Cordova.file is undefined [Solved]: see the last line for solution

cordova
1

I’m trying to build an ionic app for android. I need to read a file from the sdcard for which I’m using ngcordova plugin.
I have required ngCordova in the angular module in app.js
I am injecting the ngcordova before the cordova.js in my index.html.
Installed it using

cordova plugin add cordova-plugin-file

I have injected $cordovaFile in my controller.

Whenever I try to read a file using the below code, I get the error, cannot read property externalDataDirectory of undefined

      $ionicPlatform.ready(function() {
            console.log('cordova.file.externalDataDirectory: ' + cordova.file.externalDataDirectory);
            myFsRootDirectory1 = 'file:///storage/emulated/0/'; // path for tablet
            myFsRootDirectory2 = 'file:///storage/sdcard0/'; // path for phone
            fileTransferDir = cordova.file.externalDataDirectory;
            if (fileTransferDir.indexOf(myFsRootDirectory1) === 0) {
                fileDir = fileTransferDir.replace(myFsRootDirectory1, '');
            }
            if (fileTransferDir.indexOf(myFsRootDirectory2) === 0) {
                fileDir = fileTransferDir.replace(myFsRootDirectory2, '');
            }
            console.log('Android FILETRANSFERDIR: ' + fileTransferDir);
            console.log('Android FILEDIR: ' + fileDir);

            $cordovaFile.readAsText(fileDir + 'a.csv').then(function(result) {
                    console.log('readAsText: ', result);
                    alert(result)
                })
                .catch(function(err) {
                    alert(err)
                });
        })

I have tried to print the cordova as well, but it does not contain the file object

     $ionicPlatform.ready(function() {
        alert(angular.toJson(window.cordova))
    })

I have also done build cordova android removed and added the cordova plugin rm cordova-plugin-file cordova plugin add cordova-plugin-file

Here are the versions:
“ionic”: “driftyco/ionic-bower#1.3.1”,
“ngCordova”: “^0.1.27-alpha”

I’m testing this on the device and building a new apk each time for testing, not in webview.

Please help me resolve this issue or if you could recommend me a different method to get around this issue, that would be great!

Thanks for the answers

I build the app on a different machine than the one i develop and i use git to sync them. Plugins are in .gitignore hence I was not able to access them. ionic state reset helped me fix this issue

Source: javascript - cordova.file is undefined in ionic project for android - Stack Overflow