GTChatKit: iOS ChatKit built on Texture

GTChatKit is build on Texture for easy building iOS Message Application. Also it support Bi-directional Paging CollectionView

Why? Texture Texture is an iOS framework built on top of UIKit that keeps even the most complex user interfaces smooth and responsive. more information Here

Pagination Example

Appending	Prepending

Message Input Box Example

InActive	Active

Usage

example source

1. Create GTChatNodeController subclass

class ChatNodeController: GTChatNodeController { ... }

and you can create subclass instance

let viewController = ChatNodeController()

if you want custom collection flow layout follow it

let customFlowLayout = YOURCUSTOMCollectionFlowLayout()
let viewController = GTChatNodeController(layout: customFlowLayout)

you can access chatNode and node(backgroundNode)

class ChatNodeController: GTChatNodeController {

    ...

    func foo() {

        let collectionView = self.chatNode // chatNode is equal to UICollectionView
        let backgroundView = self.node // self.node is equal to backgroundView(UIView)
    }

}

2. GTChatNodeDelegate implementation

extension ChatNodeController: GTChatNodeDelegate {
    func shouldAppendBatchFetch(for chatNode: ASCollectionNode) -> Bool {
        // Should Append Batch Fetch
        return true
    }
    
    func shouldPrependBatchFetch(for chatNode: ASCollectionNode) -> Bool {
        // Should Prepend Batch Fetch
        return true
    }

    func chatNode(_ chatNode: ASCollectionNode, willBeginAppendBatchFetchWith context: ASBatchContext) {
        // Network Call Handling
        // If Network Call Completed then context should be completed
        // required example
        // eg) self.completeBatchFetching(true, endDirection: .none)
    }

    func chatNode(_ chatNode: ASCollectionNode, willBeginPrependBatchFetchWith context: ASBatchContext) {
        ...
    }
}

3. completeBatchFetching

    func completeBatchFetching(_ complated: Bool, endDirection: BatchFetchDirection) { ... }

    endDirection: automatically block append or prepend batch fetching
    self.completeBatchFetching(true, endDirection: .append) -> no more append doesn't work
    self.completeBatchFetching(true, endDirection: .prepend) -> no more prepend doesn't work

4. pagingStatus property

you can see 4 steps paging status

1. initial
2. appending
3. prepending
4. some

(2), (3) is Loading status (4: some) is means networking is finished and got new items you do not need to be aware of (1: initial status) existence

5. If you need attach message input node then override layoutSpecThatFits method on subclass

Also, when keyboard is activated, you can get keyboard height from keyboardVisibleHeight property

    override func layoutSpecThatFits(_ constrainedSize: ASSizeRange, chatNode: ASCollectionNode) -> ASLayoutSpec {
        let messageInsets: UIEdgeInsets = .init(top: .infinity,
                                                left: 0.0,
                                                bottom: self.keyboardVisibleHeight,
                                                right: 0.0)

        let messageLayout = ASInsetLayoutSpec(insets: messageInsets,
                                              child: self.messageNode)

        // overlay message input box onto chatNode
        let messageOverlayedLayout = ASOverlayLayoutSpec(child: chatNode,
                                                         overlay: messageLayout)

        return ASInsetLayoutSpec(insets: .zero, child: messageOverlayedLayout)
    }

6. overriding setupChatRangeTuningParameters method

If you deal with the tuning parameters for range type on your scrolling node More Information Here

    // default
    open func setupChatRangeTuningParameters() {
        self.chatNode.setTuningParameters(ASRangeTuningParameters(leadingBufferScreenfuls: 1.5,
                                                              trailingBufferScreenfuls: 1.5),
                                      for: .full,
                                      rangeType: .display)
        self.chatNode.setTuningParameters(ASRangeTuningParameters(leadingBufferScreenfuls: 2,
                                                              trailingBufferScreenfuls: 2),
                                      for: .full,
                                      rangeType: .preload)
    }

7. GTChatKit System Message Input Box

        let node = GTChatMessageBoxNode()

        // Create ChatMessageButtonNode
        let cameraButton = GTChatMessageButtonNode()
            .setButtonSize(.init(width: 24.0, height: 24.0))
            .setButtonImage(#imageLiteral(resourceName: "photo"), color: .white, for: .normal)
            .setButtonImage(#imageLiteral(resourceName: "photo"), color: UIColor.white.withAlphaComponent(0.5), for: .disabled)
        
        let sendButton = GTChatMessageButtonNode()
            .setButtonSize(.init(width: 24.0, height: 24.0))
            .setButtonImage(#imageLiteral(resourceName: "send"), color: .white, for: .normal)
            .setButtonImage(#imageLiteral(resourceName: "send"), color: UIColor.white.withAlphaComponent(0.5), for: .disabled)
        
        node.messageNode.setMessageContainerInsets(UIEdgeInsetsMake(5.0, 10.0, 5.0, 10.0))
        
        // apply Message Box Attributes
        node.setLeftButtons([cameraButton], spacing: 10.0) // attach left button items
            .setRightButtons([sendButton], spacing: 10.0) // attach right button items
            .setMessageBoxHeight(50.0, maxiumNumberOfLine: 6, isRounded: true) // set message input box size

Requirements

• Xcode <~ 9.0
• iOS <~ 9.x
• Swift <~ 3.x, 4.0

Installation

GTChatKit is available through CocoaPods. To install it, simply add the following line to your Podfile:

pod 'GTChatKit'

Author

Geektree0101, h2s1880@gmail.com

License

GTChatKit is available under the MIT license. See the LICENSE file for more info.