Using A Mapbox In A NativeScript Angular Application

Including map functionality in your mobile application is often a very important necessity, depending on the scenario. Maybe your application needs to do navigation, or simply just show locations on a map.

There are many different map providers, the most popular being Google Maps. However, Mapbox is picking up steam because of how easy it is to use and its pricing model.

We’re going to see how to include Mapbox in our NativeScript Android and iOS mobile application using Angular and TypeScript.

Include A Hamburger Menu In A NativeScript Android And iOS Application

Most, not all, Android and iOS applications follow a similar set of rules when it comes to user experience. For example, many applications make use of what can be referred to as a hamburger menu in the top left or right hand side of the screen. These hamburger menus look like three horizontal lines and are useful for bringing up some sort of menu, typically from either of the sides of the screen.

We’re going to see how to make use of the hamburger menu in a NativeScript with Angular mobile application.

Use Google Analytics In A NativeScript Angular Application

So you’ve spent time creating an awesome mobile application, but how do you know how it is performing in each of the available app stores? How can you gauge the user interactions with your application to better improve what you’ve built? The easiest way, and in my opinion the best way, would be to incorporate Google Analytics. With Google Analytics we can track application events, screen views, and other things without leaking any identifiable information about the user.

We’re going to see how to include Google Analytics in our Android and iOS mobile application built with NativeScript and Angular.

Request Android Permissions In NativeScript Using Angular

With every version of Android comes more security measures dropped into place. For example, in Android 6+ the user needs to grant permissions when doing certain activities, such as using the camera. These security measures are more aggressive than the previous form of asking permissions in the manifest file.

So what if we want to prompt the user to grant permissions at a time other than when trying to use the feature that requires the permissions? For example, asking for camera permissions when the application loads, rather than when we try to use the camera feature of the application?

We’re going to see how to request permissions in an Android NativeScript project with Angular.

Determine Network Availability In A NativeScript With Angular Mobile App

When developing mobile applications, there is often a need to perform certain tasks when a network connection is available. Not only this, but sometimes you only want to perform tasks depending on the type of network connection. For example, what if you wanted to backup large photos only when the Android or iOS device is connected to WiFi rather than 3G or 4G? To accomplish this, we need to determine the network availability and monitor it for changes.

We’re going to see how to check the network connection type and monitor it for changes within an Android and iOS mobile application using NativeScript and Angular.

Use Fingerprint Authentication In A NativeScript Angular Application

More than a year ago, before I started using Angular, I had written a tutorial on the topic of fingerprint authentication in a core NativeScript application. Since then, I’m doing almost all of my mobile development with Angular which means that the previous article deserves an upgrade.

I recently released a mobile application called Solar Flare for Cloudflare that protects your account with device level fingerprint authentication. We’re going to see how I included fingerprint authentication, sometimes referred to as touch id, in a NativeScript with Angular application.

Display Local Notifications In A NativeScript Application With Angular

A while back I wrote a tutorial that demonstrated how to use local notifications in a NativeScript Core project, also referred to as a vanilla NativeScript project. Since writing that tutorial I had received several requests to demonstrate the same in a NativeScript with Angular project.

If you’re unfamiliar, local notifications are scheduled notifications rather than notifications sent from a server. These notifications are useful when you need to trigger reminders in your application or based on events. For example, maybe you develop an iBeacon application and as you approach an iBeacon you want to receive a notification. This type of notification would be a local notification.

We’re going to see how to schedule and display notifications in Android and iOS using NativeScript and Angular.