This is documentation for Stream Chat Android SDK v5, which is nolonger actively maintained. For up-to-date documentation, see the latest version (v6).

Message List Screen

To set up a self-contained chat screen that shows a list of messages and give users the ability to send messages you can use one of the following components:

MessageListFragment: A Fragment that represents a self-contained chat screen.
MessageListActivity: An Activity that is just a thin wrapper around MessageListFragment.

The MessageListFragment contains these three inner components:

MessageListHeaderView: Displays a navigation icon, the name of the channel or thread and a channel avatar.
MessageListView: Shows a list of paginated messages, with threads, replies, reactions and deleted messages.
MessageInputView: Handles the message input, as well as attachments and message actions like editing and replying.

Fragments and Activities representing self-contained screens are easy to use. They allow you to explore the SDK’s features in a breeze, however, they offer limited customization.

Usage

To use the message list screen, you just need to add MessageListFragment to your Activity or Fragment:

class MyMessageListActivity : AppCompatActivity() {

    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContentView(R.layout.stream_ui_fragment_container)

        if (savedInstanceState == null) {
            supportFragmentManager.beginTransaction()
                .replace(R.id.container, MessageListFragment.newInstance(cid = "channelType:channelId"))
                .commit()
        }
    }
}

public final class MyMessageListActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
    @Override
    protected void onCreate(@Nullable Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.stream_ui_fragment_container);

        if (savedInstanceState == null) {
            getSupportFragmentManager().beginTransaction()
                    .replace(R.id.container, MessageListFragment.newInstance("channelType:channelId"))
                    .commit();
        }
    }
}

Alternatively, you can simply start MessageListActivity from the SDK to achieve similar result with a single line of code:

context.startActivity(MessageListActivity.createIntent(context, cid = "channelType:channelId"))

context.startActivity(MessageListActivity.createIntent(context, "channelType:channelId"));

This small snippet will produce a fully working solution, as shown in the image below.

Handling Actions

To handle actions supported by MessageListFragment you have to implement corresponding click listeners in the parent Fragment or Activity:

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity(), MessageListFragment.BackPressListener {

    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        // Add MessageListFragment to the layout
    }

    override fun onBackPress() {
        // Handle back press
    }
}

public final class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity implements MessageListFragment.BackPressListener {

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(@Nullable Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        // Add MessageListFragment to the layout
    }

    @Override
    public void onBackPress() {
        // Handle back press
    }
}

Currently, there is one click listener you can use with the MessageListFragment:

BackPressListener: Click listener for the navigation button in the header. Finishes Activity by default.

Customization

Message list screen component offers limited customization. The MessageListFragment exposes a builder with the following methods:

setFragment: Sets custom message list Fragment. The Fragment must be a subclass of MessageListFragment.
customTheme: Custom theme for the screen.
showHeader: Whether the header is shown or hidden.
messageId: The ID of the message to highlight.

Other than that, you can use inheritance for further customization as shown in the example below:

class CustomMessageListFragment : MessageListFragment() {

    override fun setupMessageListHeader(messageListHeaderView: MessageListHeaderView) {
        super.setupMessageListHeader(messageListHeaderView)
        // Customize message list header view. For example, set a custom back button click listener:
        messageListHeaderView.setBackButtonClickListener {
            // Handle back press
        }
    }

    override fun setupMessageList(messageListView: MessageListView) {
        super.setupMessageList(messageListView)
        // Customize message list view
    }

    override fun setupMessageInput(messageInputView: MessageInputView) {
        super.setupMessageInput(messageInputView)
        // Customize message input view
    }
}

class CustomMessageListActivity : MessageListActivity() {

    override fun createMessageListFragment(cid: String, messageId: String?): MessageListFragment {
        return MessageListFragment.newInstance(cid) {
            setFragment(CustomMessageListFragment())
            customTheme(R.style.StreamUiTheme)
            showHeader(true)
            messageId(messageId)
        }
    }
}

public final class CustomMessageListFragment extends MessageListFragment {

    @Override
    protected void setupMessageListHeader(@NonNull MessageListHeaderView messageListHeaderView) {
        super.setupMessageListHeader(messageListHeaderView);
        // Customize message list header view. For example, set a custom back button click listener:
        messageListHeaderView.setBackButtonClickListener(() -> {
            // Handle back press
        });
    }

    @Override
    protected void setupMessageList(@NonNull MessageListView messageListView) {
        super.setupMessageList(messageListView);
        // Customize message list view
    }

    @Override
    protected void setupMessageInput(@NonNull MessageInputView messageInputView) {
        super.setupMessageInput(messageInputView);
        // Customize message input view
    }
}

public final class CustomMessageListActivity extends MessageListActivity {

    @NonNull
    @Override
    protected MessageListFragment createMessageListFragment(@NonNull String cid, @Nullable String messageId) {
        return MessageListFragment.newInstance(cid, builder -> {
            builder.setFragment(new CustomMessageListFragment());
            builder.customTheme(R.style.StreamUiTheme);
            builder.showHeader(true);
            builder.messageId(messageId);
            return Unit.INSTANCE;
        });
    }
}

Fragments and Activities representing self-contained screens can be styled using the options described in the theming guide.

Channel List Header

Message List