Ninchat iOS SDK Integrator's Guide

This document describes integrating the Ninchat iOS SDK into an iOS application.

⚠️  The project has been archived and will not receive any more updates. To integrate with Ninchat services, pleaes use the Swift SDK  ⚠️

Installation

Install the SDK via CocoaPods.

Example Podfile:

platform :ios, '9.0'

source 'https://cdn.cocoapods.org/'
source 'https://github.com/somia/ninchat-podspecs.git'

target 'HOST_APPLICATION_TARGET' do
    use_frameworks!
    pod 'NinchatSDK', '~> 0.0.42'
end

Install by running pod install.

NOTE that use_frameworks! is optional.

Breaking Changes

Starting version 0.0.42, the SDK supports session resumption. Consider the following breaking changes if you are updating the SDK to versions >= 0.0.42 from earlier versions.

Session initialization

Since session resumption feature requires credentials, start(callBack:) includes a NINSessionCredentials? parameter which is used for resuming the session later.

ninchatSession.start { (credentials: NINSessionCredentials?, error: Error?) in  }

Delegate methods

There might be cases where provided credentials are not valid for resuming a session. In such cases, the following delegate would be used to initiate a new session.

func ninchatDidFail(toResumeSession session: NINChatSession) -> Bool {}

Usage

Creating the API client

The SDK's API client is to be re-created every time a new chat session is started; once it has terminated, it cannot be used any more and must be disposed of to deallocate memory.

To initialize the client, you need a server address and a configuration key (and optionally a site secret). These will point the SDK to your chat server realm. You obtain these from Ninchat. Optionally, you may specify a list of siteconfig environments to use over the default one.

You must keep a reference to the created API client instance until the SDK UI terminates.

import NinchatSDK

self.ninchatSession = NINChatSession(configKey: configKey, queueID: queueID, environments: environments)
self.ninchatSession.delegate = self

Optional parameters

• environments is optional and may not be required for your deployment
• queueID define a valid queue ID to join the queue directly; specify nil to show queue selection view.

User Agent Header (Optional)

To append information as the user agent header to your requests, use the following format to set value to appDetails prior to call start(callBack:) function:

ninchatSession.appDetails = "app-name/version (more; details)"

Starting the API client

The SDK must perform some asynchornous networking tasks before it is ready to use; this is done by calling the start method as follows. The callback includes credentials that could be saved for resuming the session later.

ninchatSession.start { (credentials: NINSessionCredentials?, error: Error?) in
    if let error = error {
         /// Some errors in starting a new session.
    }
    /// Save/Cache `credentials` for resuming the session later.
}

Note: You still can initiate the session using the legacy interface without any credentials involved:

ninchatSession.start { (error: Error?) in
    if let error = error {
         /// Some errors in starting a new session.
    }
    /// Show the SDK UI.
}

Resuming a session

Starting version 0.0.42, the SDK provides support to resume a session. In case of any issues in resuming the session using provided credentials, the corresponded optional delegate is called to ask if a new session should be started or not.

ninchatSession.start(with: credentials) { (credentials: NINSessionCredentials?, error: Error?) in
    if let error = error {
        /// Some errors in resuming the session.
    }                      
    /// Update saved/cached `credentials` with the new one.
}

/// Optional
/// Called when credentials are not valid.
func ninchatDidFail(toResumeSession session: NINChatSession) -> Bool {
    /// Return `true` if the SDK should start a new session.
    return true
}  

Showing the SDK UI

Once you have started the API client, you can retrieve its UI to be displayed in your application's UI stack. Typically you would do this within the start callback upon successful completion. The API returns an UIViewController which you must display using a UINavigationController as such:

guard let controller = self?.ninchatSession.viewController(withNavigationController: false) else {
    log.error("Failed to instantiate SDK UI")
    //TODO insert your error handling steps here
    return
}

self.navigationController?.setNavigationBarHidden(true, animated: true)
self.navigationController?.pushViewController(controller, animated: true)

If your application doesn't use an UINavigationController, specify withNavigationController: true and the SDK will provide one for you.

Implementing the API client's delegate methods

The SDK uses a delegate pattern for providing callbacks into the host application. See below for implementing these methods. All of these methods are always called on the main UI thread.

// MARK: From NINChatSessionDelegate

/// This method is called when the chat session has terminated.
/// The host app should remove the SDK UI from its UI stack and restore
/// the navigation bar if it uses one.
func ninchatDidEnd(_ ninchat: NINChatSession) {
    log.debug("Ninchat session ended; removing the SDK UI");
    self.navigationController?.popToViewController(self, animated: true)
    ninchatSession = nil
    self.navigationController?.setNavigationBarHidden(false, animated: true)
}

/// This method is called when ever loading an overrideable graphics asset;
/// the host app may supply a custom UIImage to be shown in the SDK UI.
/// For any asset it does NOT wish to override, return nil.
func ninchat(_ session: NINChatSession, overrideImageAssetForKey assetKey: NINImageAssetKey) -> UIImage? {
    switch assetKey {
    case .queueViewProgressIndicator:
        return UIImage.init(named: "icon_queue_progress_indicator")
    default:
        return nil
    }
}

/// This method is called when ever a low-level API event is received.
/// The host application may respond to these events by using the exposed
/// low-level library; see NINChatSession.session. Optional method.
func ninchat(_ session: NINChatSession, onLowLevelEvent params: NINLowLevelClientProps, payload: NINLowLevelClientPayload, lastReply: Bool) {
    let eventType = try! params.getString("event")
    switch eventType {
    case "channel_joined":
        log.debug("We joined a channel.");
    default:
        break
    }
}

/// This method is called when the SDK emits a log message. Optional method.
func ninchat(_ session: NINChatSession, didOutputSDKLog message: String) {
    log.debug("** NINCHAT SDK **: \(message)")
}

/// Optional
/// This method is called when the SDK was unable to resume a session using provided credentials.
/// The return value determines if the SDK should initiate a new session or not.
func ninchatDidFail(toResumeSession session: NINChatSession) -> Bool {
     return true
} 

Info.plist keys Required by the SDK

The host application must define the following keys in its Info.plist file:

• NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription - For accessing photos
• NSPhotoLibraryAddUsageDescription - For saving chat images to photos album
• NSMicrophoneUsageDescription - For video conferencing
• NSCameraUsageDescription - For video conferencing

Low level API

The SDK exposes the low-level communications interface as NINChatSession.session. The host app may use this object to communicate to the server, bypassing the SDK logic.

