💬 Gifted Chat
The most complete chat UI for React Native & Web
Sponsor
Coding Bootcamp in Paris co-founded by Farid Safi
Click to learn more
Scalable chat API/Server written in Go
API Tour | React Native Gifted tutorial
Features
-
🎉 react-native-web
able (since 0.10.0) web configuration - Write with TypeScript (since 0.8.0)
- Fully customizable components
- Composer actions (to attach photos, etc.)
- Load earlier messages
- Copy messages to clipboard
- Touchable links using react-native-parsed-text
- Avatar as user's initials
- Localized dates
- Multi-line TextInput
- InputToolbar avoiding keyboard
- Redux support
- System message
- Quick Reply messages (bot)
Dependency
- Use version
0.2.x
for RN>= 0.44.0
- Use version
0.1.x
for RN>= 0.40.0
- Use version
0.0.10
for RN< 0.40.0
Installation
- Using npm:
npm install react-native-gifted-chat --save
- Using Yarn:
yarn add react-native-gifted-chat
react-native-video and expo-av
- Both dependencies are removed since
0.11.0
. - You still be able to provide a
video
but you need to providerenderMessageVideo
prop.
You have a question?
- Please check this readme and may find a response
- Please ask on StackOverflow first: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/react-native-gifted-chat
- Find response on existing issues
- Try to keep issues for issues
Example
import React from 'react'
import { GiftedChat } from 'react-native-gifted-chat'
class Example extends React.Component {
state = {
messages: [],
}
componentDidMount() {
this.setState({
messages: [
{
_id: 1,
text: 'Hello developer',
createdAt: new Date(),
user: {
_id: 2,
name: 'React Native',
avatar: 'https://placeimg.com/140/140/any',
},
},
],
})
}
onSend(messages = []) {
this.setState(previousState => ({
messages: GiftedChat.append(previousState.messages, messages),
}))
}
render() {
return (
<GiftedChat
messages={this.state.messages}
onSend={messages => this.onSend(messages)}
user={{
_id: 1,
}}
/>
)
}
}
Advanced example
See App.js
for a working demo!
"Slack" example
See the files in example-slack-message
for an example of how to override the default UI to make something that looks more like Slack -- with usernames displayed and all messages on the left.
Message object
e.g. Chat Message
{
_id: 1,
text: 'My message',
createdAt: new Date(Date.UTC(2016, 5, 11, 17, 20, 0)),
user: {
_id: 2,
name: 'React Native',
avatar: 'https://facebook.github.io/react/img/logo_og.png',
},
image: 'https://facebook.github.io/react/img/logo_og.png',
// You can also add a video prop:
video: 'http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/gtv-videos-bucket/sample/ElephantsDream.mp4',
// Any additional custom parameters are passed through
}
e.g. System Message
{
_id: 1,
text: 'This is a system message',
createdAt: new Date(Date.UTC(2016, 5, 11, 17, 20, 0)),
system: true,
// Any additional custom parameters are passed through
}
e.g. Chat Message with Quick Reply options
See PR #1211
interface Reply {
title: string
value: string
messageId?: any
}
interface QuickReplies {
type: 'radio' | 'checkbox'
values: Reply[]
keepIt?: boolean
}
{
_id: 1,
text: 'This is a quick reply. Do you love Gifted Chat? (radio) KEEP IT',
createdAt: new Date(),
quickReplies: {
type: 'radio', // or 'checkbox',
keepIt: true,
values: [
{
title: '😋 Yes',
value: 'yes',
},
{
title: '📷 Yes, let me show you with a picture!',
value: 'yes_picture',
},
{
title: '😞 Nope. What?',
value: 'no',
},
],
},
user: {
_id: 2,
name: 'React Native',
},
},
{
_id: 2,
text: 'This is a quick reply. Do you love Gifted Chat? (checkbox)',
createdAt: new Date(),
quickReplies: {
type: 'checkbox', // or 'radio',
values: [
{
title: 'Yes',
value: 'yes',
},
{
title: 'Yes, let me show you with a picture!',
value: 'yes_picture',
},
{
title: 'Nope. What?',
value: 'no',
},
],
},
user: {
_id: 2,
name: 'React Native',
},
}
Props
-
messages
(Array) - Messages to display -
text
(String) - Input text; default isundefined
, but if specified, it will override GiftedChat's internal state (e.g. for redux; see notes below) -
placeholder
(String) - Placeholder whentext
is empty; default is'Type a message...'
