How to Integrate Chat Feature in React Native Video Call App?

Introduction

Participants in a multi-participant video call may find it difficult to engage in meaningful talks without interrupting each other. It is also challenging to enhance programs with real-time messaging capabilities, which facilitate communication between participants during video chats. In this environment, the goal is to create more immersive and engaging user experiences, with services such as chat emerging as essential components.

It enables users to share messages, transfer files, and swap data without disrupting the audio or video feeds. This is especially handy when participants want to ask questions, provide feedback, or provide relevant information during a video chat. This article will walk you through the process of implementing a chat feature into a React Native video call app with VideoSDK.

Getting Started with VideoSDK

Goals

By the End of this Article, we'll:

1. Create a VideoSDK account and generate your VideoSDK auth token.
2. Integrate the VideoSDK library and dependencies into your project.
3. Implement core functionalities for video calls using VideoSDK.
4. Enable the Chat feature in your app.

To take advantage of the chat functionality, we must use the capabilities that the VideoSDK offers. Before diving into the implementation steps, ensure you complete the necessary prerequisites.

Create a VideoSDK Account

Go to your VideoSDK dashboard and sign up if you don't have an account. This account gives you access to the required Video SDK token, which acts as an authentication key that allows your application to interact with VideoSDK functionality.

Generate your Auth Token

Visit your VideoSDK dashboard and navigate to the "API Key" section to generate your auth token. This token is crucial in authorizing your application to use VideoSDK features.

For a more visual understanding of the account creation and token generation process, consider referring to the provided tutorial.

Prerequisites and Setup

Make sure your development environment meets the following requirements:

• Node.js v12+
• NPM v6+ (comes installed with newer Node versions)
• Android Studio or Xcode installed

⬇️ Install VideoSDK Config.

It is necessary to set up VideoSDK within your project before going into the details of integrating the Chat feature. Installing VideoSDK using NPM or Yarn will depend on the needs of your project.

• For NPM

npm install "@videosdk.live/react-native-sdk"  "@videosdk.live/react-native-incallmanager"

• For Yarn

yarn add "@videosdk.live/react-native-sdk" "@videosdk.live/react-native-incallmanager"

Project Configuration

Before integrating the Chat functionality, ensure that your project is correctly prepared to handle the integration. This setup consists of a sequence of steps for configuring rights, dependencies, and platform-specific parameters so that VideoSDK can function seamlessly inside your application context.

Android Setup

• Add the required permissions in the AndroidManifest.xml file.

<manifest
  xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
  package="com.cool.app"
>
    <!-- Give all the required permissions to app -->
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE" />
    <!-- Needed to communicate with already-paired Bluetooth devices. (Legacy up to Android 11) -->
    <uses-permission
        android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH"
        android:maxSdkVersion="30" />
    <uses-permission
        android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH_ADMIN"
        android:maxSdkVersion="30" />

    <!-- Needed to communicate with already-paired Bluetooth devices. (Android 12 upwards)-->
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH_CONNECT" />

    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.MODIFY_AUDIO_SETTINGS" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECORD_AUDIO" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.FOREGROUND_SERVICE"/>
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WAKE_LOCK" />

    <application>
   <meta-data
      android:name="live.videosdk.rnfgservice.notification_channel_name"
      android:value="Meeting Notification"
     />
    <meta-data
    android:name="live.videosdk.rnfgservice.notification_channel_description"
    android:value="Whenever meeting started notification will appear."
    />
    <meta-data
    android:name="live.videosdk.rnfgservice.notification_color"
    android:resource="@color/red"
    />
    <service android:name="live.videosdk.rnfgservice.ForegroundService" android:foregroundServiceType="mediaProjection"></service>
    <service android:name="live.videosdk.rnfgservice.ForegroundServiceTask"></service>
  </application>
</manifest>

• Update your colors.xml file for internal dependencies.

