Version: Next

Quick Start for Conference in React Native

VideoSDK enables the opportunity to integrate video & audio calling to Web, Android, iOS applications. It provides Programmable SDKs and REST APIs to build scalable video conferencing applications.

This guide will get you running with the VideoSDK video & audio calling in minutes.

Prerequisites

Node.js v12+
NPM v6+ (comes installed with newer Node versions)
Android Studio or Xcode installed

App Architecture

This App will contain two screen :

Join Screen : This screen allows user to either create meeting or join predefined meeting.
Meeting Screen : This screen basically contain participant list and some meeting controls such as Enable / Disable Mic & Camera and Leave meeting.

Getting Started with the Code!

Create App

Create new react-native app by applying below commands.

npx react-native init AppName

For react-native setup, you can follow Official Docs.

VideoSDK Installation

Install the VideoSDK by following the below command. Do make sure you should be in your project directory before you run this command.

NPM
Yarn

npm install "@videosdk.live/react-native-sdk"  "@videosdk.live/react-native-incallmanager"

yarn add "@videosdk.live/react-native-sdk" "@videosdk.live/react-native-incallmanager"

Project Structure

Directory Structure
  root
   ├── node_modules
   ├── android
   ├── ios
   ├── App.js
   ├── api.js
   ├── index.js

Project Configuration

Android Setup

Add required permission in AndroidManifest.xml file.

AndroidManifest.xml
<manifest
  xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
  package="com.cool.app"
>
    <!-- Give all the required permissions to app -->
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE" />
    <!-- Needed to communicate with already-paired Bluetooth devices. (Legacy up to Android 11) -->
    <uses-permission
        android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH"
        android:maxSdkVersion="30" />
    <uses-permission
        android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH_ADMIN"
        android:maxSdkVersion="30" />

    <!-- Needed to communicate with already-paired Bluetooth devices. (Android 12 upwards)-->
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH_CONNECT" />

    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.MODIFY_AUDIO_SETTINGS" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECORD_AUDIO" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.FOREGROUND_SERVICE"/>
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WAKE_LOCK" />

    <application>
   <meta-data
      android:name="live.videosdk.rnfgservice.notification_channel_name"
      android:value="Meeting Notification"
     />
    <meta-data
    android:name="live.videosdk.rnfgservice.notification_channel_description"
    android:value="Whenever meeting started notification will appear."
    />
    <meta-data
    android:name="live.videosdk.rnfgservice.notification_color"
    android:resource="@color/red"
    />
    <service android:name="live.videosdk.rnfgservice.ForegroundService" android:foregroundServiceType="mediaProjection"></service>
    <service android:name="live.videosdk.rnfgservice.ForegroundServiceTask"></service>
  </application>
</manifest>

Update colors.xml for internal dependencies

android/app/src/main/res/values/colors.xml
<resources>
  <item name="red" type="color">
    #FC0303
  </item>
  <integer-array name="androidcolors">
    <item>@color/red</item>
  </integer-array>
</resources>

Linking VideoSDK Dependencies.

android/app/build.gradle
  dependencies {
   implementation project(':rnwebrtc')
   implementation project(':rnfgservice')
  }

android/settings.gradle
include ':rnwebrtc'
project(':rnwebrtc').projectDir = new File(rootProject.projectDir, '../node_modules/@videosdk.live/react-native-webrtc/android')

include ':rnfgservice'
project(':rnfgservice').projectDir = new File(rootProject.projectDir, '../node_modules/@videosdk.live/react-native-foreground-service/android')

MainApplication.java
import live.videosdk.rnwebrtc.WebRTCModulePackage;
import live.videosdk.rnfgservice.ForegroundServicePackage;

public class MainApplication extends Application implements ReactApplication {
  private static List<ReactPackage> getPackages() {
      @SuppressWarnings("UnnecessaryLocalVariable")
      List<ReactPackage> packages = new PackageList(this).getPackages();
      // Packages that cannot be autolinked yet can be added manually here, for example:

      packages.add(new ForegroundServicePackage());
      packages.add(new WebRTCModulePackage());

      return packages;
  }
}

android/gradle.properties
/* This one fixes a weird WebRTC runtime problem on some devices. */
android.enableDexingArtifactTransform.desugaring=false

Add below line in the proguard-rules.pro (optional: if you are using Proguard)

android/app/proguard-rules.pro
-keep class org.webrtc.** { *; }

In the build.gradle file, update the minimum OS/SDK version to 23.

buildscript {
  ext {
      minSdkVersion = 23
  }
}

iOS Setup

IMPORTANT: Make sure you are using CocoaPods 1.10 or higher.

