DEV Community: QuickBlox

A Quick Introduction to Quickblox's New Flutter Chat Code Sample

QuickBlox — Tue, 07 Feb 2023 20:18:46 +0000

Introduction

Are you wanting to build a chat app for Android and iOS without spending a huge amount of time, money, or resources? Our team at QuickBlox has just released a new code sample for Flutter, which we are delighted to share with you!

Flutter chat apps have become increasingly popular in recent years due to the growing popularity of Flutter as a mobile development framework. Flutter is a modern, open-source framework for building high-performance, cross-platform mobile applications for iOS and Android. It offers a fast development cycle and a rich set of pre-designed widgets, making it a popular choice for developers who want to build chat apps quickly and easily. Additionally, the growing number of available Flutter chat libraries, plugins, and tutorials has made it easier for developers to create chat apps with Flutter.

The new Flutter code sample from QuickBlox makes it easy to use QuickBlox's chat SDK in your next Flutter project. The code sample is available in GitHub, along with comprehensive documentation.

What is a Chat sample?

A chat code sample refers to a piece of code that implements a chat interface, typically a text-based conversational interface between a user and a computer program. It can be used to demonstrate how to build a chat application, how to integrate chat functionality into an existing application, or as a reference for implementing specific chat features.
The beauty of a chat sample is that is expedites the development process, proving developers with a shortcut to creating and implementing code.

QuickBlox Flutter Code Sample

QuickBlox's new code sample makes it easy to build chat in no time at all. You can use the code sample to create a chat app with solid features, a user-friendly interface and high performance, for both Android and iOS.

The code sample provides a basic chat application that sends and receives messages and file attachments, and can be easily extended to add more features.

The Flutter code sample is implemented using QuickBlox Flutter SDK. The QuickBlox SDK is designed to be easy to integrate into your existing codebase and comes with a comprehensive documentation set, making it extremely easy to work with.

Learn moreabout how to get started with QuickBlox Flutter chat sample.

How the Quickblox Flutter Code Sample Works

The following are the functionalities to expect from the code sample.

Chat Types

This chat sample has three types of chat features - a one-to-one chat, group chat, and public chat.

One-to-one chat: This is a private chat between two persons. You can share messages, photos, videos, and more with the person you’re chatting with. Your messages are only seen and read by the person in conversation with you. You can start a private conversation by simply selecting or typing in the search bar the name of the person to chat with.

Group chat: Connect with a group of people all in one place. You can add new participants to the group, view the list of members, and exit the group chat.

Public chat: Anyone who's logged into the chat sample can have access to the public chat. This is a chat between all users of the Chat sample.

Attachment Types

Using the Flutter code sample, you can send and receive images, videos, and files up to 100MB in size. Select images and videos from your gallery or take them directly from the camera on your device.

Push Notifications

Push notifications are sent and received when a new group is created, a person joins the group chat, and when someone leaves the group chat. Even when offline, users can receive push notifications.

Conclusion

With the growing number of Flutter developers and the increasing need for messaging functionality in applications, QuickBlox has released a Flutter chat code sample to help our developers leverage our Flutter chat SDK.

We provide detailed documentation for using our Flutter SDK.

Also, check out our detailed tutorials if you want to add polls, stickers, or message reactions to boost your Flutter chat app.

QuickBlox offers robust messaging SDK in several other technologies including SWIFT and Obj-C for IOS, Java, and Kotlin for Android, JavaScript, ReactJS, and AngularJS for Web and React Native and Flutter for cross-platform solutions.

Let us know what you’re building with the Flutter code sample in the comment below.

Why You Should Secure Your Data With On Premise Deployment

QuickBlox — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 00:23:09 +0000

When looking for the best deployment option for your application or platform, you may have come across terms like cloud, on-premise, private, and hybrid deployments. Each of these is a software deployment option but provides distinct functionality. Although there are alternative software deployment choices, this article will concentrate on on-premises deployments.

Introduction
On-Premises Deployment: What Is It?
Benefits of on-premises deployment
Disadvantages of on-premises
When to Use on-Premises Deployment
QuickBlox’s Deployment Options

Introduction

On-premises software deployment is when your software is installed and run from your physical servers. This can be contrasted with software that's hosted in the cloud, which is run by a third party.

On-premises software has historically been the method enterprises have used to deploy their software. This involves getting software licenses, installing them, and managing your servers. Large enterprises use on-premises software to automate their corporate-wide processes. Before the advent of cloud computing, it was the only option available.

