Upgrading From V5

This guide helps you migrate from CometChat Flutter UI Kit V5 to V6. V6 is a major architectural refactor that introduces clean architecture with BLoC state management while maintaining the same user-facing widget APIs.

Key Changes

Area	V5	V6
State Management	GetX (get: ^4.6.5)	BLoC (flutter_bloc: ^8.1.0)
Architecture	Flat layout with controllers	Clean Architecture (bloc/data/domain/di)
Data Access	DataSource decorator chain (10 layers)	MessageTemplateUtils static methods (1 hop)
Extensions	Registered via UIKitSettings	Built-in, no registration needed
Shared UI	External cometchat_uikit_shared package	Internalized into lib/shared_ui/
Composite Widgets	CometChatMessages, CometChatConversationsWithMessages	Removed — compose UI yourself

Step-by-Step Migration

1. Update Imports

// V5 — two imports needed
import 'package:cometchat_chat_uikit/cometchat_chat_uikit.dart';
import 'package:cometchat_uikit_shared/cometchat_uikit_shared.dart';

// V6 — single import covers everything
import 'package:cometchat_chat_uikit/cometchat_chat_uikit.dart';

2. Update Initialization

// V5
UIKitSettings settings = (UIKitSettingsBuilder()
  ..appId = "..."
  ..region = "..."
  ..authKey = "..."
  ..extensions = CometChatUIKitChatExtensions.getDefaultExtensions()
  ..aiFeature = CometChatUIKitChatAIFeatures.getDefaultAiFeatures()
).build();

// V6 — remove extensions and aiFeature
UIKitSettings settings = (UIKitSettingsBuilder()
  ..appId = "..."
  ..region = "..."
  ..authKey = "..."
).build();

3. Replace DataSource Calls

// V5
CometChatUIKit.getDataSource().getTextMessageBubble(msg, ctx, align);
ChatConfigurator.getDataSource().getAllMessageTemplates();

// V6
MessageTemplateUtils.getTextMessageBubble(msg, ctx, align);
MessageTemplateUtils.getAllMessageTemplates();

4. Replace Composite Widgets

// V5 — composite widget
CometChatMessages(user: user);

// V6 — compose yourself
Column(
  children: [
    CometChatMessageHeader(user: user),
    Expanded(child: CometChatMessageList(user: user)),
    CometChatMessageComposer(user: user),
  ],
)

5. Widget Renames

// V5
CometChatEditPreview(
  editPreviewTitle: "Edit Message",
  editPreviewSubtitle: text,
);

// V6
CometChatMessagePreview(
  messagePreviewTitle: "Edit Message",
  messagePreviewSubtitle: text,
  message: baseMessage,
);

6. Update Dependencies

Install V6 via CLI (hosted on Cloudsmith):

dart pub add cometchat_chat_uikit:6.0.0-beta1 --hosted-url https://dart.cloudsmith.io/cometchat/cometchat/

Or add manually to pubspec.yaml:

dependencies:
  cometchat_chat_uikit:
    hosted: https://dart.cloudsmith.io/cometchat/cometchat/
    version: 6.0.0-beta1
  flutter_bloc: ^8.1.0
  equatable: ^2.0.5
  video_player: ^2.7.2
  http: ^1.0.0
  flutter_image: ^4.1.0
  image_picker: ^1.0.5
  flutter_svg: ^2.0.17
  flutter_cache_manager: ^3.4.1
  cached_network_image: ^3.3.1
  cometchat_calls_sdk: ^4.2.0
  permission_handler: ^11.3.1
  diffutil_dart: ^3.0.0
  scrollview_observer: ^1.23.0

Remove from pubspec.yaml:

dependencies:
  cometchat_uikit_shared:
    path: ../shared_uikit  # internalized — no longer needed

7. State Management Migration (Advanced)

If you were directly using GetX controllers:

// V5 — GetX
GetBuilder<CometChatConversationsController>(
  init: CometChatConversationsController(...),
  builder: (controller) => buildUI(controller.list),
);

// V6 — BLoC
BlocProvider(
  create: (_) => ConversationsBloc()..add(LoadConversations()),
  child: BlocBuilder<ConversationsBloc, ConversationsState>(
    builder: (context, state) {
      if (state is ConversationsLoaded) return buildUI(state.conversations);
      return const CircularProgressIndicator();
    },
  ),
);

Controller → BLoC Mapping

V5 Controller	V6 BLoC
CometChatConversationsController	ConversationsBloc
CometChatUsersController	UsersBloc
CometChatGroupsController	GroupsBloc
CometChatGroupMembersController	GroupMembersBloc
CometChatMessageComposerController	MessageComposerBloc
CometChatMessageHeaderController	MessageHeaderBloc
CometChatMessageListController	MessageListBloc
CometchatMessageInformationController	MessageInformationBloc
CometChatThreadedHeaderController	ThreadedHeaderBloc
CometChatSearchController	SearchBloc

Migration Checklist

1. ☐ Replace all CometChatXxxController usage with XxxBloc
2. ☐ Replace GetBuilder<T> with BlocBuilder<XxxBloc, XxxState>
3. ☐ Replace CometChatUIKit.getDataSource().xxx() with MessageTemplateUtils.xxx()
4. ☐ Remove extensions and aiFeature from UIKitSettings
5. ☐ Update imports from src/ to chat_ui/src/
6. ☐ Replace cometchat_uikit_shared package import with internal shared_ui/
7. ☐ Rename CometChatEditPreview → CometChatMessagePreview
8. ☐ Replace composite widgets with individual widget composition
9. ☐ Add new dependencies (flutter_bloc, equatable, etc.)
10. ☐ Remove cometchat_uikit_shared dependency
11. ☐ Test all features after migration