Cordova: How to write native plugins that can repeatedly invoke a Javascript callback?

Question

When developing Cordova plugins, all of the tutorials I have found go something like this:

File: AwesomePlugin.js

var AwesomePlugin = {
  kungfuGripAction = function(target, successCallback, failureCallback) {
    return cordova.exec(
      successCallback,
      failureCallback,
      'AwesomePluginClass',
      'kungfuGripAction',
      [target]
    );
  }
};

module.exports = AwesomePlugin;

File: AwesomePluginClass.java

@Override
public boolean execute(String action, JSONArray args, CallbackContext callbackContext) throws JSONException {
    if (ACTION_KUNGFU_GRIP.equals(action)) {
        JSONObject target = args.getJSONObject(0);
        if (gripTarget(target)) {
            callbackContext.success("Target successfully gripped.");
            return true;
        } else {
            callbackContext.error("Could not grip target.");
            return false;
        }
    }

    Log.d(LOG_TAG, "INVALID ACTION! " + action);
    callbackContext.error("Invalid action: " + action);
    return false;
}

File: clientCode.js

AwesomePlugin.kungfuGripAction(cobraEnemy, function(ok) { }, function(err) { });

In the above code, the callbacks can only be called once and are then disposed. If you attempt to call the .success() or .error() method of the callback context object, it will not work and you will get a log message:

Attempted to send a second callback for ID: AwesomePlugin2982699494<BR>W/CordovaPlugin(976) Result was: "Target successfully gripped."

It seems like it is not possible to write a method with a callback that can be called repeatedly seeing as .success() and .error() are the only documented ways to invoke a callback from within native plugin code. While this is mostly what we want, there are times when we want to have the plugin execute a callback repeatedly. For example:

AwesomePlugin.kungfuGripAction(cobraEnemy, function(ok) {
  // After successful grip, punch repeatedly and update life meter.
  AwesomePlugin.punchRepeatedly(cobraEnemy, function(hits) {
    updateLifeMeter(cobraEnemy, hits);
  }, function(err) { });
}, function(err) { });

AwesomePlugin.punchRepeatedly() above will execute repeatedly (maybe in a separate thread) and call function(hits) with each successful execution. If implemented in the de-facto way (using single-use callbacks), you have to either use a loop (which is bad as it is non-async) or tail-call AwesomePlugin.punchRepeatedly() in the callback (error-prone).

What would be the correct way to implement punchRepeatedly() in native code so that it is able register the callback once and then execute it repeatedly?

Answer 1

I think, you can use a pluginResult with the keepCallback property set to true.

PluginResult result = new PluginResult(PluginResult.Status.OK, "YOUR_MESSAGE");
// PluginResult result = new PluginResult(PluginResult.Status.ERROR, "YOUR_ERROR_MESSAGE");
result.setKeepCallback(true);
callbackContext.sendPluginResult(result);

You should be able to invoke the callback several times this way.