Configuration

The SDK provides an API for general configuration of the UI Component library's behavior and appearance, which is exposed via the ChatUI object.

ChatUI allows you to override the default implementations of commonly used parts of the SDK such as:

• Available message reactions
• The UI used for rendering attachments
• MIME type icons for attachments
• Default font used across the UI components
• Attachments URLs
• Text transformations

The full list of ChatUI properties you can override include:

• style: Allows overriding the global, default style of UI components, such as defaultTextStyle.
• navigator: Allows intercepting and modifying default navigation between SDK components (for example: navigating from MessageListView to AttachmentGalleryActivity).
• imageHeadersProvider: Allows adding extra headers to image loading requests.
• fonts: The default font for TextViews displayed by UI Components.
• messageTextTransformer: Used to transform the way text is rendered on screen, for example: create clickable link text or implement markdown support. You can override it with MarkdownTextTransformer if you want to use Stream's ready-made markdown support.
• supportedReactions: The set of supported message reactions.
• mimeTypeIconProvider: The icons used for different mime types.
• channelNameFormatter: Allows customizing the way channel names are formatted.
• messagePreviewFormatter: Allows you to generate a preview text for the given message.
• dateFormatter: Allows changing the way dates are formatted.
• attachmentFactoryManager: Allows changing the way attachments are displayed in the message list. Includes adding UI for custom attachments.
• attachmentPreviewFactoryManager: Allows changing the way attachments are displayed in the message composer. Includes adding UI for custom attachments.
• quotedAttachmentFactoryManager: Allows changing the way attachments are displayed in quoted messages both in the message list and the message composer. Includes adding UI for custom attachments.
• currentUserProvider: provides the currently logged in user.
• videoThumbnailsEnabled: Changes whether video thumbnails are displayed or not. Video thumbnails are a paid feature, You can find the pricing here.

note

ChatUI is initialized out-of-the-box with default implementations - no initialization is required on app startup.

Custom Reactions

By default, the SDK provides 5 built-in reactions:

Light Theme	Dark Theme

You can change the default reactions by overriding ChatUI.supportedReactions with your own set of reactions:

Kotlin

// Create a drawable for the non-selected reaction option
val loveDrawable = ContextCompat.getDrawable(context, R.drawable.stream_ui_ic_reaction_love)!!
// Create a drawable for the selected reaction option and set a tint to it
val loveDrawableSelected = ContextCompat.getDrawable(context, R.drawable.stream_ui_ic_reaction_love)!!
    .mutate()
    .apply { setTint(Color.RED) }

// Create a map of reactions
val supportedReactionsData = mapOf(
    "love" to SupportedReactions.ReactionDrawable(loveDrawable, loveDrawableSelected)
)

// Replace the default reactions with your custom reactions
ChatUI.supportedReactions = SupportedReactions(context, supportedReactionsData)

Java

// Create a drawable for the non-selected reaction option
Drawable loveDrawable = ContextCompat.getDrawable(context, R.drawable.stream_ui_ic_reaction_love);
// Create a drawable for the selected reaction option and set a tint to it
Drawable loveDrawableSelected = ContextCompat.getDrawable(context, R.drawable.stream_ui_ic_reaction_love).mutate();
loveDrawableSelected.setTint(Color.RED);

// Create a map of reactions
Map<String, SupportedReactions.ReactionDrawable> supportedReactionsData = new HashMap<>();
supportedReactionsData.put("love", new SupportedReactions.ReactionDrawable(loveDrawable, loveDrawableSelected));

// Replace the default reactions with your custom reactions
ChatUI.setSupportedReactions(new SupportedReactions(context, supportedReactionsData));

As a result, only the love reaction is available in the chat, and when selected, it will have a red tint.

Normal state - available reactions (Light Mode)	Selected state - reaction selected (Light Mode)

Normal state - available reactions (Dark Mode)	Selected state - reaction selected (Dark Mode)

Custom MIME Type Icons

When possible, the SDK displays thumbnails for image and video files. When thumbnails are unavailable or when other types of files are in question, mime type icons are displayed in MessageListView, MessageComposer and attachment picker.

By default, the SDK provides built-in MIME type icons for the most popular file types and displays a generic file icon for others.

