NativeScript Phone

NativeScript plugin to use the device phone and SMS features for Android and iOS

Native Info

• Android uses an Intent with ACTION_CALL for phone calls & ACTION_SENDTO for SMS.
• iOS uses the telprompt for phone calls & MFMessageComposeViewController for SMS.

Installation

Install the plugin using the NativeScript CLI

tns plugin add @unitehere/nativescript-phone

Breaking Change with 3.x.x

Version 3.x.x and later uses an event system to dispatch events for the handling of success, failure, errors for the SMS and Dial methods. See the snippets below for the correct usage of the event emitter system.

Video Tutorial

egghead plugin lesson @ https://egghead.io/lessons/javascript-using-the-device-phone-and-sms-with-nativescript

Android

To dial the phone without user interaction on Android your app must request permission to dial. The following must be in your app's AndroidManifest.xml.

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CALL_PHONE" />

IOS

You must add the following line to your project's Info.plist

<key>LSApplicationQueriesSchemes</key>
<array>
   <string>tel</string>
   <string>telprompt</string>
</array>

Usage

To use the phone module you must first require() it from your project's node_modules directory:

var phone = require('@unitehere/nativescript-phone');

After you have a reference to the module you can then call the available methods.

Methods

dial: initiate a phone call

Parameters

• telNum: Phone number to dial.
• prompt: Boolean to enable OS specific confirmation before dialing.

For example, the code below dials the number without showing the device specific confirmation prompt:

// my-page.js
var phone = require('@unitehere/nativescript-phone');
phone.dial('212-555-1234', false);

sms: open the OS specific SMS app

Parameters

• smsNum: SMS number or numbers to use.
• messageText: String to send.

For example, the code below opens the sms app for the provided number:

Send to one number (provided for backwards compatibility)

// my-page.js

import {
  NSPhoneEventEmitter,
  sms,
  dial,
  requestCallPermission,
  SMSEvents,
  DialEvents
} from '@unitehere/nativescript-phone';

NSPhoneEventEmitter.on(SMSEvents.FAILED, args => {
  console.log('FAILED', args.data);
});

NSPhoneEventEmitter.on(SMSEvents.SUCCESS, args => {
  console.log('SMS Successful');
});

NSPhoneEventEmitter.on(SMSEvents.CANCELLED, args => {
  console.log('SMS Cancelled');
});

NSPhoneEventEmitter.on(SMSEvents.ERROR, args => {
  console.log('SMS ERROR', args.data);
});

NSPhoneEventEmitter.on(SMSEvents.UNKNOWN, args => {
  console.log('SMS UNKNOWN', args.data);
});

sms(['212-555-1234'], 'testing');

Send to multiple numbers

import { sms } from '@unitehere/nativescript-phone';
// Use the event system to listen for failure, success, cancelled, error events

sms(['212-555-1234', '212-555-1245'], 'My Message');

requestCallPermission: Request Android Call_Phone Permission

Parameters

• explanation: The explanation text if the user denies permission twice (nullable). If you attempt to use dial("122929912", false) to not prompt on android 6.0, nothing will happen unless permission has been approved before. When this method is executed, a check for permissions happens, and a promise is returned. If the user refuse it, you can handle it via the catch method of promise. If it accepts you can dial in the thenmethod. You should so "wrap" your dial method inside of the requestCallPermission() method (see following example).

TypeScript example

import {
  NSPhoneEventEmitter,
  sms,
  dial,
  requestCallPermission,
  SMSEvents,
  DialEvents
} from '@unitehere/nativescript-phone';

NSPhoneEventEmitter.on(SMSEvents.ERROR, args => {
  console.log('SMS ERROR', args.data);
});

NSPhoneEventEmitter.on(SMSEvents.UNKNOWN, args => {
  console.log('SMS UNKNOWN', args.data);
});

/// Dial a phone number.
function callHome() {
  const phoneNumber = '415-123-4567';
  requestCallPermission(
    'You should accept the permission to be able to make a direct phone call.'
  )
    .then(() => dial(phoneNumber, false))
    .catch(() => dial(phoneNumber, true));
}

// Text a number (or multiple numbers)
function messageParents() {
  sms(['212-555-1234', '212-555-0987'], 'Text till your fingers bleed');
}