Data Conduction in Ionic Apps

Ionic is a mobile app framework for building iOS and Android apps with the Cordova platform.

SheetJS is a JavaScript library for reading and writing data from spreadsheets.

This demo uses Ionic and SheetJS to process data and generate spreadsheets. We'll explore how to load SheetJS in an Ionic app and use Ionic APIs and plugins to extract data from, and write data to, spreadsheet files on the device.

The "Demo" creates an app that looks like the screenshots below:

iOS	Android

This demo covers Ionic apps using the Cordova platform.

The CapacitorJS demo covers CapacitorJS apps.

Tested Deployments

This demo was tested in the following environments:

Real Devices

OS	Device	Config	Date
Android 30	NVIDIA Shield	A	2024-05-30
iOS 15.1	iPad Pro	A	2024-05-30

Simulators

OS	Device	Config	Dev Platform	Date
Android 34	Pixel 3a	A	darwin-arm	2024-05-30
iOS 17.5	iPhone SE (3rd gen)	A	darwin-arm	2024-05-30

Configurations (click to show)

Configuration A:

• Ionic: @ionic/angular 8.2.0, @ionic/angular-toolkit 11.0.1
• Cordova: [email protected], android 13.0.0, ios 7.1.0
• File Integration: @awesome-cordova-plugins/file version 6.7.0

Telemetry

Before starting this demo, manually disable telemetry. On Linux and MacOS:

rm -rf ~/.ionic/
mkdir ~/.ionic
cat <<EOF > ~/.ionic/config.json
{
  "version": "6.20.1",
  "telemetry": false,
  "npmClient": "npm"
}
EOF
npx @capacitor/cli telemetry off

To verify telemetry was disabled:

npx @ionic/cli config get -g telemetry
npx @capacitor/cli telemetry

Integration Details

The SheetJS NodeJS Module can be imported from any component or script in the app.

Internal State

The "Angular" demo discusses a number of state representations and preview strategies.

For this demo, the internal state is an "array of arrays"¹ (any[][]):

Array of Arrays state

import { Component } from '@angular/core';
type AOA = any[][];

@Component({...})
export class SheetJSTablePage {
  data: AOA = [
    ["S", "h", "e", "e", "t", "J", "S"],
    [  5,   4,   3,   3,   7,   9,   5]
  ];
  // ...
}

Displaying Data

ion-grid² is a display grid component. The Angular ngFor directive³ simplifies iteration over the array of arrays:

Template for displaying an array of arrays

<ion-grid>
  <ion-row *ngFor="let row of data">
    <ion-col *ngFor="let val of row">
      {{val}}
    </ion-col>
  </ion-row>
</ion-grid>

File Operations

The cordova-plugin-file plugin reads and writes files on devices.

For Android 30+, due to scoped storage rules, the standard file module writes private files that cannot be accessed from the Files app.

A Storage Access Framework plugin must be used to write external files.

@awesome-cordova-plugins/file is a wrapper designed for Ionic + Angular apps.

The plugins in the @ionic-native scope have been deprecated. The community modules in the @awesome-cordova-plugins scope should be used.

Reading Files

this.file.readAsArrayBuffer reads file data from a specified URL and resolves to ArrayBuffer objects.

These objects can be parsed with the SheetJS read method⁴. The SheetJS sheet_to_json method⁵ with the option header: 1 generates an array of arrays which can be assigned to the page state:

/* read a workbook file */
const ab: ArrayBuffer = await this.file.readAsArrayBuffer(url, filename);
/* parse */
const wb: XLSX.WorkBook = XLSX.read(ab, {type: 'array'});
/* generate an array of arrays from the first worksheet */
const ws: XLSX.WorkSheet = wb.SheetNames[wb.Sheets[0]];
const aoa: AOA = XLSX.utils.sheet_to_json(ws, {header: 1});
/* update state */
this.data = aoa;

Writing Files

this.file.writeFile writes file data stored in Blob objects to the device.

From the array of arrays, the SheetJS aoa_to_sheet method⁶ generates a worksheet object. The book_new and book_append_sheet helpers⁷ generate a workbook object. The SheetJS write method⁸ with the option type: "array" will generate an ArrayBuffer, from which a Blob can be created:

/* generate worksheet */
const ws: XLSX.WorkSheet = XLSX.utils.aoa_to_sheet(this.data);

/* generate workbook and add the worksheet */
const wb: XLSX.WorkBook = XLSX.utils.book_new();
XLSX.utils.book_append_sheet(wb, ws, 'SheetJS');

/* write XLSX to ArrayBuffer */
const ab: ArrayBuffer = XLSX.write(wb, { bookType: 'xlsx', type: 'array' });

/* generate Blob */
let blob = new Blob([ab], {type: 'application/octet-stream'});

/* write Blob to device */
this.file.writeFile(url, filename, blob, {replace: true});

Demo

The app in this demo will display data in a table.

On load, a test file will be processed.

When a document is selected with the file picker, it will be processed and the table will refresh to show the contents.

"Import Data" will attempt to read SheetJSIonic.xlsx from a known location. An alert will display the expected location.

"Export Data" will attempt to export the table data to SheetJSIonic.xlsx in a known location. After writing, an alert will display the location of the file.

Platform Setup

0. Disable telemetry as noted in the warning.

1. Follow the official instructions for iOS and Android development⁹.

Installation Notes (click to show)

Ionic requires Java 17.

