Chat SDK Initialization

Setup main application subclass

The best place to initialize the Chat SDK is in the onCreate method of your Application subclass.

If you don't already have this class, create it:

public class MainApp extends Application {

    @Override
    public void onCreate() {
        super.onCreate();
        
        // Chat SDK intialization goes here
        
    }
}

Register this class in your AndroidManifest.xml:

<application android:name=".MainApp">

Note: Sometimes people confuse the onCreate method in the main activity with the onCreate method from the Activity class. Although in some cases it is possible to setup the Chat SDK from inside an activity, it is not recommended.

Configure Chat SDK

Chat SDK offers two ways to configure the library - quick config and advanced. Quick allows you get the project up and running with a standard configuration.

Quick Start

Firebase

ChatSDKFirebase.quickStart(...);

FireStream

ChatSDKFireStream.quickStart(...);

XMPP

ChatSDKXMPP.quickStart(...);

Advanced Configuration

Builder pattern

The Chat SDK and it's modules use the builder pattern for configuration.
You will always first call builder() then set your configuration then call build() to finish.

Modules

The Chat SDK contains a numer of optional modules. These can be added with the addModule method. At the very minimum, you should activate the UIModule and one of FirebaseModule, XMPPModule or FireStreamModule.

Full example

Here is a default configuration.

try {
    ChatSDK.builder()
            .setGoogleMaps("Your Google Static Maps API key")
            .setPublicChatRoomLifetimeMinutes(TimeUnit.HOURS.toMinutes(24))
            .build()

            // Add the Firebase network adapter module
            .addModule(
                    FirebaseModule.builder()
                            .setFirebaseRootPath("pre_1")
                            .setDevelopmentModeEnabled(true)
                            .build()
            )

            // Add the UI module
            .addModule(UIModule.builder()
                    .setPublicRoomCreationEnabled(true)
                    .setPublicRoomsEnabled(true)
                    .build()
            )

            // Add modules to handle file uploads, push notifications
            .addModule(FirebaseUploadModule.shared())
            .addModule(FirebasePushModule.shared())

            // Enable Firebase UI with phone and email auth
            .addModule(FirebaseUIModule.builder()
                    .setProviders(EmailAuthProvider.PROVIDER_ID, PhoneAuthProvider.PROVIDER_ID)
                    .build()
            )

            // Activate
            .build()
            .activate(this);
} catch (Exception e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}

Configuration options

The Chat SDK has many configuration options. Too many to list here. The best way to see what's available is by using auto-complete in Android Studio. After module.build(). press (control + enter) and the list of available options will appear. You can also (cmd + click) to inspect the Config class and see a full list of the available options.