Mobile app with Ionic

This guide shows you how to create a Stream chat mobile app with Ionic + Capacitor. The guide is based on the Ionic + Angular tutorial.

You can find the required tools in the Ionic guide.

Install ionic tooling

npm install -g @ionic/cli native-run cordova-res

Create the app

Next, create an Ionic Angular app using the “side menu” template and add Capacitor for native functionality:

ionic start chat-app sidemenu --type=angular --capacitor

Next, change into the app folder:

cd chat-app

You can start the app with the following command:

npm start

Create the chat UI

Install the necessary dependencies:

npm install stream-chat-angular stream-chat @ngx-translate/core

Add this to your tsconfig.json file to the compilerOptions part:

"allowSyntheticDefaultImports": true

Import CSS in your global.scss file:

@import "~stream-chat-angular/src/assets/styles/scss/index.scss";

Add the module imports required by stream-chat-angular to the app.module.ts file:

import { NgModule } from "@angular/core";
import { BrowserModule } from "@angular/platform-browser";
import { RouteReuseStrategy } from "@angular/router";

import { IonicModule, IonicRouteStrategy } from "@ionic/angular";

import { AppComponent } from "./app.component";
import { AppRoutingModule } from "./app-routing.module";
import { TranslateModule } from "@ngx-translate/core";
import {
  StreamAutocompleteTextareaModule,
  StreamChatModule,
} from "stream-chat-angular";

@NgModule({
  declarations: [AppComponent],
  imports: [
    BrowserModule,
    IonicModule.forRoot(),
    AppRoutingModule,
    TranslateModule.forRoot(),
    StreamAutocompleteTextareaModule,
    StreamChatModule,
  ],
  providers: [{ provide: RouteReuseStrategy, useClass: IonicRouteStrategy }],
  bootstrap: [AppComponent],
})
export class AppModule {}

Connect to your Stream chat application by replacing the content of the app.component.ts file (add the necessary credentials to your environment.ts file):

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import { Component, OnInit } from "@angular/core";
import { environment } from "src/environments/environment";
import {
  ChatClientService,
  ChannelService,
  StreamI18nService,
} from "stream-chat-angular";

@Component({
  selector: "app-root",
  templateUrl: "./app.component.html",
  styleUrls: ["./app.component.scss"],
})
export class AppComponent implements OnInit {
  constructor(
    private chatService: ChatClientService,
    private channelService: ChannelService,
    private streamI18nService: StreamI18nService,
  ) {
    const apiKey = environment.apiKey;
    const userId = environment.userId;
    const userToken = environment.userToken;
    this.chatService.init(apiKey, userId, userToken);
    this.streamI18nService.setTranslation();
  }

  async ngOnInit() {
    this.channelService.init({
      type: "messaging",
      members: { $in: [environment.userId] },
    });
  }
}

Display the channel list in your app.component.html:

<ion-app>
  <ion-split-pane contentId="main-content">
    <ion-menu contentId="main-content" type="overlay">
      <ion-content>
        <ion-menu-toggle auto-hide="false">
          <ion-list>
            <stream-channel-list></stream-channel-list>
          </ion-list>
        </ion-menu-toggle>
      </ion-content>
    </ion-menu>
    <ion-router-outlet id="main-content"></ion-router-outlet>
  </ion-split-pane>
</ion-app>

Extend the folder.module.ts with the necessary module imports:

import { NgModule } from "@angular/core";
import { CommonModule } from "@angular/common";
import { FormsModule } from "@angular/forms";

import { IonicModule } from "@ionic/angular";

import { FolderPageRoutingModule } from "./folder-routing.module";

import { FolderPage } from "./folder.page";
import { StreamChatModule } from "stream-chat-angular";

@NgModule({
  imports: [
    CommonModule,
    FormsModule,
    IonicModule,
    FolderPageRoutingModule,
    StreamChatModule,
  ],
  declarations: [FolderPage],
})
export class FolderPageModule {}

Display the active channel in the folder.page.html:

<ion-content [fullscreen]="true">
  <stream-channel>
    <stream-channel-header>
      <ion-menu-button></ion-menu-button>
    </stream-channel-header>
    <stream-message-list></stream-message-list>
    <stream-notification-list></stream-notification-list>
    <stream-message-input></stream-message-input>
    <stream-thread name="thread">
      <stream-message-list mode="thread"></stream-message-list>
      <stream-message-input mode="thread"></stream-message-input>
    </stream-thread>
  </stream-channel>
</ion-content>