Proximity: An Estimote Beacons and Socket.IO Proof of Concept App

A lightweight PhoneGap app that calculates the device's proximity to nearby Estimote beacons and syncs this with other connected users via a Socket.IO server.

• Code for the Socket.IO server can be found below, you'll need this to be running before opening the app
• Huge thanks for Konrad Dzwinel for his Estimote Beacons PhoneGap plugin (https://github.com/kdzwinel/phonegap-estimotebeacons) and sample code

Installation

You'll find all the project code in the /www directory for use in your PhoneGap project. To create a new project, we recommend using Phonegap's Command-line Interface (http://docs.phonegap.com/en/3.0.0/guide_cli_index.md.html):

phonegap create proximity com.phonegap.proximity Proximity --name Proximity

Next, install the Estimote Beacons PhoneGap plugin (https://github.com/kdzwinel/phonegap-estimotebeacons). cd into your new proximity directory and run:

phonegap local plugin add https://github.com/kdzwinel/phonegap-estimotebeacons

Copy the contents of this repo's www directory into your new proximity/www folder. You'll need to replace the YOUR_HOST placeholder used in two places within the app with the address of your Socket.IO server:

• index.html: <script src="http://YOUR_HOST/socket.io/socket.io.js"></script>

• js/app.js: socket = io.connect('YOUR_HOST');

Since the app will load the Socket.IO script from the host address you specify, it also needs to be whitelisted within the app's config.xml file within /www/config.xml. At present, all external hosts are whitelisted but you'll want to lock this down before you move to production. Replace * in the following line with your host address, e.g. http://127.0.0.1:

<access origin="*" />

Now, build your app for iOS by running:

phonegap build ios

When you're ready to run the app in the iOS simulator or on your device you'll find the .xcodeproj file within platforms/ios. If you need help with Apple's complex provisioning workflow, this tutorial by Brian J Coleman may help (http://www.brianjcoleman.com/tutorial-provision-your-app-to-run-on-a-device/)

Node App.js

var app = require('http').createServer(handler)
  , io = require('socket.io').listen(app)
  , fs = require('fs')

app.listen(8080);

function handler (req, res) {
  fs.readFile(__dirname + '/index.html',
  function (err, data) {
    if (err) {
      res.writeHead(500);
      return res.end('Error loading index.html');
    }
    res.writeHead(200);
    res.end(data);
  });
}

// Connection established

io.sockets.on('connection', function (socket) {

  // Update location

  socket.on('updateclients', function (data) { 

    // Store current region in socket data

    socket.beacons = data.beacons;

    socket.join('room');
 
    var clientList = getClients();

    socket.emit('updatelist', { clients: clientList });

  });

});

// Get current list of connected clients

function getClients() { 

  var clients = io.sockets.clients();

  var clientList = [];

  for (var i = 0; i < clients.length; i++) {
      clientList.push({ id: clients[i].id, beacons: clients[i].beacons });
  }

  return clientList;

}