Getting Started with the KendoReact Conversational UI
Premium

This guide provides essential information about using the KendoReact Conversational UI package and Chat component—you will learn how to install the Conversational UI package, add a Chat component to your project, style the component, and activate your license.

The Conversational UI is part of KendoReact premium, an enterprise-grade UI library with 120+ free and premium components for building polished, performant apps. Test-drive all features with a free 30-day trial.Start Free Trial

After completing this guide, you will be able to reproduce the following example.

Change Theme

Theme

Loading ...

Setting Up Your React Project

Before you install the KendoReact Conversational UI, make sure that you have a running React project. The easiest way to set up a React project is to use the Create React App approach that is described in the Get Started with KendoReact article.

Installing the Conversational UI Package

All KendoReact packages are distributed through npm and offer a similar installation experience. To use the Chat component, start with the installation of the Conversational UI npm package and its dependencies. Use Node.js v5.0.0 or later.

npm i @progress/kendo-react-conversational-ui

Importing the Component

After installing the package, import the Chat component in the React App. To enable the sending of messages, also import the Message entity and the ChatMessageSendEvent.

In the src/App.js file of your React project, import the Chat component from the Conversational UI package.

jsx

// ES2015 module syntax
import { Chat } from "@progress/kendo-react-conversational-ui";

jsx

// CommonJS format
const { Chat } = require('@progress/kendo-react-conversational-ui');

Using the Component

Add the required Chat entities: a user, bot, and initialMessages.

jsx

const user = {
    id: 1,
    avatarUrl: (import.meta.env.VITE_REACT_DEMOS_BASE_URL || '') + 'assets/dropdowns/contacts/RICSU.jpg',
    avatarAltText: 'KendoReact Conversational UI RICSU'
};

const bot = { id: 0 };

const initialMessages = [
    {
        author: bot,
        timestamp: new Date(),
        text: 'Hello, This is the KendoReact Chat component.'
    }
];

For more information about the available entities and binding them to data, see the Data Binding article.

Set the component messages and configure the updating of the messages collection in the state.

jsx

const App = () => {
  const [messages, setMessages] = React.useState(initialMessages);

  const addNewMessage = (event) => {
    setMessages([...messages, event.message]);
  };
  ...

Add the component's markup to the src/App.js file in your project and set the user, messages, and the adding of messages. Optionally, configure a placeholder text and the width of the Chat component.

jsx

return (
    <div>
        <Chat
            user={user}
            messages={messages}
            onMessageSend={addNewMessage}
            placeholder={'Type a message...'}
            width={400}
        />
    </div>
);

To style the Chat, install and import the Default theme, which is one of the three beautiful themes for KendoReact.

2.1. Install the Default theme package.
sh
```
npm i @progress/kendo-theme-default
```
2.2. Import the CSS file from the package in src/App.js. Add this import before your existing App.css import.
jsx
```
import '@progress/kendo-theme-default/dist/all.css';
```
Build and run the application by typing the following command in the root folder of your project:
sh
```
npm start
```
Navigate to http://localhost:3000 to see the KendoReact Chat component on the page.

Activating Your License Key

Using any of the UI components in the KendoReact library requires either a commercial license key or an active trial license key.

Follow the instructions on the KendoReact My License page to activate your trial or commercial license. You can skip this step if your application already contains a KendoReact license file.

Dependencies

The Conversational UI package requires you to install the following peer dependencies in your application:

Package Name	Description
react 16.8.2*	Contains the functionality necessary to define React components.
react-dom	Contains the React renderer for the web.
@progress/kendo-licensing	Contains the internal infrastructure related to licensing.
@progress/kendo-react-buttons	Contains the KendoReact Buttons components.
@progress/kendo-react-intl	Contains the KendoReact Internationalization package that applies the desired cultures by providing services and pipes for the parsing and formatting of dates and numbers.
@progress/kendo-svg-icons	Contains the KendoReact SVG icons.