To update CocoaPods you simply install the gem again

$ sudo gem install cocoapods

Manual linking (if react-native-incall-manager is not linked automatically)

Select Your_Xcode_Project/TARGETS/BuildSettings, in Header Search Paths, add "$(SRCROOT)/../node_modules/@videosdk.live/react-native-incall-manager/ios/RNInCallManager"

Change path of react-native-webrtc

Podfile

pod ‘react-native-webrtc’, :path => ‘../node_modules/@videosdk.live/react-native-webrtc’

Change your platform version

You have change platform field of podfile to 12.0 or above it, as react-native-webrtc doesn’t support iOS < 12 platform :ios, ‘12.0’

Install pods

After updating the version, you have to install pods.

Pod install

Declare permissions in Info.plist :

Add following lines to info.plist (project folder/ios/projectname/info.plist):

ios/projectname/info.plist
<key>NSCameraUsageDescription</key>
<string>Camera permission description</string>
<key>NSMicrophoneUsageDescription</key>
<string>Microphone permission description</string>

Register Service

index.js
import { AppRegistry } from "react-native";
import App from "./App";
import { name as appName } from "./app.json";
import { register } from "@videosdk.live/react-native-sdk";

register();

AppRegistry.registerComponent(appName, () => App);

Step 1 : Get started with api.js

Before jumping to anything else, we have write API to generate unique meetingId. You will require auth token, you can generate it using either by using videosdk-rtc-api-server-examples or generate it from the Video SDK Dashboard for developer.

export const token = "<Generated-from-dashbaord>";
// API call to create meeting
export const createMeeting = async ({ token }) => {
  const res = await fetch(`https://api.videosdk.live/v2/rooms`, {
    method: "POST",
    headers: {
      authorization: `${token}`,
      "Content-Type": "application/json",
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({}),
  });

  const { roomId } = await res.json();
  return roomId;
};

Step 2: Wireframe App.js with all the components

To build up wireframe of App.js, we are going to use Video SDK Hooks and Context Providers. Video SDK provideos MeetingProvider, MeetingConsumer, useMeeting and useParticipant hooks. Let's understand each of them.

First we will explore Context Provider and Consumer. Context is primarily used when some data needs to be accessible by many components at different nesting levels.

MeetingProvider: It is Context Provider. It accepts value config and token as props. The Provider component accepts a value prop to be passed to consuming components that are descendants of this Provider. One Provider can be connected to many consumers. Providers can be nested to override values deeper within the tree.
MeetingConsumer: It is Context Consumer. All consumers that are descendants of a Provider will re-render whenever the Provider’s value prop changes.
useMeeting: It is meeting react hook API for meeting. It includes all the information related to meeting such as join, leave, enable/disable mic or webcam etc.
useParticipant: It is participant hook API. useParticipant hook is responsible to handle all the events and props related to one particular participant such as name, webcamStream, micStream etc.

Meeting Context helps to listen on all the changes when participant joines meeting or changes mic or camera etc.

Let's get started with change couple of lines of code in App.js

import React, { useState } from "react";
import {
  SafeAreaView,
  TouchableOpacity,
  Text,
  TextInput,
  View,
  FlatList,
} from "react-native";
import {
  MeetingProvider,
  useMeeting,
  useParticipant,
  MediaStream,
  RTCView,
} from "@videosdk.live/react-native-sdk";
import { createMeeting, token } from "./api";

function JoinScreen(props) {
  return null;
}

function ControlsContainer() {
  return null;
}

function MeetingView() {
  return null;
}

export default function App() {
  const [meetingId, setMeetingId] = useState(null);

  const getMeetingId = async (id) => {
    const meetingId = id == null ? await createMeeting({ token }) : id;
    setMeetingId(meetingId);
  };

  return meetingId ? (
    <SafeAreaView style={{ flex: 1, backgroundColor: "#F6F6FF" }}>
      <MeetingProvider
        config={{
          meetingId,
          micEnabled: false,
          webcamEnabled: true,
          name: "Test User",
        }}
        token={token}
      >
        <MeetingView />
      </MeetingProvider>
    </SafeAreaView>
  ) : (
    <JoinScreen getMeetingId={getMeetingId} />
  );
}