2. Install required global dependencies:

npm i -g cordova cordova-res @angular/cli native-run @ionic/cli

In some systems, the command must be run as the root user:

sudo npm i -g cordova cordova-res @angular/cli native-run @ionic/cli

Base Project

3. Create a new project:

ionic start SheetJSIonic blank --type angular --cordova --quiet --no-git --no-link --confirm

When asked to select NgModules or Standalone Components, select NgModules

If a prompt asks to confirm Cordova use, enter Yes to continue.

If a prompt asks about creating an Ionic account, enter N to opt out.

Due to conflicts in the dependency tree, the command failed in some test runs.

If the package installation fails, forcefully install all modules:

cd SheetJSIonic
npm i --force @angular/cli
npm i --force
cd ..

4. Set up Cordova:

cd SheetJSIonic
ionic cordova plugin add cordova-plugin-file
ionic cordova platform add ios --confirm
ionic cordova platform add android --confirm
npm i --save @awesome-cordova-plugins/core @awesome-cordova-plugins/file @ionic/cordova-builders

If cordova-plugin-file is added before the platforms, installation may fail:

CordovaError: Could not load API for ios project

This can be resolved by removing and reinstalling the ios platform:

ionic cordova platform rm ios
ionic cordova platform add ios --confirm

If the npm i step fails due to rxjs resolution, add the highlighted lines to package.json to force a resolution:

package.json

  "private": true,
  "overrides": {
    "rxjs": "~7.5.0"
  },
  "dependencies": {

Note that the required rxjs version will be displayed in the error log.

After adding the lines, the npm i command will succeed.

5. Install dependencies:

npm i --save https://cdn.sheetjs.com/xlsx-0.20.3/xlsx-0.20.3.tgz

6. Add @awesome-cordova-plugins/file to the module. Differences highlighted below:

src/app/app.module.ts

import { AppComponent } from './app.component';
import { AppRoutingModule } from './app-routing.module';

import { File } from '@awesome-cordova-plugins/file/ngx';

@NgModule({
  declarations: [AppComponent],
  imports: [BrowserModule, IonicModule.forRoot(), AppRoutingModule],

  providers: [File, { provide: RouteReuseStrategy, useClass: IonicRouteStrategy }],
  bootstrap: [AppComponent],
})
export class AppModule {}

7. Download home.page.ts and replace:

curl -o src/app/home/home.page.ts -L https://docs.sheetjs.com/ionic/home.page.ts

iOS

8. Enable file sharing and make the documents folder visible in the iOS app. Add the following lines to platforms/ios/SheetJSIonic/SheetJSIonic-Info.plist:

platforms/ios/SheetJSIonic/SheetJSIonic-Info.plist (add to file)

<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
  <key>UIFileSharingEnabled</key>
  <true/>
  <key>LSSupportsOpeningDocumentsInPlace</key>
  <true/>
  <key>CFBundleDevelopmentRegion</key>

(The root element of the document is plist and it contains one dict child)

9. Build the app and start the simulator

ionic cordova emulate ios

When the app is loaded, a list of Presidents should be displayed. This list is dynamically generated by fetching and parsing a test file.

In some test runs, the cordova build ios --emulator step failed with error:

> cordova build ios --emulator
Could not load API for ios project

This was resolved by forcefully installing cordova-ios:

npm i --save cordova-ios

In the most recent test, the native-run ios command failed with

[native-run] ERR_UNKNOWN: Path 'platforms/ios/build/emulator/SheetJSIonic.app' not found

Inspecting platforms/ios/build/, the actual folder name was:

% ls platforms/ios/build
Debug-iphonesimulator

The iOS simulator can be launched manually:

native-run ios --app platforms/ios/build/Debug-iphonesimulator/SheetJSIonic.app --virtual

In some tests, the emulate command failed with:

Error: Unknown argument: platform
[ERROR] An error occurred while running subprocess ng.

        ng run app:ionic-cordova-build --platform=ios exited with exit code 1.

The fix is to manually add @ionic/cordova-builders:

ng add @ionic/cordova-builders

Android

10. Enable file reading and writing in the Android app.

Edit platforms/android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml and add the following two lines before the application tag:

platforms/android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml (add to file)

    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"/>
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"/>

In the application tag, add the attribute android:requestLegacyExternalStorage="true".

11. Build the app and start the emulator

ionic cordova emulate android

When the app is loaded, a list of Presidents should be displayed. This list is dynamically generated by fetching and parsing a test file.

In some test runs, cordova build android --emulator step failed with error:

Could not find or parse valid build output file

This was resolved by forcefully installing cordova-android:

npm i --save cordova-android

In some tests, the build failed with a Gradle error:

Could not find an installed version of Gradle either in Android Studio,
or on your system to install the gradle wrapper. Please include gradle
in your path or install Android Studio

On macOS, this issue was resolved by installing gradle with Homebrew manager:

brew install gradle

When the demo was last tested on Android, reading files worked as expected. However, the generated files were not externally visible from the Files app.

This is a known bug with Android SDK 33 and the underlying file plugins!

Footnotes

1. See "Array of Arrays" in the API reference ↩

2. See ion-grid in the Ionic documentation. ↩

3. See ngFor in the Angular documentation. ↩

4. See read in "Reading Files" ↩

5. See "Array Output" in "Utility Functions" ↩

6. See aoa_to_sheet in "Utilities" ↩

7. See "Workbook Helpers" in "Utilities" for details on book_new and book_append_sheet. ↩

8. See write in "Writing Files" ↩

9. See "Developing for iOS" and "Developing for Android". The Ionic team removed these pages from the official docs site and recommend the vercel.app docs site. ↩