Amazon IVS Chat Client Messaging SDK: React & React Native Best Practices

This document describes the most important practices of using the Amazon IVS Chat Messaging SDK for React and React Native. This information should enable you to build typical chat functionality inside a React app, and give you the background you need to dive deeper into the more advanced parts of the IVS Chat Messaging SDK.

Creating a ChatRoom Initializer Hook

The ChatRoom class contains core chat methods and listeners for managing connection state and listening for events like message received and message deleted. Here, we show how to properly store chat instances in a hook.

Implementation

TypeScript:

// useChatRoom.ts

import React from 'react';
import { ChatRoom, ChatRoomConfig } from 'amazon-ivs-chat-messaging';

export const useChatRoom = (config: ChatRoomConfig) => {
  const [room] = React.useState(() => new ChatRoom(config));

  return { room };
};

JavaScript:

import React from 'react';
import { ChatRoom } from 'amazon-ivs-chat-messaging';

export const useChatRoom = (config) => {
  const [room] = React.useState(() => new ChatRoom(config));

  return { room };
};

Note: We don't use the dispatch method from the setState hook, because you can't update configuration parameters on the fly. The SDK creates an instance once, and it is not possible to update the token provider.

Important: Use the ChatRoom initializer hook once to initialize a new chat-room instance.

Example

TypeScript/JavaScript:

// ...

const MyChatScreen = () => {
  const userId = 'Mike';
  const { room } = useChatRoom({
    regionOrUrl: SOCKET_URL,
    tokenProvider: () => tokenProvider(ROOM_ID, ['SEND_MESSAGE']),
  });

  const handleConnect = () => {
    room.connect();
  };

  // ...
};

// ...

Listening for Connection State

Optionally, you can subscribe to connection-state updates in your chat-room hook.

Implementation

TypeScript:

// useChatRoom.ts

import React from 'react';
import { ChatRoom, ChatRoomConfig, ConnectionState } from 'amazon-ivs-chat-messaging';

export const useChatRoom = (config: ChatRoomConfig) => {
  const [room] = useState(() => new ChatRoom(config));

  const [state, setState] = React.useState<ConnectionState>('disconnected');

  React.useEffect(() => {
    const unsubscribeOnConnecting = room.addListener('connecting', () => {
      setState('connecting');
    });

    const unsubscribeOnConnected = room.addListener('connect', () => {
      setState('connected');
    });

    const unsubscribeOnDisconnected = room.addListener('disconnect', () => {
      setState('disconnected');
    });

    return () => {
      unsubscribeOnConnecting();
      unsubscribeOnConnected();
      unsubscribeOnDisconnected();
    };
  }, []);

  return { room, state };
};

JavaScript:

// useChatRoom.js

import React from 'react';
import { ChatRoom } from 'amazon-ivs-chat-messaging';

export const useChatRoom = (config) => {
  const [room] = useState(() => new ChatRoom(config));

  const [state, setState] = React.useState('disconnected');

  React.useEffect(() => {
    const unsubscribeOnConnecting = room.addListener('connecting', () => {
      setState('connecting');
    });

    const unsubscribeOnConnected = room.addListener('connect', () => {
      setState('connected');
    });

    const unsubscribeOnDisconnected = room.addListener('disconnect', () => {
      setState('disconnected');
    });

    return () => {
      unsubscribeOnConnecting();
      unsubscribeOnConnected();
      unsubscribeOnDisconnected();
    };
  }, []);

  return { room, state };
};

ChatRoom Instance Provider

To use the hook in other components (to avoid prop drilling), you can create a chat-room provider using React context.

Implementation

TypeScript:

// ChatRoomContext.tsx

import React from 'react';
import { ChatRoom } from 'amazon-ivs-chat-messaging';

const ChatRoomContext = React.createContext<ChatRoom | undefined>(undefined);

export const useChatRoomContext = () => {
  const context = React.useContext(ChatRoomContext);

  if (context === undefined) {
    throw new Error('useChatRoomContext must be within ChatRoomProvider');
  }

  return context;
};

export const ChatRoomProvider = ChatRoomContext.Provider;

JavaScript:

// ChatRoomContext.jsx

import React from 'react';
import { ChatRoom } from 'amazon-ivs-chat-messaging';

const ChatRoomContext = React.createContext(undefined);

export const useChatRoomContext = () => {
  const context = React.useContext(ChatRoomContext);

  if (context === undefined) {
    throw new Error('useChatRoomContext must be within ChatRoomProvider');
  }

  return context;
};

export const ChatRoomProvider = ChatRoomContext.Provider;

Example

After creating ChatRoomProvider, you can consume your instance with useChatRoomContext.

Important: Put the provider in the root level only if you need access to the context between the chat screen and the other components in the middle, to avoid unnecessary re-renders if you are listening for connections. Otherwise, put the provider as close as possible to the chat screen.

