Phonegap Plugins - objective-c

Question

I need some Help regarding Phonegap plugins:
First , i have a JS File which invoke the native code using the phonegap.exec() containing the result handler function, error handler function , a reference to the native class's name and native function name as well as an array of parameters . My question is : if it is possible to invoke the function (native method) with given specified parameters?
That means : in my phonegap plugin file (.h & .m)
1- can i specify the arguments and their Types (NSInteger, NSString) like java
void myMethod(int a , string b){}
-(void) myMethod:(NSMutableArray )arguments withDict:(NSMutableDictionary)options;
Or is it as specified by Phonegap or Objective C ?
2- And what does it withDict means in this case ??
3- can i addicate this?
4- Why should my Code looks like this ?
-(void)myMethod: (NSMutableArray*)arguments withDict:(NSMutableDictionary*)options {
NSString *callbackID =[arguments pop];
NSString *myParam = #"";
NSArray *arrayArguments = [[arguments objectAtIndex:0] componentsSeparatedByString:#"|"];
NSString *stringArgument = ([arArguments objectAtIndex:0]);
I want to invoke my method like this :
why shall i put my arguments (as a String array element) then take it out , split it to get the right element from the String )?
Many Thanks for helping

Answer 1

Ok here's how you do it… The example I've added in below is a implementation of the Email plugin in Phonegap, with multiple strings. You can always substitute my string code to identify NSNumbers, or any other kind of arguments.
In JS ::
First I create the arguments with their values. . .
var attachmentData = {};
attachmentData.data = userData;
attachmentData.fileName = fileName;
var mailData = {};
mailData.toRecipients = "";
mailData.subject = "Exporting Backup for user data";
mailData.body = "User data for application. Please find the attachment containing the data from the last week.";
nativeMail(attachmentData, mailData);
Now we call a function that packages all this data for a Phonegap Plugin and sends it to the plugin class
function nativeMail(attachmentData, mailData){
e_args = {};
if(mailData.toRecipients)
e_args.toRecipients = mailData.toRecipients;
if(mailData.subject)
e_args.subject = mailData.subject; //"Hello World";
if(mailData.body)
e_args.body = mailData.body;
//call to phonegap plugin for native mail iOS
e_args.attachmentFileName = attachmentData.fileName;
e_args.datatoattach = attachmentData.data;
cordova.exec(null, fail, "EmailComposer", "showEmailComposer", [e_args]);
}
Now the EmailComposer.h file
- (void) showEmailComposer:(NSMutableArray*)arguments withDict:(NSMutableDictionary*)options;
And finally, how to take these arguments from the Mutablle Dictionary/Array and retrieve our string values.
- (void) showEmailComposer:(NSMutableArray*)arguments withDict:(NSMutableDictionary*)options
{
NSString* toRecipientsString = [options valueForKey:#"toRecipients"];
NSString* ccRecipientsString = [options valueForKey:#"ccRecipients"];
NSString* bccRecipientsString = [options valueForKey:#"bccRecipients"];
NSString* subject = [options valueForKey:#"subject"];
NSString* body = [options valueForKey:#"body"];
NSString* isHTML = [options valueForKey:#"bIsHTML"];
. . . . . .
}
This is the only way to go about it. Its to do with the way that Phonegap itself handles data to be passed from your javascript web app to the native class. It cannot be changed. The MutableDictionary or the MutableArray will handle any kind of data you need it to. There are no limitations. However, the passing of this data can only be done using the format above. Once you have the options and arguments in the .m class, you are free to retrieve them or parse them into the data type you need.