NowChatThemeable protocol - iOS

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated January 30, 2025
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    Summary of NowChatThemeable protocol - iOS

    TheNowChatThemeableprotocol in iOS allows ServiceNow customers to customize the color scheme used within chat pages hosted on their ServiceNow instance. This protocol exposes a property for color theming that leverages theNowChatColoringprotocol, which in turn uses predefined or custom colors to style the chat UI.

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    Key Features

    • NowChatThemeable Protocol: Defines a color property of type NowChatColoring to control chat UI colors.
    • NowChatColoring Protocol: Contains NowUIColoring for referencing default or custom color variables, enabling consistent theming across chat components.
    • Default and Custom Colors: Customers can define ChatColors structures using either built-in default colors provided by the Mobile SDK or fully customized UIColor values for elements like background, text, brand, links, separators, shadows, and alerts.
    • ChatTheme Structure: By implementing the NowChatThemeable protocol in a structure (e.g., CarrascoChatTheme), customers can encapsulate their color definitions and initialize the theme with specific ChatColors.
    • Integration with Chat UI: The customized theme object can be passed to NowChatService.makeChatUI() to instantiate a chat UI controller that reflects the desired color scheme.

    Practical Use for ServiceNow Customers

    ServiceNow customers can leverage this theming capability to ensure their chat interfaces align with their corporate branding and user experience guidelines. By defining a ChatColors struct with either default or custom colors, and then creating a theme object conforming to NowChatThemeable, customers can seamlessly apply consistent color themes to chat pages without modifying core UI code.

    When implementing the chat UI, customers pass the theme object to makeChatUI(theme:), which returns a configured UIViewController representing the chat screen. This approach simplifies UI customization while maintaining compatibility with the Mobile SDK's theming architecture.

    Expected Outcomes

    • Consistent, branded chat UI colors across your ServiceNow mobile app.
    • Easy customization and maintenance of chat color themes via Swift structures.
    • Seamless integration with the ServiceNow chat service to instantiate themed chat screens.
    • Improved user experience through visually coherent chat interfaces tailored to your organization’s style.

    The NowChatThemeable protocol provides properties that enable you to override the colors used within chat pages hosted on your ServiceNow instance.

    public protocol NowChatThemeable {
    var color: NowChatColoring { get }
}

    The NowChatColoring protocol contains NowUIColoring. This property is used to reference default color variables that NowWebThemeable can use.

    For additional information on how to theme the UI, see Use NowUIColoring to theme NowWebTheme and NowChatTheme in the Mobile SDK Developer Guide - iOS.

    Define ChatColors using default colors

    /// Sample structure for using default colors that comes with Mobile SDK.
struct ChatColors: NowUIColoring {
}

    Define ChatColors using custom colors

    /// Use Custom Colors with light theme
struct ChatColors: NowUIColoring {
    private var defaultTheme: NowChatDefaultTheme {
        NowChatDefaultTheme(nowUITheme: NowUIDefaultTheme())
    }
 
    var brand: UIColor {
        lightBrand
    }
    var primary: UIColor {
        lightPrimary
    }
    var secondary: UIColor {
        lightSecondary
    }
    var textTertiary: UIColor {
        lightTextTertiary
    }
    var destructive: UIColor {
        lightDestructive
    }
    var textPrimary: UIColor {
        lightTextPrimary
    }
    var textSecondary: UIColor {
        lightTextSecondary
    }
    var textActionable: UIColor {
        lightTextActionable
    }
    var screenHeaderText: UIColor {
        lightScreenHeaderText
    }
    var backgroundPrimary: UIColor {
        lightBackgroundPrimary
    }
    var backgroundSecondary: UIColor {
        lightBackgroundSecondary
    }
    var backgroundTertiary: UIColor {
        lightBackgroundTertiary
    }
    var backgroundPrimaryActionable: UIColor {
        lightBackgroundPrimaryActionable
    }
    var backgroundSecondaryActionable: UIColor {
        lightBackgroundSecondaryActionable
    }
    var brandBackground: UIColor {
        lightBrandBackground
    }
    var linkPrimaryText: UIColor {
        lightLinkPrimary
    }
    var linkSecondary: UIColor {
        lightLinkSecondary
    }
    var separatorPrimary: UIColor {
        lightSeparatorPrimary
    }
    var separatorTertiary: UIColor {
        lightSeparatorTertiary
    }
    var borderTertiary: UIColor {
        lightBorderTertiary
    }
    var shadow: UIColor {
        lightShadow
    }
    var notification: UIColor {
        lightNotification
    }
    var alertCritical0: UIColor {
        lightAlertCritical0
    }
    var alertCritical3: UIColor {
        lightAlertCritical3
    }