TypeScript/JavaScript:

// AppContainer

const AppContainer = () => {
  const { room } = useChatRoom({
    regionOrUrl: SOCKET_URL,
    tokenProvider: () => tokenProvider(ROOM_ID, ['SEND_MESSAGE']),
  });

  return (
    <ChatRoomProvider value={room}>
      <MyChatScreen />
    </ChatRoomProvider>
  );
};

// MyChatScreen

const MyChatScreen = () => {
  const room = useChatRoomContext();

  const handleConnect = () => {
    room.connect();
  };
  // ...
};

// ...

Creating a Message Listener

To stay up to date with all incoming messages, you should subscribe to message and deleteMessage events. Here is some code that provides chat messages for your components.

Important: For performance purposes, we separate ChatMessageContext from ChatRoomProvider, as we may get many re-renders when the chat-message listener updates its message’s state. Remember to apply ChatMessageContext in components where you will use ChatMessageProvider.

Implementation

TypeScript:

// ChatMessagesContext.tsx

import React from 'react';
import { ChatMessage } from 'amazon-ivs-chat-messaging';
import { useChatRoomContext } from './ChatRoomContext';

const ChatMessagesContext = React.createContext<ChatMessage[] | undefined>(undefined);

export const useChatMessagesContext = () => {
  const context = React.useContext(ChatMessagesContext);

  if (context === undefined) {
    throw new Error('useChatMessagesContext must be within ChatMessagesProvider);
  }

  return context;
};

export const ChatMessagesProvider = ({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) => {
  const room = useChatRoomContext();

  const [messages, setMessages] = React.useState<ChatMessage[]>([]);

  React.useEffect(() => {
    const unsubscribeOnMessageReceived = room.addListener('message', (message) => {
      setMessages((msgs) => [message, ...msgs]);
    });

    const unsubscribeOnMessageDeleted = room.addListener('messageDelete', (deleteEvent) => {
      setMessages((prev) => prev.filter((message) => message.id !== deleteEvent.messageId));
    });

    return () => {
      unsubscribeOnMessageDeleted();
      unsubscribeOnMessageReceived();
    };
  }, [room]);

  return <ChatMessagesContext.Provider value={messages}>{children}</ChatMessagesContext.Provider>;
};

JavaScript:

// ChatMessagesContext.jsx

import React from 'react';
import { useChatRoomContext } from './ChatRoomContext';

const ChatMessagesContext = React.createContext(undefined);

export const useChatMessagesContext = () => {
  const context = React.useContext(ChatMessagesContext);

  if (context === undefined) {
    throw new Error('useChatMessagesContext must be within ChatMessagesProvider);
  }

  return context;
};

export const ChatMessagesProvider = ({ children }) => {
  const room = useChatRoomContext();

  const [messages, setMessages] = React.useState([]);

  React.useEffect(() => {
    const unsubscribeOnMessageReceived = room.addListener('message', (message) => {
      setMessages((msgs) => [message, ...msgs]);
    });

    const unsubscribeOnMessageDeleted = room.addListener('messageDelete', (deleteEvent) => {
      setMessages((prev) => prev.filter((message) => message.id !== deleteEvent.messageId));
    });

    return () => {
      unsubscribeOnMessageDeleted();
      unsubscribeOnMessageReceived();
    };
  }, [room]);

  return <ChatMessagesContext.Provider value={messages}>{children}</ChatMessagesContext.Provider>;
};

Example in React

Important: Remember to wrap your message container with ChatMessagesProvider. The Message row is an example component that displays the content of a message.

TypeScript/JavaScript:

// your message list component...

import React from 'react';
import { useChatMessagesContext } from './ChatMessagesContext';

const MessageListContainer = () => {
  const messages = useChatMessagesContext();

  return (
    <React.Fragment>
      {messages.map((message) => (
        <MessageRow message={message} />
      ))}
    </React.Fragment>
  );
};

Example in React Native

By default, ChatMessage contains id, which is used automatically as React keys in FlatList for each row; therefore, you don't need to pass keyExtractor.

TypeScript:

// MessageListContainer.tsx

import React from 'react';
import { ListRenderItemInfo, FlatList } from 'react-native';
import { ChatMessage } from 'amazon-ivs-chat-messaging';
import { useChatMessagesContext } from './ChatMessagesContext';

const MessageListContainer = () => {
  const messages = useChatMessagesContext();

  const renderItem = useCallback(({ item }: ListRenderItemInfo<ChatMessage>) => <MessageRow />, []);

  return <FlatList data={messages} renderItem={renderItem} />;
};

JavaScript:

// MessageListContainer.jsx

import React from 'react';
import { FlatList } from 'react-native';
import { useChatMessagesContext } from './ChatMessagesContext';

const MessageListContainer = () => {
  const messages = useChatMessagesContext();

  const renderItem = useCallback(({ item }) => <MessageRow />, []);

  return <FlatList data={messages} renderItem={renderItem} />;
};

Multiple Chat Room Instances in an App

If you use multiple concurrent chat rooms in your app, we propose creating each provider for each chat and consuming it in the chat provider. In this example, we're creating a Help Bot and Customer Help chat. We create a provider for both.