This article will help you understand what on-premise deployment is, its benefits, and its disadvantages.

On-premises Vs. Cloud Hosting: Frequently Asked Questions provides answers to questions you may have about both hosting solutions.

On-Premises Deployment: What Is It?

Imagine that you're a business owner and you need to purchase some software for your company. You have two options: you can either buy the software outright or you can subscribe to a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model.

With on-premises deployment, you purchase the software and install it on your servers. With SaaS, the software is hosted by the provider and accessed by users through the Internet.

There are pros and cons to both options, but in general, on-premises deployment is seen as more secure because the data is used on your servers. However, on-premises deployment can be more expensive to set up and can require more maintenance.

On-premise deployment is the type of software installation in which the software is installed on computers that are owned, managed, and controlled by the organization deploying the software.

You are responsible for purchasing server equipment and hardware, purchasing software licenses, configuring the servers, installing and running them, and having IT staff on hand to manage and support when issues arise.

The software contains databases, modules, and everything an organization needs for infrastructure management. It’s your enterprise's responsibility to manage server security, back up databases, and ensure data privacy. Only the company's internal staff have access to the database.

Even while on-premises usage appears to be dropping and businesses are shifting to the cloud, certain organizations or corporations continue to deploy their software on-premises. This is particularly useful in highly regulated industries such as healthcare, FinTech, and government, where data requires precise protection or privacy.

On-premises IT assets provide organizations with total control over their data, storage, and infrastructure, as opposed to IT assets hosted by a third party or public cloud provider.

In deciding whether to deploy software on-premises, it's crucial to know the pros and cons. In the next section, we'll go through the advantages and disadvantages in greater depth.

Benefits of on-premises deployment

The decision between on-premises and cloud computing is purely based on the demands, needs, and goals of an organization. Let's look at its advantages to see if on-premises is the best match for your company.

Deployment:The deployment of on-premises software takes place in-house on the company's server. Because the server is owned by the company, it is managed by the company.

Security: If security is a top priority for you, then on-premises software is the better option. On-premises software can be a great choice for businesses that have a lot of sensitive data that they don't want to be stored in the cloud. It's a great option if you want to keep your data completely in-house. You're not reliant on the internet or on a third party to store and access your information.

You're also in control of security, which is a major concern for many businesses. You can set up firewalls and other security measures to protect your data and your system.

Integration: On-premises software can be integrated with other systems, both within your organization and outside of it. This allows you to share data and automate processes between systems.

Control: Using on-premises software gives you complete control over your data and how it is accessed and used. On-premises software puts you in control - you decide when and how updates are made, and you control who can access the system.

With on-premises software, you have total control. It is your responsibility to install, upgrade, and maintain it.

Compliance: On-premises is beneficial for companies or organizations that need to comply with certain regulations that require them to keep their data on-site. The most prevalent is the Healthcare Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) which protects private health information and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) which protects students' privacy. There are many other rules including those set by the government.

On-premises software is used by businesses that must adhere to industry compliance regulations to help them stay compliant by storing their data on-site to have full control over its access.

Check out HIPAA-Compliant Cloud Hosting: What does it mean? or On-premises or cloud hosting for banking and finance? to learn more about compliant hosting for the healthcare and banking and finance industry.

Disadvantages of on-premises

While there are many benefits to on-premises software deployment, there are also a few disadvantages to consider.

Cost: On-premises can be expensive when setting it up. The setting up of on-premises software on your company's premises can be very expensive because your enterprise is responsible for the purchase of required hardware, software installation, purchase of software licenses and other infrastructure required.

Additionally, you're responsible for maintaining the server and dealing with any technical issues that may arise. You also need to have the manpower in place to manage and support the system. If something goes wrong, it's up to you to fix it.

Inflexibility: Another downside is that on-premises software can be inflexible. If your business needs to scale up or down, it can be difficult to do with an on-premises solution. You're also limited by your bandwidth and storage capacity.

A decline in use by the enterprise: As more and more businesses move to the cloud, the demand for on-premises software will continue to decline. But that doesn't mean it's going to disappear altogether. There are still a lot of businesses out there that aren't ready to make the switch to the cloud, and they'll continue to rely on on-premises software for years to come.

That said, on-premises software is slowly but surely becoming a thing of the past. It's no longer seen as cutting-edge technology, and businesses are starting to realize that there are a lot of advantages to moving to the cloud.

