Cordova Plugin Variables between fetch.json and config.xml

Question

So I'm building a cordova app and it utilize the Facebook Login plugin (but the question appplies to any other plugin as well). Sometimes I want to change the Facebook APP_ID that the plugin connects to, so i assumed the following flow would work:

First. Change the variables in config.xml with the new Facebook ID

<plugin name="cordova-plugin-facebook4" spec="~1.7.1">
    <variable name="APP_ID" value="1728167004731036" />
    <variable name="APP_NAME" value="QuickShop Sandbox" />
</plugin>

Second. Do a cordova prepare followed by a cordova build --release android

However the following files keeps to have the old variables that were specified in fetch.json when installing the plugin.

platforms/android/android.json
platforms/android/res/values/facebookconnect.xml
platforms/android/build/build/intermediates/incremental/mergeReleaseResources/merger.xml
platforms/android/build/intermediates/res/merged/values/values.xml

Does the variables in fetch.json overrides the ones in config.xml, how can I do the opposite. What the best way to instruct Cordova to always use the plugin variables in config.xml

Answer 1

First to explain few things, You need not have to explicitly add the plugin in config.xml as its not a mandate and also if required you can add it automatically using --save option rather than doing it manually. For example,

cordova plugin add cordova-plugin-camera --save

This command adds the plugin and adds the entry automatically to config.xml

Also fetch.json is a file that tracks installed plugins, their origin and revision like npm package.json This file is updated on cordova add/remove plugins. When we cordova prepare, cordova reads plugin list from plugins/ios.json (in case of ios), get the plugin infos from plugins/fetch.json and try to find the plugin locally.

So if gotta instruct cordova to always use the plugin variables in config.xml, follow steps below:

• Define plugins dependencies in config.xml (use --save option preferably)

• Remove platforms and contents inside plugins folder

• Run cordova platform add PLATFORM_NAME command

This ensures that plugin info is config.xml is always honoured