Flex UI 2.x.x updates that can affect your customizations
This page describes Flex UI updates that you should be aware of when migrating to Flex UI 2.x.x. Review this information to determine if you need to make updates to your customizations to be compatible with Flex UI 2.x.x.
For more information about the entire migration process, see Migrate from Flex UI 1.x.x to 2.x.x.
This page describes Flex UI updates that you should be aware of when migrating to Flex UI 2.x.x. Review this information to determine if you need to make updates to your customizations to be compatible with Flex UI 2.x.
For more information about the entire migration process, see Migrate from Flex UI 1.x.x to 2.x.x.
Degraded mode
We have introduced a Degraded mode for Flex UI - now Flex UI will initialize with limited capabilities, even if some of the components like SDKs (TaskRouter, Conversations, Voice, or Sync) are down. In case of disruptions to Twilio's services, Flex users can still log in to Flex and perform certain tasks related to operational services. For example, in the case of Twilio Voice experiencing an incident, your agent will still be able to handle messaging tasks.
Users will see a notification informing them of a possible disruption in the normal work of Flex UI and they will be able to download a thorough report with error details and logs.
For more on error handling and reporting, check out our Troubleshooting the Flex UI guide.
Conversations SDK
Currently, the Flex UI uses the Programmable Chat SDK to handle messaging channels. In 2.x.x, the Flex UI uses the Conversations SDK to replicate this functionality.
To ease migration of plugins from Flex UI 1.x.x to 2.x.x, we want to create a virtual bridge to also export Chat SDK-compatible constructs. Therefore, you can still use your Chat-based customizations with fewer changes. This bridge logic will render a warning highlighting that the accessed methods and properties are actually deprecated.
Identified differences between the Chat and Conversation libraries
Here are the properties and methods that have been changed or removed.
Chat Client
Type |
Chat Client |
Conversation Client |
property |
channels |
conversations |
method |
createChannel |
createConversation |
method |
getChannelBySid |
getConversationBySid |
method |
getChannelByUniqueName |
getConversationByUniqueName |
method |
getSubscribedChannels |
getSubscribedConversations |
method |
getUserDescriptor |
// pass user instead |
method |
getLocalChannels |
// get subscribed channels |
event |
channelAdded |
conversationAdded |
event |
channelInvited |
conversationInvited |
event |
channelJoined |
conversationJoined |
event |
channelLeft |
conversationLeft |
event |
channelRemoved |
conversationRemoved |
event |
channelUpdated |
conversationUpdated |
event |
memberJoined |
participantJoined |
event |
memberLeft |
participantLeft |
event |
memberUpdated |
participantUpdated |
Channel vs Conversations
type |
Channel |
Conversation |
Notes |
property |
isPrivate |
|
Returns true |
property |
lastConsumedMessageIndex |
lastReadMessageIndex |
|
property |
type |
|
Returns a string ‘private’ |
property |
advanceLastConsumedMessageIndex |
advanceLastReadMessageIndex |
|
property |
members |
participants |
Not exposed |
method |
getMemberByIdentity |
getParticipantByIdentity |
|
method |
getMemberBySid |
getParticipantBySid |
|
method |
getMembers |
getParticipants |
|
method |
getMembersCount |
getParticipantsCount |
|
method |
getUnconsumedMessagesCount |
getUnreadMessagesCount |
|
method |
removeMember |
removeParticipant |
|
method |
setAllMessagesConsumed |
setAllMessagesRead |
|
method |
setNoMessagesConsumed |
setAllMessagesUnread |
|
method |
updateLastConsumedMessageIndex |
updateLastReadMessageIndex |
ChannelDescriptor
No parallel in the Conversations SDK, we fall back to Conversation.
UserDescriptor
No parallel in the Conversations SDK, we fall back to User.
