Mohammed Irfan Shirur: PhoneGap 3.0 Setup

Setup Cordova 3.0

As all of you are aware that phonegap has released a new version 3.0, which has incorporated architectural changes in it. And some of the basic things like creating project, building project, adding platform supports, adding PhoneGap API and adding Custom plug-in to the project has changed.

Before you start the installation processes please go through this link: Adobe-phonegap-3.0-released

Steps to Configure Cordova 3.0

1. Make sure you install node.js in Mac/windows machine.
2. Once you have installednode.js , then open your command line and run the following:
C:\> npm install -g Cordova

3. Once installation completes, you can invoke Cordova on command line for further help.

List of project command for Cordova

1. To create a Cordova project
$ cordova create my-app # create a Cordova project

2. Usage of Cordova commands
$ cordova [options] [commands]

Commands:

I. create <path> create a phonegap project

II. build <platform> build a specific platform

III. install <platform> install a specific platform

IV. run <platform> build and install a specific platform

V. local [command] development on local system

VI. remote [command] development in cloud with phonegap/build

VII. help [command] output usage information

VIII. version output version number

Options:

I. -V, --verbose allow verbose output

II. -v, --version output version number

III. -h, --help output usage information

Examples:

I. To Get the Cordova help type the following command in command line.

$ Cordova help

II. To create Cordova project, first locate the project folder.

$ First redirect to you work space using the cd/ls commands

$ Cordova create FirstApp #Create a Cordova project

$ cd FirstApp # Change the folder to app location

3.       Platforms Commands
$ “Cordova platform [ls | list]” list all platforms the project will build to   $ “Cordova platform add <platform> [<platform> ...]” add one (or more) platforms as a build target for the project
   $ “Cordova platform [rm | remove] <platform> [<platform> ...]” removes one (or more) platforms as a build target for the project

4. Plug-in Commands

$ “Cordova plugin [ls | list]” list all plugins added to the project

$ “Cordova plugin add <path-to-plugin> [<path-to-plugin> ...]” add one (or more) plugins to the project

$”Cordova plugin [rm | remove] <plugin-name> [<plugin-name> ...]” remove one (or more) added plugin’s

5. Build Commands

$ “Cordova build” will build added platform projects like iOS, android etc..

$ “Cordova build <android/ios etc..>” Will build the specific platform like iOS, Android ect

Project Directory Structure:

A Cordova application built with cordova-cli will have the following directory structure:

.cordova/

This directory identifies a tree as a Cordova project. Simple configuration information is stored in here (such as BlackBerry environment variables).

Commands other than `create` operate against the project directory itself, rather than the current directory - a search up the current directory's parents is made to find the project directory. Thus, any command (other than `create`) can be used from any subdirectory whose parent is a Cordova project directory (same as git).

merges/

Platform-specific web assets (HTML, CSS and JavaScript files) are contained within appropriate subfolders in this directory. These are deployed during a `prepare` to the appropriate native directory. Files placed under `merges/` will override matching files in the `www/` folder for the relevant platform.

www/

Contain the project resources such as .html, .css and .js files. These are your main application assets. They will be copied on a `cordova prepare` to each platform's www directory.

config.xml

This file is what you should be editing to modify your application's metadata. Any time you run any cordova-cli commands, the tool will look at the contents of `config.xml` and use all relevant info from this file to define native application information. cordova-cli supports changing your application's data via the following elements inside the `config.xml` file:

platforms/

Platforms added to your application will have the native application project structures laid out within this directory.

plugins/

Any added plugins will be extracted or copied into this directory.