<resources>
  <item name="red" type="color">
    #FC0303
  </item>
  <integer-array name="androidcolors">
    <item>@color/red</item>
  </integer-array>
</resources>

• Link the necessary VideoSDK Dependencies.

  dependencies {
   implementation project(':rnwebrtc')
   implementation project(':rnfgservice')
  }

include ':rnwebrtc'
project(':rnwebrtc').projectDir = new File(rootProject.projectDir, '../node_modules/@videosdk.live/react-native-webrtc/android')

include ':rnfgservice'
project(':rnfgservice').projectDir = new File(rootProject.projectDir, '../node_modules/@videosdk.live/react-native-foreground-service/android')

import live.videosdk.rnwebrtc.WebRTCModulePackage;
import live.videosdk.rnfgservice.ForegroundServicePackage;

public class MainApplication extends Application implements ReactApplication {
  private static List<ReactPackage> getPackages() {
      @SuppressWarnings("UnnecessaryLocalVariable")
      List<ReactPackage> packages = new PackageList(this).getPackages();
      // Packages that cannot be autolinked yet can be added manually here, for example:

      packages.add(new ForegroundServicePackage());
      packages.add(new WebRTCModulePackage());

      return packages;
  }
}

/* This one fixes a weird WebRTC runtime problem on some devices. */
android.enableDexingArtifactTransform.desugaring=false

• Include the following line in your proguard-rules.pro file (optional: if you are using Proguard)

-keep class org.webrtc.** { *; }

• In your build.gradle file, update the minimum OS/SDK version to 23.

buildscript {
  ext {
      minSdkVersion = 23
  }
}

iOS Setup​

IMPORTANT: Ensure that you are using CocoaPods version 1.10 or later.

1. To update CocoaPods, you can reinstall the gem using the following command:

$ sudo gem install cocoapods

2. Manually link react-native-incall-manager (if it is not linked automatically).

Select Your_Xcode_Project/TARGETS/BuildSettings, in Header Search Paths, add "$(SRCROOT)/../node_modules/@videosdk.live/react-native-incall-manager/ios/RNInCallManager"

3. Change the path of react-native-webrtc using the following command:

pod ‘react-native-webrtc’, :path => ‘../node_modules/@videosdk.live/react-native-webrtc’

4. Change the version of your platform.

You need to change the platform field in the Podfile to 12.0 or above because react-native-webrtc doesn't support iOS versions earlier than 12.0. Update the line: platform: ios, ‘12.0’.

5. Install pods.

After updating the version, you need to install the pods by running the following command:

Pod install

6. Add “libreact-native-webrtc.a” binary.

Add the "libreact-native-webrtc.a" binary to the "Link Binary With Libraries" section in the target of your main project folder.

7. Declare permissions in Info.plist:

Add the following lines to your info.plist file located at (project folder/ios/projectname/info.plist):

<key>NSCameraUsageDescription</key>
<string>Camera permission description</string>
<key>NSMicrophoneUsageDescription</key>
<string>Microphone permission description</string>

Register Service

Register VideoSDK services in your root index.js file for the initialization service.

import { AppRegistry } from "react-native";
import App from "./App";
import { name as appName } from "./app.json";
import { register } from "@videosdk.live/react-native-sdk";

register();

AppRegistry.registerComponent(appName, () => App);

Essential Steps for Implement the Video Calling Functionality

Step 1: Get started with api.js​

Before moving on, you must create an API request to generate a unique meetingId. You will need an authentication token, which you can create either through the videosdk-rtc-api-server-examples or directly from the VideoSDK Dashboard for developers.

export const token = "<Generated-from-dashbaord>";
// API call to create meeting
export const createMeeting = async ({ token }) => {
  const res = await fetch(`https://api.videosdk.live/v2/rooms`, {
    method: "POST",
    headers: {
      authorization: `${token}`,
      "Content-Type": "application/json",
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({}),
  });

  const { roomId } = await res.json();
  return roomId;
};

Step 2: Wireframe App.js with all the components​

To build up a wireframe of App.js, you need to use VideoSDK Hooks and Context Providers. VideoSDK provides MeetingProvider, MeetingConsumer, useMeeting, and useParticipant hooks.