When to Use on-Premises Deployment

You might be wondering when you would want to use on-premises deployment. Here are a few scenarios when on-premises might be the best option:

1. When sensitive data needs to be kept on-site
2. When you need to have full control over the system and the data it contains
3. When you need to comply with a specific industry or government regulations
4. When you want to use your software or hardware

QuickBlox’s Deployment Options

To meet the requirements of our customers, QuickBlox offers a wide range of deployment options. If you're developing an application and require real-time communication functionality like instant messaging, audio and video calling, private chat, or a virtual consultation solution then QuickBlox is the right solution for you. In case you're worried about data security or a hosting service option that complies with your business regulations, we are flexible about deploying our communication solutions.

There are several deployment options offered by QuickBlox, including the following:

Cloud option

With the cloud option, you can either choose to host your application on a public or private cloud. You can host your real-time communication with a cloud provider of your choosing or in QuickBlox's secure hosting infrastructure.

On-premises option

You can fully control your data security by deploying QuickBlox communication software on your on-premise hosting servers. If your project needs to comply with regulations, this choice is ideal.

You can either work with our siteOps team to set up the installation, or your team can handle all the setup installation and management.

Contact our team right away to find out more about our hosting options, communication solutions, and enterprise plan.

What’s the Difference Between an API and an SDK?

QuickBlox — Wed, 11 Jan 2023 20:50:39 +0000

Introduction

In your search for ways to build or enhance the functionality of your website, mobile app, or other types of application, you may have come across the acronyms API and SDK. These are software products or services designed to make the process of developing software for developers easier and faster. Most modern websites use APIs or SDKs from third parties.

In this article, you’ll learn what APIs and SDKs are, how they work, their examples and usage, and what their differences are.

What is an API?

The term Application Programming Interface is usually abbreviated as API. It is a software-to-software interface that enables the communication between applications. It allows your software application to access and communicate with third-party software.

Consider it as a contract of some sort, with a written agreement (documentation) describing how two people or software programs can communicate with one another. The API documentation contains all the information you need to use it and access its services.

APIs relieve you of the strain of writing new program features from scratch. You can add functionality from other sources to your program with just a few lines of code.

Let's look at how API functions to help you understand the idea.

How do APIs Work?

Although there are many kinds of APIs and they all operate in slightly different ways, they generally have several elements in common. For instance, you likely entered some keywords relating to this topic into your browser before landing on this webpage.

The keywords you typed in the search bar represent your request, and the list of search results represents the response to your request. In the background, your browser sends the request to the web server, which responds with the requested information in a matter of milliseconds.

Let's break it down:

Client: In the context of an API, a client is your application, such as a browser, that makes a request or calls when trying to access specific data or functionality through an API.
Request or Call: A block of information, consisting of a request verb, headers, and sometimes a request body, that the client sends via a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). After receiving a call, the API sends requests to the server.
Server: A server is the receiver of the request.
Response: The requested Information returned by the API in response to a request.

APIs: Examples and Usage

There are many ways in which developers or companies utilize APIs to offer services to their users. Here are a few of the most common APIs that you may already be familiar with or will likely use in the future:

Twitter API: You can integrate a Twitter widget on your website using Twitter API. The widget fetches tweets from a Twitter server and displays them on your site

QuickBlox API: It allows you to integrate voice and video calling, chat messages, and other features into your apps.

Google Maps API: It enables the integration and use of maps on your website.

What is a Software Development Kit?

An SDK (software development kit) is a collection of tools that includes all the programs and libraries required to create apps for a certain platform or operating system. There is usually at least one API in the toolbox.

Software companies provide SDKs to developers to assist them quickly integrating their apps with their services.

SDKs are typically language-specific. This means that to create an iOS app, a developer requires the iOS SDK, and to create an Android app, they need the Android toolkit.

SDK typically includes the following resources:

APIs provide developers with the ability to perform specific programming functions using pre-built code.
Tools that aid developers to create, test, and run their applications as well as a debugger.
Development environment, documentation, libraries, code samples as well as guides to aid the developer's development.

SDKs: Examples and Usage

Stripe SDK: This allows developers to incorporate payment services into their applications.

QuickBlox SDK: It's an easy-to-use, secure cloud platform for audio and video conferencing, chat, and user authentication across mobile and desktop. QuickBlox SDK offers the building blocks for real-time communication. With the help of this SDK, you can add messaging functionalities to your app.

Facebook’s JavaScript SDK: This gives you the ability to create and integrate the sign-in feature in your project.

SDK minimizes the need for developers to develop software functions or applications from scratch, thereby, reducing development time.

