What is cordova plugin

Cordova plugin contains JavaScript code and Native code that communicates with each other to pass data between the web and native functions.

How to create create cordova plugin

You can easily create cordova plugin with below configure steps:

Configuration Steps

Step 1: We need to install plugman to create cordova plugin. Install plugman via below npm command.

/workspace/MyIonicApp$ sudo npm -g install plugman

Step 2: Then create a new plugin via the following command:

/workspace/MyIonicApp$ plugman create -name DiyalogChat -plugin_id im.diyalog.ionicplugin -plugin_version 1.0.0

Once done, in the root folder of project there is a new folder generated, whose name is DiyalogChat.

Step 3: I need to develop a plugin used for Android platform, so enable the created plugin with Android platform via command:

/workspace/MyIonicApp$ cd DiyalogChat/

/workspace/MyIonicApp/DiyalogChat$ plugman platform add --platform_name android

Once done, a DiyalogChat.java source file is created, which is used to performing native API call.

Step 4: Perform the following command to generate a descriptor file, package.json for created plugin. Just press enter key again and again to simply use the default value.

/workspace/MyIonicApp/DiyalogChat$ plugman createpackagejson ./

name: (im.diyalog.ionicplugin)

Once done, the package.json file is generated within plugin folder

Step 5: Add this plugin to ionic sample application.

/workspace/MyIonicApp/DiyalogChat$ cd ..

/workspace/MyIonicApp$ cordova plugin add DiyalogChat/

Once done, in config.xml in the root folder, our plugin is added.

<plugin name="im.diyalog.ionicplugin" spec="DiyalogChat" />

Now you can use DiyalogChat plugin in another application also, just copy folder DiyalogChat folder from root folder of the project.