Event object provided to BackgroundGeolocation.onHttp.

Example

BackgroundGeolocation.onHttp((HttpEvent response) {
  print('[http] success? ${response.success}, status? ${response.status}');
});

HTTP Guide

The BackgroundGeolocation SDK hosts its own flexible and robust native HTTP & SQLite persistence services. To enable the HTTP service, simply configure the SDK with an Config.url:

BackgroundGeolocation.ready(Config(
  url: "https://my-server.com/locations",
  autoSync: true,
  autoSyncThreshold: 5,
  batchSync: true,
  maxBatchSize: 50,
  headers: {
    "AUTHENTICATION_TOKEN": "23kasdlfkjlksjflkasdZIds"
  },
  params: {
    "user_id": 1234
  },
  extras: {
    "route_id": 8675309
  },
  locationsOrderDirection: "DESC",
  maxDaysToPersist: 14
)).then((State state) {
  print('[ready] success: ${state}');
});

The SQLite Database

The SDK immediately inserts each recorded location into its SQLite database. This database is designed to act as a temporary buffer for the HTTP service and the SDK strongly desires an empty database. The only way that locations are destroyed from the database are:

Successful HTTP response from your server (200, 201, 204).
Executing BackgroundGeolocation.destroyLocations.
Config.maxDaysToPersist elapses and the location is destroyed.
Config.maxRecordsToPersist destroys oldest record in favor of latest.

The HTTP Service

The SDK's HTTP service operates by selecting records from the database, locking them to prevent duplicate requests then uploading to your server.

By default, the HTTP Service will select a single record (oldest first; see Config.locationsOrderDirection) and execute an HTTP request to your Config.url.
Each HTTP request is synchronous — the HTTP service will await the response from your server before selecting and uploading another record.
If your server returns an error or doesn't respond, the HTTP Service will immediately halt.
Configuring Config.batchSync true instructs the HTTP Service to select all records in the database and upload them to your server in a single HTTP request.
Use Config.maxBatchSize to limit the number of records selected for each Config.batchSync request. The HTTP service will execute synchronous HTTP batch requests until the database is empty.

Capturing the data at your server

The SDK's HTTP Service will upload recorded locations as JSON to your Config.url (See Location for the JSON schema) with Content-Type application/json. The data can be found by your server in the "HTTP request body".

PHP

<?php
 $json = file_get_contents('php://input');
 $data = json_decode($json);
 echo "POST /locations: " . $data;
?>

Node with `express`

import express from 'express';
import bodyParser from 'body-parser';

const app = express();

app.use(bodyParser.json());  // <-- use body-parser

app.post('/locations', (req, res) => {
  console.log('POST /locations: ', req.body);
});

Rails

class LocationsController < ApplicationController
  def create
    data = params
    puts "POST /locations: #{data}"
  end
end

HTTP Failures

If your server does not return a 20x response (eg: 200, 201, 204), the SDK will UNLOCK that record. Another attempt to upload will be made in the future (until Config.maxDaysToPersist) when:

When another location is recorded.
Application pause / resume events.
Application boot.
BackgroundGeolocation.onHeartbeat events.
BackgroundGeolocation.onConnectivityChange events.
iOS Background fetch events.

BackgroundGeolocation.onHttp((HttpEvent response) {
  if (!response.success) {
    print('[onHttp] failure: ${response.status}, ${response.responseText}');
  }
});

Receiving the HTTP Response.

You can capture the HTTP response from your server by listening to the BackgroundGeolocation.onHttp event.

Config.autoSync

By default, the SDK will attempt to immediately upload each recorded location to your configured Config.url.

Use Config.autoSyncThreshold to throttle HTTP requests. This will instruct the SDK to accumulate that number of records in the database before calling upon the HTTP Service. This is a good way to conserve battery, since HTTP requests consume more energy/second than the GPS.

⚠️ Warning: Config.autoSyncThreshold

If you've configured Config.autoSyncThreshold, it will be ignored during a BackgroundGeolocation.onMotionChange event — all queued locations will be uploaded, since:

If an onMotionChange event fires into the moving state, the device may have been sitting dormant for a long period of time. The plugin is eager to upload this state-change to the server as soon as possible.
If an onMotionChange event fires into the stationary state, the device may be about to lie dormant for a long period of time. The plugin is eager to upload all queued locations to the server before going dormant.

Manual BackgroundGeolocation.sync

The SDK's HTTP Service can be summoned into action at any time via the method BackgroundGeolocation.sync.

Config.params, Config.headers and Config.extras

The SDK's HTTP Service appends configured Config.params to root of the JSON data of each HTTP request.
Config.headers are appended to each HTTP Request.
Config.extras are appended to each recorded location and persisted to the database record.

Custom `JSON` Schema: Config.locationTemplate and Config.geofenceTemplate

The default HTTP JSON schema for both Location and Geofence can be overridden by the configuration options Config.locationTemplate and Config.geofenceTemplate, allowing you to create any schema you wish.

