PhoneGap NFC Plugin
The PhoneGap NFC Plugin provides access to Near Field Communication (NFC) functionality, allowing applications to read NDEF message in NFC tags. A "tag" may actually be another device that appears as a tag.
Supported Platforms
- Android
Requires PhoneGap 1.0
Configuration
Assuming you have an existing PhoneGap 1.0 Android project:
Java
Download phonegap-nfc.jar and add it to lib/
Configure the NfcPlugin in res/xml/plugins.xml
<plugin name="NfcPlugin" value="com.chariotsolutions.nfc.plugin.NfcPlugin"/>
JavaScript
Download phonegap-nfc.js and add it to assets/www
Include phonegap-nfc.js in index.html
<script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8" src="phonegap-nfc.js"></script>
AndroidManifest.xml
Add NFC permissions
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.NFC" />
<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.nfc" android:required="true" />
Ensure that the minSdkVersion
is 10
<uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="10" />
NFC
The nfc object provides access to the devices's NFC sensor.
Methods
- nfc.addTagDiscoveredListener
- nfc.addMimeTypeListener
- nfc.addNdefListener
- nfc.addNdefFormatableListener
- nfc.write
- nfc.share
- nfc.unshare
- nfc.erase
nfc.addTagDiscoveredListener
Registers an event listener for tags matching any tag type.
nfc.addTagDiscoveredListener(callback, [onSuccess], [onFailure]);
Parameters
- callback: The callback that is called when a tag is detected.
- onSuccess: (Optional) The callback that is called when the listener is added.
- onFailure: (Optional) The callback that is called if there was an error.
Description
Function nfc.addTagDiscoveredListener
registers the callback for tag events.
This event occurs when any tag is detected by the phone.
Supported Platforms
- Android
nfc.addMimeTypeListener
Registers an event listener for NDEF tags matching a specified MIME type.
nfc.addMimeTypeListener(mimeType, callback, [onSuccess], [onFailure]);
Parameters
- mimeType: The MIME type to filter for messages.
- callback: The callback that is called when an NDEF tag matching the MIME type is read.
- onSuccess: (Optional) The callback that is called when the listener is added.
- onFailure: (Optional) The callback that is called if there was an error.
Description
Function nfc.addMimeTypeListener
registers the callback for ndef-mime events.
A ndef-mime event occurs when a Ndef.TNF_MIME_MEDIA
tag is read and matches the specified MIME type.
This function can be called multiple times to register different MIME types.
Supported Platforms
- Android
nfc.addNdefListener
Registers an event listener for any NDEF tag.
nfc.addNdefListener(callback, [onSuccess], [onFailure]);
Parameters
- callback: The callback that is called when an NDEF tag is read.
- onSuccess: (Optional) The callback that is called when the listener is added.
- onFailure: (Optional) The callback that is called if there was an error.
Description
Function nfc.addNdefListener
registers the callback for ndef events.
A ndef event occurs when a NDEF tag is read.
NOTE: Registered mimeTypeListeners takes precedence over the more generic NDEF listener.
Supported Platforms
- Android
nfc.addNdefFormatableListener
Registers an event listener for formatable NDEF tags.
nfc.addNdefFormatableListener(callback, [onSuccess], [onFailure]);
Parameters
- callback: The callback that is called when NDEF formatable tag is read.
- onSuccess: (Optional) The callback that is called when the listener is added.
- onFailure: (Optional) The callback that is called if there was an error.
Description
Function nfc.addNdefFormatableListener
registers the callback for ndef-formatable events.
A ndef-formatable event occurs when a tag is read that can be NDEF formatted. This is not fired for tags that are already formatted as NDEF. The ndef-formatable event will not contain an NdefMessage.
Supported Platforms
- Android
nfc.write
Writes data to an NDEF tag.
nfc.write(ndefMessage, [onSuccess], [onFailure]);
Parameters
- ndefMessage: The NdefMessage that is written to the tag.
- onSuccess: (Optional) The callback that is called when the tag is written.
