Capacitor: Feature request: NativeScript plugin compatibility layer?

[jamesharvey2]

Hi Ionic team,

This request may sound strange but I'm wondering if it's possible for you guys to create a compatibility layer for NativeScript plugins?
https://market.nativescript.org/plugins/

NativeScript plugins (2015-2017) are newer than Cordova plugins (2011-2014) and NativeScript uses Angular 5 and TypeScript just like Ionic... so I'm thinking making a compatibility layer for NativeScript plugins on Capacitor would be possible?

This will solve aging plugin issues of Cordova. The majority of cordova plugins are no longer managed.. and many ionic users are interested in trying a different set of plugins. Given that NativeScript is an open source software, using its plugin on Capacitor is not a bad idea.

Thanks in advance,

[mlynch]

Sounds fun, not a priority by any means but not opposed to it. Unsure how it would work.

In that same vein, could be cool to support react native plugins, too.

[jamesharvey2]

Thank you for giving attention and your efforts!
I found a guy who was trying to make a cordova plugin adapter for React Native:
https://www.npmjs.com/package/react-native-cordova-plugin

So I was thinking maybe making a plugin adapter is possible.

[jcesarmobile]

That is for using Cordova plugins in React Native, what he did is similar to what we did to support Cordova plugins in Capacitor.

[jamesharvey2]

Plugins which need native UI rendering will not work obviously... but the ones which work with Android Java API (.java files), Objective C API could be transplanted? I don't know.
The way nativescript plugins work on Angular 5 seems to be pretty identical to how cordova plugins work on ionic 3.
Check this example please:
https://market.nativescript.org/plugins/nativescript-downloader

So if a NativeScript plugin doesn't require native UI component, I think it could be that it can be triggered by Ionic 4 (Angular 5, TypeScript) on Capacitor using a special NativeScript compatibility layer.
If you guys manage to make this work, It will unlock some hundreds of new plugins...
React Native has several thousands of new plugins from 2015-2018.

or you guys can create a brand new Capacitor plugin layer which can work with cordova plugins, nativescript plugins, react native plugins at the same time...

[jcesarmobile]

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