First, you need to understand the Context Provider and Consumer. Context is primarily used when some data needs to be accessible by many components at different nesting levels.

• MeetingProvider: This is the Context Provider. It accepts value config and token as props. The Provider component accepts a value prop to be passed to consuming components that are descendants of this Provider. One Provider can be connected to many consumers. Providers can be nested to override values deeper within the tree.
• MeetingConsumer: This is the Context Consumer. All consumers that are descendants of a Provider will re-render whenever the Provider’s value prop changes.
• useMeeting: This is the meeting hook API. It includes all the information related to meetings such as join, leave, enable/disable the mic or webcam, etc.
• useParticipant: This is the participant hook API. It is responsible for handling all the events and props related to one particular participant such as name, webcamStream, micStream, etc.

The Meeting Context provides a way to listen for any changes that occur when a participant joins the meeting or makes modifications to their microphone, camera, and other settings.

Begin by making a few changes to the code in the App.js file.

import React, { useState } from "react";
import {
  SafeAreaView,
  TouchableOpacity,
  Text,
  TextInput,
  View,
  FlatList,
} from "react-native";
import {
  MeetingProvider,
  useMeeting,
  useParticipant,
  MediaStream,
  RTCView,
} from "@videosdk.live/react-native-sdk";
import { createMeeting, token } from "./api";

function JoinScreen(props) {
  return null;
}

function ControlsContainer() {
  return null;
}

function MeetingView() {
  return null;
}

export default function App() {
  const [meetingId, setMeetingId] = useState(null);

  const getMeetingId = async (id) => {
    const meetingId = id == null ? await createMeeting({ token }) : id;
    setMeetingId(meetingId);
  };

  return meetingId ? (
    <SafeAreaView style={{ flex: 1, backgroundColor: "#F6F6FF" }}>
      <MeetingProvider
        config={{
          meetingId,
          micEnabled: false,
          webcamEnabled: true,
          name: "Test User",
        }}
        token={token}
      >
        <MeetingView />
      </MeetingProvider>
    </SafeAreaView>
  ) : (
    <JoinScreen getMeetingId={getMeetingId} />
  );
}

Step 3: Implement Join Screen​

The join screen will serve as a medium to either schedule a new meeting or join an existing one.

function JoinScreen(props) {
  const [meetingVal, setMeetingVal] = useState("");
  return (
    <SafeAreaView
      style={{
        flex: 1,
        backgroundColor: "#F6F6FF",
        justifyContent: "center",
        paddingHorizontal: 6 * 10,
      }}
    >
      <TouchableOpacity
        onPress={() => {
          props.getMeetingId();
        }}
        style={{ backgroundColor: "#1178F8", padding: 12, borderRadius: 6 }}
      >
        <Text style={{ color: "white", alignSelf: "center", fontSize: 18 }}>
          Create Meeting
        </Text>
      </TouchableOpacity>

      <Text
        style={{
          alignSelf: "center",
          fontSize: 22,
          marginVertical: 16,
          fontStyle: "italic",
          color: "grey",
        }}
      >
        ---------- OR ----------
      </Text>
      <TextInput
        value={meetingVal}
        onChangeText={setMeetingVal}
        placeholder={"XXXX-XXXX-XXXX"}
        style={{
          padding: 12,
          borderWidth: 1,
          borderRadius: 6,
          fontStyle: "italic",
        }}
      />
      <TouchableOpacity
        style={{
          backgroundColor: "#1178F8",
          padding: 12,
          marginTop: 14,
          borderRadius: 6,
        }}
        onPress={() => {
          props.getMeetingId(meetingVal);
        }}
      >
        <Text style={{ color: "white", alignSelf: "center", fontSize: 18 }}>
          Join Meeting
        </Text>
      </TouchableOpacity>
    </SafeAreaView>
  );
}

Step 4: Implement Controls​

The next step is to create a ControlsContainer component to manage features such as Join or leave a Meeting and Enable or Disable the Webcam/Mic.

