Getting Started iOS

Getting started with integrating Helpshift in your Unity app.

Guide to integrating the Unity plugin for the Helpshift SDK which you can call from your C# and Javascript game scripts.

Requirements

Unity 2018.1.0 and above.
Xcode 12.0 and above.
Supported iOS versions:
- iOS 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, and 10

Download HelpshiftX Unity SDK for iOS

HelpshiftX SDK .zip folder includes:


helpshiftX-plugin-unity-[% sdkxunity.package_version %].unitypackage	Unity package of HelpshiftX SDK
unity-jar-resolver (v1.2.104.0)	Resolves Android Helpshift package support lib dependencies.

Add Helpshift to your Unity project

Unzip the HelpshiftX Unity SDK package.
HelpshiftX Unity SDK appears as a standard .unitypackage which you can import through the Unity package import procedure.
Following are the steps to import the helpshiftX-plugin-unity-version.unitypackage into your Unity game:
1. In the Open Unity project, navigate to Assets drop-down menu and select the Import Package > Custom Package
2. From the unzipped SDK, select helpshiftX-plugin-unity-version.unitypackage file to import the Helpshift SDK.
3. Click Import.

Info.plist changes - Addition of usage description strings

“User Attachments” feature is enabled for SDK which allows User to upload an attachment. The attachments can be picked from the Photo Library or can be captured directly using the camera. The options for these sources look like:

To use the camera and photo library, Apple requires the app to have Usage Description strings in the Info.plist while. Failing to add these strings might result in app rejection. The following strings are needed for the attachment feature:

Key	Suggested string	Notes
NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription	“We need to access photos library to allow users manually pick images meant to be sent as an attachment for help and support reasons.”	This is not needed if your app is iOS 11 or above. Below iOS 11, this key is compulsory else the app may crash when user tries to open the photo library for attaching photos.
NSCameraUsageDescription	“We need to access the camera to allow users to click images meant to be sent as an attachment for help and support reasons.”	This key is needed for capturing a photo using camera and attaching it.
NSMicrophoneUsageDescription	“We need to access the microphone to allow users to record videos using camera meant to be sent as an attachment for help and support reasons.”	This key is needed for capturing a video using camera and attaching it.

Note

End-users can attach files such as pdf, video, etc in their issues. For iOS 10 and below, to access files in the “Files” app of iOS, developers will need to add iCloud capability with iCloud Documents services enabled. For more info please refer the Prerequisites section here.

Initializing Helpshift in your app

Helpshift's namespace

To use Helpshift's APIs, please import the Helpshift's namespace like below

    using Helpshift;

Helpshift uniquely identifies each registered App with a combination of 2 tokens:


`Domain Name`	This is your Helpshift domain name e.g. happyapps.helpshift.com
`Platform ID`	Your App's unique platform id

You can find these by navigating to `Settings`>`SDK (for Developers)` in your agent dashboard. Select your App and _check webchat as a platform_ from the dropdowns and copy the 2 tokens to be passed when initializing Helpshift.

Initialize Helpshift by calling the method install(platformId, domain) API

    using Helpshift;
    .
    .
    .
    public class MyGameControl : MonoBehaviour
    {
        private HelpshiftSdk help;
        ...

        void Awake() {
            help = HelpshiftSdk.GetInstance();
            var configMap = new Dictionary<string, object>();
            help.Install(platformId, domainName, configMap);
        }
        ...
    }

Install Helpshift via ObjC

If you intend to initialize the SDK from Xcode using Objective C, You can specify Domain Name, Platform ID and other install configurations in the Objective-C code. To do this you need to override application:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions in HsUnityAppcontroller as shown below.

    #import <HelpshiftX/HelpshiftX.h>
    #import "HelpshiftX-Unity.h"

    - (BOOL) application:(UIApplication *)application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions {
        // Set install configurations
        NSDictionary *installConfig = @{@"enableInAppNotification":@YES};

        // Make install call
        [Helpshift installWithPlatformId:@"<your_platform_id>" domain:@"<your_domain_name>" config:installConfig];
        return [super application:application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:launchOptions];
    }

Integrating Feedback Section

You can use the API call ShowConversation(configMap) to allow a user to directly send feedback. Once, a user starts a new conversation, this API call will show the conversation screen. The conversation will continue until it is resolved or rejected by the agent.

To configure the conversation screen, you can pass various config options in a Dictionary<string, object>. It is advised to add Initial User Message in the configMap. Example :

using Helpshift;

private HelpshiftSdk help;

// install call here
void Awake(){
    help = HelpshiftSdk.GetInstance();
    help.Install(platformId, domainName, null);
}

// configuration map
Dictionary<string, object> configMap = new Dictionary<string, object>
        {
            { "tags", new String[] { "foo", "bar" } },
            { "initialUserMessage", "Give Feedback"}
        };

// open the support chat screen
help.ShowConversation(configMap);

Integrating FAQs

You can use the API call ShowFAQs(configMap) to provide a way for the user to invoke the purpose-built help/FAQs section in your app. This is the easiest approach to enable help in your app as it bundles all the capabilities of the Helpshift SDK in a simple and intuitive interface. You can wire this API call to a "Help" or "FAQs" action in your app.

