Plugins Management

Plugins Management

In Sidekick, you can easily find, install, and update various NativeScript plugins and npm packages to extend the functionality of your app.

1. What are NativeScript plugins
2. NativeScript plugins in Sidekick
   1. Install new plugins
   2. Update existing plugins
   3. Remove existing plugins

What are NativeScript plugins

The NativeScript plugins are npm packages with some added native functionality. They can be referenced in your application as dependencies or as devDependencies.

The dependencies are plugins required by your app at run time. There are a lot of plugins that you can use as dependencies, including, but not limited to plugins that introduce a UI component (calendar, drop-down, picker), plugins that give you access to a native API (camera, geolocation), plugins that allow you to use a third-party SDK (Kinvey, Google Maps, Facebook).

The devDependencies are the plugins or npm packages required by your app only during the development phase. Usually, those are plugins that introduce functionality like unit testing, TypeScript to JavaScript transpilation, obfuscation, to name a few.

NativeScript plugins in Sidekick

In Sidekick, you can easily find, install, update and remove plugins, both as dependencies and as devDependencies. Plugins installed as devDependencies are marked with the dev tag and the green verified tag indicates that a plugin is verified.

Install new plugins

1. Launch NativeScript Sidekick and open your app.
2. From the left toolbar, select Plugins to open the Plugins view.
3. Select the Available tab and type the name of the plugin in the search box.
4. Choose the plugin that you want to install.
5. Click the Install drop-down button to expand it.
   • Select Install to add the plugin as a dependency.
   • Select Install as devDependency to add the plugin as a devDependency.

Update existing plugins

1. Launch NativeScript Sidekick and open your app.
2. From the left toolbar, select Plugins to open the Plugins view.
3. Select the Installed tab and select the plugin that you want to update.
4. Click the Update button to update the plugin to the latest available version.

Note: The Update button will be visible only when the selected plugin has a newer version and can be updated.

Remove existing plugins

1. Launch NativeScript Sidekick and open your app.
2. From the left toolbar, select Plugins to open the Plugins view.
3. Select the Installed tab and select the plugin that you want to remove.
4. Click the Uninstall button to remove the selected plugin.

Next Steps

Update your code to utilize the newly installed plugins and then deploy your app on a connected device to test the new functionality.

See Also

• How to Create a NativeScript Plugin