ChatView

A Flutter package that allows you to integrate Chat View with highly customization options such as one on one chat, group chat, message reactions, reply messages, link preview and configurations for overall view.

For web demo visit Chat View Example.

Preview

Migration guide for release 2.0.0

• Renamed sendBy field to sentBy in Message class.

• Renamed chatUsers field to otherUsers in ChatController class.

• Moved currentUser field from ChatView widget to ChatController class

• Updated id value in copyWith method of Message to have correct value.

• Removed showTypingIndicator field from ChatView and replaced it with ChatController.showTypingIndicator.

  Before:

  ChatView(
    showTypingIndicator:false,
  ),

  After:

  /// use it with your [ChatController] instance.
  _chatContoller.setTypingIndicator = true; // for showing indicator
  _chatContoller.setTypingIndicator = false; // for hiding indicator

• Updated ChatUser, Message and ReplyMessage Data Model's fromJson and toJson methods:

  in ChatUser.fromJson:

  Before:

  ChatUser.fromJson(
    { 
      ...
      'imageType': ImageType.asset,
      ...
    },
  ),

  After:

  ChatUser.fromJson(
    {
      ...
      'imageType': 'asset',
      ...
    },
  ),

  in ChatUser.toJson:

  Before:

  {
    ...
    imageType: ImageType.asset,
    ...
  }

  After:

  {
    ...
    imageType: asset,
    ...
  }

  in Message.fromJson:

  Before:

  Message.fromJson(
    {
      ...
      'createdAt': DateTime.now(),
      'message_type': MessageType.text,
      'voice_message_duration': Duration(seconds: 5),
      ...
    }
  )

  After:

  Message.fromJson(
    {
      ...
      'createdAt': '2024-06-13T17:32:19.586412',
      'message_type': 'text',
      'voice_message_duration': '5000000',
      ...
    }
  )

  in Message.toJson:

  Before:

  {
    ...
    createdAt: 2024-06-13 17:23:19.454789,
    message_type: MessageType.text,
    voice_message_duration: 0:00:05.000000,
    ...
  }

  After:

  {
    ...
    createdAt: 2024-06-13T17:32:19.586412,
    message_type: text,
    voice_message_duration: 5000000,
    ...
  }

  in ReplyMessage.fromJson:

  Before:

  ReplyMessage.fromJson(
    {
      ...
      'message_type': MessageType.text,  
      'voiceMessageDuration': Duration(seconds: 5),
      ...
    }
  )

  After:

  ReplyMessage.fromJson(
    {
      ...
      'message_type': 'text',  
      'voiceMessageDuration': '5000000',
      ...
    }
  )

  in ReplyMessage.toJson:

  Before:

  {
    ...
    message_type: MessageType.text,
    voiceMessageDuration: 0:00:05.000000,
    ...
  }

  After:

  {
    ...
    message_type: text,
    voiceMessageDuration: 5000000,
    ...
  }

Installing

1. Add dependency to pubspec.yaml

dependencies:
  chatview: <latest-version>

Get the latest version in the 'Installing' tab on pub.dev

2. Import the package

import 'package:chatview/chatview.dart';

3. Adding a chat controller.

final chatController = ChatController(
  initialMessageList: messageList,
  scrollController: ScrollController(),
  currentUser: ChatUser(id: '1', name: 'Flutter'),
  otherUsers: [ChatUser(id: '2', name: 'Simform')],
);

4. Adding a ChatView widget.

ChatView(
  chatController: chatController,
  onSendTap: onSendTap,
  chatViewState: ChatViewState.hasMessages, // Add this state once data is available.
)

5. Adding a messageList with Message class.

List<Message> messageList = [
  Message(
    id: '1',
    message: "Hi",
    createdAt: createdAt,
    sentBy: userId,
  ),
  Message(
    id: '2',
    message: "Hello",
    createdAt: createdAt,
    sentBy: userId,
  ),
];

6. Adding a onSendTap.

void onSendTap(String message, ReplyMessage replyMessage, MessageType messageType){
  final message = Message(
    id: '3',
    message: "How are you",
    createdAt: DateTime.now(),
    senBy: currentUser.id,
    replyMessage: replyMessage,
    messageType: messageType,
  );
  chatController.addMessage(message);
}

Note: you can evaluate message type from messageType parameter, based on that you can perform operations.

