Connecting Flutter App to a Hardware Weighing Machine

Ouri’s Market is a marketplace application that offers users a seamless experience, connecting buyers with sellers. The app caters not only to buyers and sellers but also introduces a unique ecosystem with a specialized Picker app. Pickers, empowered by Ouri's Market, are tasked with collecting listed items, ensuring quality, and weighing items if necessary, all within the application.

The Challenge

While the Ouri's Market ecosystem seamlessly connects buyers and sellers, the integration of hardware posed a notable challenge. Specifically, the Picker app needed to connect seamlessly with the weighing machine, ensuring accurate weight measurements for items that required it.

The integration involved deciphering various commands specific to the weighing machine. Leveraging pre-existing code in Node.js designed for this purpose, the team conducted extensive research and development to adapt and optimize the code for Flutter. This involved translating the commands into a format compatible with Flutter's architecture.

This challenge prompted us to explore solutions to bridge the gap between software and hardware.

The Solution

To overcome this obstacle, we decided to leverage the power of socket communication. This technology would enable real-time connections between the Picker app and weighing machines, facilitating immediate data exchange and accurate weight measurements. 

The Process

Connection Establishment:

Initiating a secure connection is the foundation of integrating the Picker app with weighing machines. To achieve this, the team implemented a robust connection setup mechanism, emphasizing the crucial need for the adapter's IP address. This IP serves as the gateway, allowing our application to connect seamlessly. 

Here's an illustration of the code snippet responsible for this task:

This code snippet underscores the importance of obtaining the IP address of the weighing machine adapter. The adapter serves as the intermediary hotspot, facilitating the connection between our application and the weighing machine.

Data Transmission:

Once connected, the Picker app needed to transmit commands related to weight measurements to the weighing machine.

The following code snippet illustrates the approach taken for data transmission:

This code highlights the Picker app's capability to handle various commands tailored for the weighing machine. In this snippet, await _socket.flush() is a critical operation ensuring the immediate transmission of the data to the weighing machine. This step is essential for real-time communication, reducing any potential delays in the delivery of commands and promoting a responsive and efficient interaction between the Picker app and the weighing machine.

Data Processing:

The core of the integration revolved around processing data received from the weighing machine. The team implemented a function, _calculateWeight, and was responsible for interpreting the data, extracting the weight value, and updating the application state accordingly.

The following code snippet illustrates the process of listening to data received from the weighing machine, manipulating it for accurate interpretation, and triggering the _calculateWeight function.

In this code, _socket.listen establishes a listener for incoming data from the weighing machine. The data is then adjusted to handle signed bytes, converted into a string, and passed to the _calculateWeight function for further processing. Additionally, error handling and connection closure events are included to provide a robust and resilient data processing mechanism.

The _calculateWeight function, responsible for interpreting and extracting the weight value, plays a pivotal role in ensuring the accuracy of the information received from the weighing machine.

This comprehensive approach to data processing ensures that Ouri's Market Picker app can seamlessly integrate with weighing machines, providing users with precise and real-time weight measurements.

Results

The successful implementation of socket communication transformed Ouri's Market, enhancing the Picker app's capability to integrate with weighing machines seamlessly. The outcomes include:

• Real-time Data Exchange: The Picker app can now communicate with weighing machines in real-time, ensuring accurate and up-to-date weight measurements.
• Enhanced Efficiency: The streamlined connection process and immediate data transmission contribute to the overall efficiency of marketplace operations.
• Accurate Calculations: The data processing mechanism ensures precise calculations of weights, providing users with reliable information.
• Improved User Experience: The integration has improved the user experience by eliminating delays and enhancing the overall responsiveness of the Picker app.

Conclusion

By leveraging socket communication, the team successfully bridged the gap between software and hardware, creating a seamless and efficient integration with the weighing machine. As technology continues to advance, such innovative solutions pave the way for a future where digital platforms seamlessly interact with the physical world, creating a more connected and efficient marketplace experience.

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