Building a One-to-One/Group Chat Experience

The One-to-One Chat feature provides a streamlined direct messaging interface, making it ideal for support chats, dating apps, and private messaging platforms. This setup eliminates distractions by focusing solely on a dedicated chat window.

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Step 1: Render the Message View

The CometChatConversations widget displays all conversations related to the currently logged-in user. Follow the steps below to render this component:

main.dart

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return Scaffold(
      body: SafeArea(
        child: FutureBuilder<User>(
          future: fetchCometChatUser("cometchat-uid-2"),
          builder: (context, snapshot) {
            if (snapshot.connectionState == ConnectionState.waiting) {
              return const Center(child: CircularProgressIndicator());
            } else if (snapshot.hasError) {
              return Center(child: Text("Error: ${snapshot.error}"));
            } else if (snapshot.hasData) {
              return MessagesScreen(user: snapshot.data!);
            } else {
              return const Center(child: Text("User not found"));
            }
          },
        ),
      ),
    );
  }

Full Example: main.dart

main.dart

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:cometchat_chat_uikit/cometchat_chat_uikit.dart';
import 'package:cometchat_calls_uikit/cometchat_calls_uikit.dart'; //Optional: Include if you're using Audio/Video Calling
import 'messages_screen.dart';
import 'cometchat_config.dart';

import 'dart:async';

void main() => runApp(const MyApp());

class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
  const MyApp({super.key});

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return MaterialApp(
      title: 'CometChat UI Kit',
      theme: ThemeData(
        colorScheme: ColorScheme.fromSeed(seedColor: Colors.deepPurple),
        useMaterial3: true,
      ),
      home: const Home(),
    );
  }
}

class Home extends StatelessWidget {
  const Home({super.key});

  Future<void> _initializeAndLogin() async {
    final settings = UIKitSettingsBuilder()
      ..subscriptionType = CometChatSubscriptionType.allUsers
      ..autoEstablishSocketConnection = true
      ..appId = CometChatConfig.appId
      ..region = CometChatConfig.region
      ..authKey = CometChatConfig.authKey
      ..extensions = CometChatUIKitChatExtensions.getDefaultExtensions() //Replace this with empty array, if you want to disable all extensions
      ..callingExtension = CometChatCallingExtension(); //Optional: Include if you're using Audio/Video Calling

    await CometChatUIKit.init(uiKitSettings: settings.build());
    await CometChatUIKit.login(
      'cometchat-uid-1',
      onSuccess: (_) => debugPrint('✅ Login Successful'),
      onError: (err) => throw Exception('Login Failed: $err'),
    );
  }

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return FutureBuilder<void>(
      future: _initializeAndLogin(),
      builder: (ctx, snap) {
        if (snap.connectionState != ConnectionState.done) {
          return const Scaffold(
            body: SafeArea(
              child: Center(child: CircularProgressIndicator()),
            ),
          );
        }
        if (snap.hasError) {
          return Scaffold(
            body: SafeArea(
              child: Center(
                child: Text(
                  'Error starting app:\n${snap.error}',
                  textAlign: TextAlign.center,
                ),
              ),
            ),
          );
        }
        return const MessagesPage();
      },
    );
  }
}

class MessagesPage extends StatelessWidget {
  const MessagesPage({super.key});

  Future<User> fetchCometChatUser(String uid) async {
    final completer = Completer<User>();
    CometChat.getUser(
      uid,
      onSuccess: (user) => completer.complete(user),
      onError: (error) => completer.completeError(error),
    );
    return completer.future;
  }

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return Scaffold(
      body: SafeArea(
        child: FutureBuilder<User>(
          future: fetchCometChatUser("cometchat-uid-2"),
          builder: (context, snapshot) {
            if (snapshot.connectionState == ConnectionState.waiting) {
              return const Center(child: CircularProgressIndicator());
            } else if (snapshot.hasError) {
              return Center(child: Text("Error: ${snapshot.error}"));
            } else if (snapshot.hasData) {
              return MessagesScreen(user: snapshot.data!);
            } else {
              return const Center(child: Text("User not found"));
            }
          },
        ),
      ),
    );
  }
}

Step 2: Render the Messages Component

To create a complete messaging view, include the following components in messages_screen.dart:

• Message Header
• Message List
• Message Composer

messages_screen.dart

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:cometchat_chat_uikit/cometchat_chat_uikit.dart';

class MessagesScreen extends StatefulWidget {
  final User? user;
  final Group? group;

  const MessagesScreen({Key? key, this.user, this.group}) : super(key: key);

  @override
  State<MessagesScreen> createState() => _MessagesScreenState();
}

class _MessagesScreenState extends State<MessagesScreen> {
  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return Scaffold(
      appBar: CometChatMessageHeader(
        user: widget.user,
        group: widget.group,
      ),
      body: SafeArea(
        child: Column(
          children: [
            Expanded(
              child: CometChatMessageList(
                user: widget.user,
                group: widget.group,
              ),
            ),
            CometChatMessageComposer(
              user: widget.user,
              group: widget.group,
            ),
          ],
        ),
      ),
    );
  }
}

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Step 3: Run the App

Use the following command to run the app on a connected device or emulator:

flutter run

This will launch the app, and you should see the one-to-one chat interface with the message header, list, and composer ready for use.

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Next Steps

Enhance the User Experience

• Advanced Customizations – Personalize the chat UI to align with your brand.

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