Initialise Meeting - React Native

To configure a VideoSDK meeting you require two things, first the token which will be used for Authentication purpose and a meetingId which will be used to specify where a participant will join. Examine each of the steps closely.

Generating Token

You can generate a token in two ways:

1. Temporary Token : You can visit Dashboard's API Key section and generate a temporary token from there.

2. Server : You can setup JWT in backend and make an API call to get the token from your server.

To learn more about Authentication and token in detail you can follow this guide.

// With Temporary Token
const getToken = async () => {
  // Update the token here from the VideoSDK dashboard
  let token = "YOUR_TOKEN";
};

// Server
const getToken = async () => {
  const response = await fetch(`http://localhost:3000/get-token`, {
    method: "GET",
    headers: {
      Accept: "application/json",
      "Content-Type": "application/json",
    },
  });
  const { token } = await response.json();
  return token;
};

Generating Meeting Id

With the token ready, you can now get the meetingId from the VideoSDK's rooms API.

const getMeetingId = async (token) => {
  try {
    //Use VideoSDK rooms API endpoint to create a meetingId
    const VIDEOSDK_API_ENDPOINT = `https://api.videosdk.live/v2/rooms`;
    const options = {
      method: "POST",
      headers: {
        "Content-Type": "application/json",
        // Pass the token in the headers
        Authorization: token,
      },
    };
    const meetingId = await fetch(VIDEOSDK_API_ENDPOINT, options)
      .then(async (result) => {
        const { roomId } = await result.json();
        return roomId;
      })
      .catch((error) => console.log("error", error));

    //Return the meetingId which we got from the response of the api
    return meetingId;
  } catch (e) {
    console.log(e);
  }
};

Initialization of Meeting

You can initialize the meeting using the MeetingProvider from the React SDK. The MeetingProvider is responsible for initializing the meeting with the provided configuration, which includes the token, meetingId, participantId and many more.

Meeting Provider

MeetingProvider is React's Context.Provider that allows consuming components to subscribe to changes in the meeting.

You have to pass the initialization configuration for the meeting and the token in the MeetingProvider.

tip

When conducting one-to-one meetings, it is recommended to set multistream:false.For more information on multistream, refer to the multistream documentation.

Take a deeper look at the available configuration options first.

<MeetingProvider
  config={{
    meetingId: "<Id-of-meeting>",
    name: "<Name-of-participant>",
    micEnabled: "<Flag-to-enable-mic>",
    webcamEnabled: "<Flag-to-enable-webcam>",
    participantId: "Id-of-participant", // optional, default: SDK will generate
    multistream: true,
  }}
  token={"token"}
  joinWithoutUserInteraction // Boolean
></MeetingProvider>

• meetingId :

  • This is a unique identifier that allows participants to join a specific meeting or room.
  • It will be in the format of xxx-yyy-zzz and will be generated using the VideoSDK's Room API.

• name:

  • This represents the name of the participant in the meeting.
  • It will accept String type value.

• micEnabled:

  • This is a boolean flag, indicating whether a participant's microphone will be automatically enabled when they join a meeting.

• webcamEnabled:

  • This is a boolean flag, indicating whether a participant's webcam will be automatically enabled when they join a meeting.

• metaData:

  • If you want to provide additional details about a user joining a meeting, such as their profile image, you can pass that information in this parameter.
  • It has to be of Object type.
  • This is an OPTIONAL parameter.

• defaultCamera:

  • This is an OPTIONAL parameter, It sets the initial camera configuration.
  • It accepts two distinct values : front or back.
  • By default, it's value is set to front.

• participantId:

  • This is a unique identifier for the participant's inside the meeting.

    • It can be used to specify the unique identifier which can be linked with your own database service.
    • It has to be of String type.
    • This is an OPTIONAL parameter. By default VideoSDK will generate unique id for each participant.

• multistream:

  • This is a boolean flag, indicating whether the stream should send multiple resolution layers or a single resolution layer.

• debugMode

  • This is a boolean flag that determines whether the user can view detailed error logs directly on the VideoSDK's dashboard.

    • This is an OPTIONAL parameter. By default, the user is enabled to view detailed error logs on the VideoSDK's dashboard.

caution

You must ensure that the participantId is not repeated in the same meeting or room. This will enable VideoSDK to eliminate any participant associated with that participantId.

Other Options for Meeting Provider

• joinWithoutUserInteraction:

  • This is a boolean flag, when set to true, it allows a participant to join a meeting directly without explicitly calling the join() function.

  • This is an OPTIONAL parameter. By default, it is set to false meaning, user has to manually call the join() function

To know more about other properties, you can follow our API Reference.

With all the configuration options explained, here is how you will use the MeetingProvider.

// importing
import { MeetingProvider, useMeeting } from "@videosdk.live/react-native-sdk";

const getToken = async () => {
  ...
};
const getMeetingId = async () => {
  ...
};

const App = () => {
  const [meetingId, setMeetingId] = useState();
  const [token, setToken] = useState();

  const fetchMeetingIdandToken = async () => {
    //Fetch the token and meetingId and update it in the state
    const newToken = await getToken();
    const newMeetingId = await getMeetingId(newToken);
    setToken(newToken);
    setMeetingId(newMeetingId);
  };

  useEffect(() => {
    //Load the token and generate a meeting id and pass it to the Meeting Provider
    fetchMeetingIdAndToken();
  }, []);

  // Init Meeting Provider
  return token && meetingId ? (
    <MeetingProvider
      config={{
        // Pass the generated meeting id
        meetingId: meetingId,
        name: "NAME HERE",
        micEnabled: true,
        webcamEnabled: true,
      }}
      // Pass the generated token
      token={token}
      joinWithoutInteraction={true}
    >
      <MeetingView />
    </MeetingProvider>
  ) : (
    <></>
  );
};

const MeetingView = () => {
  // Get Meeting object using useMeeting hook
  const meeting = useMeeting();
  console.log("Meeting Obj",meeting);

  return <>...</>;
};

React Hooks Support

VideoSDK's React SDK provides hooks which can be used to access the state of the meeting and listen to the events happening in the meeting.

caution

All the hooks mentioned below are accessible within the MeetingProvider only.

useMeeting

The useMeeting hook abstracts the meeting class and is responsible for providing the state and event updates happening in the meeting like participant joining and leaving a meeting. To know more about the properties and events accessible by this hook, go through our API Reference.

useParticipant

The useParticipant hook abstracts the participant class and is responsible for providing the state and event updates happening for a particular participant like webcam, mic stream status etc. To know more about the properties and events accessible by this hook, go through our API Reference.

usePubsub

The usePubsub hook abstracts the PubSub class and is responsible for providing a separate communication channel for all the participants in the meeting. It can be used to develop features like Chat, Raise Hand etc. To know more about the usePubsub hook, take a look at detailed explanation ofpublish-subscribe mechanism.

API Reference

The API references for all the methods utilised in this guide are provided below.

• useMeeting
• useParticipant
• usePubsub
• MeetingProvider