NativeScript ChatView

A NativeScript UI module for implementing WhatsApp like chat applications.

License

MIT license

Platforms

• Android
• iOS

Installation

Run

tns plugin add nativescript-chatview

inside your app project to install the module.

Demo

The demo app can be found here.

Usage

Include

import ChatView = require("nativescript-chatview");

Create view

<Page xmlns="http://schemas.nativescript.org/tns.xsd"
      navigatingTo="onNavigatingTo">
</Page>

import ChatView = require("nativescript-chatview");
 
function getTime() : string {
    var now = new Date();
    
    var hours = now.getHours();
    return numberToString(hours == 12 ? 12 : (hours % 12)) + ":" + numberToString(now.getMinutes()) + " " + 
           (hours < 13 ? "AM" : "PM");
}
 
export function onNavigatingTo(args) {
    var page = args.object;
 
    // create view
    var chatView = new ChatView.ChatView();
    
    // register event when user taps
    // on SEND button
    chatView.notifyOnSendMessageTap((eventData: ChatView.SendMessageTappedEventData) => {
        // add a chat message
        eventData.object.appendMessages({            
            date: getTime(),
            isRight: true,
            image: "~/img/avatar.jpg",
            message: eventData.message,    
        });
    });
    
    // focus text field
    chatView.focusMessageField();
    
    page.content = chatView;
}

The XML way

<Page xmlns="http://schemas.nativescript.org/tns.xsd"
      xmlns:chatView="nativescript-chatview"
      navigatingTo="onNavigatingTo">
      
  <chatView:ChatView id="myChatView" />
</Page>

Styling

Add the following CSS to your code:

.nsChatView-view .nsChatView-sendMessageArea {
    margin: 4,0,0,0;
    background-color: #e8e8e8;
}
 
.nsChatView-view .nsChatView-sendMessageArea Button {
    background-color: transparent;
    margin: 0;
}
 
.nsChatView-view .nsChatView-messageList {
    background-color: transparent;
    border-color: transparent;
    border-width: 0;
    margin: 0;
}
 
.nsChatView-view .nsChatView-messageList .nsChatView-item-left .nsChatView-avatar,
.nsChatView-view .nsChatView-messageList .nsChatView-item-right .nsChatView-avatar {
    margin: 8;
    border-radius: 32;
    width: 64;
}
 
.nsChatView-view .nsChatView-messageList .nsChatView-item-left .nsChatView-separator,
.nsChatView-view .nsChatView-messageList .nsChatView-item-right .nsChatView-separator {
    border-color: transparent;
    border-width: 0;
    width: 32;
}
 
.nsChatView-view .nsChatView-messageList .nsChatView-item-left .nsChatView-message,
.nsChatView-view .nsChatView-messageList .nsChatView-item-right .nsChatView-message {
    margin: 8;
}
 
.nsChatView-view .nsChatView-messageList .nsChatView-item-left .nsChatView-messageArea,
.nsChatView-view .nsChatView-messageList .nsChatView-item-right .nsChatView-messageArea {
    border-radius: 8;
}
 
.nsChatView-view .nsChatView-messageList .nsChatView-item-left .nsChatView-messageArea {
    background-color: #edeef2;
}
 
.nsChatView-view .nsChatView-messageList .nsChatView-item-right .nsChatView-messageArea {
    background-color: #00b863;
}
 
.nsChatView-view .nsChatView-messageList .nsChatView-item-left .nsChatView-messageArea .nsChatView-content,
.nsChatView-view .nsChatView-messageList .nsChatView-item-right .nsChatView-messageArea .nsChatView-content {
    margin: 12,16,12,16;
}
 
.nsChatView-view .nsChatView-messageList .nsChatView-item-left .nsChatView-messageArea Label,
.nsChatView-view .nsChatView-messageList .nsChatView-item-right .nsChatView-messageArea Label {
    margin: 0;
}
 
.nsChatView-view .nsChatView-messageList .nsChatView-item-left .nsChatView-messageArea .nsChatView-content Label {
    color: black;
}
 
.nsChatView-view .nsChatView-messageList .nsChatView-item-right .nsChatView-messageArea .nsChatView-content Label {
    color: white;
}
 
.nsChatView-view .nsChatView-messageList .nsChatView-item-left .nsChatView-messageArea .nsChatView-content .nsChatView-date,
.nsChatView-view .nsChatView-messageList .nsChatView-item-right .nsChatView-messageArea .nsChatView-content .nsChatView-date {
    font-size: 11;
    margin-bottom: 12;
}
 
.nsChatView-view .nsChatView-messageField {
    font-size: 14;
}

To understand how a ChatView is defined, you can have a look at the following XML definition:

