Cordova Browser Platform Support

[imhoffd]

Support for the "browser" platform of Cordova is lackluster in the CLI.

This issue is here as a placeholder to investigate supporting it. This may evolve into suggesting alternative workflows.

See:

• Ionic v3 Live Reload not working #2306
• Support serve browser platform locally over https #2282
• Can't specify port with ionic cordova run browser --port=8100 #2307
• Cordova Browser Platform Support #2312

[trakhimenok]

Please consider scenario where HTTPS is working via proxy (nginx).

I have scenario where I serve API and web app (browser platform) from the same domain over HTTPS.

• https://mydomain.local/app/ => maps to localhost:port created by "ionic serve --browser"
• https://mydomain.local/* => rest maps to AppEngine dev server (could be anything).

Live reload does not work in this setup. It would be cool if it does.

[gischy]

any idea when #2307 will be fixed, it is a pretty necessary functionality?

[bradrust]

@gischy, ionic cordova run browser -- --port=9009 seemed to work for me. Obviously there might be other CLI things that need review but this might help you based on #2307

[imhoffd]

Folks, I'm gonna call it. The Ionic CLI likely will not support the Cordova browser platform now or in the future. From what I can tell, it's a side project that doesn't get much support from the Cordova team and it has poor plugin support from the community. I'd be happy to look at submitted PRs, but the browser platform spins up a development server that is entirely separate from the one in ionic serve, which makes it difficult/infeasible to support for frameworks that ship their own dev servers with livereload, hot module replacement, etc.

As an alternative to using the Cordova browser platform, please use platform detection and ionic serve for developing for the browser. For stuff like camera, audio, storage, and other native functionality please see whatcanwebdo.today.

For Ionic Angular v4, the Ionic CLI inserts Cordova functionality only when building for Cordova. This means cordova.js is added to index.html during ionic cordova build, not ionic build. Additionally, all the Cordova JS files are copied into your project during ionic cordova build, not ionic build. This lets you easily target platforms such as Cordova or the browser with a single code base. Our story for this is not yet perfect, but it will be a major focus going forward.

[imhoffd]

For those following this issue, I did create a feature idea for mobile apps (not mobile + desktop) using the Cordova browser platform and ionic serve for app development: #3043