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Migration Guide for Android

Version 1.x had an issue where a corrupted ymAuthentication token was passed in some cases from SDK to the server. The conversation history was thus mapped to the corrupted ymAuthenticationToken

Version 2.x has fix for this issue and thus a correct ymAuthenticationToken is always passed. However, as the correct ymAuthentication is different from the corrupted token, our server treats this user as a new user which leads to a complete loss of history of user conversations. The user will have a fresh start after updating the app.

Note:

  1. ymAuthentication was corrupted only when it contained = character in 1.x versions
  2. This issue was happening only on Android platform.

For more info feel free to email us at [email protected]

Installation​

Xamarin​

Open NuGet package manager

  • Search for YmChat
  • Install the package for
    • Xamarin.Forms
    • Android
    • iOS

Pre-requisite​

Setting up Xamarin.Forms​

  • Go to App.xaml.cs
  • import namespace YmChat
    using YmChat;
  • Accept parameter IYmChat in the App constructor and pass down to the class where you are using the SDK
    public App(IYmChat iymchat)
    {
        InitializeComponent();
        MainPage = new MainPage(iymchat);
    }

Setting up Android​

  • Go to MainActivity.cs
  • import namespace YmChat
    using YmChat;
  • Inside onCreate function add this snippet at the end
    YmChatImplementation ymchat = new YmChatImplementation();
    LoadApplication(new App(ymchat));

Setting up iOS​

  • Go to AppDelegate.cs
  • import namespace YmChat
    using YmChat;
  • Inside FinishedLaunching function add this snippet before return
    YmChatImplementation ymchat = new YmChatImplementation();
    LoadApplication(new App(ymchat));

File provider​

Add following key in your strings.xml file found at yourproject.Android/Resources/values/strings.xml, this will override default file provider used by SDK.

Overriding the file provider path will avoid conflict with other app using YM CHATBOT SDK. You can use your application id and suffix it with ".fileprovider" Example - applicationId : "com.abc.xyz" then application_id_for_provider = com.abc.xyz.fileprovider

<string name="application_id_for_provider">your.application.id.fileprovider</string>

Usage​

Set botId​

This is the first and compulsory step.

ymChatInterface.setBotId("botId");

YM AuthenticationToken​

ymAuthenticationToken is used to associate an identity of the user with the chat bot.

Whenever chatbot is launched with ymAuthenticationToken it will load the previous chats associated with this user since inception.

ymChatInterface.setAuthenticationToken("token");

Note: History will load only when Show history flag is enabled in the channel settings

Push Notifications​

YMChat supports firebase notifications. Pass your FCM token in setDeviceToken method.

ymChatInterface.setDeviceToken("token");
note

To set up push notifications, a Firebase service account JSON file is required. You need to map the service account JSON file against your bot ID. For detailed instructions on obtaining and using the Firebase service account JSON file, please refer to the link provided here.

Payload​

Additional information can be passed in the form of key value pair from app to bot using payload.

var Payload = new Dictionary<string, object> { { "name": "Integration", "type": "Xamarin" } };
ymChatInterface.setPayLoad(Payload);

Payload can be used to pass information from host app to bot. The payload dictionary should be JSON compatible else an error will be thrown

For passing data from bot to app refer bot Bot Events

payload security

Payload is securely passed in HTTPS post request to protect the information passed in it

Trigger journey​

A specific journey can be triggered on launch, by passing the slug in the payload.

ymChatInterface.setPayload({ "JourneySlug" : "checkout-cart" });

On-Premise / Region Specific deployments​

YmChat supports bots with on-prem deployments. For the bot to work, pass the on-prem URL to setCustomURL() method.

ymChatInterface.setCustomURL("https://your-on-prem-url.com");

If the bot is deployed in a specific region(e.g. r1,r2,r3..rn)) on yellow.ai cloud, set the customBaseUrl as follows

ymChatInterface.setCustomURL("https://rx.cloud.yellow.ai");

