Question

What is the API call I need to make in Android 2.2 (Froyo) to create a Wifi hotspot (as seen in the Tethering and Portable Hotspot settings item).

Answer 1

You can call

private boolean setWifiApEnabled(WifiConfiguration wifiConfig, boolean enabled);

using reflection 🙂

after getting the WifiManager use the reflection to get the WifiManager declared methods, look for this method name setWifiApEnabled and invoke it through the WifiManager object

These API are marked as @hide, so currently you cannot use them directly, but they appear on the AIDL for the WifiManager so their are accessible!

An example can be:

WifiManager wifi = (WifiManager) getSystemService(Context.WIFI_SERVICE);
Method[] wmMethods = wifi.getClass().getDeclaredMethods();
for(Method method: wmMethods){
  if(method.getName().equals("setWifiApEnabled")){
    WifiConfiguration netConfig = new WifiConfiguration();
    netConfig.SSID = "\"PROVAAP\"";
    netConfig.allowedAuthAlgorithms.set(WifiConfiguration.AuthAlgorithm.OPEN);
    netConfig.allowedProtocols.set(WifiConfiguration.Protocol.RSN);
    netConfig.allowedProtocols.set(WifiConfiguration.Protocol.WPA);
    netConfig.allowedKeyManagement.set(WifiConfiguration.KeyMgmt.WPA_PSK);    netConfig.allowedPairwiseCiphers.set(WifiConfiguration.PairwiseCipher.CCMP);
    netConfig.allowedPairwiseCiphers.set(WifiConfiguration.PairwiseCipher.TKIP);
    netConfig.allowedGroupCiphers.set(WifiConfiguration.GroupCipher.CCMP);
    netConfig.allowedGroupCiphers.set(WifiConfiguration.GroupCipher.TKIP);  

    try {
      method.invoke(wifi, netConfig,true);
    } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
      e.printStackTrace();
    } catch (IllegalAccessException e) {
      e.printStackTrace();
    } catch (InvocationTargetException e) {
      e.printStackTrace();
    }
  }
}

It works but I cannot change the current configuration with my own, and getting the current WifiConfiguration of an active AP drive me to an empty configuration.Why?