Chat User vs Conversation User
type |
Chat User |
Conversation User |
property |
online |
isOnline |
property |
notifiable |
isNotifiable |
Chat Message vs Conversation Message
type |
Message |
Message |
Notes |
property |
channel |
conversation |
|
property |
memberSid |
participantSid |
Chat Member vs Conversation Participant
type |
Member |
Participant |
Note |
property |
channel |
conversation |
|
property |
lastConsumedMessageIndex |
lastReadMessageIndex |
|
property |
lastConsumptionTimestamp |
lastReadTimestamp |
|
method |
getUserDescriptor |
Use getUser |
|
event argument |
updateReason 'lastConsumedMessageIndex' |
updatedReason 'lastReadMessageIndex' |
|
event argument |
updateReason 'lastConsumptionTimestamp’ |
updatedReason ‘lastReadTimestamp’ |
Chat SDK methods and concepts dropped in the Conversations SDK
- There’s no concept of a public channel. All the conversations are private.
- Descriptors have been removed. They used to be a “snapshot” of the described entity. This is easily replaceable by returning the actual entity and unsubscribing from its changes.
- There is no invite method anymore on conversations. We fall back to the add method as their functionalities are very similar.
Flex UI changes
Deprecated reducers
- channels
- channelInput
Deprecated props
- channel
- channelSid
- isMemberOfChannel
- member
- autoInitChannel
- activeChatChannel
- chatChannel (on taskContext)
Deprecated Helpers
- ChatChannelHelper - replaced by ConversationHelper
Deprecated methods
- TaskHelper.getTaskChannelSid
Deprecated notifications ID
- ChatOrchestrationAddToConversationFailed
- ChatOrchestrationDeactivateConversationFailed
- ChatOrchestrationLeaveConversationFailed
Voice SDK
The Flex UI 1.x.x uses the twilio-client SDK for voice communications. In 2.x.x, it uses the twilio-voice SDK for this functionality since the twilio-client is now deprecated. Functionality and usage of the new Voice SDK remains largely the same with a few exceptions:
- The events
Connect
,Disconnect
, andCancel
which used to apply to the Device instance now applies to the Call instance instead. - The Device
ready
event has been replaced with aregistered
event. Likewise foronline
which is nowunregistered
. - The structure of the Device state has changed to:
namespace Device {
isBusy: boolean;
enum State {
Unregistered = 'unregistered';
Registering = 'registering';
Registered = 'registered';
Destroyed = 'destroyed';
}
}
Listen for a running call on Flex UI 2.x.x
To detect a running call within the Flex UI 2.x.x, you can listen for an incoming Voice event through the Flex Manager. For detecting a call using UI actions, see "Common use cases and examples" on Use UI Actions.
const manager = Flex.Manager.getInstance();
manager.voiceClient.on('incoming', onVoiceClientConnectListener);
// Listener function
function onVoiceClientConnectListener (){
console.log("Call detected");
// Do something
}
For more details on the changes from the twilio-client to the twilio-voice SDK, see this migration guide. Also refer to the Twilio.Device and Twilio.Call pages for more details on the Device and Call objects of the Twilio Voice JavaScript SDK.
New Flex access token update behavior
In Flex UI 1.x.x, your code may have listened to Flex access token updates in the following way:
manager.store.getState().flex.session.loginHandler.on('tokenUpdated', (token) => {});
With Flex 2.x.x, loginHandler
no longer supports this functionality. You can instead use the native Flex 'tokenUpdated' Event to achieve the same behavior:
import { Manager } from "@twilio/flex-ui";
const manager = Manager.getInstance();
manager.events.addListener("tokenUpdated", (tokenPayload) => {});
New Actions and Flex Events for the TaskRouter SDK
We have added new Flex actions wrapping TaskRouter:
import { Actions } from "@twilio/flex-ui";
// Set worker attributes
Actions.invokeAction("SetWorkerAttributes", { attributes: {}, mergeExisting: true });
// Update worker token
Actions.invokeAction("UpdateWorkerToken", { token: "newToken" });
// Update task attributes
Actions.invokeAction("SetTaskAttributes", { sid: "WRxxxxx", attributes: {}, mergeExisting: true });
// Issue a Call to a Worker
Actions.invokeAction("IssueCallToWorker", { callerId: "callerId", twiMLUrl: "twiMLUrl", options: {} });
// Dequeue the Reservation to the Worker.
