Chat-Message-Template-Xamarin.Forms

About the sample

This repository contains sample that demonstrates how to show chat messages in user defined templates

using Syncfusion.XForms.Chat;
using Xamarin.Forms;
using Xamarin.Forms.Xaml;

namespace GettingStarted
{
    [XamlCompilation(XamlCompilationOptions.Compile)]
    public partial class ChatPage : ContentPage
    {
        SfChat sfChat;
        GettingStartedViewModel viewModel;
        public ChatPage()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
            sfChat = new SfChat();
            viewModel = new GettingStartedViewModel();
            this.sfChat.Messages = viewModel.Messages;
            this.sfChat.CurrentUser = viewModel.CurrentUser;
            this.sfChat.MessageTemplate = new ChatMessageTemplateSelector() { Chat = this.sfChat };
            this.Content = sfChat;
        }
    }
}

//Template selector 

public class MyCustomMessageTemplateSelector : ChatMessageTemplateSelector
{
    private readonly DataTemplate ratingDataTemplate;
    public MyCustomMessageTemplateSelector(SfChat chat) : base(chat)
    {
        this.ratingDataTemplate = new DataTemplate(typeof(RatingTemplate));
    }

    protected override DataTemplate OnSelectTemplate(object item, BindableObject container)
    {
        if (item as ITextMessage != null && item as ITextMessage.Text == "How would you rate your interaction with our travel bot?")
        {
            // returns a custom rating template for this messages.
            return this.ratingDataTemplate; 
        }
        else
        {
            // returns default template for all other messages.
            return base.OnSelectTemplate(item, container);
        }
    }
}


// View Model

public class GettingStartedViewModel : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Collection of messages or conversation.
    /// </summary>
    private ObservableCollection<object> messages;

    /// <summary>
    /// current user of chat.
    /// </summary>
    private Author currentUser;

    public GettingStartedViewModel()
    {
        this.messages = new ObservableCollection<object>();
        this.currentUser = new Author() { Name = "Nancy", Avatar = "People_Circle16.png" };
        this.GenerateMessages();
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the group message conversation.
    /// </summary>
    public ObservableCollection<object> Messages
    {
        get
        {
            return this.messages;
        }

        set
        {
            this.messages = value;
        }
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the current user.
    /// </summary>
    public Author CurrentUser
    {
        get
        {
            return this.currentUser;
        }
        set
        {
            this.currentUser = value;
            RaisePropertyChanged("CurrentUser");
        }
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Property changed handler.
    /// </summary>
    public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;

    /// <summary>
    /// Occurs when property is changed.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="propName">changed property name</param>
    public void RaisePropertyChanged(string propName)
    {
        if (this.PropertyChanged != null)
        {
            this.PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propName));
        }
    }

    private void GenerateMessages()
    {
        this.messages.Add(new TextMessage()
        {
            Author = new Author() { Name = "Travel Bot", Avatar = "Aeroplane.png" },
            Text = "Select your preferred airline company.",
            ShowAvatar = true,
        });

        this.messages.Add(new TextMessage()
        {
            Author = currentUser,
            Text = "Air Canada $2700",
            ShowAvatar = true,
        });

        this.messages.Add(new TextMessage()
        {
            Author = new Author() { Name = "Travel Bot", Avatar = "Aeroplane.png" },
            Text = "Congratulations ! Your booking has been conformed. A conformation along with your ticket has been sent to your email",
            ShowAvatar = true,
        });

        this.messages.Add(new TextMessage()
        {
            Author = new Author() { Name = "Travel Bot", Avatar = "Aeroplane.png" },
            Text = "Bon Voyage",
            ShowAvatar = true,
        });

        this.messages.Add(new TextMessage()
        {
            Author = currentUser,
            Text = "Thank you",
            ShowAvatar = true,
        });

        this.messages.Add(new TextMessage()
        {
            Author = new Author() { Name = "Travel Bot", Avatar = "Aeroplane.png" },
            Text = "How would you rate your interaction with our travel bot?",
            ShowAvatar = true,
        });
    }
}

Screenshot

Requirements to run the demo

• Visual Studio 2017 or Visual Studio for Mac.
• Xamarin add-ons for Visual Studio (available via the Visual Studio installer).

Troubleshooting

Path too long exception

If you are facing path too long exception when building this example project, close Visual Studio and rename the repository to short and build the project.