license: Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership. The ASF licenses this file to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the “License”); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

       http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

     Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
     software distributed under the License is distributed on an
     "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
     KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
     specific language governing permissions and limitations
     under the License.

compass.getCurrentHeading

Get the current compass heading.

navigator.compass.getCurrentHeading(compassSuccess, compassError, compassOptions);

Description

The compass is a sensor that detects the direction or heading that the device is pointed, typically from the top of the device. It measures the heading in degrees from 0 to 359.99, where 0 is north.

The compass heading information is returned via a CompassHeading object using the compassSuccess callback function.

Supported Platforms

  • Amazon Fire OS
  • Android
  • BlackBerry 10
  • iOS
  • Tizen
  • Windows Phone 7 and 8 (if available in hardware)
  • Windows 8

Quick Example

function onSuccess(heading) {
    alert('Heading: ' + heading.magneticHeading);
};

function onError(error) {
    alert('CompassError: ' + error.code);
};

navigator.compass.getCurrentHeading(onSuccess, onError);

Full Example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Compass Example</title>

    <script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8" src="cordova.js"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8">

    // Wait for device API libraries to load
    //
    document.addEventListener("deviceready", onDeviceReady, false);

    // device APIs are available
    //
    function onDeviceReady() {
        navigator.compass.getCurrentHeading(onSuccess, onError);
    }

    // onSuccess: Get the current heading
    //
    function onSuccess(heading) {
        alert('Heading: ' + heading.magneticHeading);
    }

    // onError: Failed to get the heading
    //
    function onError(compassError) {
        alert('Compass Error: ' + compassError.code);
    }

    </script>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>Example</h1>
    <p>getCurrentHeading</p>
  </body>
</html>