To customize these icons, you need to override ChatUI.mimeTypeIconProvider like so:

Kotlin

ChatUI.mimeTypeIconProvider = MimeTypeIconProvider { mimeType ->
    when {
        // Generic icon for missing MIME type
        mimeType == null -> R.drawable.stream_ui_ic_file
        // Special icon for XLS files
        mimeType == "application/vnd.ms-excel" -> R.drawable.stream_ui_ic_file_xls
        // Generic icon for audio files
        mimeType.contains("audio") -> R.drawable.stream_ui_ic_file_mp3
        // Generic icon for video files
        mimeType.contains("video") -> R.drawable.stream_ui_ic_file_mov
        // Generic icon for other files
        else -> R.drawable.stream_ui_ic_file
    }
}

Java

ChatUI.setMimeTypeIconProvider(mimeType -> {
    if (mimeType == null) {
        // Generic icon for missing MIME type
        return R.drawable.stream_ui_ic_file;
    } else if (mimeType.equals("application/vnd.ms-excel")) {
        // Special icon for XLS files
        return R.drawable.stream_ui_ic_file_xls;
    } else if (mimeType.contains("audio")) {
        // Generic icon for audio files
        return R.drawable.stream_ui_ic_file_mp3;
    } else if (mimeType.contains("video")) {
        // Generic icon for video files
        return R.drawable.stream_ui_ic_file_mov;
    } else {
        // Generic icon for other files
        return R.drawable.stream_ui_ic_file;
    }
});

Adding Extra Headers to Image Requests

If you're using your own CDN, you might also need to add extra headers to image loading requests. You can do this by creating your own implementation of the ImageHeadersProvider interface and then setting it on ChatUI:

Kotlin

ChatUI.imageHeadersProvider = object : ImageHeadersProvider {
    override fun getImageRequestHeaders(): Map<String, String> {
        return mapOf("token" to "12345")
    }
}

Java

ChatUI.setImageHeadersProvider(() -> {
    Map<String, String> headers = new HashMap<>();
    headers.put("token", "12345");

    return headers;
});

Changing the Default Font

You can customize the default fonts used by all of the UI components. To change the fonts, implement the ChatFont interface and set the new implementation on ChatUI:

Kotlin

ChatUI.fonts = object : ChatFonts {

    // Fetch the font you want to use
    val font = ResourcesCompat.getFont(context, R.font.stream_roboto_regular)

    override fun setFont(textStyle: TextStyle, textView: TextView) {
        textView.setTypeface(font, Typeface.BOLD)
    }

    override fun setFont(textStyle: TextStyle, textView: TextView, defaultTypeface: Typeface) {
        textView.setTypeface(font, Typeface.BOLD)
    }

    override fun getFont(textStyle: TextStyle): Typeface? = font
}

Java

ChatUI.setFonts(new ChatFonts() {

    // Fetch the font you want to use
    final Typeface font = ResourcesCompat.getFont(context, R.font.stream_roboto_regular);

    @Override
    public void setFont(@NonNull TextStyle textStyle, @NonNull TextView textView) {
        textView.setTypeface(font, Typeface.BOLD);
    }

    @Override
    public void setFont(@NonNull TextStyle textStyle, @NonNull TextView textView, @NonNull Typeface defaultTypeface) {
        textView.setTypeface(font, Typeface.BOLD);
    }

    @Nullable
    @Override
    public Typeface getFont(@NonNull TextStyle textStyle) {
        return font;
    }
});

Transforming Message Text

You can easily provide a transformer that can transform and apply the message text to a given TextView. You need to override ChatUI.messageTextTransformer to an instance of ChatMessageTextTransformers implementation.

Kotlin

ChatUI.messageTextTransformer = ChatMessageTextTransformer { textView: TextView, messageItem: MessageItem ->
    // Transform messages to upper case.
    textView.text = messageItem.message.text.uppercase()
}

Java

ChatUI.setMessageTextTransformer((textView, messageItem) -> {
    textView.setText(messageItem.getMessage().getText().toUpperCase(Locale.ROOT));
});

Stream UI TextView components don't have android:autoLink property set because it conflicts with Markdown plugins.

note

You can use AutoLinkableTextTransformer if you want to apply custom transformation but keep links clickable.

Markdown

The SDK provides a standalone Markdown module stream-chat-android-markdown-transformer that contains MarkdownTextTransformer which is an implementation of ChatMessageTextTransformer. It uses the Markwon library internally.

Kotlin

ChatUI.messageTextTransformer = MarkdownTextTransformer(context)

Java

ChatUI.setMessageTextTransformer(new MarkdownTextTransformer(context));

If you use MarkdownTextTransformer, don't use android:autoLink attribute because it'll break the markdown Linkify implementation.

Then the SDK will parse Markdown automatically:

Markdown Input in the Message Composer	Message with Markdown in the Message List

Navigator

The SDK performs navigation in certain cases:

• Navigating to AttachmentGalleryActivity after clicking on a video or an image attachment.
• Opening the browser after clicking a link in the chat.