// This will perform telephony to dequeue a Task that was enqueued using the Enqueue TwiML verb.
// A contact_uri must exist in the Worker's attributes for this call to go through.
Actions.invokeAction("DequeueTask", { options: {} })
// Redirect the active Call tied to this Reservation
Actions.invokeAction("RedirectCallTask", { callSid: "callSid", twiMLUrl: "twiMLUrl", options: {} });
// Update the Worker's leg in the Conference associated to this Reservation
Actions.invokeAction("UpdateWorkerParticipant", { options: {} });
// Update the Customer leg in the Conference associated to this Task
Actions.invokeAction("UpdateCustomerParticipant", { options: {} });
and introduced new Flex Events wrapping TaskRouter events:
import { Manager } from "@twilio/flex-ui";
const manager = Manager.getInstance();
// Emitted when a worker receives a new task
manager.events.addListener("taskReceived", (task: ITask) => {});
// Emitted when the worker's activity changes
manager.events.addListener("workerActivityUpdated", (activity: Activity, allActivities: Map<string, Activity>) => {});
// Emitted when the worker's attributes changes
manager.events.addListener("workerAttributesUpdated", (newAttributes: Record<string, any>) => {});
// Emitted when the worker's task status gets updated
manager.events.addListener("taskUpdated", (task:ITask) => {});
// Emitted when the worker's task gets set to 'accepted'
manager.events.addListener("taskAccepted", (task:ITask) => {});
// Emitted when the worker's task gets set to 'canceled'
manager.events.addListener("taskCanceled", (task:ITask) => {});
// Emitted when the worker's task gets set to 'completed'
manager.events.addListener("taskCompleted", (task:ITask) => {});
// Emitted when the worker's task gets set to 'rejected'
manager.events.addListener("taskRejected", (task:ITask) => {});
// Emitted when the worker's task gets set to 'rescinded'
manager.events.addListener("taskRescinded", (task:ITask) => {});
// Emitted when the worker's task gets set to 'timeout'
manager.events.addListener("taskTimeout", (task:ITask) => {});
// Emitted when the worker's task gets set to 'wrapup'
manager.events.addListener("taskWrapup", (task:ITask) => {});
Now you can use exclusively Flex UI Actions Framework when working with TaskRouter SDK, without needing to access its methods directly.
Visit our Flex UI API docs for more details on Actions and Events.
Theme and Branding
Flex UI 2.x.x uses a new theming structure that more closely maps to the Twilio Paste design system. This new structure is based on the concept of design tokens, a set of variables that you can modify. This structure promotes both consistency, customization and web accessibility.
Theme configuration changes
config.colorTheme is deprecated. There is a new configuration key called config.theme with the following structure:
interface ThemeConfigProps {
isLight?: boolean; // Represents if light or dark theme
tokens?: Tokens; // Paste tokens
componentThemeOverrides?: Object; // Object containing styles of the component which is to be overridden.
}
config.theme.componentThemeOverrides has the same structure as deprecated config.colorTheme.overrides.
Styled components theme props changes
Components which receive the theme as props have the following changes:
- props.theme.calculated is deprecated.
- Use props.theme.isLight instead of props.theme.calculated.lightTheme
- Use props.theme.tokens.textColors.colorText instead of props.theme.calculated.textColor.
- props.theme.colors is deprecated.
- props.theme.tokens is introduced:.
interface Tokens {
backgroundColors: BackgroundColors;
textColors: TextColors;
borderColors: BorderColors;
borderWidths: typeof BorderWidth;
radii: typeof BorderRadius;
fontSizes: typeof FontSize;
fontWeights: typeof FontWeight;
lineHeights: typeof LineHeight;
sizings: typeof Sizing;
spacings: typeof Spacing;
}
For more on each token information, please refer to Twilio Paste.
Deprecated Predefined themes
Flex UI 2.x.x deprecates all predefined themes like DarkTheme, MediumTheme, BlueDarkTheme, BlueMediumTheme. It will now have 2 modes of Flex: Light and Dark.
