is it possible to hide message bubble - jsqmessagesviewcontroller

Question

I'm using JSQMessagesViewController to implement chat in my iOS app. I need to display some system messages in the middle of the screen (see attached picture). I was hoping that I can achieve that by using the message bottom label and not showing the message bubble. But I haven't found a way to hide the message bubble. Is it possible? Thanks.

Answer 1

I sort of achieved what I need by overriding collectionView sizeForItemAtIndexPath function and return a height of kJSQMessagesCollectionViewCellLabelHeightDefault, then return nil for both messageBubbleImageDataForItemAtIndexPath and avatarImageDataForItemAtIndexPath
override func collectionView(collectionView: UICollectionView, layout collectionViewLayout: UICollectionViewLayout, sizeForItemAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) -> CGSize {
let userMessageCellSize = super.collectionView(collectionView, layout: collectionViewLayout, sizeForItemAtIndexPath: indexPath)
let message = messages[indexPath.item]
if message.type == MessageType.System {
// for system message, only show bottom label, plus the top label when timestamp needs to be displayed
// this will hide the avatar image and message bubble which are not needed for system messages.
var newHeight: CGFloat = 0
if (shouldDisplayTimestamp(indexPath)) {
newHeight = kJSQMessagesCollectionViewCellLabelHeightDefault * 2
} else {
newHeight = kJSQMessagesCollectionViewCellLabelHeightDefault
}
return CGSizeMake(userMessageCellSize.width, newHeight)
} else {
return super.collectionView(collectionView, layout: collectionViewLayout, sizeForItemAtIndexPath: indexPath)
}
}
override func collectionView(collectionView: JSQMessagesCollectionView!, messageBubbleImageDataForItemAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath!) -> JSQMessageBubbleImageDataSource! {
let message = messages[indexPath.item]
if message.type == MessageType.System {
return nil
}
if message.senderId == senderId{
return self.outgoingBubbleImageView
} else {
return self.incomingBubbleImageView
}
}
override func collectionView(collectionView: JSQMessagesCollectionView!, avatarImageDataForItemAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath!) -> JSQMessageAvatarImageDataSource! {
let message = messages[indexPath.item]
if message.type == MessageType.System {
return nil
}
if let avatar = avatars[message.senderDisplayName] {
return avatar
} else {
setupAvatarImage(message.senderDisplayName, imageUrl: message.profileImgUrl, incoming: true)
return avatars[message.senderDisplayName]
}
}