This action is performed by ChatNavigator. You can customize its behavior by providing your own implementation of ChatNavigationHandler:

Kotlin

val navigationHandler = ChatNavigationHandler { destination: ChatDestination ->
    // Perform a custom action here
    true
}

ChatUI.navigator = ChatNavigator(navigationHandler)

Java

ChatNavigationHandler chatNavigatorHandler = destination -> {
    // Perform a custom action here
    return true;
};

ChatUI.setNavigator(new ChatNavigator(chatNavigatorHandler));

Customizing ChannelNameFormatter

You can customize the way channel names are formatted by overriding the default ChannelNameFormatter:

Kotlin

ChatUI.channelNameFormatter = ChannelNameFormatter { channel, currentUser ->
    channel.name
}

Java

ChatUI.setChannelNameFormatter((channel, currentUser) -> channel.getName());

Customizing MessagePreviewFormatter

You can change the way the last messages are formatted in the channel list by overriding the default MessagePreviewFormatter:

Kotlin

ChatUI.messagePreviewFormatter = MessagePreviewFormatter { channel, message, currentUser ->
    message.text
}

Java

ChatUI.setMessagePreviewFormatter((channel, message, currentUser) -> message.getText());

Customizing DateFormatter

Overriding the DateFormatter allows you to change the way dates are formatted in the application:

Kotlin

ChatUI.dateFormatter = object: DateFormatter {
    private val dateFormat: DateFormat = SimpleDateFormat("dd/MM/yyyy")
    private val timeFormat: DateFormat = SimpleDateFormat("HH:mm")

    override fun formatDate(date: Date?): String {
        date ?: return ""
        return dateFormat.format(date)
    }

    override fun formatTime(date: Date?): String {
        date ?: return ""
        return timeFormat.format(date)
    }
}

Java

ChatUI.setDateFormatter(new DateFormatter() {
    private final DateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("dd/MM/yyyy");
    private final DateFormat timeFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("HH:mm");

    public String formatDate(Date date) {
        // Provide a way to format Date
        return dateFormat.format(date);
    }

    public String formatTime(Date date) {
        // Provide a way to format Time
        return timeFormat.format(date);
    }
});

Customizing Attachments

Stream allows both overriding the way the out-of-the-box supported attachments (image, video, etc.) are displayed, and implementing UI for custom attachments.

In the intro section, we've mentioned the different types of attachment factory managers. Depending on which part of the UI you want to customize, you will have to override different ChatUI properties.

If you want to customize the way attachments are presented in MessageListView:

Kotlin

val attachmentFactoryManager = AttachmentFactoryManager(
    // Set your custom attachment factories here
)

ChatUI.attachmentFactoryManager = attachmentFactoryManager

Java

AttachmentFactoryManager attachmentFactoryManager = new AttachmentFactoryManager(
        // Set your custom attachment factories here
);

ChatUI.setAttachmentFactoryManager(attachmentFactoryManager);

If you want to customize the way attachments are presented in MessageInputView or MessageComposerView:

Kotlin

val attachmentPreviewFactoryManager = AttachmentPreviewFactoryManager(
    // Set your custom attachment factories here
)

ChatUI.attachmentPreviewFactoryManager = attachmentPreviewFactoryManager

Java

AttachmentPreviewFactoryManager attachmentPreviewFactoryManager = new AttachmentPreviewFactoryManager(
        // Set your custom attachment factories here
);

ChatUI.setAttachmentPreviewFactoryManager(attachmentPreviewFactoryManager);

If you want to customize the way attachments are presented inside quoted messages in MessageListView:

Kotlin

val quotedAttachmentFactoryManager = QuotedAttachmentFactoryManager(
    // Set your custom attachment factories here
)

ChatUI.quotedAttachmentFactoryManager = quotedAttachmentFactoryManager

Java

QuotedAttachmentFactoryManager quotedAttachmentFactoryManager = new QuotedAttachmentFactoryManager(
        // Set your custom attachment factories here
);

ChatUI.setQuotedAttachmentFactoryManager(quotedAttachmentFactoryManager);

Guide on Adding Support for Custom Attachments

We offer a guide on implementing custom attachment support which covers the topic extensively.

Disabling Video Thumbnails

Video thumbnails are enabled by default, but since they are a paid feature, they can also be disabled.

When video thumbnails are enabled, the UI takes the following appearance:

Messages List (Light Mode)	Attachment Gallery (Light Mode)

Messages List (Dark Mode)	Attachment Gallery (Dark Mode)

You can disable the video thumbnails like so:

Kotlin

ChatUI.videoThumbnailsEnabled = false

Java

ChatUI.setVideoThumbnailsEnabled(false);

Which makes the UI look like so:

Messages List (Light Mode)	Attachment Gallery (Light Mode)

Messages List (Dark Mode)	Attachment Gallery (Dark Mode)

note

Only the video thumbnails fetched from Stream's APIs are paid and can be disabled. Video thumbnails loaded from local storage - such as the ones in the attachment picker - are not paid and will remain enabled.