List of deprecated tokens
const deprecatedTokens = [
"errorColor",
"errorGlow",
"buttonHoverColor",
"tabSelectedColor",
"connectingColor",
"disconnectedColor",
"notificationBackgroundColorInformation",
"notificationBackgroundColorSuccess",
"notificationBackgroundColorWarning",
"notificationBackgroundColorError",
"notificationIconColorError",
"notificationIconColorWarning",
"userAvailableColor",
"userUnavailableColor",
"defaultButtonColor",
"lightTextColor",
"darkTextColor",
"disabledColor",
"focusColor",
"focusGlow",
"holdColor",
"declineColor",
"acceptColor",
"declineTextColor",
"acceptTextColor",
"completeTaskColor",
"flexBlueColor",
"agentBusyColor"
];
Deprecating Channel colors
const deprecatedChannelColors = [
"inactive",
"call",
"video",
"chat",
"sms",
"facebook",
"line",
"whatsapp",
"custom"
];
ThemeProvider
Introducing a new API, Flex.setProviders()
, which can be used to load providers once at the root level. Developers won’t have to worry about wrapping again, as the context will be set correctly. Now to use Paste in Flex plugins, developers do not need to wrap the Paste ThemeProvider
over all Paste components.
When using Paste, developers need to pass the CustomizationProvider
from Paste to Flex using Flex.setProviders
as shown in the following example. Ensure this is done before declaring any components. By doing this, we’ll wrap Flex with the passed Provider and developers don’t have to worry about fetching the right theme and passing it on.
import { CustomizationProvider } from "@twilio-paste/core/customization";
import { Button as PasteButton } from "@twilio-paste/core/button";
Flex.setProviders({
PasteThemeProvider: CustomizationProvider
});
Flex.AgentDesktopView.Panel1.Content.add(
<div key="A">
<PasteButton key="A" variant="primary">
Paste Button
</PasteButton>
</div>
);
Flex.setProviders()
also allows developers to pass their own custom provider which is needed to be set on the root level. They can do it as below:
Flex.setProviders({
CustomProvider: (RootComponent) => (props) => {
return (
<Context.Provider value={{ test: "123" }}>
<RootComponent {...props} />
</Context.Provider>
);
}
});
Flex.AgentDesktopView.Panel1.Content.add(
<Context.Consumer>
{(value) => {
<div>{value.foo}</div> // Will print 123
}}
</Context.Consumer>
);
When using Material UI for styling, it is important to wrap our plugins with a StylesProvider
with a classNameGenerator
that sets a productionPrefix
and a seed
so styles classes don't clash between plugins and Flex. The below example shows how to use a custom provider for styling Material UI components:
import { StylesProvider, createGenerateClassName } from '@material-ui/core/styles';
Flex.setProviders({
CustomProvider: (RootComponent) => (props) => {
return (
<StylesProvider generateClassName={createGenerateClassName({
productionPrefix: 'pluginXYZ',
seed: 'pluginXYZ',
})}>
<RootComponent {...props} />
</StylesProvider>
);
}
});
If you would like to gradually migrate from Material UI to Twilio Paste, you may use both in a single plugin by setting both a CustomProvider
and a PasteThemeProvider
:
import { StylesProvider, createGenerateClassName } from '@material-ui/core/styles';
import { CustomizationProvider } from "@twilio-paste/core/customization";
Flex.setProviders({
CustomProvider: (RootComponent) => (props) => {
return (
<StylesProvider generateClassName={createGenerateClassName({
productionPrefix: 'pluginXYZ',
seed: 'pluginXYZ',
})}>
<RootComponent {...props} />
</StylesProvider>
);
},
PasteThemeProvider: CustomizationProvider
});
Flex Messaging UI V2 changes
This change is implemented in version alpha.15 and is turned off for accounts signed up for Flex UI 2.x.x Private Beta prior to this version being released as it is a breaking change in the component API. Please reach out to your technical account manager to have the new messaging UI enabled.
Moving to Flex Conversations with Flex 2.x.x has enabled us to provide an even more customizable Messaging UI, and this comes with a few of changes which you may need to adjust to.
