Microsoft Band SDK on Windows 8,1

Question

Maybe I\'m crazy, but how do I access a Band on a Windows 8.1 machine?

Any calls to BandClientManager return 0 paired devices, and I\'m not sure how to \"pair\" a Ba

Answer 1

I just did a quick test on my Windows 10 (desktop) machine. I paired my Band to the machine via Bluetooth--as it's an older machine I have a USB-based Bluetooth adapter--and created a new, Blank, Windows 8.1 Store project in Visual Studio 2013. I applied the latest Band SDK NuGet package (v1.3.10417.1). I added a Button to the MainPage and added the following click handler:

private async void Button_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
    var bands = await BandClientManager.Instance.GetBandsAsync();
    var band = bands.FirstOrDefault();

    if (band != null)
    {
        var client = await BandClientManager.Instance.ConnectAsync(band);

        string name = await client.GetFirmwareVersionAsync();
    }
}

I started the application in debugger on the local machine (not the simulator), and was able to enumerate, connect to, and retrieve the firmware version from my Band.

I only have an old Surface RT machine (which won't run Visual Studio) and am running Windows 10 on all my desktops at the moment so can't replicate your exact scenario. That said, if it works on an old machine with an external Bluetooth adaptor on a pre-release OS, I'd be surprised that it doesn't work on a much newer machine (like a Surface) with an integrated Bluetooth adaptor, on a released and stable OS.

One thing to keep in mind is that the Band will only "remember" (i.e. connect to) the last device it has been Bluetooth-paired with, regardless of whether those devices still show the Band as being paired (and vice-versa). If you're switching between testing the Band with your phone applications and your Store (desktop) applications, then you have to re-pair (not factory reset) the Band to the new device.