Cordova Plugin Architecture

A Cordova plugin contains at least three files: plugin.xml, common code, and platform-specific code. The plugin.xml contains some metadata about the plugin, such as its name and ID. You can use this metadata when you add the plugin to a Cordova project. You can also define the common parts of the plugin and copy any necessary resource files. This is an example of a plugin file structure:

C:\WORKS\TEST\SAMPLEPLUGIN
| -- plugin.xml
| -- README.md
| -- src
|	--  windows
| 		-- hello_proxy.js
| --  www
| 	-- hello.js

plugin.xml is located at the first level of the file structure, the common code is located in the www folder, and the platform-specific code is located in the windows folder.

Creating the plugin.xml File

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<plugin xmlns="http://www.phonegap.com/ns/plugins/1.0"
        id="com.sap.test.sample"
        version="1.0.0">
  <name>Sample Plugin</name>
  <js-module src="www/hello.js" name="hello">
    <clobbers target="sap.hello" />
  </js-module>
  <platform name="windows">
    <js-module name="hello_proxy" src="src/windows/hello_proxy.js">
          <clobbers target="hello_proxy"/>
    </js-module>
  </platform>
</plugin>

Creating Common Content

Create the common content that is used by all platforms. In this example, the code is saved in the hello.js file:

/*global cordova, module*/

module.exports = {
    sayHello: function (name, successCallback, errorCallback) {
        //The plugin calls the native (proxy) layer of the plugin
        cordova.exec(successCallback, errorCallback, "HelloProxy", "sayHello", name);
    }
};
});

Creating Platform-Specific Content

The sayHello function in this sample calls the native layer of this plugin. In this example, the Windows-specific layer is in the hello_proxy.js file located in src\windows:

var exec = require("cordova/exec");

module.exports = {
    sayHello: function (successCallback, errorCallback, name) {
        try {
            var response = "Hello my friend, " + name;
            successCallback(response);
        } catch(err) {
            errorCallback(err)
        }
    }
};

//The proxy will be available for the Cordova
require("cordova/exec/proxy").add("HelloProxy", module.exports);
});

Installing the SamplePlugin into a Cordova Project