cometchat-android-v6-kotlin-placement

name	cometchat-android-v6-kotlin-placement
description	CometChat Android UIKit v6 Kotlin Views placement — Activity, Fragment, BottomSheet, Tab, and Intent navigation patterns
license	MIT
compatibility	Android 9.0+ (API 28); Kotlin 1.9+; com.cometchat:chatuikit-kotlin-android:6.x
metadata	{"author":"CometChat","version":"3.0.1","tags":"cometchat, android, kotlin-views, placement, activity, fragment, navigation, tabs"}

Ground truth: com.cometchat:chatuikit-kotlin-android:6.x Views + docs/ui-kit/android/v6. Official docs: https://www.cometchat.com/docs/ui-kit/android/v6/overview · Docs MCP: claude mcp add --transport http cometchat-docs https://www.cometchat.com/docs/mcp (or fetch the URL directly without MCP). Verify symbols against the installed package/source before relying on them.

Companion skills: cometchat-android-v6-compose-placement (Compose equivalent), cometchat-android-v6-kotlin-components, cometchat-android-v6-kotlin-theming

Purpose

Place CometChat Kotlin Views components into Activities, Fragments, BottomSheets, and Tab layouts. Patterns derived from sample-app-kotlin.

Use this skill when

• Adding CometChat Views to an Activity or Fragment
• Setting up Intent-based navigation between chat screens
• Building a tabbed layout with Conversations, Users, Groups, Calls tabs
• Showing CometChat components in BottomSheets or Dialogs

Do not use this skill when

• Working with Compose placement (use cometchat-android-v6-compose-placement)
• Looking up component APIs (use cometchat-android-v6-kotlin-components)

1. Activity-Based Placement

1.1 Conversations Activity

class ConversationsActivity : AppCompatActivity() {
    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)

        val conversations = CometChatConversations(this)
        conversations.setOnItemClick { conversation ->
            val intent = Intent(this, MessagesActivity::class.java)
            // Pass user or group via intent extras
            startActivity(intent)
        }
        setContentView(conversations)
    }
}

1.2 Messages Activity

Pattern from sample-app-kotlin/.../ui/messages/MessagesActivity.kt:

class MessagesActivity : AppCompatActivity() {
    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_messages)

        // Pad the root for the status/navigation bars (root has fitsSystemWindows="true").
        ViewCompat.setOnApplyWindowInsetsListener(findViewById(R.id.parent_view)) { view, insets ->
            val systemBars = insets.getInsets(WindowInsetsCompat.Type.systemBars())
            view.setPadding(systemBars.left, systemBars.top, systemBars.right, 0)
            insets
        }

        val header = findViewById<CometChatMessageHeader>(R.id.messageHeader)
        val messageList = findViewById<CometChatMessageList>(R.id.messageList)
        val composer = findViewById<CometChatMessageComposer>(R.id.messageComposer)

        // Show + wire the back button (the kit does not finish the Activity for you).
        header.setBackButtonVisibility(View.VISIBLE)
        header.setOnBackPress { finish() }

        // Set user or group
        header.setUser(user)
        messageList.setUser(user)
        composer.setUser(user)

        // For groups:
        // header.setGroup(group)
        // messageList.setGroup(group)
        // composer.setGroup(group)
    }
}

XML layout — the root carries android:fitsSystemWindows="true" (so the inset listener above receives system-bar insets) and ?attr/cometchatBackgroundColor1:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/parent_view"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:background="?attr/cometchatBackgroundColor1"
    android:fitsSystemWindows="true"
    android:orientation="vertical">

    <com.cometchat.uikit.kotlin.presentation.messageheader.ui.CometChatMessageHeader
        android:id="@+id/messageHeader"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" />

    <com.cometchat.uikit.kotlin.presentation.messagelist.ui.CometChatMessageList
        android:id="@+id/messageList"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="0dp"
        android:layout_weight="1" />

    <com.cometchat.uikit.kotlin.presentation.messagecomposer.ui.CometChatMessageComposer
        android:id="@+id/messageComposer"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" />

</LinearLayout>

2. Fragment-Based Placement

class ConversationsFragment : Fragment() {
    override fun onCreateView(
        inflater: LayoutInflater,
        container: ViewGroup?,
        savedInstanceState: Bundle?
    ): View {
        val conversations = CometChatConversations(requireContext())
        conversations.setOnItemClick { conversation ->
            // Navigate using FragmentManager or Navigation Component
        }
        return conversations
    }
}

3. Tabbed Layout with ViewPager2

class HomeActivity : AppCompatActivity() {
    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_home)

        val tabLayout = findViewById<TabLayout>(R.id.tabLayout)
        val viewPager = findViewById<ViewPager2>(R.id.viewPager)

        viewPager.adapter = object : FragmentStateAdapter(this) {
            override fun getItemCount() = 4
            override fun createFragment(position: Int): Fragment = when (position) {
                0 -> ConversationsFragment()
                1 -> UsersFragment()
                2 -> GroupsFragment()
                3 -> CallLogsFragment()
                else -> ConversationsFragment()
            }
        }

