Accelerometer

Captures device motion in the x, y, and z direction.

Methods

Arguments

Objects (Read-Only)

Acceleration

accelerometer.getCurrentAcceleration

Get the current acceleration along the x, y, and z axis.

navigator.accelerometer.getCurrentAcceleration(accelerometerSuccess, accelerometerError);

Description

The accelerometer is a motion sensor that detects the change (delta) in movement relative to the current position. The accelerometer can detect 3D movement along the x, y, and z axis.

The acceleration is returned using the accelerometerSuccess callback function.

Supported Platforms

iPhone

Quick Example

function onSuccess(acceleration) {
    alert('Acceleration X: ' + acceleration.x + '\n' +
          'Acceleration Y: ' + acceleration.y + '\n' +
          'Acceleration Z: ' + acceleration.z + '\n';
};

function onError() {
    alert('onError!');
};

navigator.accelerometer.getCurrentAcceleration(onSuccess, onError);

Full Example

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"
                      "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Acceleration Example</title>

    <script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8" src="phonegap.js"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8">

    // Wait for PhoneGap to load
    //
    function onLoad() {
        document.addEventListener("deviceready", onDeviceReady, false);
    }

    // PhoneGap is ready
    //
    function onDeviceReady() {
        navigator.accelerometer.getCurrentAcceleration(onSuccess, onError);
    }

    // onSuccess: Get a snapshot of the current acceleration
    //
    function onSuccess(acceleration) {
        alert('Acceleration X: ' + acceleration.x + '\n' +
              'Acceleration Y: ' + acceleration.y + '\n' +
              'Acceleration Z: ' + acceleration.z + '\n');
    }

    // onError: Failed to get the acceleration
    //
    function onError() {
        alert('onError!');
    }

    </script>
  </head>
  <body onload="onLoad()">
    <h1>Example</h1>
    <p>getCurrentAcceleration</p>
  </body>
</html>

iPhone Quirks

iPhone doesn't have the concept of getting the current acceleration at any given point.
You must watch the acceleration and capture the data at given time intervals.
Thus, the getCurrentAcceleration function will give you the last value reported from a phoneGap watchAccelerometer call.

accelerometer.watchAcceleration

At a regular interval, get the acceleration along the x, y, and z axis.

var watchID = navigator.accelerometer.watchAcceleration(accelerometerSuccess,
                                                       accelerometerError,
                                                       [accelerometerOptions]);

Description

The accelerometer is a motion sensor that detects the change (delta) in movement relative to the current position. The accelerometer can detect 3D movement along the x, y, and z axis.

The accelerometer.watchAcceleration gets the device's current acceleration at a regular interval. Each time the Acceleration is retrieved, the accelerometerSuccess callback function is executed. Specify the interval in milliseconds via the frequency parameter in the acceleratorOptions object.

The returned watch ID references references the accelerometer watch interval. The watch ID can be used with accelerometer.clearWatch to stop watching the accelerometer.

Supported Platforms

iPhone

Quick Example

function onSuccess(acceleration) {
    alert('Acceleration X: ' + acceleration.x + '\n' +
          'Acceleration Y: ' + acceleration.y + '\n' +
          'Acceleration Z: ' + acceleration.z + '\n');
};

function onError() {
    alert('onError!');
};

var options = { frequency: 3000 };  // Update every 3 seconds

var watchID = navigator.accelerometer.watchAcceleration(onSuccess, onError, options);

Full Example

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"
                      "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Acceleration Example</title>

    <script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8" src="phonegap.js"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8">

    // The watch id references the current `watchAcceleration`
    var watchID = null;

    // Wait for PhoneGap to load
    //
    function onLoad() {
        document.addEventListener("deviceready", onDeviceReady, false);
    }

    // PhoneGap is ready
    //
    function onDeviceReady() {
        startWatch();
    }

    // Start watching the acceleration
    //
    function startWatch() {

        // Update acceleration every 3 seconds
        var options = { frequency: 3000 };

        watchID = navigator.accelerometer.watchAcceleration(onSuccess, onError, options);
    }

    // Stop watching the acceleration
    //
    function stopWatch() {
        if (watchID) {
            navigator.accelerometer.clearWatch(watchID);
            watchID = null;
        }
    }

    // onSuccess: Get a snapshot of the current acceleration
    //
    function onSuccess(acceleration) {
        var element = document.getElementById('accelerometer');
        element.innerHTML = 'Acceleration X: ' + acceleration.x + '<br />' +
                            'Acceleration Y: ' + acceleration.y + '<br />' +
                            'Acceleration Z: ' + acceleration.z + '<br />';
    }

    // onError: Failed to get the acceleration
    //
    function onError() {
        alert('onError!');
    }

    </script>
  </head>
  <body onload="onLoad()">
    <div id="accelerometer">Waiting for accelerometer...</div>
  </body>
</html>

iPhone Quirks

At the interval requested, PhoneGap will call the success callback function and pass the accelerometer results.
However, in requests to the device PhoneGap restricts the interval to minimum of every 40ms and a maximum of every 1000ms.
- For example, if you request an interval of 3 seconds (3000ms), PhoneGap will request an interval of 1 second from the device but invoke the success callback at the requested interval of 3 seconds.

accelerometer.clearWatch

Stop watching the Acceleration referenced by the watch ID parameter.

navigator.accelerometer.clearWatch(watchID);

watchID: The ID returned by accelerometer.watchAcceleration.