-
messageIdGenerator
(Function) - Generate an id for new messages. Defaults to UUID v4, generated by uuid -
user
(Object) - User sending the messages:{ _id, name, avatar }
-
onSend
(Function) - Callback when sending a message -
alwaysShowSend
(Bool) - Always show send button in input text composer; defaultfalse
, show only when text input is not empty -
locale
(String) - Locale to localize the dates -
timeFormat
(String) - Format to use for rendering times; default is'LT'
-
dateFormat
(String) - Format to use for rendering dates; default is'll'
-
loadEarlier
(Bool) - Enables the "load earlier messages" button -
isKeyboardInternallyHandled
(Bool) - Determine whether to handle keyboard awareness inside the plugin. If you have your own keyboard handling outside the plugin set this to false; default istrue
-
onLoadEarlier
(Function) - Callback when loading earlier messages -
isLoadingEarlier
(Bool) - Display anActivityIndicator
when loading earlier messages -
renderLoading
(Function) - Render a loading view when initializing -
renderLoadEarlier
(Function) - Custom "Load earlier messages" button -
renderAvatar
(Function) - Custom message avatar; set tonull
to not render any avatar for the message -
showUserAvatar
(Bool) - Whether to render an avatar for the current user; default isfalse
, only show avatars for other users -
showAvatarForEveryMessage
(Bool) - When false, avatars will only be displayed when a consecutive message is from the same user on the same day; default isfalse
-
onPressAvatar
(Function(user
)) - Callback when a message avatar is tapped -
onLongPressAvatar
(Function(user
)) - Callback when a message avatar is long-pressed -
renderAvatarOnTop
(Bool) - Render the message avatar at the top of consecutive messages, rather than the bottom; default isfalse
-
renderBubble
(Function) - Custom message bubble -
renderSystemMessage
(Function) - Custom system message -
onLongPress
(Function(context
,message
)) - Callback when a message bubble is long-pressed; default is to show an ActionSheet with "Copy Text" (see example usingshowActionSheetWithOptions()
) -
inverted
(Bool) - Reverses display order ofmessages
; default istrue
-
renderUsernameOnMessage
(Bool) - Indicate whether to show the user's username inside the message bubble; default isfalse
-
renderMessage
(Function) - Custom message container -
renderMessageText
(Function) - Custom message text -
renderMessageImage
(Function) - Custom message image -
renderMessageVideo
(Function) - Custom message video - **image props
** _(Object)_ - Extra props to be passed to the [
](https://facebook.github.io/react-native/docs/image.html) component created by the default
renderMessageImage` -
videoProps
(Object) - Extra props to be passed to the video component created by the requiredrenderMessageVideo
-
lightboxProps
(Object) - Extra props to be passed to theMessageImage
's Lightbox -
isCustomViewBottom
(Bool) - Determine whether renderCustomView is displayed before or after the text, image and video views; default isfalse
-
renderCustomView
(Function) - Custom view inside the bubble -
renderDay
(Function) - Custom day above a message -
renderTime
(Function) - Custom time inside a message -
renderFooter
(Function) - Custom footer component on the ListView, e.g.'User is typing...'
; see example/App.js for an example -
renderChatEmpty
(Function) - Custom component to render in the ListView when messages are empty -
renderChatFooter
(Function) - Custom component to render below the MessageContainer (separate from the ListView) -
renderInputToolbar
(Function) - Custom message composer container -
renderComposer
(Function) - Custom text input message composer -
renderActions
(Function) - Custom action button on the left of the message composer -
renderSend
(Function) - Custom send button; you can pass children to the originalSend
component quite easily, for example, to use a custom icon (example) -
renderAccessory
(Function) - Custom second line of actions below the message composer -
onPressActionButton
(Function) - Callback when the Action button is pressed (if set, the defaultactionSheet
will not be used) -
bottomOffset
(Integer) - Distance of the chat from the bottom of the screen (e.g. useful if you display a tab bar) -
minInputToolbarHeight
(Integer) - Minimum height of the input toolbar; default is44
-
listViewProps
(Object) - Extra props to be passed to the messages<ListView>
; some props can't be overridden, see the code inMessageContainer.render()
for details -
textInputProps
(Object) - Extra props to be passed to the<TextInput>
-
textInputStyle
(Object) - Custom style to be passed to the<TextInput>
-
multiline
(Bool) - Indicates whether to allow the<TextInput>
to be multiple lines or not; defaulttrue
. -
keyboardShouldPersistTaps
(Enum) - Determines whether the keyboard should stay visible after a tap; see<ScrollView>
docs -
onInputTextChanged
(Function) - Callback when the input text changes -
maxInputLength
(Integer) - Max message composer TextInput length -
parsePatterns
(Function) - Custom parse patterns for react-native-parsed-text used to linking message content (like URLs and phone numbers), e.g.:
<GiftedChat
parsePatterns={(linkStyle) => [
{ type: 'phone', style: linkStyle, onPress: this.onPressPhoneNumber },
{ pattern: /#(\w+)/, style: { ...linkStyle, styles.hashtag }, onPress: this.onPressHashtag },
]}
/>
-
extraData
(Object) - Extra props for re-rendering FlatList on demand. This will be useful for rendering footer etc. -
minComposerHeight
(Object) - Custom min-height of the composer. -
maxComposerHeight
(Object) - Custom max height of the composer.
