About the Wi-Fi Direct feature
The Native Wifi API contains a set of functions that support the use of Wi-Fi Direct for desktop apps. Starting on Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012, Wi-Fi Direct functions were added to the Native Wifi API.
The Wi-Fi Direct feature is based on the development of the Wi-Fi Peer-to-Peer Technical Specification v1.1 by the Wi-Fi Alliance (see Wi-Fi Alliance Published Specifications). The goal of the Wi-Fi Peer-to-Peer Technical Specification is to provide a solution for Wi-Fi device-to-device connectivity without the need for either a Wireless Access Point (wireless AP) to setup the connection or the use of the existing Wi-Fi ad hoc (IBSS) mechanism.
Note
Ad hoc mode might not be available in future versions of Windows. Starting with Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2, use Wi-Fi Direct instead.
For a desktop app, the Wi-Fi Direct feature requires that Wi-FI Direct devices be previously paired by the user with the Windows Pairing experience user interface. Once this pairing is completed, a profile is stored that allows the Wi-Fi Direct functions to be used to start a Wi-Fi Direct session to establish a connection between the Wi-Fi Direct devices.
The following functions support the Wi-Fi Direct feature.
- WFDCancelOpenSession - Indicates that the app wants to cancel a pending WFDStartOpenSession function that has not completed.
- WFDCloseHandle - Closes a handle to the Wi-Fi Direct service.
- WFDCloseSession - Closes a session after a previously successful call to the WFDStartOpenSession function.
- WFDOpenHandle - Opens a handle to the Wi-Fi Direct service and negotiates a version of the Wi-FI Direct API to use.
- WFDOpenLegacySession - Retrieves and applies a stored profile for a Wi-Fi Direct legacy device.
- WFDStartOpenSession - Starts an on-demand connection to a specific Wi-Fi Direct device, which has been previously paired through the Windows Pairing experience.
- WFDUpdateDeviceVisibility - Updates device visibility for the Wi-Fi Direct device address for a given installed Wi-Fi Direct device node.
- WFD_OPEN_SESSION_COMPLETE_CALLBACK - Defines the callback function that is called by the WFDStartOpenSession function when the WFDStartOpenSession operation completes
For more information on using Wi-Fi Direct in a desktop app, see Using the Wi-Fi Direct functions.
For more information on Wi-Fi Direct for use in Windows Store apps, see PeerFinder and related classes in the Windows.Networking.Proximity namespace.
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