Retrieving and Setting Sensor Properties

This topic describes how to retrieve and set values for sensor properties. The ISensor interface provides the methods to set and retrieve values for sensor properties.

Retrieving Sensor Properties

You can retrieve some property values from a sensor before the user has enabled it. Information such as the manufacturer's name or the model of the sensor can help you to decide whether your program can use the sensor.

You can choose to retrieve a single property value, or to retrieve a collection of property values together. To retrieve single value, call ISensor::GetProperty. To retrieve a collection of values, call ISensor::GetProperties. You can retrieve all properties for a sensor by passing NULL through the first parameter to ISensor::GetProperties.

The following example code creates a helper function that prints the value of a single property. The function receives a pointer to the sensor from which to retrieve the value and a property key that contains the property to print. The function can print values for numbers, strings, and GUIDs, but not other, more complex types.

HRESULT PrintSensorProperty(ISensor* pSensor, REFPROPERTYKEY pk)
{
    assert(pSensor);

    HRESULT hr = S_OK;

    PROPVARIANT pv = {};

    hr = pSensor->GetProperty(pk, &pv);

    if(SUCCEEDED(hr))
    {
        if(pv.vt == VT_UI4)  // Number
        {
            wprintf_s(L"\nSensor integer value: %u\n", pv.ulVal);
        }
        else if(pv.vt == VT_LPWSTR)  // String
        {
            wprintf_s(L"\nSensor string value: %s\n", pv.pwszVal);
        }
        else if(pv.vt == VT_CLSID)  // GUID
        {
            int iRet = 0;

            // Convert the GUID to a string.
            OLECHAR wszGuid[39] = {}; // Buffer for string.
            iRet = ::StringFromGUID2(*(pv.puuid), wszGuid, 39);

            assert(39 == iRet); // Count of characters returned for GUID.

            wprintf_s(L"\nSensor GUID value: %s\n", wszGuid);
        }
        else  // Interface or vector
        {
            wprintf_s(L"\nSensor property is a compound type. Unable to print value.");
        }
    }

    PropVariantClear(&pv);

    return hr;    
}

The following example code creates a function that retrieves and prints a collection of properties. The set of properties to print is defined by the array named SensorProperties.

HRESULT PrintSensorProperties(ISensor* pSensor)
{
    assert(pSensor);

    HRESULT hr = S_OK;

    DWORD cVals = 0; // Count of returned properties.
    IPortableDeviceKeyCollection* pKeys = NULL; // Input
    IPortableDeviceValues* pValues = NULL;  // Output

    // Properties to print.
    const PROPERTYKEY SensorProperties[] =
    {
        SENSOR_PROPERTY_MANUFACTURER,
        SENSOR_PROPERTY_SERIAL_NUMBER,
        SENSOR_PROPERTY_DESCRIPTION,
        SENSOR_PROPERTY_FRIENDLY_NAME
    };

    // CoCreate a key collection to store property keys.
    hr = CoCreateInstance(CLSID_PortableDeviceKeyCollection, 
                                NULL, 
                                CLSCTX_INPROC_SERVER,                                 
                                IID_PPV_ARGS(&pKeys));

    if(SUCCEEDED(hr))
    {
        // Add the properties to the key collection.
        for (DWORD dwIndex = 0; dwIndex < ARRAYSIZE(SensorProperties); dwIndex++)
        {
            hr = pKeys->Add(SensorProperties[dwIndex]);

            if(FAILED(hr))
            {
                // Unexpected.
                // This example returns the failed HRESULT.
                // You may choose to ignore failures, here.
                break;
            }
        }
    }

    if(SUCCEEDED(hr))
    {
        // Retrieve the properties from the sensor.
        hr = pSensor->GetProperties(pKeys, &pValues);
    }

    if(SUCCEEDED(hr))
    {
        // Get the number of values returned.        
        hr = pValues->GetCount(&cVals);
    }

    if(SUCCEEDED(hr))
    {
        PROPERTYKEY pk; // Keys
        PROPVARIANT pv = {}; // Values

        // Loop through the values;
        for (DWORD i = 0; i < cVals; i++)
        {
            // Get the value at the current index.
            hr = pValues->GetAt(i, &pk, &pv);

            if(SUCCEEDED(hr))
            { 
                // Find and print the property.
                if(IsEqualPropertyKey(pk, SENSOR_PROPERTY_MANUFACTURER))
                {
                    wprintf_s(L"\nManufacturer: %s\n", pv.pwszVal);
                }
                else if(IsEqualPropertyKey(pk, SENSOR_PROPERTY_SERIAL_NUMBER))
                {
                    wprintf_s(L"Serial number: %s\n", pv.pwszVal);
                }
                else if(IsEqualPropertyKey(pk, SENSOR_PROPERTY_FRIENDLY_NAME))
                {
                    wprintf_s(L"Friendly name: %s\n", pv.pwszVal);
                }
                else if(IsEqualPropertyKey(pk, SENSOR_PROPERTY_DESCRIPTION))
                {
                    wprintf_s(L"Description: %s\n", pv.pwszVal);
                }
            }

            PropVariantClear(&pv);
        } // end i loop        
    }

    SafeRelease(&pKeys);
    SafeRelease(&pValues);

    return hr;
};

Setting Sensor Properties

Before you can set property values for a sensor, the user must enable the sensor. Also, not all sensor properties can be set.

To set one or more values for properties, call ISensor::SetProperties. You provide this method with an IPortableDeviceValues pointer that contains the collection of properties to set, and their associated values. The method returns a corresponding IPortableDeviceValues interface that may contain error codes for properties that could not be set.

The following example code creates a helper function that sets a new value for the SENSOR_PROPERTY_CURRENT_REPORT_INTERVAL property. The function takes a pointer to the sensor for which to set the property, and a ULONG value that indicates the new report interval to be set. (Note that setting a value for this particular property does not guarantee that the sensor will accept the specified value. See Sensor Properties for information about how this property works.)

HRESULT SetCurrentReportInterval(ISensor* pSensor, ULONG ulNewInterval)
{
    assert(pSensor);

    HRESULT hr = S_OK;

    IPortableDeviceValues* pPropsToSet = NULL; // Input
    IPortableDeviceValues* pPropsReturn = NULL; // Output

    // Create the input object.
    hr = CoCreateInstance(__uuidof(PortableDeviceValues),
                            NULL,
                            CLSCTX_INPROC_SERVER,                           
                            IID_PPV_ARGS(&pPropsToSet));

    if(SUCCEEDED(hr))
    {
        // Add the current report interval property.
        hr = pPropsToSet->SetUnsignedIntegerValue(SENSOR_PROPERTY_CURRENT_REPORT_INTERVAL, ulNewInterval);
    }

    if(SUCCEEDED(hr))
    {
        // Only setting a single property, here.
        hr = pSensor->SetProperties(pPropsToSet, &pPropsReturn);
    }

    // Test for failure.
    if(hr == S_FALSE)
    {
        HRESULT hrError = S_OK;
      
        // Check results for failure.
        hr = pPropsReturn->GetErrorValue(SENSOR_PROPERTY_CURRENT_REPORT_INTERVAL, &hrError);

        if(SUCCEEDED(hr))
        {
            // Print an error message.
            wprintf_s(L"\nSetting current report interval failed with error 0x%X\n", hrError);

            // Return the error code.
            hr = hrError;
        }
    }
    else if(hr == E_ACCESSDENIED)
    {
        // No permission. Take appropriate action.
    }

    SafeRelease(&pPropsToSet);
    SafeRelease(&pPropsReturn);
   
    return hr;
}

Related topics

Sensor Properties