TypeScript:

// SupportChatProvider.tsx

import React from 'react';
import { SUPPORT_ROOM_ID, SOCKET_URL } from '../../config';
import { tokenProvider } from '../tokenProvider';
import { ChatRoomProvider } from './ChatRoomContext';
import { useChatRoom } from './useChatRoom';

export const SupportChatProvider = ({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) => {
  const { room } = useChatRoom({
    regionOrUrl: SOCKET_URL,
    tokenProvider: () => tokenProvider(SUPPORT_ROOM_ID, ['SEND_MESSAGE']),
  });

  return <ChatRoomProvider value={room}>{children}</ChatRoomProvider>;
};

// SalesChatProvider.tsx

import React from 'react';
import { SALES_ROOM_ID, SOCKET_URL } from '../../config';
import { tokenProvider } from '../tokenProvider';
import { ChatRoomProvider } from './ChatRoomContext';
import { useChatRoom } from './useChatRoom';

export const SalesChatProvider = ({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) => {
  const { room } = useChatRoom({
    regionOrUrl: SOCKET_URL,
    tokenProvider: () => tokenProvider(SALES_ROOM_ID, ['SEND_MESSAGE']),
  });

  return <ChatRoomProvider value={room}>{children}</ChatRoomProvider>;
};

JavaScript:

// SupportChatProvider.tsx

import React from 'react';
import { SUPPORT_ROOM_ID, SOCKET_URL } from '../../config';
import { tokenProvider } from '../tokenProvider';
import { ChatRoomProvider } from './ChatRoomContext';
import { useChatRoom } from './useChatRoom';

export const SupportChatProvider = ({ children }) => {
  const { room } = useChatRoom({
    regionOrUrl: SOCKET_URL,
    tokenProvider: () => tokenProvider(SUPPORT_ROOM_ID, ['SEND_MESSAGE']),
  });

  return <ChatRoomProvider value={room}>{children}</ChatRoomProvider>;
};

// SalesChatProvider.jsx

import React from 'react';
import { SALES_ROOM_ID, SOCKET_URL } from '../../config';
import { tokenProvider } from '../tokenProvider';
import { ChatRoomProvider } from './ChatRoomContext';
import { useChatRoom } from './useChatRoom';

export const SalesChatProvider = ({ children }) => {
  const { room } = useChatRoom({
    regionOrUrl: SOCKET_URL,
    tokenProvider: () => tokenProvider(SALES_ROOM_ID, ['SEND_MESSAGE']),
  });

  return <ChatRoomProvider value={room}>{children}</ChatRoomProvider>;
};

Example in React

Now you can use different chat providers that use the same ChatRoomProvider. Later on, you can reuse the same useChatRoomContext inside each screen/view.

TypeScript/JavaScript:

// App.tsx / App.jsx

const App = () => {
  return (
    <Routes>
      <Route
        element={
          <SupportChatProvider>
            <SupportChatScreen />
          </SupportChatProvider>
        }
      />
      <Route
        element={
          <SalesChatProvider>
            <SalesChatScreen />
          </SalesChatProvider>
        }
      />
    </Routes>
  );
};

Example in React Native

TypeScript/JavaScript:

// App.tsx / App.jsx

const App = () => {
  return (
    <Stack.Navigator>
      <Stack.Screen name="SupportChat">
        <SupportChatProvider>
          <SupportChatScreen />
        </SupportChatProvider>
      </Stack.Screen>
      <Stack.Screen name="SalesChat">
        <SalesChatProvider>
          <SalesChatScreen />
        </SalesChatProvider>
      </Stack.Screen>
    </Stack.Navigator>
  );
};

TypeScript/JavaScript:

// SupportChatScreen.tsx / SupportChatScreen.jsx

// ...

const SupportChatScreen = () => {
  const room = useChatRoomContext();

  const handleConnect = () => {
    room.connect();
  };

  return (
    <>
      <Button title="Connect" onPress={handleConnect} />
      <MessageListContainer />
    </>
  );
};

// SalesChatScreen.tsx / SalesChatScreen.jsx

// ...

const SalesChatScreen = () => {
  const room = useChatRoomContext();

  const handleConnect = () => {
    room.connect();
  };

  return (
    <>
      <Button title="Connect" onPress={handleConnect} />
      <MessageListContainer />
    </>
  );
};