Joplin Mobile Plugin Support

[miseenplace]

Hi there, just submitting a feature request to add support for iOS/Android based on the new (beta) mobile plugin support.

[luigicarrini]

that would be great!

[andrejilderda]

Thanks for opening this issue. I was not aware that plugins are now possible for the mobile client. @miseenplace @luigicarrini Do you maybe know how to get the mobile app running locally?

[personalizedrefrigerator]

Do you maybe know how to get the mobile app running locally?

Here are two options:

• Use the work-in-progress web version of Joplin Mobile (it's currently deployed at personalizedrefrigerator.github.io, but will likely be moved in the near future).
  • It works best in Chromium-based browsers.
  • It also works in Safari and Firefox. However, some features will be unavailable. Additionally, database access is very slow in Firefox.
• Follow the instructions on Joplin's website to build the application.
  • On Android, it should be possible to inspect mobile plugins using Chrome.
  • On an iOS simulator, it should be possible to inspect mobile plugins using the options in Safari's "Development" menu.

In the web client,

• A single development plugin can be loaded (Chromium-based browsers only — uses showDirectoryPicker).
  • When the built version of the plugin changes locally, it should be reloaded by Joplin. (This feature may have bugs).
• Plugins can be installed from a file (all browsers that support the web client).
• Some resource-related HTML features that work fine on Android and iOS are broken (e.g. loading plugin assets from an editor plugin with fetch or an img tag).

Notes:

• Setup: It will be necessary to mark the plugin as supporting mobile before it can be loaded by the web client.
• Debugging: The web client makes heavy use of about:srcdoc iframes to cross-process isolate and sandbox plugins, the editor, and the note viewer. Chrome currently has trouble debugging code that runs in about:srcdoc iframes. However, console.info, console.warn, and console.error should output to both the browser development tools and Joplin's logs (Configuration > Tools > Logs).
• API limitations:
  • The mobile client uses React Native, which handles styling differently from Electron. As such, the global CSS APIs do nothing on mobile.
  • It's currently possible to style the note viewer (with a renderer plugin) and the editor (with an editor plugin).

[andrejilderda]

@personalizedrefrigerator Thanks for the thorough answer! I assume styling the React Native part of the app is hard (impossible?) due to how RN works (and thus styling the app as I've done for the desktop theme is not possible, is it)?