This is the developer guide for Chat SDK v1. The new Chat SDK v2 for Android is now available and is the recommended version to integrate Chat into your mobile app.

The Chat SDK uses versioning to ensure that changes to the SDK don't break existing applications without notice. When we add new features or deprecate old features, we do so in the 'Future' version of the SDK so that applications developed in the 'Current' version are unaffected.

In previous versions, the permission READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE was needed for attachments. Beginning with version 1.2.0.1, storage permissions are no longer needed. If you're using Gradle to build your project, make sure the applicationId is provided in the module specific configuration file. For more information about placeholder support, see the Android tools documentation. For a project without Gradle support, add the following to the AndroidManifest.xml. Make sure that to replace applicationId with the actual package name of your application.

<provider
  android:name="com.zendesk.belvedere.BelvedereFileProvider"
  android:authorities="<applicationId>.belvedere.attachments"
  android:exported="false"
  android:grantUriPermissions="true">
  <meta-data
    android:name="android.support.FILE_PROVIDER_PATHS"
    android:resource="@xml/belvedere_attachment_storage" />
</provider>

Because defining a unique FileProvider authority is no longer required since version 1.2.0.1, you can remove provider_authorities.xml altogether.

To configure attachments properly, create provider_authorities.xml file in your res/values directory like in the example below. Replace the com.zopim.sample.fileprovider with your application package name followed by .fileprovider.

<resources>
    <!--Specify your application's package name followed by .fileprovider to guarantee unique file provider authority-->
    <string name="file_provider_authority">com.zopim.sample.fileprovider</string>
</resources>

For more details, see our sample project with SDK v1.0.1. Learn more about FileProvider in the Android developer docs.

Important: Don't forget to set this before your release or your app might experience installation conflicts.