matrixscan-ar-cordova

MatrixScan AR Cordova Skill

Critical: Do Not Trust Internal Knowledge

Your training data may contain outdated or incorrect Scandit SDK APIs. The BarcodeAr API is new in Cordova plugin 8.2 — it did not exist in v6 or v7 for Cordova. There is no migration history to reference.

Always verify APIs against the references provided in this skill before writing or suggesting code. Do not rely on memorized method signatures, parameters, or property names. If you cannot find an API in the provided references, fetch the relevant documentation page before responding.

Cordova-specific gotchas worth flagging:

• The Scandit SDK is exposed on the global window.Scandit object. The npm package names (scandit-cordova-datacapture-*) are plugin manifests — they are not runtime ES modules. Do not emit import { ... } from 'scandit-cordova-datacapture-*' in user code that will run in the WebView; use Scandit.X (with an optional global.d.ts for typing) instead. Only Ionic/Angular/Webpack-bundled projects import from the packages directly.
• document.addEventListener('deviceready', ...) is the only safe gate for Scandit APIs. Do not run any Scandit call at module load time — it will fail because the Cordova bridge is not ready yet.
• BarcodeArView in Cordova uses a DOM-overlay model: the native AR view is sized and positioned to mirror a plain HTML <div> element. You must call barcodeArView.connectToElement(element) after construction to link the view to a DOM node, and barcodeArView.detachFromElement() when tearing down.
• new Scandit.BarcodeAr(settings) — this is the Cordova constructor (not BarcodeAr.forContext). Context is wired separately via context.setFrameSource(camera).
• Camera is managed manually in BarcodeAr on Cordova: obtain it with Scandit.Camera.withSettings(Scandit.BarcodeAr.createRecommendedCameraSettings()), set it as the frame source, and call camera.switchToDesiredState(Scandit.FrameSourceState.On/Off) to start/stop.
• Highlight and annotation providers return Promise<BarcodeArHighlight | null> and Promise<BarcodeArAnnotation | null> respectively — make the methods async or return a Promise explicitly.
• After changing plugin versions, run cordova prepare (and reinstall the platform if needed) to propagate the new native artifacts.

Intent Routing

Based on the user's request, load the appropriate reference file before responding:

• Integrating MatrixScan AR from scratch (e.g. "add MatrixScan AR to my app", "set up AR barcode overlays", "how do I use BarcodeAr in Cordova", "how do I show info annotations", "how do I customize highlights") → read references/integration.md and follow the instructions there.

• Migrating from BarcodeBatch / BarcodeTracking to BarcodeAr (e.g. "migrate my MatrixScan code", "update from BarcodeBatch to BarcodeAr", "I'm using BarcodeBatchBasicOverlay / BarcodeBatchAdvancedOverlay", "convert my old MatrixScan integration", "we have BarcodeTracking and need to upgrade") → read references/migration.md and follow the 10-step migration guide there. Key Cordova-specific caveat: BarcodeArCustomAnnotation is NOT available on Cordova — freeform HTML overlays from BarcodeBatchAdvancedOverlay must be replaced with built-in annotation types (BarcodeArInfoAnnotation, BarcodeArPopoverAnnotation, BarcodeArStatusIconAnnotation, or BarcodeArResponsiveAnnotation).

API Usage Policy

Only use APIs that are explicitly documented in the Scandit references below. Do not invent or guess method signatures, parameters, property names, or imports. If unsure whether an API exists or how it is called — or if a runtime error occurs — fetch the relevant reference page before responding. Do not tell the user to check the docs themselves. After answering, always include the relevant link so the user can explore further.

Never construct or guess documentation URLs. When you need a specific class or property's API page:

1. First check whether the page you already fetched contains a direct hyperlink to it — topic pages link directly to relevant API symbols.
2. If no direct link was found, fetch the API index (see Full API reference in the table below), extract the actual link from it, and follow that.

URL structures vary across SDK versions and plugin paths and guessing will lead to 404s.

Framework variant policy

Cordova is a WebView-based framework. Examples in this skill use plain JavaScript (with optional JSDoc type hints as seen in the official MatrixScanARSimpleSample). The same API works in TypeScript — add a global.d.ts declaration file (described in references/integration.md) and write TypeScript syntax. This skill does not assume a TypeScript project by default. If the target project is clearly TypeScript (.ts files, tsconfig.json), adapt the final output to TypeScript; otherwise stay in plain JS.

Licence key

Scanning needs a Scandit licence key. For this skill the licence product is native and the licence platforms are ios and android.

Work through these in order — never block the user on MCP:

1. The Scandit MCP server is connected — call ensure_scanner_setup with product native and platforms ios and android, app_identifier (the app's bundle or application id; for web, its production domain, never localhost) and env_var SCANDIT_LICENSE_KEY. Do not run the command it returns. Then call get_license_key with the key's id, from that result or from list_license_keys; if list_license_keys shows the key is not a trial, ask the user before fetching it. Show at most a masked preview in chat; never print a full key.

2. It is not connected — tell the user once that they can connect the remote Scandit MCP server, https://ssl.scandit.com/mcp, in their MCP client, then continue from step 1. Do not edit MCP client configuration yourself.

   Authentication is browser-based, so it is not supported headless or in CI. The server provisions trial keys only; it never creates, revokes, or modifies production licences.

3. The user declines, or has no MCP client — they generate a key themselves at https://ssl.scandit.com (no account yet: https://ssl.scandit.com/dashboard/sign-up?p=test) and paste it in.

Then put the key into the code: write it into the licence-key call in place of the placeholder — the key get_license_key returned, or the one the user pastes or gives you — still showing only a masked preview in chat. Do not search the project, its files or the environment for a key.

References

Direct users to the right resource based on their question:

Topic	Resource
Cordova integration	Get Started · Sample
Full API reference	BarcodeAr API