Messages types compability

Message Types	Android	iOS	MacOS	Web	Linux	Windows
Text messages	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️
Image messages	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️
Voice messages	✔️	✔️	❌	❌	❌	❌
Custom messages	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️

Platform specific configuration

For image Picker

iOS

• Add the following keys to your Info.plist file, located in <project root>/ios/Runner/Info.plist:

    <key>NSCameraUsageDescription</key>
    <string>Used to demonstrate image picker plugin</string>
    <key>NSMicrophoneUsageDescription</key>
    <string>Used to capture audio for image picker plugin</string>
    <key>NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription</key>
    <string>Used to demonstrate image picker plugin</string>

For voice messages

iOS

• Add this two rows in ios/Runner/Info.plist

    <key>NSMicrophoneUsageDescription</key>
    <string>This app requires Mic permission.</string>

• This plugin requires ios 10.0 or higher. So add this line in Podfile

    platform :ios, '10.0'

Android

• Change the minimum Android sdk version to 21 (or higher) in your android/app/build.gradle file.

    minSdkVersion 21

• Add RECORD_AUDIO permission in AndroidManifest.xml

    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECORD_AUDIO"/>

Some more optional parameters

1. Enable and disable specific features with FeatureActiveConfig.

ChatView(
  ...
  featureActiveConfig: FeatureActiveConfig(
    enableSwipeToReply: true,
    enableSwipeToSeeTime: false,
  ),
  ...
)

2. Adding an appbar with ChatViewAppBar.

ChatView(
  ...
  appBar: ChatViewAppBar(
    profilePicture: profileImage,
    chatTitle: "Simform",
    userStatus: "online",
    actions: [
      Icon(Icons.more_vert),
    ],
  ),
  ...
)

3. Adding a message list configuration with ChatBackgroundConfiguration class.

ChatView(
  ...
  chatBackgroundConfig: ChatBackgroundConfiguration(
    backgroundColor: Colors.white,
    backgroundImage: backgroundImage,
  ),
  ...
)

4. Adding a send message configuration with SendMessageConfiguration class.

ChatView(
  ...
  sendMessageConfig: SendMessageConfiguration(
    replyMessageColor: Colors.grey,
    replyDialogColor:Colors.blue,
    replyTitleColor: Colors.black,
    closeIconColor: Colors.black,
  ),
  ...
)

5. Adding a chat bubble configuration with ChatBubbleConfiguration class.

ChatView(
  ...
  chatBubbleConfig: ChatBubbleConfiguration(
    onDoubleTap: (){
       // Your code goes here
    },
    outgoingChatBubbleConfig: ChatBubble(      // Sender's message chat bubble 
      color: Colors.blue,
      borderRadius: const BorderRadius.only(  
        topRight: Radius.circular(12),
        topLeft: Radius.circular(12),
        bottomLeft: Radius.circular(12),
      ),
    ),
    inComingChatBubbleConfig: ChatBubble(      // Receiver's message chat bubble
      color: Colors.grey.shade200,
      borderRadius: const BorderRadius.only(
        topLeft: Radius.circular(12),
        topRight: Radius.circular(12),
        bottomRight: Radius.circular(12),
      ),
    ),
  )
  ...
)

6. Adding swipe to reply configuration with SwipeToReplyConfiguration class.

ChatView(
  ...
  swipeToReplyConfig: SwipeToReplyConfiguration(
    onLeftSwipe: (message, sentBy){
        // Your code goes here
    },
    onRightSwipe: (message, sentBy){
        // Your code goes here
    },              
  ),
  ...
)

7. Adding messages configuration with MessageConfiguration class.

ChatView(
  ...
  messageConfig: MessageConfiguration(
    messageReactionConfig: MessageReactionConfiguration(),      // Emoji reaction configuration for single message 
    imageMessageConfig: ImageMessageConfiguration(
      onTap: (){
          // Your code goes here
      },                          
      shareIconConfig: ShareIconConfiguration(
        onPressed: (){
           // Your code goes here
        },
      ),
    ),
  ),
  ...
)

8. Adding reaction pop-up configuration with ReactionPopupConfiguration class.

ChatView(
  ...
  reactionPopupConfig: ReactionPopupConfiguration(
    backgroundColor: Colors.white,
    userReactionCallback: (message, emoji){
      // Your code goes here
    }
    padding: EdgeInsets.all(12),
    shadow: BoxShadow(
      color: Colors.black54,
      blurRadius: 20,
    ),
  ),
  ...
)