In this step, the useMeeting hook is utilized to acquire all the required methods such as join(), leave(), toggleWebcam and toggleMic.

const Button = ({ onPress, buttonText, backgroundColor }) => {
  return (
    <TouchableOpacity
      onPress={onPress}
      style={{
        backgroundColor: backgroundColor,
        justifyContent: "center",
        alignItems: "center",
        padding: 12,
        borderRadius: 4,
      }}
    >
      <Text style={{ color: "white", fontSize: 12 }}>{buttonText}</Text>
    </TouchableOpacity>
  );
};

function ControlsContainer({ join, leave, toggleWebcam, toggleMic }) {
  return (
    <View
      style={{
        padding: 24,
        flexDirection: "row",
        justifyContent: "space-between",
      }}
    >
      <Button
        onPress={() => {
          join();
        }}
        buttonText={"Join"}
        backgroundColor={"#1178F8"}
      />
      <Button
        onPress={() => {
          toggleWebcam();
        }}
        buttonText={"Toggle Webcam"}
        backgroundColor={"#1178F8"}
      />
      <Button
        onPress={() => {
          toggleMic();
        }}
        buttonText={"Toggle Mic"}
        backgroundColor={"#1178F8"}
      />
      <Button
        onPress={() => {
          leave();
        }}
        buttonText={"Leave"}
        backgroundColor={"#FF0000"}
      />
    </View>
  );
}

function ParticipantList() {
  return null;
}
function MeetingView() {
  const { join, leave, toggleWebcam, toggleMic, meetingId } = useMeeting({});

  return (
    <View style={{ flex: 1 }}>
      {meetingId ? (
        <Text style={{ fontSize: 18, padding: 12 }}>
          Meeting Id :{meetingId}
        </Text>
      ) : null}
      <ParticipantList />
      <ControlsContainer
        join={join}
        leave={leave}
        toggleWebcam={toggleWebcam}
        toggleMic={toggleMic}
      />
    </View>
  );
}

Step 5: Render Participant List​

After implementing the controls, the next step is to render the joined participants.

You can get all the joined participants from the useMeeting Hook.

function ParticipantView() {
  return null;
}

function ParticipantList({ participants }) {
  return participants.length > 0 ? (
    <FlatList
      data={participants}
      renderItem={({ item }) => {
        return <ParticipantView participantId={item} />;
      }}
    />
  ) : (
    <View
      style={{
        flex: 1,
        backgroundColor: "#F6F6FF",
        justifyContent: "center",
        alignItems: "center",
      }}
    >
      <Text style={{ fontSize: 20 }}>Press Join button to enter meeting.</Text>
    </View>
  );
}

function MeetingView() {
  // Get `participants` from useMeeting Hook
  const { join, leave, toggleWebcam, toggleMic, participants } = useMeeting({});
  const participantsArrId = [...participants.keys()];

  return (
    <View style={{ flex: 1 }}>
      <ParticipantList participants={participantsArrId} />
      <ControlsContainer
        join={join}
        leave={leave}
        toggleWebcam={toggleWebcam}
        toggleMic={toggleMic}
      />
    </View>
  );
}

Step 6: Handling Participant's Media​

Before Handling the Participant's Media, you need to understand a couple of concepts.

1. useParticipant Hook

The useParticipant hook is responsible for handling all the properties and events of one particular participant who joined the meeting. It will take participantId as argument.

const { webcamStream, webcamOn, displayName } = useParticipant(participantId);

2. MediaStream API

The MediaStream API is beneficial for adding a MediaTrack to the RTCView component, enabling the playback of audio or video.

