beacon_monitoring

Description:

beacon monitoring

beacon_monitoring #
A Flutter plugin for monitoring beacons (iBeacon) on mobile platforms.
Supports iOS and Android.
Usage #
Installation #
Add beacon_monitoring as a dependency to your pubspec.yaml:
dependencies:
beacon_monitoring: latest
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 iOS Setup #
1. Update Info.plist

For deployment targets earlier than iOS 13, add both NSBluetoothAlwaysUsageDescription and NSBluetoothPeripheralUsageDescription to your app’s Information Property List file. Devices running earlier versions of iOS rely on NSBluetoothPeripheralUsageDescription, while devices running later versions rely on NSBluetoothAlwaysUsageDescription. Read on Apple Documentation


NSLocationAlwaysAndWhenInUseUsageDescription
NSLocationWhenInUseUsageDescription
NSBluetoothAlwaysUsageDescription
NSBluetoothPeripheralUsageDescription

Go to information property list Info.plist and add keys with human-readable messages (Info.plist -> Open as -> Source Code):
<key>NSLocationAlwaysAndWhenInUseUsageDescription</key>
<string>A message that tells the user why the app is requesting access to the user’s location information at all times.</string>
<key>NSLocationWhenInUseUsageDescription</key>
<string>A message that tells the user why the app is requesting access to the user’s location information while the app is running in the foreground.</string>
<key>NSBluetoothAlwaysUsageDescription</key>
<string>A message that tells the user why the app needs access to Bluetooth.</string>
<key>NSBluetoothPeripheralUsageDescription</key>
<string>A message that tells the user why the app is requesting the ability to connect to Bluetooth peripherals.</string>
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2. Update Capability

Go to Signing & Capabilities
Click + Capability
Add Background Modes capability
Select Location updates

3. Update AppDelegate

Open AppDelegate.swift
Import beacon_monitoring
Add static method to register plugins

static func registerPlugins(with registry: FlutterPluginRegistry) {
GeneratedPluginRegistrant.register(with: registry)
}
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Register your AppDelegate as a registry

AppDelegate.registerPlugins(with: self)
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Set BeaconMonitoringPlugin registrant callback

BeaconMonitoringPlugin.setPluginRegistrantCallback { registry in
AppDelegate.registerPlugins(with: registry)
}
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So your AppDelegate.swift should look like:
import UIKit
import Flutter
import beacon_monitoring

@UIApplicationMain
@objc class AppDelegate: FlutterAppDelegate {

// MARK: - UIApplicationDelegate Methods
override func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {
// ...
setupAppDelegateRegistry()
setupBeaconMonitoringPluginCallback()
return super.application(application, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions: launchOptions)
}

// MARK: - Register Plugins
static func registerPlugins(with registry: FlutterPluginRegistry) {
GeneratedPluginRegistrant.register(with: registry)
}

// MARK: - Private Methods
private func setupAppDelegateRegistry() {
AppDelegate.registerPlugins(with: self)
}
private func setupBeaconMonitoringPluginCallback() {
BeaconMonitoringPlugin.setPluginRegistrantCallback { registry in
AppDelegate.registerPlugins(with: registry)
}
}
}
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Description #
The beacon_monitoring plugin can monitor for beacons while the app works in the foreground and in the background mode.
The foreground monitoring we do by intercepting the events produced by a stream as presented below:
monitoring().listen((event) {
print("Monitoring stream received: $event");
});
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For the background monitoring we need to implement the callback method and pass it as an argument to startBackgroundMonitoring method:
void backgroundMonitoringCallback(MonitoringResult result) {
print('Background monitoring received: $result');
}

startBackgroundMonitoring(backgroundMonitoringCallback);
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You can find the full code with usage examples for the foreground and background mode in the project example folder.
How to use #
First, register the monitored regions. The region is represented by beacon's identifier and its ids (ids are optional).
Let's assume that we have two iBeacons:
iBeacon one: UUID: 400CD186-C779-024B-2F19-89DCF74987E9
iBeacon two: UUID: D66BA202-6589-677F-C735-17E3856F065C
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Registering these beacons in our plugin can be done as presented below:
import 'package:beacon_monitoring/beacon_monitoring.dart';

void activateBeacon() async{
// now we define our region
Region regionOne = Region(
identifier: '400CD186-C779-024B-2F19-89DCF74987E9');
Region regionTwo = Region(
identifier: 'D66BA202-6589-677F-C735-17E3856F065C');

List<Region> regions = [regionOne, regionTwo];

// register defined regions
await registerAllRegions(regions);
...
}
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Now, we have to implement the callback code where we handle all the events from beacons.
Callback event handler must be a static method or a function (cannot be an anonymous function or an object method).
You can learn more about the background processes in Flutter at background-processes
// beacons are handled by this method
void handleEventCallback(MonitoringResult result) {
print(result.type);
}
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Then call startBackgroundMonitoring method where we pass our callback:
import 'package:beacon_monitoring/beacon_monitoring.dart';

startBackgroundMonitoring(handleEventCallback);
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The whole example code:
import 'package:beacon_monitoring/beacon_monitoring.dart';

void activateBeacon() async{
// now we define our region
Region regionOne = Region(
identifier: '400CD186-C779-024B-2F19-89DCF74987E9');
Region regionTwo = Region(
identifier: 'D66BA202-6589-677F-C735-17E3856F065C');

List<Region> regions = [regionOne, regionTwo];

// register defined regions
await registerAllRegions(regions);

// here we define a method which handles the beacon's event
startBackgroundMonitoring(handleEventCallback);
}

// beacons are handled by this method
void handleEventCallback(MonitoringResult result) {
print('$result');
}
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From now on, each event related with the registered beacon will be handled by handleEventCallback method.
If we come in a range of a beacon, the method handleEventCallback will be invoked with data in MonitoringResult.
Additional info #
To be able to monitor the beacons both, the Bluetooth and Location need to be turned on and available for the app.
The plugin delivers methods to handle the fact of asking for the required permission.
Bluetooth can be checked using isBluetoothEnabled() method and turned on with openBluetoothSettings() method for Android and openApplicationSettings() for iOS.
Location can be checked using isLocationEnabled() method and turned on with openLocationSettings() method for Android and openApplicationSettings() for iOS.
Similar approach applies to requesting Location permissions. The plugin delivers the functions checkLocationPermission() and requestLocationPermission().
Example:
import 'package:beacon_monitoring/beacon_monitoring.dart';
import 'dart:io' show Platform;

final bluetoothEnabled = await isBluetoothEnabled();
final locationEnabled = await isLocationEnabled();
final locationPermission = await checkLocationPermission();

/// If you are using a process in the background, you should check the permission of `LocationPermission.always` instead of `LocationPermissions.whileInUse`.
if (locationPermission != LocationPermission.whileInUse) {
await requestLocationPermission();
}

if (Platform.isAndroid) {
if(!bluetoothEnabled) openBluetoothSettings();
if(!locationEnabled) openLocationSettings();
} else if (Platform.isIOS) {
if(!bluetoothEnabled || !locationEnabled) openApplicationSettings();
}
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From the Team #
At Objectivity we are very busy delivering innovative and modern solutions to our customers. Still, we will do our best to respond to your questions and close the issues, if any. We tried to cover the code with Unit Tests the best we could.
Please, be patient when requesting some help.
We hope you like it.