ionic - Shell-Bash

Ionic is a popular open-source framework used by developers to build cross-platform mobile applications using web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. One of the lesser-known features of Ionic is the ability to run shell commands directly within an Ionic application using the Shell-Bash plugin.

What is Shell-Bash?

Shell-Bash is a plugin for Ionic that allows developers to run shell commands within an Ionic application. This can be useful for a variety of tasks such as building and deploying the application, running tests, or automating repetitive tasks.

How to Install Shell-Bash

To use Shell-Bash in your Ionic application, you'll first need to install the plugin. You can do this using the following command:

ionic cordova plugin add cordova-plugin-shell-bash

Once the plugin is installed, you'll also need to add it to your app.module.ts file as a provider. Here's an example of how to do this:

import { NgModule } from '@angular/core';
import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser';
import { IonicApp, IonicModule } from 'ionic-angular';
import { MyApp } from './app.component';
import { StatusBar } from '@ionic-native/status-bar';
import { SplashScreen } from '@ionic-native/splash-screen';
import { ShellBash } from 'cordova-plugin-shell-bash/ShellBash';

@NgModule({
  declarations: [
    MyApp,
  ],
  imports: [
    BrowserModule,
    IonicModule.forRoot(MyApp),
  ],
  bootstrap: [IonicApp],
  entryComponents: [
    MyApp,
  ],
  providers: [
    StatusBar,
    SplashScreen,
    ShellBash // add ShellBash as a provider
  ]
})
export class AppModule {}

How to Use Shell-Bash

With the plugin installed and added to your app module, you can now use it to run shell commands within your Ionic application. Here's an example of how to do this:

import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { ShellBash } from 'cordova-plugin-shell-bash/ShellBash';

@Component({
  selector: 'page-home',
  templateUrl: 'home.html'
})
export class HomePage {

  constructor(private shell: ShellBash) {}

  runCommand() {
    this.shell.exec('ls -la', (result) => {
      console.log(result);
    }, (error) => {
      console.error(error);
    });
  }
}

In this example, we're using the ShellBash provider to run the ls -la command and log the result to the console. The exec method takes three arguments:

• The shell command to run
• A callback function to handle the result
• A callback function to handle any errors

Summary

Shell-Bash is a useful plugin for Ionic developers that allows you to run shell commands directly within your application. By following the installation and usage examples outlined in this guide, you can start using Shell-Bash to automate tasks and streamline your development workflow.