9. Adding reply pop-up configuration with ReplyPopupConfiguration class.

ChatView(
  ...
  replyPopupConfig: ReplyPopupConfiguration(
    backgroundColor: Colors.white,
    onUnsendTap:(message){                   // message is 'Message' class instance
       // Your code goes here
    },
    onReplyTap:(message){                    // message is 'Message' class instance
       // Your code goes here
    },
    onReportTap:(){
       // Your code goes here
    },
    onMoreTap:(){
       // Your code goes here
    },
  ),
  ...
)

10. Adding replied message configuration with RepliedMessageConfiguration class.

ChatView(
   ...
   repliedMessageConfig: RepliedMessageConfiguration(
     backgroundColor: Colors.blue,
     verticalBarColor: Colors.black,
     repliedMsgAutoScrollConfig: RepliedMsgAutoScrollConfig(),
   ),
   ...
)

11. For customizing typing indicators use typeIndicatorConfig with TypeIndicatorConfig.

ChatView(
  ...

  typeIndicatorConfig: TypeIndicatorConfiguration(
    flashingCircleBrightColor: Colors.grey,
    flashingCircleDarkColor: Colors.black,
  ),
  ...
)

12. For showing hiding typeIndicatorwidget use ChatController.setTypingIndicaor, for more info see ChatController.

/// use it with your [ChatController] instance.
_chatContoller.setTypingIndicator = true; // for showing indicator
_chatContoller.setTypingIndicator = false; // for hiding indicator

13. Adding linkpreview configuration with LinkPreviewConfiguration class.

ChatView(
  ...
  chatBubbleConfig: ChatBubbleConfiguration(
    linkPreviewConfig: LinkPreviewConfiguration(
      linkStyle: const TextStyle(
        color: Colors.white,
        decoration: TextDecoration.underline,
      ),
      backgroundColor: Colors.grey,
      bodyStyle: const TextStyle(
        color: Colors.grey.shade200,
        fontSize:16,
      ),
      titleStyle: const TextStyle(
        color: Colors.black,
        fontSize:20,
      ),
    ),
  )
  ...
)

14. Adding pagination.

ChatView(
  ...
  isLastPage: false,
  featureActiveConfig: FeatureActiveConfig(
    enablePagination: true,
  ),
  loadMoreData: chatController.loadMoreData,
  ...
)

15. Add image picker configuration.

ChatView(
  ...
  sendMessageConfig: SendMessageConfiguration(
    enableCameraImagePicker: false,
    enableGalleryImagePicker: true,
    imagePickerIconsConfig: ImagePickerIconsConfiguration(
      cameraIconColor: Colors.black,
      galleryIconColor: Colors.black,
    )
  )
  ...
)

16. Add ChatViewState customisations.

ChatView(
  ...
  chatViewStateConfig: ChatViewStateConfiguration(
    loadingWidgetConfig: ChatViewStateWidgetConfiguration(
      loadingIndicatorColor: Colors.pink,
    ),
    onReloadButtonTap: () {},
  ),
  ...
)

17. Setting auto scroll and highlight config with RepliedMsgAutoScrollConfig class.

ChatView(
    ...
    repliedMsgAutoScrollConfig: RepliedMsgAutoScrollConfig(
      enableHighlightRepliedMsg: true,
      highlightColor: Colors.grey,
      highlightScale: 1.1,
    )
    ...
)

18. Callback when a user starts/stops typing in TextFieldConfiguration

ChatView(
    ...
      sendMessageConfig: SendMessageConfiguration(
       
          textFieldConfig: TextFieldConfiguration(
            onMessageTyping: (status) {
                // send composing/composed status to other client
                // your code goes here
            },   

            
        /// After typing stopped, the threshold time after which the composing
        /// status to be changed to [TypeWriterStatus.typed].
        /// Default is 1 second.
            compositionThresholdTime: const Duration(seconds: 1),

        ),
    ...
  )
)

19. Passing customReceipts builder or handling stuffs related receipts see ReceiptsWidgetConfig in outgoingChatBubbleConfig.

ChatView(
   ...
      featureActiveConfig: const FeatureActiveConfig(
            /// Controls the visibility of message seen ago receipts default is true
            lastSeenAgoBuilderVisibility: false,
            /// Controls the visibility of the message [receiptsBuilder]
            receiptsBuilderVisibility: false),            
       ChatBubbleConfiguration(
          inComingChatBubbleConfig: ChatBubble(
            onMessageRead: (message) {
              /// send your message reciepts to the other client
              debugPrint('Message Read');
            },

          ),
          outgoingChatBubbleConfig: ChatBubble(
              receiptsWidgetConfig: ReceiptsWidgetConfig(
                      /// custom receipts builder 
                      receiptsBuilder: _customReceiptsBuilder,
                      /// whether to display receipts in all 
                      /// message or just at the last one just like instagram
                      showReceiptsIn: ShowReceiptsIn.lastMessage
              ),
            ), 
        ), 
        
  ...
 