To configure the FAQs screen, you can pass various config options in a Dictionary<string, object>. It is advised to add Initial User Message in the configMap.

Example :

using Helpshift;

private HelpshiftSdk help;

// install call here
void Awake(){
    help = HelpshiftSdk.GetInstance();
    help.Install(platformId, domainName, null);
}

// configuration map
Dictionary<string, object> configMap = new Dictionary<string, object>
        {
            { "tags", new String[] { "foo", "bar" } },
            { "initialUserMessage", "Give Feedback"}
        };

// open the FAQs screen
help.ShowFAQs(configMap);

Adding Custom Metadata to Feedback

If you want to add Custom Metadata at the time of Issue creation, follow the steps.

Initialize a top-level custom metadata Map
Define your custom metadata Map
Add the key-value pairs in that custom metadata Map
Add the custom metadata Map to the top-level Map
Pass the Map to configMap with key "customMetadata" to any of the SDK APIs (like ShowConversation(configMap)).

Dictionary<string, string> customMetadataMap = new Dictionary<string, string>();
    customMetadataMap.Add("Level", "9");
    customMetadataMap.Add("Spend", "46.55 USD");
    customMetadataMap.Add("Device Timestamp", DateTime.UtcNow.ToLongTimeString());

    Map<String, Object> config = new HashMap<>();
    // other configs...
    //..
    config.put("customMetadata", customMetadataMap);

    Helpshift.showConversation(MainActivity.this, config);

Note

Metadata should only be sent as String key-value pairs.

Once customMetadata is set, if you want to reset it then you’ll have to call the SDK API with an empty dictionary ie.

Dictionary<string, string> customMetadataMap = new Dictionary<string, string>();

    Map<String, Object> config = new HashMap<>();
    // other configs...
    //..
    config.put("customMetadata", customMetadataMap);

    Helpshift.showConversation(MainActivity.this, config);

Set Custom Issue Fields

Note

On Custom Issue Fields keys & compatibility

Custom Issue Fields must be created in the Helpshift Dashboard (Settings → Custom Issue Fields), otherwise they will be ignored. Read more here

If you want to set Custom Issue Fields at the time of Issue creation, follow the steps.

Initialise a top level custom issue fields' Dictionary
Define your custom issue field Dictionary
Add the "type" and "value" for that custom issue field
Add the custom issue field map to top level map (with key as your configured key and value as custom issue field map)
Pass the map to configMap with key "customIssueFields" of the ShowConversation(configMap)

    Dictionary<string, object> joiningDate = new Dictionary<string, object>();
    joiningDate.Add("type", "date");
    joiningDate.Add("value", DateTimeOffset.UtcNow.ToUnixTimeMilliseconds());

    Dictionary<string, string> stockLevel = new Dictionary<string, string>();
    stockLevel.Add("type", "number");
    stockLevel.Add("value", "1505");

    Dictionary<string, string> employeeName = new Dictionary<string, string>();
    employeeName.Add("type", "singleline");
    employeeName.Add("value", "Bugs helpshift");

    Dictionary<string, string> isPro = new Dictionary<string, string>();
    isPro.Add("type", "boolean");
    isPro.Add("value", "true");

    Dictionary<string, object> cifDictionary = new Dictionary<string, object>();
    cifDictionary.Add("joining_date", joiningDate);
    cifDictionary.Add("stock_level", stockLevel);
    cifDictionary.Add("employee_name", employeeName);
    cifDictionary.Add("is_pro", isPro);


    Map<String, Object> config = new HashMap<>();
    // other configs...
    //..
    config.put("customIssueFields", cifMap);

    Helpshift.showConversation(MainActivity.this, config);

The following are the valid values for the type key of a Custom Issue Field.

"singleline"
"multiline"
"number"
"checkbox"
"dropdown"
"date"

Compatibility table for type and values:

Type	Value	Comments
singleline	string	Character limit of 255
multiline	string	Character limit of 100,000
number	string
dropdown	string	Drop-down options should exist for the given Custom Issue Field
date	number	Epoch time in milliseconds. For example - DateTimeOffset.UtcNow.ToUnixTimeMilliseconds()
checkbox	boolean

Getting Started iOS

Requirements​

Download HelpshiftX Unity SDK for iOS​

Add Helpshift to your Unity project​

Info.plist changes - Addition of usage description strings​

Initializing Helpshift in your app​

Helpshift's namespace​

Install Helpshift via ObjC​

Integrating Feedback Section​

Integrating FAQs​

Adding Custom Metadata to Feedback​

Set Custom Issue Fields​

Requirements

Download HelpshiftX Unity SDK for iOS

Add Helpshift to your Unity project

Info.plist changes - Addition of usage description strings

Initializing Helpshift in your app

Helpshift's namespace

Install Helpshift via ObjC

Integrating Feedback Section

Integrating FAQs

Adding Custom Metadata to Feedback

Set Custom Issue Fields