New Dynamic Component structure - MessageInputV2
The new default input component in the messaging canvas is the dynamic component MessageInputV2
. This includes the text area component and a new dynamic component, MessageInputActions
, and is structured like so:
<MessageInputV2>
<MessageInputArea key="textarea"/>
<MessageInputActions key="actions"/>
</MessageInputV2>
MessageInputActions
contains the message send button and the file attachment button (if file attachment is enabled).
You can use custom actions for this component via the add, replace, and remove methods.
New default props
MessageInputV2
has two new default props: hideSendButton
and rows
. These control the rendering of the send button and row height of the text area respectively. You can use hideSendButton
together with returnKeySendsMessage
to enable sending message on Enter.
Combined text and media messages
The SendMessage
action is now capable of sending file attachments and text in the same message. Files can be passed to the SendMessage
action on the attachedFiles
field of its Action payload.The SendMedia
action is deprecated but is still available.
Learn more about new components in the Flex UI API docs.
User and Activity controls
The user-controls child component in Flex UI 1.x.x has been split out into two new child components for the MainHeader in Flex UI 2.x.x:
activity
shows and allows the user status to be changed.user-controls
shows the currently logged in user and allows the user to logout.
This is a potential breaking change if you have customized UserCard
and its child components using CSS.
State Management Changes
As part of the upgrades to our core APIs, Flex UI 2.x.x includes the Redux Toolkit and some new APIs for managing your internal state. These tools provide some guardrails for your state management, helping you set up boilerplate code more easily and with better defaults.
We recommend using single Redux store, either let Flex UI create its own store or pass a custom store using Manager.create() API
useFlexSelector
A wrapper around Redux's useSelector
method. It exposes the same API but adds some Flex validations to ensure Flex's internal state is usable. This selector is specific for working with Flex state itself. Outside of accessing Flex state, we recommend using the default useSelector
.
const MyComponent = (props) => {
const viewState = useFlexSelector(state => state.view);
return (
{viewState.isSideNavOpen &&
<div>My Custom Code</div>
}
)
}
The selector takes the current view state for the custom component. The selector guarantees that the state being selected is safe to read and can be used in the application without side effects. This couldn’t be guaranteed with useSelector
.
useFlexDispatch
A wrapper around Redux's useDispatch
method. It prevents dispatches from causing side effects to Flex's state, ensuring your changes work as expected. Use this hook for interacting with Flex's state. You can use the native useDispatch
method outside of Flex’s state.
const MyComponent = (props) => {
const viewState = useFlexSelector(state => state.view);
const dispatch = useFlexDispatch();
return (
{viewState.isSideNavOpen &&
<button onClick={() => dispatch({type: 'close_side_bar'})}>My Custom Code</button>
}
)
}
MessageInput.defaultProps.useSeparateInputStore
The Flex UI 2.x.x no longer uses the MessageInput.defaultProps.useSeparateInputStore
flag and its behavior has been deprecated. All Flex UI development must now be done with a separate Store. You can remove the flag without any repercussions.
AppConfig changes
You need to update your AppConfig structure to utilize the new config structure’s names and capabilities.
Flex 1.x.x |
Flex 2.x.x |
Changes |
Notifications.browser |
Notifications.enabled |
renamed |
warmTransfers |
- |
removed |
colorTheme |
theme |
Updated (more info) |
Action changes
Download Media Attachment changes
DownloadMedia action no longer requires “message” as a part of the payload. Instead, a new property “media” of type “Media” from @twilio/conversations is required.
