to the Android side. This would allow a real peer-to-peer data exchange.
After a while I realized that IsoDep is for smartcards only.

The NFCIPDemo is written for a different type of NFC reader (Arygon Desktop Reader) and should demonstrate p2p data exchange between two readers. I haven't updated it for a long time, so I'm not sure if it is still working.

The SnepDemo is actually documented in the readme of the examples and should work ;)

Regards,
Adrian

[Carlos Luis Valverde]

[Rodrigo Platero]

Hi,

I'm trying to do something with nfctools library, but i don't know how to use it. I'm beginner with Java and I'm sure that is the most basic thing in the world, but I can't do work nfctools-examples in Eclipse...Some help will be appreciated...

Thanks!

[Rashedul Hasan]

`Hi Adrian,
  I need to read data from ACR122U and show in java app. But dont know anything about the device. Can you please help me and give me a guideline.