Cordova Geofence Plugin

Plugin to monitor circular geofences using mobile devices. The purpose is to notify user if crossing the boundary of the monitored geofence.

Geofences persist after device reboot. You do not have to open your app first to monitor added geofences

Example applications

Check out our example applications:

• https://github.com/cowbell/ionic-geofence built with Ionic framework
• https://github.com/tsubik/ionic2-geofence built with Ionic 2 framework
• https://github.com/cowbell/ember-geofence built with Ember.js, Cordova, Material Design

Installation

From master

cordova plugin add https://github.com/cowbell/cordova-plugin-geofence

Latest stable version

cordova plugin add cordova-plugin-geofence

Removing the Plugin from project

Using cordova CLI

cordova plugin rm cordova-plugin-geofence

Supported Platforms

• Android
• iOS >=7.0
• Windows Phone 8.1
  • using Universal App (cordova windows platform)
  • using Silverlight App (cordova wp8 platform retargeted to WP 8.1)

Known Limitations

This plugin is a wrapper on devices' native APIs which mean it comes with limitations of those APIs.

Geofence Limit

There are certain limits of geofences that you can set in your application depends on the platform of use.

• iOS - 20 geofences
• Android - 100 geofences

Javascript background execution

This is known limitation. When in background your app may/will be suspended to not use system resources. Therefore, any javascript code won't run, only background services can run in the background. Local notification when user crosses a geofence region will still work, but any custom javascript code won't. If you want to perform a custom action on geofence crossing, try to write it in native code.

Platform specifics

Android

This plugin uses Google Play Services so you need to have it installed on your device.

iOS

Plugin is written in Swift. All xcode project options to enable swift support are set up automatically after plugin is installed thanks to cordova-plugin-add-swift-support.

⚠️ Swift 3 is not supported at the moment, the following preference has to be added in your project :

For Cordova projects

<preference name="UseLegacySwiftLanguageVersion" value="true" />

For PhoneGap projects

<preference name="swift-version" value="2.3" />

iOS Quirks

Since iOS 10 it's mandatory to add a NSLocationAlwaysUsageDescription and NSLocationWhenInUseUsageDescription entries in the info.plist.

NSLocationWhenInUseUsageDescription describes the reason that the app accesses the user's location. NSLocationAlwaysUsageDescription describes the reason that the app accesses the user's location when not in use (in the background).

When the system prompts the user to allow access, this string is displayed as part of the dialog box. To add this entry you can pass the variable GEOFENCE_IN_USE_USAGE_DESCRIPTION and GEOFENCE_ALWAYS_USAGE_DESCRIPTION on plugin install.

Example: cordova plugin add cordova-plugin-geofence --variable GEOFENCE_IN_USE_USAGE_DESCRIPTION="your usage message" --variable GEOFENCE_ALWAYS_USAGE_DESCRIPTION="your usage message"

If you don't pass the variable, the plugin will add a default string as value.

Windows phone 8.1

Plugin can be used with both windows phone 8.1 type projects Univeral App, Silverlight App.

In order to use toast notifications you have to enable this feature in appxmanifest file either using UI in Visual Studio or edit file setting attribute ToastCapable="true" in m3:VisualElements node under Package/Applications/Application.

If you are retargeting WP 8.0 to WP 8.1 you need to register background task to perform geofence notifications. Register it via UI in Visual Studio or add following code under Package/Applications/Application/Extensions

<Extension Category="windows.backgroundTasks" EntryPoint="GeofenceComponent.GeofenceTrigger">
    <BackgroundTasks>
        <m2:Task Type="location" />
    </BackgroundTasks>
</Extension>

Using the plugin

Cordova initialize plugin to window.geofence object.

Methods

All methods returning promises, but you can also use standard callback functions.

• window.geofence.initialize(onSuccess, onError)
• window.geofence.addOrUpdate(geofences, onSuccess, onError)
• window.geofence.remove(geofenceId, onSuccess, onError)
• window.geofence.removeAll(onSuccess, onError)
• window.geofence.getWatched(onSuccess, onError)

For listening of geofence transistion you can override onTransitionReceived method

• window.geofence.onTransitionReceived(geofences)

Constants

• TransitionType.ENTER = 1
• TransitionType.EXIT = 2
• TransitionType.BOTH = 3

Error Codes

Both onError function handler and promise rejection take error object as an argument.

error: {
    code: String,
    message: String
}

Error codes:

• UNKNOWN
• PERMISSION_DENIED
• GEOFENCE_NOT_AVAILABLE
• GEOFENCE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED

Plugin initialization

The plugin is not available until deviceready event is fired.

document.addEventListener('deviceready', function () {
    // window.geofence is now available
    window.geofence.initialize().then(function () {
        console.log("Successful initialization");
    }, function (error) {
        console.log("Error", error);
    });
}, false);

Initialization process is responsible for requesting neccessary permissions. If required permissions are not granted then initialization fails with error message.