Here rx = r1,r2,r3,r4,r5 etc

Custom loader​

You can customize the loading image while bot loads. Just pass the URL in the following way. It is recommended to use jpg, png, svg or gif

ymChatInterface.setCustomLoaderURL(
  "https://example.com/your/custom/image.gif"
);

V2 bot​

You can enable V2 bot by calling setVersion() method. Default value is 1

ymChatInterface.setVersion(2);

Speech to Text​

Speech to text can be enabled and disabled by calling setEnableSpeech(). Default value is false

ymChatInterface.setEnableSpeech(true);

Hide Input Bar​

You can hide the input bar while bot is loading by calling the setDisableActionsOnLoad API . Default value is false

ymChatInterface.setDisableActionsOnLoad(true);

Colors​

Status bar​

Status bar color can be set by calling setStatusBarColor method

ymChatInterface.setStatusBarColor("#FFFFFF")

Close button​

Close button color can be set by calling setCloseButtonColor method

ymChatInterface.setCloseButtonColor("#000000")

iOS​

If you are supporting Speech recognition, add following snippet to Info.plist of the host app

<key>NSMicrophoneUsageDescription</key>
<string>Your microphone will be used to record your speech when you use the Voice feature.</string>
<key>NSSpeechRecognitionUsageDescription</key>
<string>Speech recognition will be used to determine which words you speak into this device&apos;s microphone.</string>

Present chatbot​

Chat bot can be presented by calling startChatbot(). This method will display full screen chat view

ymChatInterface.startChatBot();

Bot Events​

Bot events are used to pass information from bot to app. For passing events from app to bot refer Payload

 ymChatInterface.onEventFromBot((botEvent) =>
  {
    Console.WriteLine(botEvent["code"]);
    Console.WriteLine(botEvent["data"]);
  });

Bot close event​

Bot close event is separately sent and it can be handled in following way.

ymChatInterface.onBotClose(() =>
  {
    Console.WriteLine("Chatbot closed");
  });

Close bot​

Bot can be closed by tapping on cross button at top, and they can be programmatically closed using closeBot() function

ymChatInterface.closeBot();

Register Device​

If you want to receive push notifications without or before launching the bot, you can register your device. To use this api apiKey, botId, deviceToken and ymAuthenticationToken are mandatory parameters.

ymChatInterface.setBotId("botId");
ymChatInterface.setAuthenticationToken("authToken");
ymChatInterface.setDeviceToken("deviceToken");

ymChatInterface.registerDevice(
  apiKey,
  (isDeviceRegistered) {
    Console.WriteLine("Device token linked successfully");
  },
  (failureMessage) {
    Console.WriteLine(failureMessage);
  }
);

If you want to stop receiving push notifications you can unlink the device. To use this api apiKey, botId and deviceToken are mandatory parameters. Device token typically is unlinked when the user logs out of the app.

ymChatInterface.unLinkDeviceToken(
  botId,
  apiKey,
  deviceToken,
  (isDeviceTokenUnlinked) {
    Console.WriteLine("Device token unlinked");
  },
  (failureMessage) {
    Console.WriteLine(failureMessage);
  }
);
API Key

API key can be generated/found by visiting https://cloud.yellow.ai -> Overview -> Configure -> API Key section

Unread Message Count​

If you want to show an indicator in your app if there is any unread messages, you can achieve that by calling the given api when bot is in closed state. Pre condition to use this api is that customer must have opened the bot at least once with ymAuthenticationToken otherwise you will receive an error message. To use this api botId and ymAuthenticationToken are mandatory parameters.

ymChatInterface.setBotId("botId");
ymChatInterface.setAuthenticationToken("authToken");

ymChatInterface.getUnreadMessages(
  (count) {
    Console.WriteLine("Unread Message Count: " + count);
  },
  (failureMessage) {
    Console.WriteLine(failureMessage);
  }
);

Demo App​

A demo app can be used as a reference to better understand how this SDK can be integrated in the app https://github.com/yellowmessenger/ymchat-xamarin-demo