    // Light Colors
    var lightBrand: UIColor { defaultTheme.color.nowUIColor.brand }
    var lightPrimary: UIColor { defaultTheme.color.nowUIColor.primary }
    var lightSecondary: UIColor { defaultTheme.color.nowUIColor.secondary }
    var lightDestructive: UIColor { defaultTheme.color.nowUIColor.destructive }
    var lightTextPrimary: UIColor { defaultTheme.color.nowUIColor.textPrimary }
    var lightTextSecondary: UIColor { defaultTheme.color.nowUIColor.textSecondary }
    var lightTextTertiary: UIColor { defaultTheme.color.nowUIColor.textTertiary }
    var lightTextActionable: UIColor { defaultTheme.color.nowUIColor.textActionable }
    var lightScreenHeaderText: UIColor { defaultTheme.color.nowUIColor.screenHeaderText }
    var lightBackgroundPrimary: UIColor { defaultTheme.color.nowUIColor.backgroundPrimary }
    var lightBackgroundSecondary: UIColor { defaultTheme.color.nowUIColor.backgroundSecondary }
    var lightBackgroundTertiary: UIColor { defaultTheme.color.nowUIColor.backgroundTertiary }
    var lightBackgroundPrimaryActionable: UIColor { defaultTheme.color.nowUIColor.backgroundPrimaryActionable
    }
    var lightBackgroundSecondaryActionable: UIColor { defaultTheme.color.nowUIColor.backgroundSecondaryActionable
    }
    var lightBrandBackground: UIColor { defaultTheme.color.nowUIColor.brandBackground }
    var lightLinkPrimary: UIColor { defaultTheme.color.nowUIColor.linkPrimaryText }
    var lightLinkSecondary: UIColor { defaultTheme.color.nowUIColor.linkSecondary }
    var lightSeparatorPrimary: UIColor { defaultTheme.color.nowUIColor.separatorPrimary }
    var lightSeparatorTertiary: UIColor { defaultTheme.color.nowUIColor.separatorTertiary }
    var lightBorderTertiary: UIColor { defaultTheme.color.nowUIColor.borderTertiary }
    var lightShadow: UIColor { defaultTheme.color.nowUIColor.shadow }
    var lightNotification: UIColor { defaultTheme.color.nowUIColor.notification }
    var lightAlertCritical0: UIColor { defaultTheme.color.nowUIColor.alertCritical0 }
    var lightAlertCritical3: UIColor { defaultTheme.color.nowUIColor.alertCritical3 }
}

    Define ChatTheme structure with NowChatThemeable protocol

    struct CarrascoChatTheme: NowChatThemeable {
    var color: NowChatColoring
    
    struct Color: NowChatColoring {
        var nowUIColor: NowUIColoring
    
        var backgroundPrimary: UIColor
        var backgroundSecondary: UIColor
        var backgroundPrimaryActionable: UIColor
        var backgroundSecondaryActionable: UIColor
        var brandBackground: UIColor
        var backgroundTertiary: UIColor
        var separatorPrimary: UIColor
        var separatorTertiary: UIColor
        var borderTertiary: UIColor
        var shadow: UIColor
        var linkSecondary: UIColor

        init(inputs: ChatColors) {
            nowUIColor = ThemeColor(inputs)
            
            backgroundPrimary = inputs.backgroundPrimary
            backgroundSecondary = inputs.backgroundSecondary
            backgroundTertiary = inputs.backgroundTertiary
            backgroundPrimaryActionable = inputs.backgroundPrimaryActionable
            backgroundSecondaryActionable = inputs.backgroundSecondaryActionable
            brandBackground = inputs.brandBackground
            separatorPrimary = inputs.separatorPrimary
            separatorTertiary = inputs.separatorTertiary
            borderTertiary = inputs.borderTertiary
            shadow = inputs.shadow
            linkSecondary = inputs.linkSecondary
        }
    }

    init(chatColors: ChatColors) {
        color = Color(inputs: chatColors)
    }
}

    Instantiate ChatTheme object by passing ChatColor as input

    let chatTheme = CarrascoChatTheme(chatColors: ChatColors())

    Pass ChatTheme object to NowChatService.makeChatUI ()

    func makeChatScreen() -> UIViewController? {
  guard let chatService = chatService else { return nil }
  let result = chatService.makeChatUI(theme: CarrascoChatTheme(chatColors: ChatColors()))
        
  switch result {
  case .success(let chatViewController):
    return chatViewController
  case .failure(let error):
    debugPrint("Chat screen creation failed with error: \(error)")
    return nil
  }
}