<RTCView
  streamURL={new MediaStream([webcamStream.track]).toURL()}
  objectFit={"cover"}
  style={{
    height: 300,
    marginVertical: 8,
    marginHorizontal: 8,
  }}
/>

Rendering Participant Media

function ParticipantView({ participantId }) {
  const { webcamStream, webcamOn } = useParticipant(participantId);

  return webcamOn && webcamStream ? (
    <RTCView
      streamURL={new MediaStream([webcamStream.track]).toURL()}
      objectFit={"cover"}
      style={{
        height: 300,
        marginVertical: 8,
        marginHorizontal: 8,
      }}
    />
  ) : (
    <View
      style={{
        backgroundColor: "grey",
        height: 300,
        justifyContent: "center",
        alignItems: "center",
      }}
    >
      <Text style={{ fontSize: 16 }}>NO MEDIA</Text>
    </View>
  );
}

Congratulations! By following these steps, you're on your way to unlocking the video within your application. Now, we are moving forward to integrate the feature that builds immersive video experiences for your users!

Integrate Chat Feature

For communication or any kind of messaging between participants, VideoSDK provides the usePubSub hook, which utilizes the Publish-Subscribe mechanism. It can be employed to develop a wide variety of functionalities. For example, participants could use it to send chat messages to each other, share files or other media, or even trigger actions like muting or unmuting audio or video.

This guide focuses on using PubSub to implement Chat functionality. If you are not familiar with the PubSub mechanism and usePubSub hook, you can follow this guide.

Implementing Chat​

The initial step in setting up a group chat involves selecting a topic to which all participants will publish and subscribe, facilitating the exchange of messages. In the following example, CHAT is used as the topic. Next, obtain the publish() method and the messages array from the usePubSub hook.

Step 1: Add another button in ControlsContainer to enable chat functionality and open the Chat Modal.

// MeetingView component to manage the meeting and chat functionality
function MeetingView() {
  const [modalVisible, setModalVisible] = useState(false);

  // Function to toggle the visibility of the modal
  const toggleModal = () => {
    setModalVisible(!modalVisible);
  };

  return (
    <View style={{ flex: 1 }}>
      {/* Other components for the meeting view */}
      <ChatView modalVisible={modalVisible} toggleModal={toggleModal} />
      <ControlsContainer
        // other props, join, leave etc.
        enableChat={() => {
          toggleModal();
        }}
      />
    </View>
  );
}


function ControlsContainer({ enableChat }) {
  return (
    // Container for control buttons
    <View
      style={{
        padding: 24,
        flexDirection: "row",
        justifyContent: "space-between",
      }}
    >
      {/* Button to enable chat */}
      <Button
        onPress={() => {
          enableChat();
        }}
        buttonText={"Chat"}
        backgroundColor={"#1178F8"}
      />
    </View>
  );
}

Step 2: Add React Native Modal component to handle chat functionality.

import {
  TextInput,
  Modal,
  Pressable,
} from "react-native";
import {
  usePubSub,
} from "@videosdk.live/react-native-sdk";

// ChatView component for displaying chat messages and input
function ChatView({ modalVisible, toggleModel }) {
  // Destructure publish method from usePubSub hook
  const { publish, messages } = usePubSub("CHAT");

  // State to store the user typed message
  const [message, setMessage] = useState("");

  // Function to handle sending messages
  const handleSendMessage = () => {
    // Publish the message using the publish method
    publish(message, { persist: true });
    // Clear the message input after sending
    setMessage("");
  };

  return (
    <View
      style={{
        flex: 1,
        justifyContent: "center",
        alignItems: "center",
        marginTop: 22,
      }}
    >
      <Modal animationType="slide" visible={modalVisible}>
        <SafeAreaView
          style={{
            flex: 1,
            backgroundColor: "#050A0E",
            justifyContent: "space-between",
          }}
        >
          <Pressable
            style={{
              height: 40,
              aspectRatio: 1,
              backgroundColor: "#5568FE",
              justifyContent: "center",
              alignItems: "center",
              borderRadius: 24,
              marginTop: 12,
              marginLeft: 12,
            }}
            onPress={toggleModel}
          >
            <Text style={{ fontWeight: "bold", fontSize: 24 }}>X</Text>
          </Pressable>
          <View>
            {/* Render chat messages */}
            {messages.map((message) => {
              return (
                <Text
                  style={{
                    fontSize: 12,
                    color: "#FFFFFF",
                    marginVertical: 8,
                    marginHorizontal: 12,
                  }}
                >
                  {message.senderName} says {message.message}
                </Text>
              );
            })}

            <View
              style={{
                paddingHorizontal: 12,
              }}
            >
              {/* Render text input container */}
              <TextInputContainer
                message={message}
                setMessage={setMessage}
                sendMessage={handleSendMessage}
              />
            </View>
          </View>
        </SafeAreaView>
      </Modal>
    </View>
  );
}

Step 3: Implement the TextInputContainer component for inputting and sending messages.

