Location Access Plugin

Smart WebView’s LocationPlugin provides a modern, secure, and battery-efficient way to access the device’s location from your web application.

Enabling Location Services

1. Enable in Configuration: In swv.properties, ensure the LOCATION permission group is requested on launch.

   # swv.properties
   permissions.on.launch=NOTIFICATIONS,LOCATION
   

2. Enable the Plugin: Make sure LocationPlugin is in the plugins.enabled list.

   # swv.properties
   plugins.enabled=LocationPlugin,ToastPlugin,...
   

Permissions

The app declares and requests ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION. The user must grant this permission at runtime for the feature to work.

How it Works

The LocationPlugin provides a JavaScript interface that your web code can call on demand. This is more efficient than constantly tracking the user’s location.

1. JavaScript Call: Your web app calls window.SWVLocation.getCurrentPosition(), passing a callback function.
2. Native Request: The plugin receives the request and asks the Android system for the current location.
3. Timeout & Cache Fallback: The plugin waits up to 10 seconds for a GPS fix. If no result is returned in time, it automatically falls back to the last known cached location (via GeolocationCachePlugin). This ensures your web app always receives some coordinates even in poor signal conditions.
4. Callback Execution: Once the location is retrieved (or if an error occurs), the plugin executes your JavaScript callback, passing the latitude, longitude, and any error message as arguments.

Accessing Coordinates in JavaScript:

This is the recommended way to get location data.

// Check if the location feature is available
if (window.SWVLocation) {
  
  // Request the current position
  window.SWVLocation.getCurrentPosition(function(lat, lng, error) {
    if (error) {
      console.error("Location Error:", error);
      // e.g., display an error message to the user
      return;
    }

    console.log(`Latitude: ${lat}, Longitude: ${lng}`);
    // Use the coordinates in your web app
    // e.g., show a marker on a map
  });

} else {
  console.log('Location feature not available.');
}

Required Plugins

LocationPlugin depends on GeolocationCachePlugin to store and retrieve cached coordinates. Ensure both are listed in plugins.enabled in swv.properties:

plugins.enabled=LocationPlugin,GeolocationCachePlugin,...

If GeolocationCachePlugin is absent, the cache fallback will be silently skipped and only a live GPS fix will be attempted.