Step 3 : Implement Join Screen

Join screen will work as medium to either schedule new meeting or to join existing meeting.

JoinScreen Component
function JoinScreen(props) {
  const [meetingVal, setMeetingVal] = useState("");
  return (
    <SafeAreaView
      style={{
        flex: 1,
        backgroundColor: "#F6F6FF",
        justifyContent: "center",
        paddingHorizontal: 6 * 10,
      }}
    >
      <TouchableOpacity
        onPress={() => {
          props.getMeetingId();
        }}
        style={{ backgroundColor: "#1178F8", padding: 12, borderRadius: 6 }}
      >
        <Text style={{ color: "white", alignSelf: "center", fontSize: 18 }}>
          Create Meeting
        </Text>
      </TouchableOpacity>

      <Text
        style={{
          alignSelf: "center",
          fontSize: 22,
          marginVertical: 16,
          fontStyle: "italic",
          color: "grey",
        }}
      >
        ---------- OR ----------
      </Text>
      <TextInput
        value={meetingVal}
        onChangeText={setMeetingVal}
        placeholder={"XXXX-XXXX-XXXX"}
        style={{
          padding: 12,
          borderWidth: 1,
          borderRadius: 6,
          fontStyle: "italic",
        }}
      />
      <TouchableOpacity
        style={{
          backgroundColor: "#1178F8",
          padding: 12,
          marginTop: 14,
          borderRadius: 6,
        }}
        onPress={() => {
          props.getMeetingId(meetingVal);
        }}
      >
        <Text style={{ color: "white", alignSelf: "center", fontSize: 18 }}>
          Join Meeting
        </Text>
      </TouchableOpacity>
    </SafeAreaView>
  );
}

Output

Step 4 : Implement Controls

Next step is to create a ControlsContainer component that manage features such as Join or Leave Meeting and Enable or Disable Webcam/Mic.

In this steps we will use useMeeting hook to get all required method such as join(), leave(), toggleWebcam and toggleMic.

ControlsContainer Component
const Button = ({ onPress, buttonText, backgroundColor }) => {
  return (
    <TouchableOpacity
      onPress={onPress}
      style={{
        backgroundColor: backgroundColor,
        justifyContent: "center",
        alignItems: "center",
        padding: 12,
        borderRadius: 4,
      }}
    >
      <Text style={{ color: "white", fontSize: 12 }}>{buttonText}</Text>
    </TouchableOpacity>
  );
};

function ControlsContainer({ join, leave, toggleWebcam, toggleMic }) {
  return (
    <View
      style={{
        padding: 24,
        flexDirection: "row",
        justifyContent: "space-between",
      }}
    >
      <Button
        onPress={() => {
          join();
        }}
        buttonText={"Join"}
        backgroundColor={"#1178F8"}
      />
      <Button
        onPress={() => {
          toggleWebcam();
        }}
        buttonText={"Toggle Webcam"}
        backgroundColor={"#1178F8"}
      />
      <Button
        onPress={() => {
          toggleMic();
        }}
        buttonText={"Toggle Mic"}
        backgroundColor={"#1178F8"}
      />
      <Button
        onPress={() => {
          leave();
        }}
        buttonText={"Leave"}
        backgroundColor={"#FF0000"}
      />
    </View>
  );
}

MeetingView Component
function ParticipantList() {
  return null;
}
function MeetingView() {
  const { join, leave, toggleWebcam, toggleMic, meetingId } = useMeeting({});

  return (
    <View style={{ flex: 1 }}>
      {meetingId ? (
        <Text style={{ fontSize: 18, padding: 12 }}>
          Meeting Id :{meetingId}
        </Text>
      ) : null}
      <ParticipantList />
      <ControlsContainer
        join={join}
        leave={leave}
        toggleWebcam={toggleWebcam}
        toggleMic={toggleMic}
      />
    </View>
  );
}

Output

Step 5 : Render Participant List

After implementing controls, now it's time to render joined participants.