        TabLayoutMediator(tabLayout, viewPager) { tab, position ->
            tab.text = when (position) {
                0 -> "Chats"
                1 -> "Users"
                2 -> "Groups"
                3 -> "Calls"
                else -> ""
            }
        }.attach()
    }
}

4. BottomSheet Placement

// Show message info in a BottomSheet
val bottomSheet = CometChatMessageInformationBottomSheet.newInstance(message)
bottomSheet.show(supportFragmentManager, "messageInfo")

For custom BottomSheets:

class ReactionsBottomSheet : BottomSheetDialogFragment() {
    override fun onCreateView(
        inflater: LayoutInflater,
        container: ViewGroup?,
        savedInstanceState: Bundle?
    ): View {
        val reactionList = CometChatReactionList(requireContext())
        reactionList.setBaseMessage(message)
        return reactionList
    }
}

5. Dialog Placement

CometChatFlagMessageDialog is a regular Android Dialog (NOT a DialogFragment). The message is passed at construction; there is no setMessage setter and no show(fm, tag) overload.

// Flag/report message dialog
val dialog = CometChatFlagMessageDialog(this, message)  // (context, BaseMessage)
dialog.show()

6. App Flow Pattern

Pattern from sample-app-kotlin/.../ui/home/HomeActivity.kt — a single Activity hosts the chat flow via Fragment transactions:

class AppFlowActivity : AppCompatActivity() {
    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_app_flow)

        // Start with conversations
        supportFragmentManager.beginTransaction()
            .replace(R.id.container, ConversationsFragment())
            .commit()
    }

    fun navigateToMessages(user: User) {
        supportFragmentManager.beginTransaction()
            .replace(R.id.container, MessagesFragment.newInstance(user))
            .addToBackStack(null)
            .commit()
    }
}

Activity theme — REQUIRED parent

V6 Kotlin Views components (CometChatConversations, CometChatMessageList, etc.) extend Material Components widgets (MaterialCardView, MaterialButton) and reference kit-specific theme attributes (?attr/cometchatPrimaryColor, ?attr/cometchatBackgroundColor01, etc.). The kit ships its own pre-configured theme that supplies every required attribute.

Inherit your Activity theme from CometChatTheme.DayNight (or CometChatTheme.Light / CometChatTheme.Dark for fixed-mode apps). Edit app/src/main/res/values/themes.xml:

<resources>
    <style name="Theme.YourApp" parent="CometChatTheme.DayNight" />
</resources>

Do not use any of these as the parent — they all crash at component inflation:

• Theme.AppCompat.* — missing Material Components style attrs (MaterialCardView rejects with IllegalArgumentException: requires Theme.MaterialComponents (or descendant))
• Theme.MaterialComponents.*.Bridge — Bridge variants drop Material widget defaults (MaterialButton fails with Failed to resolve attribute at index N)
• Theme.MaterialComponents.* (without the kit) — has Material attrs but missing cometchat* attrs (same Failed to resolve attribute crash)
• Theme.Material3.* — Material 3 attrs don't satisfy the kit's MaterialComponents-based widgets
• android:Theme.Material.* — predates AppCompat; AppCompatActivity rejects it

CometChatTheme.DayNight itself parents Theme.MaterialComponents.DayNight.NoActionBar, so it remains AppCompat-compatible while supplying every cometchat* attr the components reference.

To brand-customize colors, override cometchat* attrs in your Activity theme (see cometchat-android-v6-kotlin-theming), or call CometChatTheme.setPrimaryColor(...) programmatically.

Hard rules

• ALWAYS set the user or group on messaging components (setUser() / setGroup()) before the component is displayed
• Activity theme MUST inherit from CometChatTheme.DayNight / .Light / .Dark (see "Activity theme" section above) — vague guidance about "include CometChat attrs" is insufficient; use the kit's pre-configured theme
• Ongoing calls MUST use CometChatOngoingCallActivity.launchOngoingCallActivity(context, ...) (in com.cometchat.uikit.kotlin.presentation.ongoingcall.ui) — they need a separate Activity for proper lifecycle / PiP management. CometChatCallActivity (in com.cometchat.uikit.kotlin.calls) handles outgoing/incoming/conference launches via launchOutgoingCallScreen / launchIncomingCallScreen / launchConferenceCallScreen — it has no launchOngoingCallActivity method.
• When passing User/Group between Activities, serialize the UID/GUID and re-fetch, or use a shared cache — do NOT pass full SDK objects via Intent extras
• Use AppCompatActivity (not plain Activity) to ensure proper theme attribute resolution