Difference Between APIs and SDKs

The terms API and SDK are often used interchangeably. Since SDKs often include APIs, there can be some confusion about their differences. While both APIs and SDKs are intended to make developing applications simpler, they are best used in different circumstances.

An API allows for communication between two software. APIs are used to access certain functions or services from a third-party software service. Meanwhile, SDKs consist of kits of items needed to develop an application. SDKs can also be used to add functionality to the software.

Let's examine some other distinctions:

SDKs enable the development of a new application. It serves as the foundation or building block for the development of new applications.
APIs are used to improve the functionality of apps and cannot be used to create new applications.
SDKs frequently provide an API that functions within the SDK's parameters.
APIs do not include an SDK.

QuickBlox APIs And SDKs

QuickBlox is a platform for delivering real-time communication to accelerate innovation by enhancing or developing interactive applications for end users.

QuickBlox SDKs and APIs offer you an easy way to integrate chat messaging, voice and video calling, and group video conferencing calls into your applications.

There is an SDK pre-built for your project type, platform, or computing language. For example, if you're building an app for Android you can use either Java or Kotlin SDKs instead of building from scratch—they'll save time and make it easier on yourself!

Take the next step:

Register a free account on QuickBlox. This gives you access to all of our SDKs and APIs, which are available for use without charge. You can also download sample codes if you want to see how things work before diving into something new.

6 Reasons to Build a Chat App with React Native

QuickBlox — Wed, 09 Feb 2022 19:16:43 +0000

Can you think of 6 reasons to build a chat app with React Native? Since the release of our React Native SDK, we have seen a significant rise in the number of developer sign-ups looking to build chat with this platform.

Our React Native SDK enables developers to add real-time chat, audio and video calling, plus a host of other features to their app.

Check out our recent blog that highlight 6 reasons why you might want to build a chat app with React Native and share your thoughts below.

What is a Chat API?

QuickBlox — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 19:46:49 +0000

More and more businesses and dev agencies are turning to Chat APIs as a time and cost efficient way to integrate real-time chat functionality into their app or website. But what exactly is a chat API and how is it different from a chat SDK?

Take a look at a recent blog from QuickBlox, where we attempt to provide everything you need to know in a nutshell including:

What is the difference between an API and SDK
How your business could benefit from a chat API
How best to use a chat API
How to choose a chat API

Leave comments and questions below.

Tutorial: How to Launch JavaScript Chat and WebRTC Video conferencing samples

QuickBlox — Fri, 28 Jan 2022 18:23:43 +0000

See the latest tutorial published by QuickBlox that shows you how to launch our free JavaScript code samples for Chat and WebRTC Video Conferencing.

Have experience building chat with a JavaScript SDK? Tell us about it in the comments below.

Tutorial: How to get started with QuickBlox React Native SDK

QuickBlox — Thu, 20 Jan 2022 19:56:07 +0000

The QuickBlox Team has developed a robust React Native SDK to enable you to add chat, video calls, audio calls, push notifications and more you to your app.

The advantage of using a React Native SDK is that we provide the entire toolkit of everything you need to build real-time communication, including documentation, code samples, Rest APIs, libraries etc. And because its build with React Native, it means your chat app will work on both iOS and Android platforms saving you time and money.

Our SDK is free to download and to help you get started we provide a short tutorial with code snippets to cover some of the basics.

See our tutorial: How to get started with QuickBlox React Native SDK

If you like building with React Native please tell us why in the comments below.

How to get started with QuickBlox Flutter SDK

QuickBlox — Tue, 11 Jan 2022 18:02:46 +0000

QuickBlox Flutter SDK enables companies to launch cross-platform chat and messaging apps with minimum effort and maximum effect. Please see our step-by-step guide below for using QuickBlox Flutter SDK.

Why do you need QuickBlox Flutter SDK?

QuickBlox provides a comprehensive Flutter chat SDK available for download from our GitHub repository, that offers all you need to add real time communication to your application, including chat and video calling. It comes with rich documentation and code samples to help you get started.

Our chat SDK for Flutter contains a series of modules that enables you to add stunning functionality to create a modern chat messaging app:

Authentication. Use this module to create an authentication system for your users based on passwords and session tokens, so that they can enjoy secure sessions.

User Management. Our SDK provides the necessary tools to manage users by creating passwords, registering new accounts, updating, retrieving, or removing user profiles.

Flutter Chat. Our messaging API works with the XMPP protocol. With this technology you can manage the connection to the chat server and configure chat dialogs and messages.

