The Android XDK is an open source framework of customizable UI components built on top of Layer SDK to get messaging tested and integrated quickly. This repository contains the Android XDK library. For a fully-featured messaging app, see the open source Android XDK Messenger project, which uses this Android XDK library and the Layer SDK.
The Android XDK requires Android API Level >= 14 (OS v4.0). The Layer SDK version requirements for each release are tightly coupled. See the release notes for details about specifics.
With the XDK UI, Messages have types. One type might be rich text, and another might be a map location or photo. Anything that can be packaged into a set of MIME Types and data can be represented the XDK.
Under the hood, MessageSenders send individual Message types, and CellFactories render them. Additional Message types can be added to your app by extending these classes. For a list of default types, see the messagetypes subpackage.
The XDK UI library is located in the ui directory. The table below details the most important classes in the XDK UI and is hyperlinked directly to the current java file.
| Views | |
|---|---|
| ConversationItemsListView | A list of Conversations |
| MessageItemsListView | A list of Messages within a Conversation |
| ComposeBar | A View used to compose and send Messages |
| TypingIndicatorLayout | Displays TypingIndicator information for a Conversation |
| Factories and Senders | |
| MessageSender | Sends Messages |
| TypingIndicatorLayout. TypingIndicatorFactory | Renders typing indicators |
Add the following to the build.gradle:
repositories {
maven { url "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/layerhq/releases-android/master/releases/" }
maven { url "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/layerhq/Android-XDK/master/releases/" }
}
dependencies {
compile 'com.layer.xdk:xdk:4.0.0'
}The XDK UI uses Picasso for image caching, resizing, and processing, and Subsampling Scale Image View for image its in-app lightbox. Other dependencies include the Android recyclerview, appcompat, and design libraries.
The XDK UI is divided into five basic View components, typically presented on a screen with a user's conversations, a screen with messages within a conversation, and a component that lets the user select participants.
The ConversationItemsListView is a list of Conversations.
It uses databinding which takes an object of ConversationItemsListViewModel as a ViewModel. The ConversationItemsListViewModel creates an object of ConversationItemsAdapter which is passed as the Adapter in the xml.
mConversationItemsAdapter = new ConversationItemsAdapter(context, layerClient, query,
<layout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto">
<data>
<import type="com.layer.xdk.ui.conversation.ConversationItemsListViewModel"/>
<variable
name="viewModel"
type="ConversationItemsListViewModel"/>
</data>
<com.layer.xdk.ui.conversation.ConversationItemsListView
app:adapter="@{viewModel.conversationItemsAdapter}"
... />
</layout>Create an Object of ConversationItemsListViewModel and bind it to the ConversationView.
ConversationItemsListViewModel conversationItemsListViewModel = new ConversationItemsListViewModel(this, App.getLayerClient(), Util.getConversationItemFormatter(), Util.getImageCacheWrapper(),new IdentityFormatterImpl());
binding.setViewModel(conversationItemsListViewModel);An item click listener can be set via ConversationItemsListViewModel#setItemClickListener
The MessageItemsListView is list of Messages. MessageItemsListView is used in ConversationView
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<layout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto">
<data>
<import type="com.layer.xdk.ui.message.MessageItemsListViewModel"/>
<variable
name="viewModel"
type="MessageItemsListViewModel"/>
</data>
<merge
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent">
<com.layer.xdk.ui.message.MessageItemsListView
app:adapter="@{viewModel.adapter}"
... />
</merge>
</layout>The ComposeBar is a text entry area for composing messages and a menu of AttachmentSenders.
The ConversationView is comprised of a MessageItemsListView and a ComposeBar.
<layout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto">
<data>
<variable
name="viewModel"
type="com.layer.xdk.ui.conversation.ConversationViewModel"/>
</data>
<LinearLayout ...>
<com.layer.xdk.ui.conversation.ConversationView
app:conversation="@{viewModel.conversation}"
app:layerClient="@{viewModel.layerClient}"
app:messageItemsListViewModel="@{viewModel.messageItemsListViewModel}"/>
</LinearLayout>
</layout>
ConversationView conversationView = activityMessagesListBinding.conversation;
messageItemsListViewModel = new MessageItemsListViewModel(this, App.getLayerClient(),
Util.getImageCacheWrapper(), Util.getDateFormatter(this));
conversationViewModel = new ConversationViewModel(...);
activityMessagesListBinding.setViewModel(conversationViewModel);
setConversation(conversation, conversation != null);
activityMessagesListBinding.executePendingBindings();ItemClickListener and ItemSwipeListener can be set on the ViewModel. ConversationItemsListViewModel has setItemClickListener and setItemSwipeListener methods.
conversationItemsListViewModel.setItemClickListener(new OnItemClickListener<Conversation>() {
@Override
public void onItemClick(Conversation item) {
...
}
@Override
public boolean onItemLongClick(Conversation item) {
return false;
}
});
conversationItemsListViewModel.setItemSwipeListener(new SwipeableItem.OnItemSwipeListener<Conversation>() {
@Override
public void onSwipe(final Conversation conversation, int direction) {
...
});The TypingIndicator presents the user with active typists.
<com.layer.xdk.ui.typingindicator.TypingIndicatorLayout
android:id="@+id/typing_indicator"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
/> typingIndicator = new TypingIndicatorLayout(context);
typingIndicator.setTypingIndicatorFactory(new BubbleTypingIndicatorFactory());
typingIndicator.setTypingActivityListener(new TypingIndicatorLayout.TypingActivityListener() {
@Override
public void onTypingActivityChange(TypingIndicatorLayout typingIndicator, boolean active, Set<Identity> users) {
messageItemListView.setTypingIndicatorLayout(active ? typingIndicator : null, users);
}
});By default, the XDK UI supports the following types of messages.
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Generic | Default handler for unknown message types. Displays the mimetype and the content size |
| Text | Handler for text/plain content. |
| Location | Handler for location/coordinate content. Given lat/lon information, displays the location image (from Google maps), with a hyperlink that launches Maps application |
| ThreePartImage | Handler for 3 part JPEG image, with preview & dimensions. By default, displays the preview image. On tap, downloads and renders the full resolution image |
| SinglePartImage | Handler for any mime type that starts with image tag |
We expect to add support for other handlers in future. If you would like to build a handler, please check doc on message handlers.
An application server can directly upload user information to Layer server. This user information is called Identity.AvatarView is a control that is used to render the Identity information.
AvatarViewcan be used to show information about one user, or a cluster of users. AvatarView uses ImageCacheWrapper to abstract any image caching & loading library you wish to use. An implementation of ImageCacheWrapper is available in layer-ui that uses Picasso.
<com.layer.xdk.ui.avatar.AvatarView
android:id="@+id/avatar"
android:layout_width="@dimen/xdk_ui_avatar_width"
android:layout_height="@dimen/xdk_ui_avatar_height" /> // To create an avatar
//get Avatar object from layout
avatar.init(new AvatarViewModelImpl(imageCachWrapper), new IdentityFormatterImpl());
// To set identites meant for the avatar cluster
//get ViewHolder Object from the RecyclerView.ViewHolder
HashSet<Identity> participants = new HashSet<>(conversation.getParticipants());
viewHolder.avatar.setParticipants(participants);The Android XDK is an Open Source project maintained by Layer. Feedback and contributions are always welcome and the maintainers try to process patches as quickly as possible. Feel free to open up a Pull Request or Issue on Github.
The Android XDK is licensed under the terms of the Apache License, version 2.0. Please see the LICENSE file for full details.
The Android XDK was developed in San Francisco by the Layer team. If you have any technical questions or concerns about this project feel free to reach out to Layer Support.