Adding new geofence to monitor

window.geofence.addOrUpdate({
    id:             String, //A unique identifier of geofence
    latitude:       Number, //Geo latitude of geofence
    longitude:      Number, //Geo longitude of geofence
    radius:         Number, //Radius of geofence in meters
    transitionType: Number, //Type of transition 1 - Enter, 2 - Exit, 3 - Both
    notification: {         //Notification object
        id:             Number, //optional should be integer, id of notification
        title:          String, //Title of notification
        text:           String, //Text of notification
        smallIcon:      String, //Small icon showed in notification area, only res URI
        icon:           String, //icon showed in notification drawer
        openAppOnClick: Boolean,//is main app activity should be opened after clicking on notification
        vibration:      [Integer], //Optional vibration pattern - see description
        data:           Object  //Custom object associated with notification
    }
}).then(function () {
    console.log('Geofence successfully added');
}, function (error) {
    console.log('Adding geofence failed', error);
});

Adding more geofences at once

window.geofence.addOrUpdate([geofence1, geofence2, geofence3]);

Geofence overrides the previously one with the same id.

All geofences are stored on the device and restored to monitor after device reboot.

Notification overrides the previously one with the same notification.id.

Notification vibrations

You can set vibration pattern for the notification or disable default vibrations.

To change vibration pattern set vibrate property of notification object in geofence.

Examples

//disable vibrations
notification: {
    vibrate: [0]
}

//Vibrate for 1 sec
//Wait for 0.5 sec
//Vibrate for 2 sec
notification: {
    vibrate: [1000, 500, 2000]
}

Platform quirks

Fully working only on Android.

On iOS vibration pattern doesn't work. Plugin only allow to vibrate with default system pattern.

Windows Phone - current status is TODO

Notification icons

To set notification icons use icon and smallIcon property in notification object.

As a value you can enter:

• name of native resource or your application resource e.g. res://ic_menu_mylocation, res://icon, res://ic_menu_call
• relative path to file in www directory e.g. file://img/ionic.png

smallIcon - supports only resources URI

Examples

notification: {
    smallIcon: 'res://my_location_icon',
    icon: 'file://img/geofence.png'
}

Platform quirks

Works only on Android platform so far.

Removing

Removing single geofence

window.geofence.remove(geofenceId)
    .then(function () {
        console.log('Geofence sucessfully removed');
    }
    , function (error){
        console.log('Removing geofence failed', error);
    });

Removing more than one geofence at once.

window.geofence.remove([geofenceId1, geofenceId2, geofenceId3]);

Removing all geofences

window.geofence.removeAll()
    .then(function () {
        console.log('All geofences successfully removed.');
    }
    , function (error) {
        console.log('Removing geofences failed', error);
    });

Getting watched geofences from device

window.geofence.getWatched().then(function (geofencesJson) {
    var geofences = JSON.parse(geofencesJson);
});

Listening for geofence transitions

window.geofence.onTransitionReceived = function (geofences) {
    geofences.forEach(function (geo) {
        console.log('Geofence transition detected', geo);
    });
};

Listening for geofence transitions in native code

Android

For android plugin broadcasting intent com.cowbell.cordova.geofence.TRANSITION. You can implement your own BroadcastReceiver and start listening for this intent.

Register receiver in AndroidManifest.xml

<receiver android:name="YOUR_APP_PACKAGE_NAME.TransitionReceiver">
    <intent-filter>
        <action android:name="com.cowbell.cordova.geofence.TRANSITION" />
    </intent-filter>
</receiver>

Example TransitionReceiver.java code

......
import com.cowbell.cordova.geofence.Gson;
import com.cowbell.cordova.geofence.GeoNotification;

public class TransitionReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {

    @Override
    public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
        String error = intent.getStringExtra("error");

        if (error != null) {
            //handle error
            Log.println(Log.ERROR, "YourAppTAG", error);
        } else {
            String geofencesJson = intent.getStringExtra("transitionData");
            GeoNotification[] geoNotifications = Gson.get().fromJson(geofencesJson, GeoNotification[].class);
            //handle geoNotifications objects
        }
    }
}

When the app is opened via Notification click

Android, iOS only

window.geofence.onNotificationClicked = function (notificationData) {
    console.log('App opened from Geo Notification!', notificationData);
};

Example usage

Adding geofence to monitor entering Gliwice city center area of radius 3km

window.geofence.addOrUpdate({
    id:             "69ca1b88-6fbe-4e80-a4d4-ff4d3748acdb",
    latitude:       50.2980049,
    longitude:      18.6593152,
    radius:         3000,
    transitionType: TransitionType.ENTER,
    notification: {
        id:             1,
        title:          "Welcome in Gliwice",
        text:           "You just arrived to Gliwice city center.",
        openAppOnClick: true
    }
}).then(function () {
    console.log('Geofence successfully added');
}, function (reason) {
    console.log('Adding geofence failed', reason);
})

Development

Installation

• git clone https://github.com/cowbell/cordova-plugin-geofence
• change into the new directory
• npm install

Running tests

• Start emulator
• cordova-paramedic --platform android --plugin .

Testing on iOS

Before you run cordova-paramedic install npm install -g ios-sim

Troubleshooting

Add --verbose at the end of cordova-paramedic command.

License

This software is released under the Apache 2.0 License.

© 2014-2017 Cowbell-labs. All rights reserved