-
scrollToBottom
(Bool) - Enables the scroll to bottom Component (Default is false) -
scrollToBottomComponent
(Function) - Custom Scroll To Bottom Component container -
scrollToBottomOffset
(Integer) - Custom Height Offset upon which to begin showing Scroll To Bottom Component (Default is 200) -
scrollToBottomStyle
(Object) - Custom style for Bottom Component container -
alignTop
(Boolean) Controls whether or not the message bubbles appear at the top of the chat (Default is false - bubbles align to bottom) -
onQuickReply
(Function) - Callback when sending a quick reply (to backend server) -
renderQuickReplies
(Function) - Custom all quick reply view -
quickReplyStyle
(StyleProp) - Custom quick reply view style -
renderQuickReplySend
(Function) - Custom quick reply send view -
shouldUpdateMessage
(Function) - Lets the message component know when to update outside of normal cases.
Imperative methods
-
focusTextInput()
- Open the keyboard and focus the text input box
Redux
Notes forThe messages
prop should work out-of-the-box with Redux. In most cases, this is all you need.
If you decide to specify a text
prop, GiftedChat will no longer manage its own internal text
state and will defer entirely to your prop.
This is great for using a tool like Redux, but there's one extra step you'll need to take:
simply implement onInputTextChanged
to receive typing events and reset events (e.g. to clear the text onSend
):
<GiftedChat
text={customText}
onInputTextChanged={text => this.setCustomText(text)}
/* ... */
/>
Notes for Android
If you are using Create React Native App / Expo, no Android specific installation steps are required -- you can skip this section. Otherwise, we recommend modifying your project configuration as follows.
-
Make sure you have
android:windowSoftInputMode="adjustResize"
in yourAndroidManifest.xml
:<activity android:name=".MainActivity" android:label="@string/app_name" android:windowSoftInputMode="adjustResize" android:configChanges="keyboard|keyboardHidden|orientation|screenSize">
-
For Expo, there are at least 2 solutions to fix it:
- Append
KeyboardAvoidingView
after GiftedChat. This should only be done for Android, asKeyboardAvoidingView
may conflict with the iOS keyboard avoidance already built into GiftedChat, e.g.:
- Append
<View style={{ flex: 1 }}>
<GiftedChat />
{
Platform.OS === 'android' && <KeyboardAvoidingView behavior="padding" />
}
</View>
If you use React Navigation, additional handling may be required to account for navigation headers and tabs. KeyboardAvoidingView
's keyboardVerticalOffset
property can be set to the height of the navigation header and tabBarOptions.keyboardHidesTabBar
can be set to keep the tab bar from being shown when the keyboard is up. Due to a bug with calculating height on Android phones with notches, KeyboardAvoidingView
is recommended over other solutions that involve calculating the height of the window.
-
adding an opaque background status bar on app.json (even though
android:windowSoftInputMode="adjustResize"
is set internally on Expo's Android apps, the translucent status bar causes it not to work): https://docs.expo.io/versions/latest/guides/configuration.html#androidstatusbar -
If you plan to use
GiftedChat
inside aModal
, see #200.
Notes for local development
Native
- Install
yarn add -g expo-cli
expo start
react-native-web
With expo
- Install
yarn add -g expo-cli
expo start -w
With create-react-app
yarn add -D react-app-rewired
touch config-overrides.js
module.exports = function override(config, env) {
config.module.rules.push({
test: /\.js$/,
exclude: /node_modules[/\\](?!react-native-gifted-chat|react-native-lightbox|react-native-parsed-text)/,
use: {
loader: 'babel-loader',
options: {
babelrc: false,
configFile: false,
presets: [
['@babel/preset-env', { useBuiltIns: 'usage' }],
'@babel/preset-react',
],
plugins: ['@babel/plugin-proposal-class-properties'],
},
},
})
return config
}
You will find an example and a web demo here: xcarpentier/gifted-chat-web-demo
Another example with Gatsby : xcarpentier/clean-archi-boilerplate
Questions
- How can I set Bubble color for each user?
- How can I pass style props to InputToolbar design and customize its color and other styles properties?
- How can I change the color of the message box?
- Is there a way to manually dismiss the keyboard?
- I want to implement a popover that pops right after clicking on a specific avatar, what is the best implementation in this case and how?
- Why TextInput is hidden on Android?
- How to use renderLoading?
- Can I use MySql to save the message?
License
Author
Feel free to ask me questions on Twitter @FaridSafi!
Contributors
- Kevin Cooper cooperka
- Kfir Golan kfiroo
- Bruno Cascio brunocascio
- Xavier Carpentier xcarpentier
- more
Hire an expert!
Looking for a ReactNative freelance expert with more than 12 years of experience? Contact Xavier from his website!