WiFi.scan() only returns result when connected to a network

[slacker89]

@armor

What were you trying to do with this?

This is to toggle the set up done flag so that I automatically do not go into listening mode. This is because I did not set up my Argon using the mobile app, just by USB. Sources:

• https://docs.particle.io/support/particle-devices-faq/mesh-setup-over-usb/#marking-setup-done
• Unable to Leave Listening Mode on BoronLTE

This only really needs to be done once but I left it there. It does not impact the functionality once the flag is toggled.

@armor

You can scan for available Wireless APs when connected to an access point but scanning will be blocked when the device is in process of connecting to (flashing green) an access point and also whilst negotiating the Particle cloud connection (flashing cyan). This is why you need to give the connection processes time to complete.

I guess this is my problem. I assume scanning would be working when flashing green. I had assume similar characteristics like a mobile phone (bad comparison I know) where you can still scan and see availble networks even though you have credentials saved and trying to connect to known wifi networks (or that they just made it seemless to the end user and automatically toggled scan and connecting states). Maybe this is a typical characteristic when dealing with WiFi at this level? If there are doc's describing this I would appreciate it, so far I'm running off just https://docs.particle.io/reference/device-os/firmware/argon/#scan-

Anyway, thanks to @ScruffR 's code above, it seems that this characteristic apparently widely known since he intentionally does a waitUntil(WiFi.ready); before scanning again. To resolve this issue, I did something similar to his code where I do a if (!WiFi.ready()) { WiFi.disconnect() }before a WiFi.scan(). After the WiFi.scan() I go back to WiFi.connect() again. The scan does have a delay but for my scenario I think its acceptable.

@armor

Once you have more than one AP stored then it gets difficult to determine without using the WICED error code (if you search on the forum there is a solution posted for getting this as it is not standard device OS) what is going on - is the stored AP out of range, is the stored AP’s credential (password) wrong, etc. If you haven’t come across WICED before - it stands for Wireless Internet Connection for Embedded Devices and is a closed source library that most WiFi devices use including Particle.

This is helpful, thanks for the information on WICED. I will definately look this up. Its good to always know more about why you are not connecting and probably feed this back to the end user.