The Cordova community recently released version 3.5.0 of the tools. This version includes some exciting improvements to the Firefox OS development workflow. Before we dive into the new features, make sure you have the latest version by running:

$ sudo npm install -g cordova
$ sudo npm install -g plugman

Now that we’re all set up, let’s dive into the new features.

Improved manifest management

In previous versions of Cordova, developers had to manually edit the manifest.webapp file to add permissions and other app information. This file has crucial information that Firefox OS needs to interact with your app.

Cordova has a configuration file called config.xml that already contains the same information needed for the manifest file. Cordova will create and update the manifest based on your config.xml file. In the new version, plugins can add configuration specifying which permissions are necessary. Whenever you run a cordova prepare, the manifest is updated based on your configuration. Now you can have all your app’s information in one place.

Building packages with Cordova

Firefox OS uses web technologies that do not require a compilation step to generate binaries. The related Cordova commands build and compile were left unimplemented and would throw an exception when called. That behavior was confusing and left some people wondering what went wrong.

Now cordova build or Cordova compile will create a zip of your packaged app in the build folder inside the platform/firefoxos folder. A big thank you to the contributor Gert-Jan Braas for implementing this!

Plugins

A fresh batch of core plugins were released too. We added Firefox OS support to a few more plugins:

• Battery status
• File
• In app browser
• Network information

To update to the latest version of the plugins, you need to remove and add them again. For example, to use the latest version of the file plugin run:

$ cordova plugin rm org.apache.cordova.file
$ cordova plugin add org.apache.cordova.file

Replace the plugin name for the plugin you want to update. The geolocation and contacts plugins have been updated to support auto managing permissions, make sure you update them too.

Check our status page for updated information on plugin status.

What’s next

A highly requested feature is support for emulate and run Cordova commands. We are working with the Dev Tools team to create an awesome experience for debugging Cordova applications using Firefox’s App Manager. Here is a sneak preview of what’s coming!

Meanwhile you can debug your app by adding the platforms/firefoxos/www folder to the app manager in Firefox. For more information, check out Cordova for Firefox OS on MDN.

We are working on creating default icons for a newly created app. They will serve as placeholders that can be easily replaced with your app’s brand.

We also have a development status page where you can see up to the minute information on what is being worked on.

We’d love to hear your feedback and feature requests. You can reach us in the #cordova channel on IRC, or through email at mozilla-cordova@mozilla.org or log your issues and requests on the Apache Cordova issue site. Also if you are interested in helping out with the project let us know.