// TextInputContainer component for inputting and sending messages
function TextInputContainer({ sendMessage, setMessage, message }) {
  // Function to render the text input UI
  const textInput = () => {
    return (
      <View
        style={{
          height: 40,
          marginBottom: 14,
          flexDirection: "row",
          borderRadius: 10,
          backgroundColor: "#404B53",
        }}
      >
        <View
          style={{
            flexDirection: "row",
            flex: 2,
            justifyContent: "center",
            alignItems: "center",
          }}
        >
          {/* TextInput for typing messages */}
          <TextInput
            multiline
            value={message}
            placeholder={"Write your message"}
            style={{
              flex: 1,
              color: "white",
              marginLeft: 12,
              margin: 4,
              padding: 4,
            }}
            numberOfLines={2}
            onChangeText={setMessage}
            selectionColor={"white"}
            placeholderTextColor={"#9FA0A7"}
          />
        </View>

        <View
          style={{
            justifyContent: "center",
            alignItems: "center",
            backgroundColor: message.length > 0 ? "#5568FE" : "transparent",
            margin: 4,
            padding: 4,
            borderRadius: 8,
          }}
        >
          {/* Button to send the message */}
          <TouchableOpacity
            onPress={sendMessage}
            style={{
              height: 40,
              aspectRatio: 1,
              justifyContent: "center",
              alignItems: "center",
              paddingVertical: 8,
              paddingVertical: 4,
            }}
          >
            <Text>Send</Text>
          </TouchableOpacity>
        </View>
      </View>
    );
  };

  return <>{textInput()}</>;
}

Private Chat

In the following example, to convert the chat into a private conversation between two participants, you can set the sendOnly property. This property ensures that messages are only sent to the intended recipient, making the chat interaction exclusive and private between the two users involved.

import { SafeAreaView, TouchableOpacity, TextInput, Text } from "react-native";

function ChatView() {
  // destructure publish method from usePubSub hook
  const { publish, messages } = usePubSub("CHAT");

  // State to store the user typed message
  const [message, setMessage] = useState("");

  const handleSendMessage = () => {
    // Sending the Message using the publish method
    // Pass the participantId of the participant to whom you want to send the message.
    // hightlight-next-line
    publish(message, { persist: true, sendOnly: ['XYZ'] });
    // Clearing the message input
    setMessage("");
  };

 //...
}

Downloading Chat Messages​

All the messages from PubSub published persist : true can be downloaded as an .csv file. This file will be accessible in the VideoSDK dashboard and through the Sessions API.

✨ Want to Add More Features to React Native Video Calling App?

If you found this guide helpful and want to explore more features for your React Native video-calling app,

Check out these additional resources:

• Active Speaker Indication: Link
• RTMP Live Stream: Link
• Image Capture Feature: Link
• Screen Share Feature in Android: Link
• Screen Share Feature in iOS: Link
• Picture-in-Picture (PiP) Mode: Link

Conclusion

Congratulations!, you have integrated Screen Sharing successfully and unlocked the full potential of real-time communication, enabling users to engage in seamless conversations during video calls. Integrating a chat feature into a React Native video call app using VideoSDK can significantly enhance the user experience.

If you are new here and want to build an interactive React Native app with free resources, you can Sign up with VideoSDK and get ? 10000 free minutes every month. This will help your new video-calling app go to the next level without any costs associated with initial usage, allowing you to focus on building and scaling your application effectively.