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Background Services

Services are pieces of code that run in the background of the app without having to load the widget of the plugin. A Services is a sub component of a Widget. I.e. that it lives in the widget side of the plugin (only in the app).

While the service structure is very similar to a Widget. One main distinction other than it runs on startup is that it has no UI. Any HTML written is only to create the environment needed for the service no UI will be presented in the app

Use cases​

  • Geo Fencing. If you wanted to keep track of the location of the device in order to present the user with a coupon when they are close to your business. A service will allow you to do this even if the app doesnt have your plugin open. The service can trigger a navigation to the widget to force it visible

  • Ads: If you wanted every 60 seconds to show an ad your service can run in the background and popup an ad every 60 seconds

  • Passive bluetooth integration. Stay in the background until a bluetooth connection occurs then navigate to widget

  • Really any process you want to stay alive as long as the app is.

How to setup a Service​

An example is setup here but its pretty simple.

  1. Add service.html to your widget folder. You can call it anything else as long as you reference the correct file in the next step
  2. Add service property to the widget object in the plugin.json
"widget": {
  "service": "service.html"
}

service.html​

While this file can mimic your traditional widget index.html it is best to cut out any UI elements that auto load. To do so add this meta tag to the header before referencing buildfire.js

<meta name="buildfire" content="disableTheme,disableFastClick" />

So your file may look something like this

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <meta name="buildfire" content="disableTheme,disableFastClick" />
    <script src="../../../scripts/buildfire.js"></script>
  </head>
</html>
note

Remember the HTML is just to setup structure and importing frameworks. No UI will be rendered on the app

Widget and Service Communication​

For more info read messaging docs

  • To send a message form Widget to Service, in widget html use:
buildfire.messaging.sendMessageToService(data);
  • To receive a message in service, in service html use:
buildfire.messaging.onReceivedMessage = (data) => {
  console.log(data);
};
  • To send a message form Service to Widget, in service.html use:
buildfire.messaging.sendMessageToWidget(data);
  • To receive a message in Widget, in widget html use:
buildfire.messaging.onReceivedMessage = (data) => {
  console.log(data);
};