)

20. Flag enableOtherUserName to hide user name in chat.

ChatView(
   ...
      featureActiveConfig: const FeatureActiveConfig(
        enableOtherUserName: false,
      ),
   ...

)

21. Added report button for receiver message and update onMoreTap and onReportTap callbacks.

ChatView(
   ...
      replyPopupConfig: ReplyPopupConfiguration(
        onReportTap: (Message message) {
          debugPrint('Message: $message');
        },
        onMoreTap: (Message message, bool sentByCurrentUser) {
          debugPrint('Message : $message');
        },
      ),
   ...
)

22. Added emojiPickerSheetConfig for configuration of emoji picker sheet.

ChatView(
   ...
      emojiPickerSheetConfig: Config(
        emojiViewConfig: EmojiViewConfig(
          columns: 7,
          emojiSizeMax: 32,
          recentsLimit: 28,
          backgroundColor: Colors.white,
        ),
        categoryViewConfig: const CategoryViewConfig(
          initCategory: Category.RECENT,
          recentTabBehavior: RecentTabBehavior.NONE,
        ),
  ...
 
)

23. Configure the styling & audio recording quality using VoiceRecordingConfiguration in sendMessageConfig.

ChatView(
    ...
      sendMessageConfig: SendMessageConfiguration(

            voiceRecordingConfiguration: VoiceRecordingConfiguration(
            iosEncoder: IosEncoder.kAudioFormatMPEG4AAC,
            androidOutputFormat: AndroidOutputFormat.mpeg4,
            androidEncoder: AndroidEncoder.aac, 
            bitRate: 128000,
            sampleRate: 44100,
            waveStyle: WaveStyle(
                showMiddleLine: false,
                waveColor: theme.waveColor ?? Colors.white,
                extendWaveform: true,
            ),
        ),
    
    ...
  )
)

24. Added enabled to enable/disable chat text field.

ChatView(
   ...
      sendMessageConfig: SendMessageConfiguration(
      ...
        textFieldConfig: TextFieldConfig(
          enabled: true // [false] to disable text field.
        ),
      ...
      ),
  ...
 
)

25. Added flag isProfilePhotoInBase64 that defines whether provided image is url or base64 data.

final chatController = ChatController(
  ...
    chatUsers: [
      ChatUser(
        id: '1',
        name: 'Simform',
        isProfilePhotoInBase64: false,
        profilePhoto: 'ImageNetworkUrl',
      ),
    ],
  ...
);

ChatView(
   ...
      profileCircleConfig: const ProfileCircleConfiguration(
        isProfilePhotoInBase64: false,
        profileImageUrl: 'ImageNetworkUrl',
      ),
   ...
)

26. Added chatSeparatorDatePattern in DefaultGroupSeparatorConfiguration to separate chats with provided pattern.

ChatView(
    ...
      chatBackgroundConfig: ChatBackgroundConfiguration(
        ...
          defaultGroupSeparatorConfig: DefaultGroupSeparatorConfiguration(
            chatSeparatorDatePattern: 'MMM dd, yyyy'
          ),
        ...
      ),
    ...
)

27. Field cancelRecordConfiguration to provide an configuration to cancel voice record message.

ChatView(
   ...
      sendMessageConfig: SendMessageConfiguration(
        ...
           cancelRecordConfiguration: CancelRecordConfiguration(
            icon: const Icon(
              Icons.cancel_outlined,
            ),
            onCancel: () {
              debugPrint('Voice recording cancelled');
            },
            iconColor: Colors.black,
           ),
        ...
      ),
   ...

)

28. Added callback of onTap on list of reacted users in reaction sheet reactedUserCallback.

ChatView(
   ...
      messageConfig: MessageConfiguration(
      ...
        messageReactionConfig: MessageReactionConfiguration(
          reactionsBottomSheetConfig: ReactionsBottomSheetConfiguration(
            reactedUserCallback: (reactedUser, reaction) {
              debugPrint(reaction);
            },
          ),
        ),
      ...
      ),
  ...
),

29. Added a customMessageReplyViewBuilder to customize reply message view for custom type message.

ChatView(
  ...
    messageConfig: MessageConfiguration(
      customMessageBuilder: (ReplyMessage state) {
        return Text(
        state.message,
        maxLines: 1,
        overflow: TextOverflow.ellipsis,
        style: const TextStyle(
          fontSize: 12,
          color: Colors.black,
          ),
        );
      },
    ),
  ...
)

30. Add default avatar for profile image defaultAvatarImage, error builder for asset and network profile image assetImageErrorBuilder networkImageErrorBuilder, Enum ImageType to define image as asset, network or base64 data.

