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Version: v4

Overview

This guide demonstrates how to add chat to an Android application. Before you begin, we strongly recommend you read the Key Concepts guide.

I want to explore a sample app (includes UI)

Import the app into Android Studio and follow the steps mentioned in the README.md file.

Java Chat App

Kotlin Chat App

Get your Application Keys​

Signup for CometChat and then:

  1. Create a new app
  2. Head over to the API Keys section and note the Auth Key, App ID & Region
Minimum Requirements
  • Android API Level 21
  • Android API level 24 (in case you are using the calls SDKS)
  • Androidx Compatibility

Add the CometChat Dependency​

First, add the repository URL to the project levelbuild.gradle file in the repositories block under the allprojects section.

allprojects {
  repositories {
    maven {
      url "https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/cometchat/cometchat/maven/"
    }
  }
}

Then, add CometChat to the app levelbuild.gradle file in the dependencies section.

dependencies {
  implementation 'com.cometchat:chat-sdk-android:4.0.9'
}
Important

v2.4+ onwards, Voice & Video Calling functionality has been moved to a separate library. In case you plan to use the calling feature, please add the Calling dependency implementation 'com.cometchat:calls-sdk-android:4.0.6' in the dependencies section of the app-level build.gradle file.

Finally, add the below lines android section of the app level gradle file

android {
  compileOptions {
    sourceCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
    targetCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
  }
}

Initialise CometChat​

The init() method initializes the settings required for CometChat. The init() method takes the below parameters:

  1. appID - You CometChat App ID
  2. appSettings - An object of the AppSettings class can be created using the AppSettingsBuilder class. The region field is mandatory and can be set using the setRegion() method.

The AppSettings class allows you to configure three settings:

  • Region: The region where you app was created.
  • Presence Subscription: Represents the subscription type for user presence (real-time online/offline status)
  • autoEstablishSocketConnection(boolean value): This property takes a boolean value which when set to true informs the SDK to manage the web-socket connection internally. If set to false, it informs the SDK that the web-socket connection will be managed manually. The default value for this parameter is true. For more information on this, please check the Managing Web-Socket connections manually section. The default value for this property is true.
  • overrideAdminHost(adminHost: string): This method takes the admin URL as input and uses this admin URL instead of the default admin URL. This can be used in case of dedicated deployment of CometChat.
  • overrideClientHost(clientHost: string): This method takes the client URL as input and uses this client URL instead of the default client URL. This can be used in case of dedicated deployment of CometChat.
String appID = "APP_ID"; // Replace with your App ID
String region = "REGION"; // Replace with your App Region ("eu" or "us")

AppSettings appSettings = new AppSettings.AppSettingsBuilder()
    .subscribePresenceForAllUsers()
    .setRegion(region)
    .autoEstablishSocketConnection(true)
    .build();

CometChat.init(this, appID, appSettings, new CometChat.CallbackListener <String> () {
    @Override
    public void onSuccess(String successMessage) {
        Log.d(TAG, "Initialization completed successfully");
    }

    @Override
    public void onError(CometChatException e) {
        Log.d(TAG, "Initialization failed with exception: " + e.getMessage());
    }
});

Make sure you replace the APP_ID with your CometChat App ID and region with your App Region in the above code.

Register and Login your User​

Once initialization is successful, you will need to create a user.

To create users on the fly, you can use the createUser() method. This method takes a User object and the Auth Key as input parameters and returns the created User object if the request is successful.

String authKey = "AUTH_KEY"; // Replace with your App Auth Key
User user = new User();
user.setUid("USER_UID"); // Replace with the UID for the user to be created
user.setName("USER_NAME"); // Replace with the name of the user

CometChat.createUser(user, authKey, new CometChat.CallbackListener <User> () {
    @Override
    public void onSuccess(User user) {
        Log.d("createUser", user.toString());
    }

    @Override
    public void onError(CometChatException e) {
        Log.e("createUser", e.getMessage());
    }
});

Make sure that UID and name are specified as these are mandatory fields to create a user.

Once you have created the user successfully, you will need to log the user into CometChat using the login() method.

We recommend you call the CometChat login() method once your user logs into your app. The login() method needs to be called only once.

info

This straightforward authentication method is ideal for proof-of-concept (POC) development or during the early stages of application development. For production environments, however, we strongly recommend using an Auth Token instead of an Auth Key to ensure enhanced security.

String UID = "user1"; // Replace with the UID of the user to login
String authKey = "AUTH_KEY"; // Replace with your App Auth Key

if (CometChat.getLoggedInUser() == null) {
    CometChat.login(UID, authKey, new CometChat.CallbackListener <User> () {
        @Override
        public void onSuccess(User user) {
            Log.d(TAG, "Login Successful : " + user.toString());
        }

        @Override
        public void onError(CometChatException e) {
            Log.d(TAG, "Login failed with exception: " + e.getMessage());
        }
    });
} else {
    // User already logged in
}

Make sure you replace the AUTH_KEY with your App Auth Key in the above code.

The login() method returns the User object containing all the information of the logged-in user.

Warning

UID can be alphanumeric with underscore and hyphen. Spaces, punctuation and other special characters are not allowed.

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