Flutter Video Calls. It’s possible to integrate peer-to-peer audio and video calls for one-to-one and small group communication with our Flutter SDK.

Content. Use this module to store and manage chat attachments including documents, photos, videos, etc.

Push notifications. Keep in touch with app users even if they are currently offline by integrating push messaging into your application (e.g. inform them about new messages, promotions, and app updates).

Custom Objects. This module helps you utilize QuickBlox key-value storage to create different types of data schemas that can be used in your Flutter application

How to create a Flutter app using QuickBlox SDK?

Getting started

To create a new Flutter chat messaging app with QuickBlox SDK from scratch follow these steps:

Install Flutter for your platforms.
Run flutter create myapp to create a new project.
Add QuickBlox Flutter SDK into your project’s dependencies into dependencies section in pubspec.yaml file in your root project dir.

dependencies:
quickblox_sdk: 0.0.1

You’re done with dependencies!

Launching the app

Now you can start the app with flutter run

But the application created is not really a chat messenger yet, right? So now you should create some UI for messages and then use our SDK to make it alive!

To make the SDK work, you should use your QuickBlox application account. To create a QuickBlox application, follow the steps below:

Register a new account at https://admin.quickblox.com/signup. Type in your email and password to sign in. You can also sign in with your Google or Github accounts.
Create the application by clicking the New app button.
Configure the application. Type in information about your organization into the corresponding fields and click the Add button.
Go to the screen with credentials. Locate Credentials group box and copy your Application ID, Authorization Key, Authorization Secret and Account Key. This data is needed to run your application on the QuickBlox server.

Turning on QuickBlox SDK

Init credentials:

const String APP_ID = "XXXXX";
const String AUTH_KEY = "XXXXXXXXXXXX";
const String AUTH_SECRET = "XXXXXXXXXXXX";
const String ACCOUNT_KEY = "XXXXXXXXXXXX";
const String API_ENDPOINT = ""; //optional
const String CHAT_ENDPOINT = ""; //optional

try {
      await QB.settings.init(APP_ID, AUTH_KEY, AUTH_SECRET, ACCOUNT_KEY,
          apiEndpoint: API_ENDPOINT, chatEndpoint: CHAT_ENDPOINT);
    } on PlatformException catch (e) {
     // Some error occured, look at the exception message for more details 
    }

Continue this Tutorial on the QuickBlox blog!

We provide a detailed tutorial with code snippets to help you get started.

Check out our Flutter documentation & code samples.

Please leave your feedback in the comments below!

What is Flutter and why it's a game changer in app development

QuickBlox — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 20:04:10 +0000

Flutter is fast becoming one of the most popular choices for cross-platform app development. Easy-to-use with ample documentation and an active developer community, Flutter allows you to build apps for both Android and iOS with a single source code.

Read our blog to learn more about why we think Flutter is a real game changer in the world of cross-platform App development.

If you’re interested in adding chat messaging or video calling to any Flutter App, check out QuickBlox Flutter SDK, which is free to download.

Like to code in Flutter? Tell us why in the comments below.

DEV Community: QuickBlox

A Quick Introduction to Quickblox's New Flutter Chat Code Sample

Introduction

What is a Chat sample?

QuickBlox Flutter Code Sample

How the Quickblox Flutter Code Sample Works

Chat Types

Attachment Types

Push Notifications

Conclusion

Why You Should Secure Your Data With On Premise Deployment

Table Of Contents

Introduction

On-Premises Deployment: What Is It?

Benefits of on-premises deployment

Disadvantages of on-premises

When to Use on-Premises Deployment

QuickBlox’s Deployment Options

Cloud option

On-premises option

What’s the Difference Between an API and an SDK?

Introduction

What is an API?

How do APIs Work?

APIs: Examples and Usage

What is a Software Development Kit?

SDKs: Examples and Usage

Difference Between APIs and SDKs

QuickBlox APIs And SDKs

Take the next step:

6 Reasons to Build a Chat App with React Native

What is a Chat API?

Tutorial: How to Launch JavaScript Chat and WebRTC Video conferencing samples

Tutorial: How to get started with QuickBlox React Native SDK

How to get started with QuickBlox Flutter SDK

Why do you need QuickBlox Flutter SDK?

How to create a Flutter app using QuickBlox SDK?

Getting started

Launching the app

Turning on QuickBlox SDK

Continue this Tutorial on the QuickBlox blog!

What is Flutter and why it's a game changer in app development