See Ninchat API Reference for information about the API's outbound Actions and inbound Events.

Limitations imposed by the SDK

There are some limitations that the SDK imposes on the host app linking to it:

• Missing Bitcode support. The host application must be configured to not use bitcode. The SDK's Cocoapods installer will do this automatically.
• Parts of the SDK are missing the DWARF symbols used for crash symbolication; you must untick the "Include app symbols" checkbox when submitting an app archive to the App Store / TestFlight.

In addition, you will see the following linker error - which you may simply ignore - for the i386 architecture:

ld: warning: PIE disabled. Absolute addressing (perhaps -mdynamic-no-pic) not allowed in code signed PIE, but used in sync/atomic.(*Value).Store from /Users/matti/src/ninchat-sdk-ios-testclient/Pods/NinchatLowLevelClient/Frameworks/NinchatLowLevelClient.framework/NinchatLowLevelClient(go.o). To fix this warning, don't compile with -mdynamic-no-pic or link with -Wl,-no_pie

These issues are caused by limitations of the gomobile bind tool used to generate the low-level communications library.

Overriding the Image Assets

Using the API delegate method session:overrideImageAssetForKey: you may supply your own Image assets as UIImage objects. See the table below for explanations on the supported asset keys.

These keys can be found in the SDK's public header NINPublicTypes.h. For Objective-C, use the constants found in this header; for Swift, use the NINImageAssetKey.* constants. The table below assumes Swift.

Note that all the buttons may not be available in the UI.

All the assets should be transparent where there is no color.

Asset key	Related UI control(s)	Notes
.primaryButton	Background for the 'primary' button
.secondaryButton	Background for the 'secondary' button
.iconDownload	Download button icon
.iconLoader	Progress indicator icon in queue view.
.chatWritingIndicator	User is typing.. Indicator icon in chat bubble	Should be animated.
.chatBackground	Chat view's repeating texture.	Should be repeatable (tiling).
.chatCloseButton	Background for 'close chat' button.
.iconChatCloseButton	Close icon for 'close chat' button.
.chatBubbleLeft	Background for left side chat bubble (first message)	Must be sliced as it needs to stretch.
.chatBubbleLeftRepeated	Background for left side chat bubble (serial message)	Must be sliced as it needs to stretch.
.chatBubbleRight	Background for reveright side chat bubble (first message)	Must be sliced as it needs to stretch.
.chatBubbleRightRepeated	Background for right side chat bubble (serial message)	Must be sliced as it needs to stretch.
.iconRatingPositive	Ratings view positive icon
.iconRatingNeutral	Ratings view neutral icon
.iconRatingNegative	Ratings view negative icon
.chatAvatarRight	Placeholder avatar icon for my messages.
.chatAvatarLeft	Placeholder avatar icon for others' messages.
.chatPlayVideo	Play icon for videos
.iconTextareaCamera	Start video call button
.iconTextareaAttachment	Add attachment button
.textareaSubmitButton	Background for send message button	When button title is set
.iconTextareaSubmitButtonIcon	Icon for send message button	When no button title is set
.iconVideoToggleFull	Expand video to fullscreen
.iconVideoToggleNormal	Shrink video to fit a window
.iconVideoSoundOn	Sound is enabled
.iconVideoSoundOff	Sound is muted
.iconVideoMicrohoneOn	Microphone is enabled
.iconVideoMicrophoneOff	Microphone is muted
.iconVideoCameraOn	Camera is on
.iconVideoCameraOff	Camera is off
.iconVideoHangup	End the video call

Overriding the Color Assets

Using the API delegate method session:overrideColorAssetForKey: you may supply your own color assets as UIColor objects. See the table below for explanations on the supported asset keys.

These keys can be found in the SDK's public header NINPublicTypes.h. For Objective-C, use the constants found in this header; for Swift, use the NINImageAssetKey.* constants. The table below assumes Swift.

Asset key	Related UI control(s)
.buttonPrimaryText	Text on 'primary' buttons
.buttonSecondaryText	Text on 'secondary' buttons
.infoText	Chat view's meta information (eg. 'Chat started')
.chatName	User name above chat bubbles
.chatTimestamp	Timestamp above chat bubbles
.chatBubbleLeftText	Text in others' chat messages
.chatBubbleRightText	Text in my chat messages
.textareaText	Chat input text
.textareaSubmitText	Message submit button title
.chatBubbleLeftLink	Link color in others' messages
.chatBubbleRightLink	Link color in my messages
.modalBackground	Background in 'modal dialogs'
.modalText	Text in 'modal dialogs'
.backgroundTop	Background of the top part in some views
.textTop	Text in top parts of some views
.link	Link color (except in chat bubbles)
.backgroundBottom	Background of the bottom part in some views
.textBottom	Text in bottom parts of some views
.ratingPositiveText	Text of the positive rating button
.ratingNeutralText	Text of the neutral rating button
.ratingNegativeText	Text of the negative rating button

Contact

If you have any questions, contact:

• Hassan Shahbazi / Ninchat hassan@ninchat.com