Renamed actions
These actions were renamed to follow the action naming convention:
Flex UI 1.0 |
Flex UI 2.x.x |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Teams View changes
Removed
- Removed
FilterData
(shouldn't be needed) andTeamFiltersPanelProps
(useTeamFiltersPanelChildrenProps
instead) interfaces fromFlex.Supervisor
. - Removed
filters
props from the Component properties for TeamsView. UseTeamsView.defaultProps.filters
to apply a filter. - Removed
uniqueName
fromTaskCanvasTabsChildrenProps
. - Removed the deprecated
WorkerProfile.defaultProps.details
prop. UseWorkerProfile.Content
to add additional details to the worker profile panel. - Legacy filtering in TeamsView was removed. Filters from
WorkersDataTable.defaultProps.filters
will still be added to the new filter panel, but the support for filter factories was dropped. WorkersDataTable.defaultProps.initialCompareFunction
was removed. Support for sorting was added to the workers table and you can now usesortWorkers
,sortCalls
, andsortTasks
onWorkersDataTable.defaultProps
to specify the compare functions used by the workers, calls and tasks columns. For initial sorting, we've introduced a new prop,defaultSortColumn
, to the WorkersDataTable where it would take the key as the value. Please refer to WorkersDataTable of the Flex UI API Reference for key details.WorkersDataTable.defaultProps.tablePlaceholder
was removed. The message displayed when the table is empty can be modified with theTeamsViewResultsSummaryNoWorkersDisplayedTitle
andTeamsViewResultsSummaryNoWorkersDisplayed
templates.- Cleaned up the
WorkersDataTableChildrenProps
. Onlyworkers
,selectedTask
,selectedWorker
, andmonitoredTaskSid
are now available. - WorkersDataTable no longer forces updates every second. This could be considered breaking for customers who added columns, which contain some timers (eg. task age) and which will no longer tick every second.
Other changes
We have also cleaned up our api and renamed or remove objects and interfaces. Most of the changes should not have any impact on plugins.
Removed/renamed deprecated objects and interfaces
UserControlsImplProps
has been removed. Refer toUserControlsChildrenProps
insteadcall.oldHold
removed from TaskContext andstate.phone.connection.onHold
removed from state. UseTaskHelper.isCallOnHold(task)
to get the status of the call.DeprecatedLoginView
component removedDeprecatedRuntimeLoginView
component removedstate.flex.phone.connections
property removed. Refer tostate.flex.phone.connection
instead.- Event
selectedViewChanged
now only receives one argument (newViewName
) and it’s not triggered on view resize anymore. To listen to view resize events, please subscribe to theviewResized
event. ActionsImpl
object has been removed. Please refer toActions
instead.registerGlobalStyles
has been removed. Please refer toregisterStyles
instead- AudioManager’s
ErrorCode
has been renamed toAudioErrorCode
Actions.emit
has been removed - useActions.invokeActions
instead.Actions.removeAllListeners
has been removed - please useActions.removeListener
and provide the specific listeners you want to remove.- Removed export of
Flex.ErrorManager
. This functionality has been replaced withFlex.Monitor.sendDebuggerEvent
- Removed
selectionStart
/selectionEnd
fromMessageState
,MessageInputArea
,MessageInput
,ConversationState
- Removed show and hide methods from the
ModalPopupWithEntryControl
- Changed
hiddenQueueFilter
toqueueFilter
which takes a predicate function. See "Add a Worker Directory Tabs Queue Filter" on Work with Components and Props for usage details
Removed unused objects and interfaces
ChatModule
ChatStateCallback
chatReducer
registerGlobalStyles
StateMachineCb
StateMachine
initWithStrings
Version (not VERSION)
Initialize (from flex-core)
DeepPartial
NotificationManager
withDefaultPropsUpdate
AggregatedDataTile
ArrayInterpolation
FunctionInterpolation
Interpolation
StyledOptions
Themed
CreateStyled
CreateStyledOtherComponent
CreateStyledStatelessComponent
StyledComponent
StyledComponentMethods
StyledOtherComponent
StyledStatelessComponent,
getBackgroundWithHoverCSS
ThemeSupport
Utils
CountryManager
Animations
SVGContainerProps
FrameConstants
StyledUl
CSSProps
Component and config changes
TaskInfoPanel
inner html styles tweaked to accommodate new designTaskInfoPanelContent
string inner html updatedTaskCanvasTabs
resets to default task when switching between tabs- Flag
file-attachments-in-chat
is deprecated - Customizing the TaskListItem color directly is no longer possible. Please refer to
addwrapper()
in Work with Components and Props for customizing the component
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