<ChatView className="nsChatView-view"
          rows="*,auto">
  
  <!-- list of messages -->
  <ListView className="nsChatView-messageList"
            row="0"
            items="{{ messages }}"
            horizontalAlignment="stretch"
            verticalAlignment="stretch">
    
    <!-- template for an IChatMessage item -->
    <ListView.itemTemplate>
      <!-- chat message item -->
      <GridLayout className="{{ 'nsChatView-item-' + (isRight ? 'right' : 'left') }}"
                  rows="auto" columns="auto,*,auto">
 
        <!-- avatar -->
        <Image row="0" col="{{ isRight ? '2' : '0' }}"
               className="nsChatView-avatar"
               verticalAlignment="top"
               src="{{ image }}"
               visibility="{{ image ? 'visible' : 'collapsed' }}" />
        
        <!-- the message -->
        <StackLayout row="0" col="1"
                     className="nsChatView-message">
          
          <!-- the message area -->
          <Border className="nsChatView-messageArea">
            <StackLayout className="nsChatView-content"
                         verticalAlignment="top" horizontalAlignment="{{ isRight ? 'right' : 'left' }}">
              
              <!-- the date / time -->              
              <Label className="nsChatView-date"
                     horizontalAlignment="{{ isRight ? 'right' : 'left' }}"
                     text="{{ date }}"
                     visibility="{{ date ? 'visible' : 'collapsed' }}" />
          
              <!-- the message text -->
              <Label className="nsChatView-messageText"
                     horizontalAlignment="{{ isRight ? 'right' : 'left' }}"
                     text="{{ message }}" textWrap="true" />
            </StackLayout>
          </Border>
        </StackLayout>
 
        <!-- The invisible separator -->
        <Border row="0" col="{{ isRight ? '0' : '2' }}"
                className="nsChatView-separator" />
      </GridLayout>
    </ListView.itemTemplate>
  </ListView>
  
  <!-- message input field and SEND button -->
  <GridLayout className="nsChatView-sendMessageArea"
              row="1"
              rows="*,auto">
        
    <!-- chat message field -->
    <TextField className="nsChatView-messageField"
               col="0" row="0"
               hint="{{ typeMessageHint }}" />
      
    <!-- SEND button -->
    <Button className="nsChatView-sendMessageButton"
            col="1" row="0"
            text="{{ sendMessageButtonCaption }}" />
  </GridLayout>
</ChatView>

The following properties of a ChatView can be used to access the controls defined in the XML:

Name	CSS class
messageField	nsChatView-messageField
messageList	nsChatView-messageList
sendMessageArea	nsChatView-sendMessageArea
sendMessageButton	nsChatView-sendMessageButton

Add messages

Chat messages are wrapped into an IChatMessage object:

export interface IChatMessage {
    /**
     * The date.
     */
    date?: any;
    
    /**
     * The image source.
     */
    image?: any;
    
    /**
     * Defines if the displayed item is aligned on the right side or not.
     */
    isRight?: boolean;
    
    /**
     * The message value.
     */
    message?: any;
}

Add

Use appendMessages() method to add one or more chat messages:

object.appendMessages({            
    date: getTime(),
    isRight: true,
    image: "~/img/me.jpg",
    message: "My message",    
}, {            
    date: getTime(),
    isRight: false,
    image: "~/img/friend.jpg",
    message: "Friend's message",    
});

Insert

Use insertMessages() method to insert one or more chat messages at a specific position:

object.insertMessages(1, {            
    date: getTime(),
    isRight: true,
    image: "~/img/me.jpg",
    message: "My message",    
}, {            
    date: getTime(),
    isRight: false,
    image: "~/img/friend.jpg",
    message: "Friend's message",    
});

Prepend

Use insertMessages() method to prepend one or more chat messages:

object.prependMessages({
    date: getTime(),
    isRight: true,
    image: "~/img/me.jpg",
    message: "My message",    
}, {            
    date: getTime(),
    isRight: false,
    image: "~/img/friend.jpg",
    message: "Friend's message",    
});

SEND button

Use the notifyOnSendMessageTap() method to register for a "click" event:

chatView.notifyOnSendMessageTap((eventData: ChatView.SendMessageTappedEventData) => {
    // handle the event
});

The eventData object has the following structure:

import Observable = require("data/observable");
 
export class SendMessageTappedEventData implements Observable.EventData {
    /** @inheritdoc */
    public eventName: string;
    
    /**
     * Focuses the chat message field.
     * 
     * @return {Boolean} Operation was successful or not.
     */
    public focusTextField(): boolean;
    
    /**
     * Gets the message to send.
     */
    public message: string;
    
    /** @inheritdoc */
    public object: ChatView;
    
    /**
     * Resets the message value.
     */
    public resetMessage();
    
    /**
     * Scrolls to bottom.
     */
    public scrollToBottom();
}