Cordova Plugins

Introduction

Cordova plugins are used to access native device functionality from JavaScript. They are used to access the camera, GPS, file system, etc. They use native code relevant to the platform they are running on. iOS builds interface with Objective-C, Android builds interface with Java.

The plugins folder contains the plugins that are installed. Each plugin is a node package that contains the native code for the plugin, as well as the javascript code for the plugin. The javascript code is used to interface with the native code. The native code is used to interface with the native APIs of the platform.

You can install a plugin by running cordova plugin add <plugin-name>. This will install the plugin in the plugins folder.

Example directory structure of a plugin:

.
├── package.json
├── plugin.xml // plugin configuration file - similar to app config.xml
├── src
│   ├── android
│   │   └── MyPlugin.java // native code for android
│   └── ios
│       └── MyPlugin.m // native objective-c code for ios
└── www
    └── MyPlugin.js // javascript code for plugin that interfaces with native code and exposes plugin to webview

Plugins we use

iOS 🍏 Android 🤖

Plugin Name	Handles	Areas Used	Platform
cordova-plugin-camera	Native camera	Inspection photos	🍏🤖
cordova-plugin-device	Working out current running OS version	Android Permissions	🤖
cordova-plugin-dialogs	Requesting Permissions	Android Permissions	🤖
cordova-plugin-file	Handling files on device storage	Photos and map downloads	🍏🤖
cordova-plugin-geolocation	GPS	User Location Tracking	🍏🤖
cordova-plugin-network-information	Network connection information	Work planning upload	🍏🤖
cordova-plugin-ns0m-file-transfer	Uploading files stored on device	Photo uploads	🍏🤖
cordova-plugin-zip	Unzipping files stored on device	Map Downloads	🍏🤖
cordova-sqlite-storage	Store for app data offline.	Interacting with app offline	🍏🤖
cordova.plugins.diagnostic	Requesting Permissions	Android Permissions	🤖
cordova-plugin-bluetooth-serial	Connecting with bluetooth devices	High Accuracy	🤖
uk.co.interactive.drains.gnss	Interfacing with external GPS devices	High Accuracy	🤖
uk.co.interactive.drains.gnss-bluetooth-le	Interfacing with external GPS devices	High Accuracy	🤖
uk.co.kaarbontech.ktexternal-sd	Checking SD card details	Map Downloads	🤖
cordova-plugin-statusbar	Native status bar	iOS quirk: Stop iOS app being hid behind it	🍏
cordova-plugin-wkwebview-file-xhr	Web requests from iOS	iOS quirk: Loading online resources like maps	🍏