Estimote Beacons PhoneGap plugin

• Just a wrapper around Estimote iOS SKD ( https://github.com/Estimote/iOS-SDK )
• NOTE This is work in progress, it's not even a beta version yet. Everything may change!
• NOTE It's my first encounter with Objective-C and PhoneGap plugins. Therefore, code may be rubbish, however ATM it's just a proof of concept.
• Please do ask questions and give feedback. I will appreciate all input.

Proof of concept app

I was able to build an app on the top of this plugin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cgvEY4ywM8

Build process

What I'm doing now to build my app is:

• Call phonegap build ios
• Install this plugin by calling phonegap local plugin add https://github.com/kdzwinel/phonegap-estimotebeacons
• Run the app from the Xcode

Basic usage

// start looking for beacons
window.EstimoteBeacons.startRangingBeaconsInRegion(function () {
    //every now and then get the list of beacons in range
    setInterval(function () {
        window.EstimoteBeacons.getBeacons(function (data) {
            //do something cool with the list of beacons
        });
    }, 1000);
});

See /examples directory for sample PhoneGap application(s).

Available methods

Not all methods are listed below, see EstimoteBeacons.js for a full list.

startRangingBeaconsInRegion

EstimoteBeacons.startRangingBeaconsInRegion(successCallback) ... Starts looking for beacons.

stopRangingBeaconsInRegion

EstimoteBeacons.stopRangingBeaconsInRegion(successCallback) ... Stops looking for beacons.

getBeacons

EstimoteBeacons.getBeacons(successCallback) ... Returns latest list of beacons found by startRangingBeaconsInRegion or startEstimoteBeaconsDiscoveryForRegion. You have to call this method periodically to be up to date with latest results.

connectToBeacon

EstimoteBeacons.connectToBeacon(major, minor, callback, errorCallback) ... Allows you to connect to the beacon by providing major/minor of the beacon.

• NOTE Connected beacon stops broadcasting and goes 'invisible' until it's disconnected again.
• NOTE You can be connected only to the one beacon at the time.
• NOTE You need to connect to the beacon to get some of its details (frequency, power, software version, etc.) and do any write opperatons (update software, change frequency etc.).

connectToBeaconByMacAddress

EstimoteBeacons.connectToBeaconByMacAddress(macAddress, callback, errorCallback) ... Allows you to connect to the beacon by providing its MAC Address. I used that to connect to the beacons with old software ( < v1.6 ).

• NOTE You have to use startEstimoteBeaconsDiscoveryForRegion to connect to the beacons with old software.

getConnectedBeacon

EstimoteBeacons.getConnectedBeacon(successCallback, errorCallback) ... Returns information about connected beacon. Data will contain beacon details such as: frequency, battery level, software version etc. These kind of details are not available via getBeacons.

disconnectFromBeacon

EstimoteBeacons.disconnectFromBeacon(callback, errorCallback)... Disconnects you from the connected beacon. Since there can be only one, you don't have to provide major/minor or MAC.

setAdvIntervalOfConnectedBeacon

EstimoteBeacons.setAdvIntervalOfConnectedBeacon(advInterval, callback, errorCallback)... Sets the advertising interval (frequency) of the connected beacon. You can set anything between 80 and 3200.

setPowerOfConnectedBeacon

EstimoteBeacons.setPowerOfConnectedBeacon(power, callback, errorCallback) ... Sets the power of the connected beacon. You can choose from -40, -20, -16, -12, -8, -4, 0, 4.

updateFirmwareOfConnectedBeacon

EstimoteBeacons.updateFirmwareOfConnectedBeacon(progressCallback, successCallback, errorCallback) .. Updates the softwere of connected beacon (if needed).

• NOTE I was able to succesfully upgrade 3 devices with that method so it's tested, but still - use it with caution! Make sure that beacon is near the phone and that your phone has stable Internet connection.

startVirtualBeacon

EstimoteBeacons.startVirtualBeacon(major, minor, id, successCallback) ... Device starts advertising as a beacon with given major/minor and id.

• NOTE You can't conect to the virtual beacon.
• NOTE Device that acts as a virtual beacon can still see other beacons, but won't see itself.

stopVirtualBeacon

EstimoteBeacons.stopVirtualBeacon(successCallback) ... Device stops advertising as a beacon.