SDK Configuration

Helpshift provides several config options which can be used to customize behaviour of the SDK.

Note

All the public APIs in the SDK should be called after initializing the SDK via Helpshift.install() API

Enable In-App Notifications

If you do not want the in-app notification support provided by the Helpshift SDK, you can set the flag to false.

On setting this flag to false, the SDK will stop showing notifications in the notification tray of the device but it will fetch messages in background.

The default value of this flag is true i.e., the in-app notification will be enabled.

Flag	enableInAppNotification
values	true/false
default	true

For example:

    public class MainApplication extends Application {

      @Override
      public void onCreate() {
        super.onCreate();

        Map<String, Object> configurations = new HashMap<>();
        configurations.put("enableInAppNotification", false);

        // Install call
        Helpshift.install(this,
                          "<PLATFORM_ID>",
                          "<DOMAIN>",
                          configurations);
      }
    }

Enable Contact Us

Controls the visibility of the Helpshift Contact Us button when a user is viewing FAQs. You can customize this option to make it easier or more difficult to contact support. If specified, this configuration takes precedence over the value of Enable Contact Us set on admin dashboard.

Flag	enableContactUs
values	"ALWAYS" / "AFTER_VIEWING_FAQS" / "AFTER_MARKING_ANSWER_UNHELPFUL" / "NEVER"
default	null

For example

    Map<String, Object> config = new HashMap<>();
    // .. other configs
    config.put("enableContactUs", "AFTER_VIEWING_FAQS");
    Helpshift.showFAQs(MainActivity.this, config);

Best Practices

• Provide tier-based support by setting enableContactUs to ALWAYS for paid users and AFTER_VIEWING_FAQS for unpaid ones.
• Provide country based support by setting enableContactUs to ALWAYS for local users and AFTER_VIEWING_FAQS for foreign ones. Example Code:

        TelephonyManager tm = (TelephonyManager) context.getSystemService(Context.TELEPHONY_SERVICE);
        String country = tm.getSimCountryIso();
        String value = "ALWAYS";

        if("<LOCAL_COUNTRY_CODE>".equals(country)) {
          value = "AFTER_VIEWING_FAQS";
        }

        HashMap config = new HashMap();
        config.put("enableContactUs", value);
        Support.showFAQs(MyActivity.this, config);

Screen Orientation

The screen orientation of Helpshift SDK screens can be fixed by setting the screenOrientation to constants available in the ActivityInfo class. For example, you may want to fix the orientation to ActivityInfo.SCREEN_ORIENTATION_PORTRAIT for mobile users and ActivityInfo.SCREEN_ORIENTATION_LANDSCAPE for tablet users.

Flag	screenOrientation
values	integer values for orientation from ActivityInfo class
default	ActivityInfo.SCREEN_ORIENTATION_UNSPECIFIED

For example:

    public class MainApplication extends Application {

      @Override
      public void onCreate() {
        super.onCreate();

        Map<String, Object> configurations = new HashMap<>();
        configurations.put("screenOrientation", ActivityInfo.SCREEN_ORIENTATION_PORTRAIT);

        // Install call
        Helpshift.install(this,
                          "<PLATFORM_ID>",
                          "<DOMAIN>",
                          configurations);
      }
    }

Enable Logging

Upon setting enableLogging to true, Helpshift SDK logs will be generated in the Android logcat. These will be useful for debugging the SDK during integration. Turning on this logging could help the developer resolve common integration issues.

Flag	enableLogging
values	true/false
default	false

For example:

    public class MainApplication extends Application {

      @Override
      public void onCreate() {
        super.onCreate();

        Map<String, Object> configurations = new HashMap<>();
        configurations.put("enableLogging",  true);

        // Install call
        Helpshift.install(this,
                          "<PLATFORM_ID>",
                          "<DOMAIN>",
                          configurations);
      }
    }

Notification Icon

By default the application icon is used as the notification icon. You can customize the notification icon using the config in the install call.

Example:

    public class MainApplication extends Application {

      @Override
      public void onCreate() {
        super.onCreate();

        Map<String, Object> configurations = new HashMap<>();
        configurations.put("notificationIcon", R.drawable.notification_icon);

        // Install call
        Helpshift.install(this,
                          "<PLATFORM_ID>",
                          "<DOMAIN>",
                          configurations);
      }
    }

Large Notification Icon

By default the application icon is used as the notification icon. If you want to specify the large notification icon also to show up in the notification tray, you can specify that using the config in the install call.

Example:

    public class MainApplication extends Application {

      @Override
      public void onCreate() {
        super.onCreate();

        Map<String, Object> configurations = new HashMap<>();
        configurations.put("notificationLargeIcon", R.drawable.notification_large_icon);

        // Install call
        Helpshift.install(this,
                          "<PLATFORM_ID>",
                          "<DOMAIN>",
                          configurations);
      }
    }

Notification Sound

By default the default device notification sound is used for helpshift notifications. You can customize the notification sound using the config in the install call.

Example:

    public class MainApplication extends Application {

      @Override
      public void onCreate() {
        super.onCreate();

        Map<String, Object> configurations = new HashMap<>();
        configurations.put("notificationSoundId",  R.raw.notification_sound);

        // Install call
        Helpshift.install(this,
                          "<PLATFORM_ID>",
                          "<DOMAIN>",
                          configurations);
      }
    }

Notification channels

Starting from Android Oreo, Helpshift notifications will create a default channel named In-app Support. If you want to customize the name and description for the default channel, you can do so by using the config in the install call.

Example:

    public class MainApplication extends Application {

      @Override
      public void onCreate() {
        super.onCreate();

        Map<String, Object> configurations = new HashMap<>();
        configurations.put("notificationChannelId",  "your channel name here");

        // Install call
        Helpshift.install(this,
                          "<PLATFORM_ID>",
                          "<DOMAIN>",
                          configurations);
      }
    }

Full privacy

In the config map of Helpshift.showConversation(this, config); API at the time of calling this API, setting the fullPrivacy option to true ensures COPPA compliance by:

1. Disabling user-initiated screenshots (users will not be able to attach files, including images, using SDK).
2. Making sure that Personally Identifiable Information (PII) such as name and email are not collected by SDK (using Identity Bot and/or the helpshiftConfig object). This means that if you set userName and userEmail, with fullPrivacy set to true, Helpshift will not use the userName and userEmail values.

Moreover, in scenarios where the user attaches objectionable content, it becomes a huge COPPA compliance concern. This option helps to solve this problem.

For example

    Map<String, Object> config = new HashMap<>();
    // .. other configs
    config.put("fullPrivacy", true);
    Helpshift.showConversation(MainActivity.this, config);

Theming the SDK

Please check the design page to apply your styles and theming to SDK.

Tracking

This config represents tracking the user actions. For more information check tracking.