Supported Platforms

iPhone

Quick Example

var watchID = navigator.accelerometer.watchAcceleration(onSuccess, onError, options);

// ... later on ...

navigator.accelerometer.clearWatch(watchID);

Full Example

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"
                      "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Acceleration Example</title>

    <script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8" src="phonegap.js"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8">

    // The watch id references the current `watchAcceleration`
    var watchID = null;

    // Wait for PhoneGap to load
    //
    function onLoad() {
        document.addEventListener("deviceready", onDeviceReady, false);
    }

    // PhoneGap is ready
    //
    function onDeviceReady() {
        startWatch();
    }

    // Start watching the acceleration
    //
    function startWatch() {

        // Update acceleration every 3 seconds
        var options = { frequency: 3000 };

        watchID = navigator.accelerometer.watchAcceleration(onSuccess, onError, options);
    }

    // Stop watching the acceleration
    //
    function stopWatch() {
        if (watchID) {
            navigator.accelerometer.clearWatch(watchID);
            watchID = null;
        }
    }

    // onSuccess: Get a snapshot of the current acceleration
    //
    function onSuccess(acceleration) {
        var element = document.getElementById('accelerometer');
        element.innerHTML = 'Acceleration X: ' + acceleration.x + '<br />' +
                            'Acceleration Y: ' + acceleration.y + '<br />' +
                            'Acceleration Z: ' + acceleration.z + '<br />';
    }

    // onError: Failed to get the acceleration
    //
    function onError() {
        alert('onError!');
    }

    </script>
  </head>
  <body onload="onLoad()">
    <div id="accelerometer">Waiting for accelerometer...</div>
    <button onclick="stopWatch();">Stop Watching</button>
  </body>
</html>

Acceleration

Contains Accelerometer data captured at a specific point in time.

Properties

x: Amount of motion on the x-axis. Range [0, 1] (Number)
y: Amount of motion on the y-axis. Range [0, 1] (Number)
z: Amount of motion on the z-axis. Range [0, 1] (Number)
timestamp: Creation timestamp in milliseconds. (DOMTimeStamp)

Description

This object is created and populated by PhoneGap, and returned by an Accelerometer method.

Supported Platforms

Untested

Quick Example

function onSuccess(acceleration) {
    alert('Acceleration X: ' + acceleration.x + '\n' +
          'Acceleration Y: ' + acceleration.y + '\n' +
          'Acceleration Z: ' + acceleration.z + '\n';
};

function onError() {
    alert('onError!');
};

navigator.accelerometer.getCurrentAcceleration(onSuccess, onError);

Full Example

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"
                      "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Acceleration Example</title>

    <script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8" src="phonegap.js"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8">

    // Wait for PhoneGap to load
    //
    function onLoad() {
        document.addEventListener("deviceready", onDeviceReady, false);
    }

    // PhoneGap is ready
    //
    function onDeviceReady() {
        navigator.accelerometer.getCurrentAcceleration(onSuccess, onError);
    }

    // onSuccess: Get a snapshot of the current acceleration
    //
    function onSuccess() {
        alert('Acceleration X: ' + acceleration.x + '\n' +
              'Acceleration Y: ' + acceleration.y + '\n' +
              'Acceleration Z: ' + acceleration.z + '\n';
    }

    // onError: Failed to get the acceleration
    //
    function onError() {
        alert('onError!');
    }

    </script>
  </head>
  <body onload="onLoad()">
    <h1>Example</h1>
    <p>getCurrentAcceleration</p>
  </body>
</html>

accelerometerSuccess

onSuccess callback function that provides the Acceleration information.

function(acceleration) {
    // Do something
}

Parameters

acceleration: The acceleration at a single moment in time. (Acceleration)

Example

function onSuccess(acceleration) {
    alert('Acceleration X: ' + acceleration.x + '\n' +
          'Acceleration Y: ' + acceleration.y + '\n' +
          'Acceleration Z: ' + acceleration.z + '\n';
};

accelerometerError

onError callback function for acceleration functions.

function() {
    // Handle the error
}

accelerometerOptions

An optional parameter to customize the retrieval of the accelerometer.

Options

frequency: How often to retrieve the Acceleration in milliseconds. (Number) (Default: 10000)

PhoneGap Documentation

[ Object Title Goes Here ]

API Reference

Accelerometer

Methods

Arguments

Objects (Read-Only)

accelerometer.getCurrentAcceleration

Description

Supported Platforms

Quick Example

Full Example

iPhone Quirks

accelerometer.watchAcceleration

Description

Supported Platforms

Quick Example

Full Example

iPhone Quirks

accelerometer.clearWatch

Supported Platforms

Quick Example

Full Example

Acceleration

Properties

Description

Supported Platforms

Quick Example

Full Example

accelerometerSuccess

Parameters

Example

accelerometerError

accelerometerOptions

Options