Cordova - First Application

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We have understood how to install Cordova and set up the environment for it. Once everything is ready, we can create our first hybrid Cordova application.

Step 1 - Creating App

Open the directory where you want the app to be installed in command prompt. We will create it on desktop.

C:\Users\username\Desktop>cordova 
   create CordovaProject io.cordova.hellocordova CordovaApp

  • CordovaProject is the directory name where the app is created.

  • io.cordova.hellocordova is the default reverse domain value. You should use your own domain value if possible.

  • CordovaApp is the title of your app.

Step 2 - Adding Platforms

You need to open your project directory in the command prompt. In our example, it is the CordovaProject. You should only choose platforms that you need. To be able to use the specified platform, you need to have installed the specific platform SDK. Since we are developing on windows, we can use the following platforms. We have already installed Android SDK, so we will only install android platform for this tutorial.

C:\Users\username\Desktop\CordovaProject>cordova platform add android

There are other platforms that can be used on Windows OS.

C:\Users\username\Desktop\CordovaProject>cordova platform add wp8 


C:\Users\username\Desktop\CordovaProject>cordova platform add amazon-fireos 


C:\Users\username\Desktop\CordovaProject>cordova platform add windows 


C:\Users\username\Desktop\CordovaProject>cordova platform add blackberry10


C:\Users\username\Desktop\CordovaProject>cordova platform add firefoxos

If you are developing on Mac, you can use −

$ cordova platform add IOS 


$ cordova platform add amazon-fireos 


$ cordova platform add android 


$ cordova platform add blackberry10 


$ cordova platform add firefoxos

You can also remove platform from your project by using −

C:\Users\username\Desktop\CordovaProject>cordova platform rm android

Step 3 - Building and Running

In this step we will build the app for a specified platform so we can run it on mobile device or emulator.

C:\Users\username\Desktop\CordovaProject>cordova build android

Now we can run our app. If you are using the default emulator you should use −

C:\Users\username\Desktop\CordovaProject>cordova emulate android

If you want to use the external emulator or real device you should use −

C:\Users\username\Desktop\CordovaProject>cordova run android

NOTE − We will use the Genymotion android emulator since it is faster and more responsive than the default one. You can find the emulator here. You can also use real device for testing by enabling USB debugging from the options and connecting it to your computer via USB cable. For some devices, you will also need to install the USB driver.

Once we run the app, it will install it on the platform we specified. If everything is finished without errors, the output should show the default start screen of the app.

Cordova App

In our next tutorial, we will show you how to configure the Cordova Application.

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