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Through IMKIT iOS SDK, you will be able to integrate chat into your app easily and efficiently.Follow the simple integration process below to build the chat with feature-rich experience.

• iOS 11.0 and later
• Xcode 12.5 and later
• Swift 5.4 and later / Objective-C

This tutorial provides you a step-by-step guide to installIMKIT iOS SDK to your new project or an existing project you own with minimum efforts. Please check out the details in the complete guide and documents. You can find solutions to related issues you may face during the installations. Let's get started.

If you want to create a new project, open the Xcode app (must be v12.5 or later), then create a new project; Otherwise, just install it in your existing project by Xcode.

We only support installing IMKIT iOS SDK through Cocoapods.

(If you are not familiar withCocoaPods, please checkthis for more infomation beforehand)

OpenPodfile in project, then paste these:

platform :ios, '11.0'target YOUR_PROJECT_TARGET do    use_frameworks!    pod 'IMKit', :git => 'https://github.com/imkit/imkit-ios-framework-v3.git'  pod 'SwiftLinkPreview', :git => 'https://github.com/imkit/SwiftLinkPreview.git'    post_install do |installer|  installer.pods_project.targets.each do |target|    target.build_configurations.each do |config|      config.build_settings['BUILD_LIBRARY_FOR_DISTRIBUTION'] = 'YES'    end  endend

Then execute this command in terminal, and make sure you get the latest version of SDK.

$ pod install --repo-update

To integrate and run IMKIT in your app, we recommend you to initialize it inAppDelegate.swift, especially indidFinishLaunchingWithOptions method.

Before initializing IMKIT, you need to have two things ready.

1. client key2. chat server url

You can get these private values from our dashboard.

Dashboard:https://dashboard.imkit.io/

(In order to continue this tutorial, please check out our dashboard if you don't have these values.)

Dashboard intro:https://hackmd.io/B2ARb__GQ2SJeLOxuL8sLg

(Please check out the How to get client key tutorial)

Fill in these values by executingconfigure method ofIMKIT indidFinishLaunchingWithOptions method ofAppDelegate.

//  AppDelegate.swiftimport IMKitclass AppDelegate: UIResponder, UIApplicationDelegate {            // ...        func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {                IMKit.configure(            clientKey: IMKIT_CLIENT_KEY,            chatServerURL: URL(string: IMKIT_CHAT_SERVER_URL)!        )        return true    }    // ...}

We implemented multiple default scenes in IMKIT SDK, and you don't need generate any swift files to show the chat room list and chat room.

Choose a view controller you want to show the chat room list from, and implement the following code to it.

First, we need users to get the chat started. To start, we need two things:

1. userId2. username

Both are string type, hence we createdcurrentUserId &currentUserNickname for demo purpose.

(It is also completely fine to use the user data from your app)

We also created another user id (calledotherUserId) to join the chatroom with the first user.

To connect to chat server withuserId throughconnect method of IMKIT. Please makeuserId unique, because we need it to identify different users.

IMKit.connect(uid: <USER_ID>)

As for the access token from IMKIT, it will be stored permanently and the IMKIT iOS SDK will help handle it until you log out from IMKIT.

After successfully connecting to IMKIT server withuserId, try to update your user data including the nickname, avatar, and description, in the IMKIT server throughIMUpdateMyProfileTask promise-style method.

IMUpdateMyProfileTask().perform(    nickname: <NICKNAME>,     avatarURL: <AVATAR_URL>,     description: <DESC>)

In order to demonstrate a direct chat with someone in the chatroom, we created a chatroom with otherUserId we generated before byIMCreateDirectChatTask() method. It also followedPromiseKit style.

(By the way, chatrooms will not be created repeatedly after executing the method over and over again. Our solid backend server team will handle this.)

After setup, it is time to enter the chat room list scene by usingpushViewController method which is the native API ofnavigationController.

Here's a sample code:

    // ViewController.swift    override func viewDidLoad() {        super.viewDidLoad()                let currentUserId: String = ""       // using current user's id depends on user-model of your app        let currentUserNickname: String = "" // using current user's nickname depends on user-model of your app        let accessToken: String? = nil        // Empty access token is for sandbox/development purpose only.        // For production, the token should be obtained via secure way.        // More detail please check section "2. Prepare Access Token" be mentioned above                let otherUserId: String = ""         // using other user's id who you wanna create chat room with                                IMKit.connect(            uid: currentUserId,             token: accessToken        ).then { result -> Promise<IMUser> in            return IMUpdateMyProfileTask().perform(                nickname: currentUserNickname,                 avatarURL: nil,                 description: nil            )                }.then { token -> Promise<[IMRoom]> in                                    return IMCreateDirectChatTask().perform(invitee: otherUserId)                                         }.done { _ in                                    self.navigationController?.pushViewController(IMRoomsViewController(), animated: true)        }.catch { error in            print(error)        }    }

You can easily enter the chat room scene after clicking on the cell, just like using a common instant messaging app, and there is no coding required. Please feel free to send your first greeting to the Mock User, with text message or image message maybe. The features included in the chatroom are all default, without any customization.

If there are more ideas you want to implement in your app to make it shine, please check out our documentations.