iOS chat widget for LiveChat allows you to integrate LiveChat with your iOS app.
- iOS 11.0+
- Xcode 10.0+
If you use Carthage to manage your dependencies, simply add 'livechat/chat-window-ios' to your Cartfile.
github "livechat/chat-window-ios" ~> 2.0.24
Make sure you have added LiveChat.framework to the "Linked Frameworks and Libraries" section of your target, and have include it in your Carthage framework copying build phase.
If you use CocoaPods to manage your dependencies, simply add LiveChat to your Podfile.
pod 'LiveChat', '~> 2.0.24'You can integrate iOS chat widget into your project manually without using a dependency manager.
Just drag all files from the LiveChat/Sources directory into your project.
Drag all files from the LiveChat/Sources directory into your project. When adding first *.swift file to Objective-C project, Xcode will ask you to create a Bridging Header. It is not necessary for chat widget to work, so you can decline unless you plan to call Swift code from Objective-C. More information about bridging headers and Swift and Objective-C interoperability can be found here. You need to put the following import statement: #import "<Your Project Name>-Swift.h" at the top of your .m file.
Also, for Objective-C projects, you need to set the Embedded Content Contains Swift Code flag in your project to Yes (found under Build Options in the Build Settings tab).
import LiveChat
LiveChat.licenseId = "YOUR_LICENSE_ID"LiveChat.presentChat()You can also take over the a responsibility for widget presentation within you app. To do so you have to set the customPresentationStyleEnabled flag to true.
This flag will disable the default widget's presentation behavior and leave that logic up to you. You can now access the chatViewController property and define your own presentation style.
When customPresentationStyleEnabled is set to false then chatViewController has a value of nil.
class YOUR_CLASS_NAME : UIViewControler, LiveChatDelegate { // Your class need to implement LiveChatDelegate protocol
@IBAction func openChat(_ sender: Any) {
LiveChat.delegate = self
LiveChat.customPresentationStyleEnabled = true
present(LiveChat.chatViewController!, animated: true) {
print("Presentation completed")
}
}
func chatDismissed() {
LiveChat.chatViewController!.dismiss(animated: true) {
print("Presentation dismissed")
}
}
}If your app is using UIWindowScene API you need to perform additional configuration steps in you window scene delegate class.
class SceneDelegate: UIResponder, UIWindowSceneDelegate {
var window: UIWindow?
func scene(_ scene: UIScene, willConnectTo session: UISceneSession, options connectionOptions: UIScene.ConnectionOptions) {
LiveChat.windowScene = (scene as? UIWindowScene)
}
}You can provide customer name or email if they are known, so a customer will not need to fill out the pre-chat survey:
LiveChat.name = "iOS Widget Example"
LiveChat.email = "example@livechatinc.com"If you want to associate some additional info with your customer, you can set up Custom Variables:
LiveChat.setVariable(withKey:"Variable name", value:"Some value")You can route your customers to specific group of agents by providing groupId. More information can be found here: https://www.livechatinc.com/kb/dividing-live-chat-by-group/.
LiveChat.groupId = "77"You can notifiy your user about agent response if chat was minimized by the user. To handle the incoming messages, your class must implement LiveChatDelegate protocol and set itself as LiveChat.delegate.
class YOUR_CLASS_NAME : LiveChatDelegate { // Your class need to implement LiveChatDelegate protocol
func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplicationLaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {
LiveChat.licenseId = "YOUR_LICENSE_ID"
LiveChat.delegate = self // Set self as delegate
return true
}
func received(message: LiveChatMessage) {
print("Received message: \(message.text)")
// Handle message here
}
}Sample message structure.
{
author = {
name = "Support Bot";
};
id = "QZ0X4O6PAV_3";
messageType = newMessage;
text = "I'm a HelpDesk Bot, here to assist you with any HelpDesk questions!";
timestamp = 1632478822776;
}On the SDK level it's also possible to handle chat window presence events. To do so, your class must implement LiveChatDelegate protocol and set itself as LiveChat.delegate.
class YOUR_CLASS_NAME : LiveChatDelegate { // Your class need to implement LiveChatDelegate protocol
func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplicationLaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {
LiveChat.licenseId = "YOUR_LICENSE_ID"
LiveChat.delegate = self // Set self as delegate
return true
}
func chatPresented() {
print("Chat presented")
// Handle event here
}
func chatDismissed() {
print("Chat dismissed")
// Handle event here
}
}By default, all links in chat messages are opened in Safari browser. To change this behavior you can use the LiveChatDelegate to handle URL's yourself.
func handle(URL: URL) {
print("URL is \(URL.absoluteString)")
// Handle URL here
}SDK will use this method to report unhandled widget errors.
func loadingDidFail(with errror: Error) {
print("Chat loading failure \(errror)")
// Handle error here
}If you have file sharing enabled for the visitors, you should provide usage description by including NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription (Privacy - Photo Library Usage Description), NSCameraUsageDescription (Privacy - Camera Usage Description) and NSMicrophoneUsageDescription (Privacy - Microphone Usage Description) keys in your Info.plist file to avoid crash on iOS 10 or higher. You can check Info.plist files in example projects.
LiveChat SDK offers built in Snap Call (https://snapcall.io) integration. To benefit from that feature you have to prepare you application for requesting a mic permission from the user.
That can be done by adding NSMicrophoneUsageDescription and NSCameraUsageDescription keys to the Info.plist file.
Sample apps for both Swift and Objective-C can be found in the Examples folder.
If you have any questions or want to provide feedback, chat with us!
iOS chat widget is available under the MIT license. See the LICENSE file for more info.