Disabling HTTP requests on Cellular connections

If you're concerned with Cellular data-usage, you can configure the plugin's HTTP Service to upload only when connected to Wifi:

BackgroundGeolocation.ready(Config(
  autoSync: true,
  disableAutoSyncOnCellular: true
));

HTTP Logging

You can observe the plugin performing HTTP requests in the logs for both iOS and Android (_See Wiki Debugging:

Example

╔═════════════════════════════════════════════
║ LocationService: location
╠═════════════════════════════════════════════
╟─ 📍 Location[45.519199,-73.617054]
✅ INSERT: 70727f8b-df7d-48d0-acbd-15f10cacdf33
╔═════════════════════════════════════════════
║ HTTP Service
╠═════════════════════════════════════════════
✅ Locked 1 records
🔵 HTTP POST: 70727f8b-df7d-48d0-acbd-15f10cacdf33
🔵 Response: 200
✅ DESTROY: 70727f8b-df7d-48d0-acbd-15f10cacdf33

#	Log entry	Description
1	`📍Location`	Location received from native Location API.
2	`✅INSERT`	Location record inserted into SDK's SQLite database.
3	`✅Locked`	SDK's HTTP service locks a record (to prevent duplicate HTTP uploads).
4	`🔵HTTP POST`	SDK's HTTP service attempts an HTTP request to your configured `url`.
5	`🔵Response`	Response from your server.
6	`✅DESTROY	UNLOCK`

Controlling the SDK with HTTP Responses (RPC)

The SDK has a "Remote Procedure Call" (RPC) mechanism, allowing you to invoke commands upon the SDK's API by returing a JSON response from the server containing the key "background_geolocation": [...].

Within the returned [...], you may return one or more commands to invoke upon the SDK. Each command takes the form of an [], with a required first element String command, along with an optional second element Argument:string|boolean|number|Object depending upon the context of the command.

{
  "background_geolocation": [
    ["command1", argument:string|boolean|number|Object],
    ["command2"]
    .
    .
    .
  ]
}

The SDK will run each of these commands synchronously upon itself.

Supported RPC Commands

Command	Arguments	Description
`start`	None.	`BackgroundGeolocation.start()`
`stop`	None.	`BackgroundGeolocation.stop()`
`startGeofences`	None.	`BackgroundGeolocation.startGeofences()`
`changePace`	`Boolean`	`BackgroundGeolocation.changePace(argument)`
`setConfig`	`{Config}`	`BackgroundGeolocation.setConfig(argument)`
`addGeofence`	`{Geofence}`	`BackgroundGeolocation.addGeofence(argument)`
`addGeofences`	`[{Geofence}, ...]`	`BackgroundGeolocation.addGeofences(argument)`
`removeGeofence`	`identifier:String`	`BackgroundGeolocation.removeGeofence(argument)`
`removeGeofences`	None or `[identifier:String,...]`	`BackgroundGeolocation.removeGeofences(argument)` If provided no argument, remove all; otherwise remove provided list of identifiers
`uploadLog`	`url:String`	The url to upload log to.
`destroyLog`	None	`BackgroundGeolocation.destroyLog`

Simple Example: `#stop`

Your server could return a response telling the SDK to [BackgroundGeolocation.stop]:

{
  "background_geolocation": [
    ["stop"]
  ]
}

When returning just a single command, you can optionally omit the root [ ]:

{
  "background_geolocation": ["stop"]
}

Arguments

The 2nd param to each action is optional but depends upon the context of the command. For example, #changePace requires a boolean argument:

{
  "background_geolocation": [
    ["changePace", true]
  ]
}

Object Arguments

Some commands receive an { } argument, like #setConfig:

{
  "background_geolocation": ["setConfig", {"distanceFilter": 0, "locationUpdateInterval": 1000}]
}

Multiple Actions

You could tell the plugin to both #start and #changePace:

{
  "background_geolocation": [
    ["start"],
    ["changePace", true]
  ]
}

HttpEvent class

Example

HTTP Guide

The SQLite Database

The HTTP Service

Capturing the data at your server

PHP

Node with `express`

Rails

HTTP Failures

Receiving the HTTP Response.

Config.autoSync

Manual BackgroundGeolocation.sync

Config.params, Config.headers and Config.extras

Custom `JSON` Schema: Config.locationTemplate and Config.geofenceTemplate

Disabling HTTP requests on Cellular connections

HTTP Logging

Example

Controlling the SDK with HTTP Responses (RPC)

Supported RPC Commands

Simple Example: `#stop`

Arguments

Object Arguments

Multiple Actions

Constructors

Properties

Methods

Operators

flt_background_geolocation library

HttpEvent class

Example

HTTP Guide

The SQLite Database

The HTTP Service

Capturing the data at your server

PHP

Node with express

Rails

HTTP Failures

Receiving the HTTP Response.

Config.autoSync

Manual BackgroundGeolocation.sync

Config.params, Config.headers and Config.extras

Custom JSON Schema: Config.locationTemplate and Config.geofenceTemplate

Disabling HTTP requests on Cellular connections

HTTP Logging

Example

Controlling the SDK with HTTP Responses (RPC)

Supported RPC Commands

Simple Example: #stop

Arguments

Object Arguments

Multiple Actions

Constructors

Properties

Methods

Operators

flt_background_geolocation library

Node with `express`

Custom `JSON` Schema: Config.locationTemplate and Config.geofenceTemplate

Simple Example: `#stop`