Getting started in EJ2 TypeScript Chat UI control

17 Dec 20249 minutes to read

This section explains how to create a simple Chat UI control and configure its available functionalities in TypeScript, using Essential JS 2 quickstart seed repository.

This application is integrated with the webpack.config.js configuration and uses the latest version of the webpack-cli. It requires node v14.15.0 or higher. For more information about webpack and its features, refer to the webpack documentation.

Dependencies

The list of dependencies required to use the Chat UI control in your application is given as follows:

|-- @syncfusion/ej2-interactive-chat
    |-- @syncfusion/ej2-base
    |-- @syncfusion/ej2-navigations
    |-- @syncfusion/ej2-inputs
    |-- @syncfusion/ej2-buttons
    |-- @syncfusion/ej2-popups

Set up development environment

Open the command prompt from the required directory, and run the following command to clone the Syncfusion JavaScript (Essential JS 2) quickstart project from GitHub.

git clone https://github.com/SyncfusionExamples/ej2-quickstart-webpack- ej2-quickstart

After cloning the application in the ej2-quickstart folder, run the following command line to navigate to the ej2-quickstart folder.

cd ej2-quickstart

Add Syncfusion JavaScript packages

Syncfusion JavaScript (Essential JS 2) packages are available on the npmjs.com public registry. You can install all Syncfusion JavaScript (Essential JS 2) controls in a single @syncfusion/ej2 package or individual packages for each control.

The quickstart application is preconfigured with the dependent @syncfusion/ej2 package in the ~/package.json file. Use the following command to install the dependent npm packages from the command prompt.

npm install

Import the Syncfusion CSS styles

To render Chat UI control, need to import interactive-chat and its dependent controls styles as given below in the ~/src/styles/styles.css file, as shown below:

@import "../../node_modules/@syncfusion/ej2-base/styles/material.css";
@import "../../node_modules/@syncfusion/ej2-interactive-chat/styles/material.css";

Adding Chat UI to the Application

Add the HTML div tag with ID attribute as the chatui to your index.html file.

[src/index.html]

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">

<head>
    <title>Essential JS 2 Chat UI</title>
    <meta charset="utf-8" />
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=no" />
    <meta name="description" content="Essential JS 2 Chat UI" />
    <meta name="author" content="Syncfusion" />
    <link rel="shortcut icon" href="resources/favicon.ico" />
    <link href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.7/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet" />
</head>

<body>
    <div class="chatui-container" style="height: 350px; width: 350px;">
        <div id="chatui"></div>
    </div>
</body>

</html>

Then, import the Chat UI control in your app.ts file, and initialize it with the #chatUI.

[src/app/app.ts]

import { ChatUI } from "@syncfusion/ej2-interactive-chat";

// Initializes the Chat UI control
let chatUI: ChatUI = new ChatUI({});

// Render initialized Chat UI.
chatUI.appendTo('#chatUI');

Run the application

Run the application in the browser using the following command.

npm start

The following example shows a basic Chat UI control.

import { ChatUI } from '@syncfusion/ej2-interactive-chat';
import { enableRipple } from '@syncfusion/ej2-base';

enableRipple(true);

// Initializes the Chat UI control
let chatUI: ChatUI = new ChatUI({});

// Render initialized Chat UI.
chatUI.appendTo('#chatui');
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">

<head>
    <title>EJ2 Chat UI</title>
    <meta charset="utf-8" />
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
    <meta name="description" content="TypeScript Chat UI Control" />
    <meta name="author" content="Syncfusion" />
    <link href="index.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/28.1.33/ej2-base/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/28.1.33/ej2-inputs/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/28.1.33/ej2-buttons/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/28.1.33/ej2-navigations/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/28.1.33/ej2-popups/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/28.1.33/ej2-interactive-chat/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/systemjs/0.19.38/system.js"></script>
    <script src="systemjs.config.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/syncfusion-helper.js" type ="text/javascript"></script>
</head>
<body>
    <div id='loader'>Loading....</div>
    <div class="container" style="height: 380px; width: 450px;">
        <div id="chatui"></div>
    </div>
</body>
</html>

Configure messages and user

You can use the messages property to add messages and the user property to configure the current user for the chat.

import { ChatUI, UserModel, MessageModel } from '@syncfusion/ej2-interactive-chat';
import { enableRipple } from '@syncfusion/ej2-base';

enableRipple(true);

let currentUserModel: UserModel = {
    id: "user1",
    user: "Albert"
};

let michaleUserModel: UserModel = {
    id: "user2",
    user: "Michale Suyama"
};

let chatMessages: MessageModel[] = [
    {
        author: currentUserModel,
        text: "Hi Michale, are we on track for the deadline?"
    },
    {
        author: michaleUserModel,
        text: "Yes, the design phase is complete."
    },
    {
        author: currentUserModel,
        text: "I’ll review it and send feedback by today."
    }
];

// Initializes the Chat UI control
let chatUI: ChatUI = new ChatUI({
    messages: chatMessages,
    user: currentUserModel
});

// Render initialized Chat UI.
chatUI.appendTo('#default-chat');
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">

<head>
    <title>EJ2 Chat UI</title>
    <meta charset="utf-8" />
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
    <meta name="description" content="TypeScript Chat UI Control" />
    <meta name="author" content="Syncfusion" />
    <link href="index.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/28.1.33/ej2-base/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/28.1.33/ej2-inputs/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/28.1.33/ej2-buttons/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/28.1.33/ej2-navigations/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/28.1.33/ej2-popups/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/28.1.33/ej2-interactive-chat/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/systemjs/0.19.38/system.js"></script>
    <script src="systemjs.config.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/syncfusion-helper.js" type ="text/javascript"></script>
</head>
<body>
    <div id='loader'>Loading....</div>
    <div class="container" style="height: 380px; width: 450px;">
        <div id="default-chat"></div>
    </div>
</body>
</html>