NativeScript Getters Plugin

A NativeScript plugin that adds six new getters – in addition to the native getViewById method – to retrieve one or more views by tag, type, class, property, value pair or style.

Getting Started

Prerequisites

Basics

• NativeScript installed and configured. (see CLI setup)
• An IDE with intelligent code completion. (see VS Code)
• A functional project to use the plugin. (see app templates)

Minimum versions

• @nativescript/core, 7.0.0 or higher
• @nativescript/android, 7.0.0 or higher
• @nativescript/ios, 7.0.0 or higher
• ECMAScript, 2015 (ES6) or higher

Installation

In Command prompt or Terminal navigate to your application root folder and run one of the following commands to install the plugin. (see docs)

ns plugin add nativescript-getters

or

npm install --save nativescript-getters

The --save flag will add the plugin as dependency in your package.json file.

Usage

Import the plugin at the top of your JavaScript or TypeScript file. It can be imported only once into the application entry point file. (see docs)

import 'nativescript-getters'

New methods have been added into the Frame, Page, layouts, tabs and texts classes. (see methods)

Examples

Get views by tags

export function navigatingTo(args: EventData) {
  const page = <Page>args.object
  const actionBar = page.getViewsByTags('ActionBar')[0] // case sensitive
  const foundViews = page.getViewsByTags('Label', 'Button')

  console.log('action bar:', actionBar)
  console.log('found views:', foundViews)
}

The list of possible tags can be found on the modules page of the NativeScript API documentation. (see "Classes")

Get views by types

export function navigatingTo(args: EventData) {
  const page = <Page>args.object
  const layouts = page.getViewsByTypes('layout')
  const foundViews = page.getViewsByTypes('field', 'list')

  console.log('layouts:', layouts)
  console.log('found views:', foundViews)
}

The list of available types: bar, picker, view, layout, list, text, tab, field and form. (see types.ts)

Get views by classes

export function navigatingTo(args: EventData) {
  const page = <Page>args.object
  const mainTitle = page.getViewsByClasses('h1')[0]
  const foundViews = page.getViewsByClasses('text-primary', 'font-italic')

  console.log('main title:', mainTitle)
  console.log('found views:', foundViews)
}

Get views by identifiers

export function navigatingTo(args: EventData) {
  const page = <Page>args.object
  const debugIds = page.getViewsByIdentifiers('debug') // alias: getViewsByIds('debug')
  const foundViews = page.getViewsByIdentifiers('my-id', 'another-id')

  console.log('debug ids:', debugIds)
  console.log('found views:', foundViews)
}

Get views by properties

export function navigatingTo(args: EventData) {
  const page = <Page>args.object
  const texts = page.getViewsByProperties('text') // alias: getViewsByProps('text')
  const foundViews = page.getViewsByProperties('columns', 'width')

  console.log('texts:', texts)
  console.log('found views:', foundViews)
}

The list of possible property names can be found on the view page of the NativeScript API documentation.

Note: The color name (example: red or white) is converted by NativeScript to hexadecimal.

Get views by val pairs

export function navigatingTo(args: EventData) {
  const page = <Page>args.object
  const welcomeTexts = page.getViewsByValPairs(
    { name: 'text', value: 'Welcome' }
  )
  const foundViews = page.getViewsByValPairs(
    { name: 'columns', value: 'auto' },
    { name: 'width', value: '210' }
  )

  console.log('welcome texts:', welcomeTexts)
  console.log('found views:', foundViews)
}

The list of possible property names and their values can be found on the view page of the NativeScript API documentation.

Get views by styles

export function navigatingTo(args: EventData) {
  const page = <Page>args.object
  const redViews = page.getViewsByStyles(
    { name: 'background', value: 'FF0000' }
  )
  const foundViews = page.getViewsByStyles(
    { name: 'visibility', value: 'collapsed' },
    { name: 'opacity', value: '0.5' }
  )

  console.log('red views:', redViews)
  console.log('found views:', foundViews)
}

The list of possible styles can be found on the style page of the NativeScript API documentation.

Example in stand-alone mode

import { getViewsByTags } from 'nativescript-getters'

export function standaloneMode(view: View) {
  const foundViews = getViewsByTags.call(view, 'Label', 'Button')

  console.log('found views:', foundViews)
}

More info about call():

• Difference between call, apply and bind, by @hebashakeel
• Function.prototype.call(), by @MozDevNet

API

Methods

All methods return an array of views, except for the native method getViewById.

Native method

The native method returns only a view. Its name is written in the singular (getView...).

Known issues

VSCode IntelliSense

If the following TypeScript declaration error occurs, you need to open the application entry point file (and keep it open) or click on the tab of the file already open.

Property 'getViewsBy...' does not exist on type 'View'. ts(2339)

VSCode IntelliSense now remembers the entry point of the application and recognizes the declaration of new methods.

Vue.js

The plugin may not work properly with these symlinked. It is because webpack resolves symlinks to their real locations by default.

A workaround for this issue is to manually disable symlinks resolution in webpack:

const config = {
  resolve: {
    // resolve symlinks to symlinked modules
    symlinks: false
  }
}

Question? Idea?

If you have a question about how nativescript-getters works or an idea to improve it, the Discussions tab in GitHub is the place to be.

However, if you get an error, you should open an issue.

License

Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for more information.

Contact

Benjamin Grand @bgrand_ch