- onFailure: (Optional) The callback that is called if there was an error.
Description
Function nfc.write
writes an NdefMessage to a NFC tag.
This method must be called from within an NDEF Event Handler.
Supported Platforms
- Android
nfc.share
Shares a NdefMessage via peer-to-peer.
nfc.share(ndefMessage, [onSuccess], [onFailure]);
Parameters
- ndefMessage: The NdefMessage that is shared.
- onSuccess: (Optional) The callback that is called when the message is pushed.
- onFailure: (Optional) The callback that is called if there was an error.
Description
Function nfc.share
writes an NdefMessage via peer-to-peer. This should appear as an NFC tag to another device.
Supported Platforms
- Android
nfc.unshare
Stop sharing NDEF data via peer-to-peer.
nfc.unshare([onSuccess], [onFailure]);
Parameters
- onSuccess: (Optional) The callback that is called when sharing stops.
- onFailure: (Optional) The callback that is called if there was an error.
Description
Function nfc.unshare
stops sharing data via peer-to-peer.
nfc.erase
Erase a NDEF tag
nfc.erase([onSuccess], [onFailure]);
Parameters
- onSuccess: (Optional) The callback that is called when sharing stops.
- onFailure: (Optional) The callback that is called if there was an error.
Description
Function nfc.erase
erases a tag by writing an empty message. Will format unformatted tags before writing.
This method must be called from within an NDEF Event Handler.
Supported Platforms
- Android
Ndef
The Ndef object provides NDEF constants, functions for creating NdefRecords, and functions for converting data. See android.nfc.NdefRecord for documentation about constants
NdefMessage
Represents an NDEF (NFC Data Exchange Format) data message that contains one or more NdefRecords. This plugin uses an array of NdefRecords to represent an NdefMessage.
NdefRecord
Represents a logical (unchunked) NDEF (NFC Data Exchange Format) record.
Properties
- tnf: 3-bit TNF (Type Name Format) - use one of the TNF_* constants
- type: byte array, containing zero to 255 bytes, must not be null
- id: byte array, containing zero to 255 bytes, must not be null
- payload: byte array, containing zero to (2 ** 32 - 1) bytes, must not be null
The Ndef object has a function for creating NdefRecords
var record = Ndef.record(Ndef.TNF_ABSOLUTE_URI, Ndef.RTD_URI, [], Ndef.stringToBytes("http://chariotsolutions.com"));
There are also helper functions for some types of records
var record = Ndef.uriRecord("http://chariotsolutions.com");
See Ndef.record
, Ndef.textRecord
, Ndef.mimeMediaRecord
, and Ndef.uriRecord
.
The Ndef object has functions to convert some data types to and from byte arrays.
See the phonegap-nfc.js source for more documentation.
NDEF Events
NDEF Events are fired when NFC tags are read. Listeners are added by registering callback with the nfc
object.
Properties
- type: event type
- tag: Ndef tag
Types
- ndef-mime
- ndef
- ndef-formatable
Sample Event
{
type: "ndef",
tag: {
"type": "NFC Forum Type 2",
"maxSize": 137,
"isWritable": true,
"canMakeReadOnly": true,
"ndefMessage": [{
"id": [],
"type": [116, 101, 120, 116, 47, 112, 103],
"payload": [72, 101, 108, 108, 111, 32, 80, 104, 111, 110, 101, 71, 97, 112, 33],
"tnf": 2
}]
}
}
Intents
Intents can be used to launch your application when a NFC tag is read. This is optional and configured in AndroidManifest.xml.
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.nfc.action.NDEF_DISCOVERED" />
<data android:mimeType="text/pg" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
</intent-filter>
Note: data android:mimeType="text/pg"
should match the data type you specified in JavaScript
We have found it necessary to add android:noHistory="true"
to the activity element so that scanning a tag launches the application after the user has pressed the home button.
Sample Projects
License
The MIT License
Copyright (c) 2011 Chariot Solutions
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.