ChatView(
  ...
      appBar: ChatViewAppBar(
        defaultAvatarImage: defaultAvatar,
        imageType: ImageType.network,
        networkImageErrorBuilder: (context, url, error) {
          return Center(
            child: Text('Error $error'),
          );
        },
        assetImageErrorBuilder: (context, error, stackTrace) {
          return Center(
            child: Text('Error $error'),
          );
        },
      ),
  ...
),

31. Added a customMessageReplyViewBuilder to customize reply message view for custom type message.

ChatView(
  ...
    messageConfig: MessageConfiguration(
      customMessageBuilder: (ReplyMessage state) {
        return Text(
        state.message,
        maxLines: 1,
        overflow: TextOverflow.ellipsis,
        style: const TextStyle(
          fontSize: 12,
          color: Colors.black,
          ),
        );
      },
    ),
  ...
)

32. Added a replyMessageBuilder to customize view for the reply.

ChatView(
  ...
    replyMessageBuilder: (context, state) {
      return Container(
        decoration: const BoxDecoration(
          color: Colors.white,
          borderRadius: BorderRadius.vertical(
            top: Radius.circular(14),
          ),
        ),
        margin: const EdgeInsets.only(
          bottom: 17,
          right: 0.4,
          left: 0.4,
        ),
        padding: const EdgeInsets.fromLTRB(10, 10, 10, 30),
          child: Container(
            padding: const EdgeInsets.symmetric(
              horizontal: 6,
            ),
            decoration: BoxDecoration(
              color: Colors.grey.shade200,
              borderRadius: BorderRadius.circular(12),
            ),
            child: Column(
              mainAxisSize: MainAxisSize.min,
              children: [
                Row(
                  mainAxisAlignment: MainAxisAlignment.spaceBetween,
                  children: [
                    Expanded(
                      child: Text( 
                        state.message,
                        maxLines: 1,
                        overflow: TextOverflow.ellipsis,
                        style: const TextStyle(
                          fontWeight: FontWeight.bold,
                        ),
                      ),
                    ),
                    IconButton(
                      constraints: const BoxConstraints(),
                      padding: EdgeInsets.zero,
                      icon: const Icon(
                        Icons.close,
                        size: 16,
                      ),
                      onPressed: () => ChatView.closeReplyMessageView(context),
                    ),
                  ],
                ),
              ],
            ),
          ),
        );
    },
  ...
)

33. Reply Suggestions functionalities.

• Add reply suggestions

_chatController.addReplySuggestions([
      SuggestionItemData(text: 'Thanks.'),
      SuggestionItemData(text: 'Thank you very much.'),
      SuggestionItemData(text: 'Great.')
    ]);

• Remove reply suggestions

_chatController.removeReplySuggestions();

• Update suggestions Config

replySuggestionsConfig: ReplySuggestionsConfig(
    itemConfig: SuggestionItemConfig(
        decoration: BoxDecoration(),
        textStyle: TextStyle(),
        padding: EdgetInsets.all(8),
        customItemBuilder: (index, suggestionItemData) => Container()
    ),
    listConfig: SuggestionListConfig(
        decoration: BoxDecoration(),
        padding: EdgetInsets.all(8),
        itemSeparatorWidth: 8,
        axisAlignment: SuggestionListAlignment.left
    )
    onTap: (item) =>
        _onSendTap(item.text, const ReplyMessage(), MessageType.text),
    autoDismissOnSelection: true
),

34. Added callback messageSorter to sort message in ChatBackgroundConfiguration.

ChatView(
   ...
      chatBackgroundConfig: ChatBackgroundConfiguration(
      ...
        messageSorter: (message1, message2) {
          return message1.createdAt.compareTo(message2.createdAt);
        }
      ...
     ),
  ...
),

How to use

Check out blog for better understanding and basic implementation.

Also, for whole example, check out the example app in the example directory or the 'Example' tab on pub.dartlang.org for a more complete example.

Main Contributors

Vatsal Tanna

Dhvanit Vaghani

Ujas Majithiya

Apurva Kanthraviya

Aditya Chavda

License

MIT License
Copyright (c) 2022 Simform Solutions
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.