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[Deprecated] Widget Timeline View Controller

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Deprecated!

Version 2.25 introduces the InteractiveWidgetTimelineViewController which is the preferred user experience for a Timeline style presentation mode. We highly recommend using it instead. https://docs.livelike.com/docs/interactive-widget-timeline-view-controller

The WidgetTimelineViewController is a presentation mode provided by the EngagementSDK.

Widgets are displayed in a scrollable list view. By default, it displays previously published widget's results and are non-interactive. New widgets received while in Timeline will be interactive for the time set by the producer.

Setup

class MyViewController: UIViewController {
  
  private let timelineVC: WidgetTimelineViewController
  
  init(contentSession: ContentSession) {
    self.timelineVC = WidgetTimelineViewController(contentSession: contentSession)
		super.init(nibName: nil, bundle: nil)
  }
  
  override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()
    
    // Add timelineVC to layout
    addChild(timelineVC)
		timelineVC.didMove(toParent: self)
    timelineVC.view.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false     
    view.addSubview(timelineVC.view)
    
    // Apply layout constraints
    NSLayoutConstraint.activate([
    	timelineVC.view.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.topAnchor),
      timelineVC.view.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.leadingAnchor),
      timelineVC.view.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.trailingAnchor),
      timelineVC.view.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.bottomAnchor)
    ])
  }
  
}

Overriding Default Behaviors

By subclassing the WidgetTimelineViewController you can override some default behaviors to achieve your specific Timeline use-case. Here are some example use-cases that showcase how to modify the WidgetTimelineViewController's default behaviors:

Use Case: Custom Widgets

By default, the WidgetTimelineViewController will display widgets using the Default Widget styles. If you have built your own Custom Widgets styles it is easy to display those in the WidgetTimelineViewController.

class MyTimelineViewController: WidgetTimelineViewController {
  
  override func makeWidget(_ widgetModel: WidgetModel) -> UIViewController? {
    switch widgetModel {
      // return the UIViewController that represents the widget
    }
  }
  
}

Use Case: Filtering Widgets

You may want to hide specific widgets types from appearing in the timeline - here is how you can do that:

In this example we will filter all Alert Widgets from being displayed in the timeline.

class MyTimelineViewController: WidgetTimelineViewController {
    override func didLoadInitialWidgets(_ widgetModels: [WidgetModel]) -> [WidgetModel] {
      	// filters the alerts from the initial widgets loaded from history
      	return widgetModels.filter { $0.kind != .alert }
    }

    override func didLoadMoreWidgets(_ widgetModels: [WidgetModel]) -> [WidgetModel] {
      	// filters the alerts from the next widgets loaded from history
        return widgetModels.filter { $0.kind != .alert }
    }

    override func didReceiveNewWidget(_ widgetModel: WidgetModel) -> WidgetModel? {
        // filters a new widget if it is an alert
        guard widgetModel.kind != .alert else { return nil }
        return widgetModel
    }
}

Add Custom Spacer between Widgets

By subclassing the WidgetTimelineViewController, you can override some UITableViewDelegate methods in order to add a custom view between widgets. The example below adds a view of height 40 and alternates between blue and red for the backgroundColor.

class MyTimelineViewController: WidgetTimelineViewController {

    override func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, heightForFooterInSection section: Int) -> CGFloat {
        return 40
    }

    override func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, viewForFooterInSection section: Int) -> UIView? {
        let separatorView = UIView(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: view.frame.width, height: 40))
        if section % 2 != 0 {
            separatorView.backgroundColor = .blue
        } else {
            separatorView.backgroundColor = .red
        }
        return separatorView
    }
}

Updated 12 months ago