Infrared Plugin #

Infrared Plugin is a Flutter plugin designed to provide seamless interaction with a device's infrared (IR) emitter. It allows your Flutter applications to check for IR hardware, query supported frequencies, and transmit custom IR patterns, enabling control of IR-controlled devices directly from your app.

Built using jnigen for robust JNI bindings, this plugin ensures reliable communication with the native Android ConsumerIrManager API.

Key Features 🚀 #

• IR Emitter Detection: Easily check if the Android device has an infrared emitter capable of transmitting IR signals via hasIrEmitter().
• Carrier Frequency Discovery: Retrieve a list of supported carrier frequency ranges (min and max Hz) for the IR emitter using getCarrierFrequencies(), ensuring compatibility with various devices.
• Flexible IR Pattern Transmission:
  • Hexadecimal String Transmission: Send IR patterns defined as space-separated hexadecimal pulse durations using transmitHex(). Ideal for predefined or custom raw IR codes.
  • Integer List Transmission: Transmit IR patterns using a direct list of integer pulse durations (microseconds) with transmitInts(), offering programmatic control.
• Seamless JNI Integration: Leverages jnigen to generate efficient and type-safe Dart bindings for the native Kotlin/Java Android implementation, simplifying native interop.
• Android-Specific: Fully integrated with Android's ConsumerIrManager for reliable IR functionality.

Supported Platforms 💻 #

This plugin currently supports:

• Android: Fully supported for devices equipped with an IR emitter.

Installation 💻 #

Add infrared_plugin to your pubspec.yaml:

dependencies:
  infrared_plugin: ^0.0.1

Then, fetch packages:

flutter pub get

Android Setup #

No special AndroidManifest permissions are typically required for basic IR transmission, as the ConsumerIrManager methods handle the necessary permissions internally. However, ensure your minSdkVersion in android/app/build.gradle is at least API Level 19 (Android 4.4 KitKat), as ConsumerIrManager was introduced in this version.

android {
    defaultConfig {
        minSdkVersion 19 // or higher
        // ...
    }
    // ...
}

Getting Started #

1. Import the library:

   import 'package:infrared_plugin/infrared_plugin.dart';
   

2. Access the plugin instance: The InfraredPlugin is implemented as a singleton, so you can access its instance directly:

   final irPlugin = InfraredPlugin();
   

3. Check for IR Emitter and Get Frequencies (Recommended): Before transmitting, it's good practice to verify the device's capabilities.

   Future<void> initIr() async {
     final hasEmitter = await irPlugin.hasIrEmitter();
     if (hasEmitter) {
       print('Device has an IR emitter!');
       final frequencies = await irPlugin.getCarrierFrequencies();
       print('Supported frequencies: $frequencies');
     } else {
       print('Device does NOT have an IR emitter.');
     }
   }
   

4. Transmit an IR Pattern:

   • Using Hexadecimal String:

     // Example: A simple ON/OFF pattern (replace with your actual IR code)
     final int frequency = 38000; // Common IR frequency (Hz)
     final String hexPattern = "00C8 00C8 00C8 00C8 00C8 00C8"; // Example pulse durations in hex (microseconds)
     
     try {
       await irPlugin.transmitHex(
         frequency: frequency,
         hexPattern: hexPattern,
       );
       print('Hex pattern transmitted successfully!');
     } catch (e) {
       print('Error transmitting hex pattern: $e');
     }
     

   • Using Integer List:

     // Example: Same pattern as above, but as a list of integers
     final int frequency = 38000;
     final List<int> intPattern = [200, 200, 200, 200, 200, 200]; // Pulse durations in microseconds
     
     try {
       await irPlugin.transmitInts(
         frequency: frequency,
         pattern: intPattern,
       );
       print('Integer pattern transmitted successfully!');
     } catch (e) {
       print('Error transmitting integer pattern: $e');
     }
     

Core Concepts #

InfraredPlugin Singleton #

The InfraredPlugin class follows the singleton pattern, ensuring that only one instance of the plugin exists throughout your application. This centralizes control and management of the device's IR emitter.

• Access the instance via InfraredPlugin().
• The native IrController is initialized upon the first access of the singleton, binding it to the current Android Context.

IR Emitter Capabilities #

• hasIrEmitter(): A quick check for hardware capability. Always check this before attempting to transmit.
• getCarrierFrequencies(): Essential for understanding what frequencies your device can actually emit. Transmitting outside these ranges might fail or result in unreliable signals.

Pattern Formats #

The plugin supports two common ways to define IR patterns:

• Hexadecimal String: A convenient format often found in IR databases. Each hexadecimal value represents a duration.
• Integer List: A direct array of pulse durations, useful when patterns are generated programmatically or extracted from other sources as raw numbers.

Both transmitHex and transmitInts expect the frequency parameter in Hertz (Hz) and the pattern durations in microseconds (µs).

JNI Binding (Under the Hood) #

This plugin leverages jnigen, a Dart tool for generating C and Dart bindings for Java/Kotlin code. This means:

• Your Dart code calls the Dart-side IrController bindings.
• These Dart bindings then communicate with the native Kotlin IrController class via JNI.
• The Kotlin IrController interacts with the Android ConsumerIrManager to control the IR hardware.

This architecture ensures high performance and type safety between your Flutter app and the native Android IR APIs.

Examples 🎯 #

Check the example folder for a full, runnable Flutter application demonstrating how to use the infrared_plugin to check capabilities and transmit IR patterns.

Contributing 🤝 #

We welcome contributions! Feel free to open issues, suggest enhancements, or submit pull requests. Please follow our coding style and ensure all tests pass.

License 📄 #

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.