We will get joined participants from useMeeting Hook.

ParticipantList Component
function ParticipantView() {
  return null;
}

function ParticipantList({ participants }) {
  return participants.length > 0 ? (
    <FlatList
      data={participants}
      renderItem={({ item }) => {
        return <ParticipantView participantId={item} />;
      }}
    />
  ) : (
    <View
      style={{
        flex: 1,
        backgroundColor: "#F6F6FF",
        justifyContent: "center",
        alignItems: "center",
      }}
    >
      <Text style={{ fontSize: 20 }}>Press Join button to enter meeting.</Text>
    </View>
  );
}

MeetingView Component
function MeetingView() {
  // Get `participants` from useMeeting Hook
  const { join, leave, toggleWebcam, toggleMic, participants } = useMeeting({});
  const participantsArrId = [...participants.keys()];

  return (
    <View style={{ flex: 1 }}>
      <ParticipantList participants={participantsArrId} />
      <ControlsContainer
        join={join}
        leave={leave}
        toggleWebcam={toggleWebcam}
        toggleMic={toggleMic}
      />
    </View>
  );
}

Step 6 : Handling Participant Media

Before Handling Participant Media, We need to understand couple of concepts.

1. useParticipant Hook

useParticipant hook is responsible to handle all the properties and events of one particular participant joined in the meeting. It will take participantId as argument.

useParticipant Hook Example
const { webcamStream, webcamOn, displayName } = useParticipant(participantId);

2. MediaStream API

MediaStream is useful to add MediaTrack to the RTCView component to play the audio and video.

useParticipant Hook Example
<RTCView
  streamURL={new MediaStream([webcamStream.track]).toURL()}
  objectFit={"cover"}
  style={{
    height: 300,
    marginVertical: 8,
    marginHorizontal: 8,
  }}
/>

Rendering Participant Media

ParticipantView Component
function ParticipantView({ participantId }) {
  const { webcamStream, webcamOn } = useParticipant(participantId);

  return webcamOn && webcamStream ? (
    <RTCView
      streamURL={new MediaStream([webcamStream.track]).toURL()}
      objectFit={"cover"}
      style={{
        height: 300,
        marginVertical: 8,
        marginHorizontal: 8,
      }}
    />
  ) : (
    <View
      style={{
        backgroundColor: "grey",
        height: 300,
        justifyContent: "center",
        alignItems: "center",
      }}
    >
      <Text style={{ fontSize: 16 }}>NO MEDIA</Text>
    </View>
  );
}

Output

tip

Stuck anywhere? Check out this example code on GitHub.

Expo user, you can refer this example code on GitHub.

Run your application

npm run android // Android
npm run ios //  iOS

Got a Question? Ask us on discord

Prerequisites​

App Architecture​

Getting Started with the Code!​

Create App​

VideoSDK Installation​

Project Structure​

Project Configuration​

Android Setup​

iOS Setup​

Register Service​

Step 1 : Get started with api.js​

Step 2: Wireframe App.js with all the components​

Step 3 : Implement Join Screen​

Output​

Step 4 : Implement Controls​

Output​

Step 5 : Render Participant List​

Step 6 : Handling Participant Media​

1. useParticipant Hook​

2. MediaStream API​

Rendering Participant Media​

Output​

Run your application​

Prerequisites

App Architecture

Getting Started with the Code!

Create App

VideoSDK Installation

Project Structure

Project Configuration

Android Setup

iOS Setup

Register Service

Step 1 : Get started with api.js

Step 2: Wireframe App.js with all the components

Step 3 : Implement Join Screen

Output

Step 4 : Implement Controls

Output

Step 5 : Render Participant List

Step 6 : Handling Participant Media

1. useParticipant Hook

2. MediaStream API

Rendering Participant Media

Output

Run your application