Migrate your Chat Android SDK to Conversations

We are happy you decided to migrate your Programmable Chat Android SDK to Conversations. It is a great decision and this guide will simplify the process a lot. You will need to perform several rather mechanical changes to convert your existing application code utilizing Twilio Chat to Conversations. One thing is important here, you will need to use Programmable Chat Android SDK 6.0.0 as a minimal version to be able to migrate without any breaking changes.

Update supported Java version

Add to your project's build.gradle the following compile options, necessary to use Java8 syntax features:

compileOptions {
    sourceCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
    targetCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
}

// Also if kotlin is used in the project
kotlinOptions {
    jvmTarget = '1.8'
}

Rename imports

Rename java package imports from com.twilio.chat to com.twilio.conversations

Rename entities

• ChatClient to ConversationsClient
• Channel to Conversation
• Member to Participant

Remove or replace not supported methods

• Public channels: ConversationsClient.getConversation(sid) now returns error code CONVERSATION_NOT_FOUND if channel with the given SID is public.
• Media.download() is removed, use Message.getMediaContentTemporaryUrl() instead.
• getSubscribedChannelsSortedBy() method. Sort list returned by ConversationsClient.getMyConversations() instead.
• ChannelDescriptor, UserDescriptor are not needed anymore and removed. Use Conversation and User objects instead.
• Paginator class is not used anymore and is removed.
• Invites to a channel are not supported. Use Conversation.addParticipantByIdentity() and addParticipantByAddress() instead.
• onConversationJoined() callback is temporarily removed. Use onConversationAdded() instead.
• Conversation doesn’t implement Parcelable interface anymore. Instead store Conversation objects in your ViewModel or Repository following the Recommended app architecture. Use Conversation.sid as unique key if necessary to pass around and retrieve the Conversation information.

Refactor method calls

someMethod() here indicates any of the methods existing previously on certain objects, now they are slightly moved to make API more convenient to use.

• ChatClient.getChannels().someMethod() becomes ConversationsClient.someMethod()
• Channel.getMembers().somMethod() becomes Conversation.someMethod()
• Channel.getMessages().someMethod() becomes Conversation.someMethod()
• Message.getMedia().someMethod() becomes Message.getMediaSomeMethod()

• ChatClient.getUsers().someMethod() becomes ConversationsClient.someMethod()

• ChatClient.getSubscribedChannels() becomes ConversationsClient.getMyConversations()

Rename consumptionHorizon to readHorizon

This highlights the fact that this horizon is best useful for implementing messages that have been read. Delivery horizon could be implemented through a combination of delivery receipts and custom attributes on messages.

• getLastConsumedMessageIndex() → getLastReadMessageIndex()
• setNoMessagesConsumedWithResult() → setAllMessagesUnread()
• setAllMessagesConsumedWithResult() → setAllMessagesRead()
• setLastConsumedMessageIndexWithResult() → setLastReadMessageIndex()
• advanceLastConsumedMessageIndexWithResult() → advanceLastReadMessageIndex()
• getUnconsumedMessagesCount() → getUnreadMessagesCount()
• getLastConsumedMessageIndex() → getLastReadMessageIndex()
• getLastConsumptionTimestamp() → getLastReadTimestamp()
• UpdateReason.LAST_CONSUMED_MESSAGE_INDEX → UpdateReason.LAST_READ_MESSAGE_INDEX
• UpdateReason.LAST_CONSUMED_MESSAGE_TIMESTAMP → UpdateReason.LAST_READ_TIMESTAMP

Update Listeners syntax in Kotlin

CallbackListener, StatusListener and ProgressListener are now interfaces (not abstract classes). Remove constructor invocation in Kotlin code to make it compile:

object : StatusListener() { ... }

becomes

object : StatusListener { ... }