Updating from v4 to v5

We have made a lot of changes and improvements to the framework for v5. Some of these changes cause breaking changes. This document aims to summarize the changes and how to resolve them.

• Replaced ChatActivity implementation with ChatKit
• Removed social login module - you can use FirebaseUI if you need social login
• Added multi-message select
• Add message replies
• Allow multiple images to be sent at once
• Streamline image selection using Matisse
• Make Firebase UI the default interface
• Replace Fresco with Glide
• Upgraded Audio message module to use ExoPlayer
• Audio message module supports file compression

If you need support join us on our Discord Server. There we will provide help in real-time.

ChatActivity

The ChatActivity is being deprecated in favour of a ChatKit implementation.

Hooks

Before:

ChatSDK.hook().addHook(new Hook(data -> Completable.create(emitter -> {
    // ...
    emitter.onComplete();
})), HookEvent.MessageReceived);

After:

If you are adding synchronous code:

ChatSDK.hook().addHook(Hook.sync(data -> {
    // ....
}), HookEvent.MessageReceived);

Or asynchronous code:

ChatSDK.hook().addHook(Hook.async(data -> Completable.create(emitter -> {
    // ... Async code here
    emitter.onComplete();
})), HookEvent.MessageReceived);

Thread Handler

Before:

Completable forwardMessage(Message message, Thread thread);

After:

Completable forwardMessage(Thread thread, Message message);

Why did you remove social login?

Social login is complicated and error prone. We have had a lot of issues with third party login SDKs that change their API every few months and generate build problems with CocoaPods (Facebook and Twitter I'm looking at both of you). It also requires a lot of instructions to setup properly and the steps are always changing. For this reason, supporting social login takes a lot of time for relatively little benefit. Especially since this functionality is provided by Firebase UI.

So the bottom line is that if you want Social Login, you can either use Firebase UI. If you need custom social login, I recomment that you look at version 4.x of the project and migrate it to version 5.

core co.chatsdk package changed to sdk.chat

Solution

Update all instancea of co.chatsdk in imports to sdk.chat. For example:

import co.chatsdk.core.dao.Thread;

Becomes:

import sdk.chat.core.dao.Thread;

Imports can't be found

Issue

In the imports section at the top of the class the imports are red meaning they can't be found

Cause

The packages have been modified

Solution

In Android Studio open:

Preferences / Settings -> Editor -> General -> Auto Import

Check:

"Add unambiguous imports on the fly" and
"Optimize imports on the fly"

Delete the imports that can't be found and Android Studio will automatically reimport the classes

Can't find class DisposableList

Issue

DisposableList not found

Cause

DisposableList has been removed in v5

Solution

Replace DisposableList with DisposableMap

Thread class not recognized

Issue

Methods not recognized on Thread

Cause

Java thinks this is a Java thread not a chat thread

Solution

import sdk.chat.core.dao.Thread;

Can't find SimpleDraweeView

Issue

The app can't resolve the SimpleDraweeView class

Cause

We have replaced Fresco with Glide

Solution

Replace instances of SimpleDraweeView with CircleImageView. Use Glide to load the image from the URL

Can't find CrashReportingCompletableObserver;

Issue

import co.chatsdk.core.utils.CrashReportingCompletableObserver; not found

Cause

This class has been removed

Solution

This has been removed. Usually we use this in the situation like:

.subscribe(new CrashReportingCompletableObserver());

This can be replaced with:

.subscribe(this)

If it is an Activity or a Fragment. If we are calling subscribe on something other than completable, you will have to call:

.ignoreElements().subscribe(this)

If it’s not an Activity or a Fragment use:

.subscribe(ChatSDK.events())

Can't find TextInputView

Issue

`import co.chatsdk.ui.chat.TextInputView; not found

Cause

This class has been replaced with the MessageInput class

Solution

Delete the imports and use MessageInput instead

Can't find Timber

Issue

`import timber.log.Timber; not found

Cause

Timber has been replaced with Logger

Solution

Delete the import and replaces instances of Timber logging with Logger logging i.e. Logger.debug("...")

Can't find ThreadEditDetailsActivity

Issue

import co.chatsdk.ui.threads.ThreadEditDetailsActivity; not found

Cause

This class has been renamed to EditThreadActivity

Solution

Replace instances of ThreadEditDetailsActivity with EditThreadActivity

Can't find MessageListAdapter

The MessageListAdapter has been removed in v5. We have replaced the old chat and thread view implementation with Chat Kit. Now the ThreadsFragment uses a Chat Kit DialogsList and the ChatActivity uses a MessagesList and a MessageInput for text entry. If you follow the links above you will find information on how to customize these elements.