Cordova plugins not working

Question

Edit for clarification: The <name> you see in some of the files below is not actually part of the files, but it includes the company name which I had to censor.

Test situation:

• Cordova 4
• OS X Yosemite
• Android 4.4 device (coupled with USB)
• Using Terminal; not Eclipse

What happens: Using cordova run --release successfully builds and signs the .apk and the mobile device installs and opens it without issues. But, none of the plugins work. For example:

    title.on('click', function() {
        if (!navigator.camera) {
            alert('no camera!');
        } else {
            navigator.camera.getPicture(function success(data) {
            // do something
            }, function error(data) {});
        }
    });

Always alerts that there is no camera, which means Cordova did not add a camera object to the window.navigator object.

Below is some information about my cordova installation and some xml files, as far as I can tell nothing looks out of place. Note that it is not just the camera that does not work, I just used it as an example.

Cordova info:

Node version: v0.10.29

Cordova version: 4.0.1-nightly.2014.9.29

Config.xml file: 

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<widget id="com.<name>.App" version="0.0.1" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/ns/widgets" xmlns:cdv="http://cordova.apache.org/ns/1.0">
    <name><name> Mini</name>
    <description>
        De <name> app voor je telefoon
    </description>
    <author email="stephan@<name>.nl" href="https://<name>.nl">
        Het <name> Team
    </author>
    <content src="index.html" />
    <access origin="*" />
    <preference name="SplashScreen" value="screen" />
    <preference name="SplashScreenDelay" value="2000" />
</widget>


Plugins: 

org.apache.cordova.camera,org.apache.cordova.dialogs,org.apache.cordova.file,org.apache.cordova.file-transfer,org.apache.cordova.media,org.apache.cordova.media-capture,org.apache.cordova.splashscreen,org.apache.cordova.vibration

Android platform:

Available Android targets:
----------
id: 1 or "android-19"
     Name: Android 4.4.2
     Type: Platform
     API level: 19
     Revision: 4
     Skins: HVGA, QVGA, WQVGA400, WQVGA432, WSVGA, WVGA800 (default), WVGA854, WXGA720, WXGA800, WXGA800-7in
 Tag/ABIs : default/armeabi-v7a, default/x86

cordova/config.xml

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<widget id="com.<name>.App" version="0.0.1" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/ns/widgets" xmlns:cdv="http://cordova.apache.org/ns/1.0">
    <name><name> Mini</name>
    <description>
        De <name> app voor je telefoon
    </description>
    <author email="stephan@<name>.nl" href="https://<name>.nl">
        Het <name> Team
    </author>
    <content src="index.html" />
    <access origin="*" />
    <preference name="SplashScreen" value="screen" />
    <preference name="SplashScreenDelay" value="2000" />
</widget>

cordova/platforms/android/AndroidManifest.xml <

?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<manifest android:hardwareAccelerated="true" android:versionCode="1" android:versionName="0.0.1" package="com.kaartje2go.App" xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <supports-screens android:anyDensity="true" android:largeScreens="true" android:normalScreens="true" android:resizeable="true" android:smallScreens="true" android:xlargeScreens="true" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
    <application android:hardwareAccelerated="true" android:icon="@drawable/icon" android:label="@string/app_name">
        <activity android:configChanges="orientation|keyboardHidden|keyboard|screenSize|locale" android:label="@string/activity_name" android:launchMode="singleTop" android:name="CordovaApp" android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Black.NoTitleBar" android:windowSoftInputMode="adjustResize">
            <intent-filter android:label="@string/launcher_name">
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
    </application>
    <uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="10" android:targetSdkVersion="19" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECORD_AUDIO" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.MODIFY_AUDIO_SETTINGS" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_PHONE_STATE" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECORD_VIDEO" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.VIBRATE" />
</manifest>

cordova/platforms/android/res/xml/config.xml

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<widget id="com.<name>.App" version="0.0.1" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/ns/widgets" xmlns:cdv="http://cordova.apache.org/ns/1.0">
    <preference name="loglevel" value="DEBUG" />
    <feature name="Camera">
        <param name="android-package" value="org.apache.cordova.camera.CameraLauncher" />
    </feature>
    <feature name="Notification">
        <param name="android-package" value="org.apache.cordova.dialogs.Notification" />
    </feature>
    <feature name="File">
        <param name="android-package" value="org.apache.cordova.file.FileUtils" />
        <param name="onload" value="true" />
    </feature>
    <feature name="FileTransfer">
        <param name="android-package" value="org.apache.cordova.filetransfer.FileTransfer" />
    </feature>
    <feature name="Media">
        <param name="android-package" value="org.apache.cordova.media.AudioHandler" />
    </feature>
    <feature name="Capture">
        <param name="android-package" value="org.apache.cordova.mediacapture.Capture" />
    </feature>
    <feature name="SplashScreen">
        <param name="android-package" value="org.apache.cordova.splashscreen.SplashScreen" />
    </feature>
    <feature name="Vibration">
        <param name="android-package" value="org.apache.cordova.vibration.Vibration" />
    </feature>
    <name><name> Mini</name>
    <description>
        De <name> app voor je telefoon
    </description>
    <author email="stephan@<name>.nl" href="https://<name>.nl">
        Het <name> Team
    </author>
    <content src="index.html" />
    <access origin="*" />
    <preference name="SplashScreen" value="screen" />
    <preference name="SplashScreenDelay" value="2000" />
</widget>

Answer 1

Checklist: Is your plugin loaded?

• Does your index.html load the cordova.js script? (i.e. if you have www/index.html then you can just reference cordova.js. This file is not in the www directory, but automatically generated by Cordova and inserted in your app)
• Is the plugin javascript loaded? Use Chrome or Safari to remote debug your android/iOS app.
• cordova plugin ls: Is your plugin listed?
• plugins/android.json: Is your plugin listed?
• Does platforms/android/assets/www have all files? (i.e. a plugins folder with scripts, cordova_plugins.js should mention your plugin, a platform-specific cordova.js)

Can you listen to the deviceready event to check if Cordova initializes at all? (If all scripts are in place)

Answer 2

If your plugins don't work you can also try these steps:

cordova plugin list;
cordova plugin remove my-cordova-plugin --save;
cordova plugin add my-cordova-plugin --nosave;

Also be aware of the following plugin dependencies:

1. The file, file-transfer, and camera plugins are all dependent on the compat plugin; so compat needs to be removed last.
2. The file-transfer plugin is dependent on file, so file needs to be removed first.