Getting Started iOS

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

Requirements

• Unity 5.5.0 and above.
• Xcode 10.0 and above.
• Supported iOS versions:
  • iOS 12, 11, 10 and 9.3 and above

Download Helpshift Unity SDK for iOS

Download SDK v4.1.0

The .unitypackage file contains:

Add Helpshift to your Unity project

1. Import the helpshift-plugin-unity-version.unitypackage unitypackage file into your Unity game.
2. Delesect libHelpshift-bitcode.a file while importing the unitypackage.

Using Helpshift with Bitcode support

If you want to compile your Unity iOS project with bitcode enabled, please follow the below instructions.

1. Deselect the libHelpshift.a file when importing the Helpshift unity package.
2. Select the libHelpshift-bitcode.a file.
3. Once import is complete, rename the libHelpshift-bitcode.a to libHelpshift.a.

Issues with iOS 8 and CoreSpotlight

If you are facing crash issues with the new Unity plugin on iOS 8 devices due to the missing CoreSpotlight framework, please mark the framework as Optional by doing the following.

Open Helpshift/Editor/HSPostprocessBuildPlayerfile and replace the line

    project.add_file_if_doesnt_exist('System/Library/Frameworks/CoreSpotlight.framework', tree='SDKROOT', parent=framework_group)

with

    project.add_file_if_doesnt_exist('System/Library/Frameworks/CoreSpotlight.framework', tree='SDKROOT', parent=framework_group, weak=True)

Initializing Helpshift in your app

Helpshift's namespace

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

using Helpshift;

Helpshift can be used to support all the apps you publish. We uniquely identify each app that is registered with Helpshift using the combination of:

To get the API Key, Domain Name and the App ID, navigate to Settings>SDK (for Developers) in your agent dashboard and scroll down to "Initializing Helpshift" section. show me

Select your App from the dropdown and copy the three tokens to be passed when initializing Helpshift.

Install Helpshift via ObjC

From Unity version 2.3.0 it is mandatory to integrate HsUnityAppcontroller.mm file into your Xcode project. This file contains a helper class HelpshiftUnityInstaller that provides a way to make install call by reading Api Key, Domain Name, App ID and other install configurations directly from GUI inspector.

You can set the required keys and install configurations in the GUI configuration editor, override application:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions in HsUnityAppcontroller and call the installDefault function as shown below.

#import "HelpshiftCore.h"
#import "HelpshiftSupport.h"
#import "Helpshift.h"
.
.
- (BOOL) application:(UIApplication *)application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions {
    BOOL defaultConfigInstall = [HelpshiftUnityInstaller installDefault];
    if (defaultConfigInstall == NO) {
        // Default config is not set correctly. If you intend to use default configuration, please check api key, app id and
        // domain name are set correctly in the default config.
    }

    return [super application:application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:launchOptions];
}

Alternatively, if you don't use GUI configuration editor, you can specify Api Key, Domain Name, App 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 "HelpshiftCore.h"
#import "HelpshiftSupport.h"
#import "Helpshift.h"
.
.
- (BOOL) application:(UIApplication *)application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions {
    // Set install configurations
    NSDictionary *installConfig = @{@"unityGameObject":@"background_image", @"enableInAppNotification":@"yes"};

    // Make install call
    [HelpshiftCore initializeWithProvider:[HelpshiftSupport sharedInstance]];
    [HelpshiftCore installForApiKey:@"<your_api_key>" domainName:@"<your_domain_name>.helpshift.com" appID:@"<your_app_id>" withOptions:installConfig];

    return [super application:application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:launchOptions];
}

Install Helpshift via CSharp

using Helpshift;
.
.
.
private HelpshiftSdk help;

help = HelpshiftSdk.getInstance();
help.install("<API_KEY>", "<DOMAIN_NAME>", "<APP_ID>");

Required UIApplicationDelegate functions

For its internal functioning, Helpshift needs to override below mentioned functions of UIApplicationDelegate protocol. The class HsUnityAppController overrides these functions as required. These methods are called by external iOS services and expect the application to call completionHandler(). By default, UnityAppController class does not implement these functions. If you require any of these functions or other features of your app, you must override these functions, comment out or remove default completionHandler() call and provide your own implementation as per your requirements.

- (void) application:(UIApplication *)application handleEventsForBackgroundURLSession:(NSString *)identifier completionHandler:(void (^)())completionHandler {
    if (![HelpshiftCore handleEventsForBackgroundURLSession:identifier completionHandler:completionHandler]) {
        // Handle events for background url session. Once you have implemented this function in UnityAppController, uncomment
        // the code below and comment the call completionHandler();

        //[super application:application handleEventsForBackgroundURLSession:identifier completionHandler:completionHandler];
        completionHandler();
    }
}

- (void) application:(UIApplication *)application handleActionWithIdentifier:(NSString *)identifier forRemoteNotification:(NSDictionary *)userInfo completionHandler:(void (^)())completionHandler {

    if (![HelpshiftCore handleInteractiveRemoteNotification:userInfo forAction:identifier completionHandler:completionHandler]) {

        // Handle action with identifier. Once you have implemented this function in UnityAppController, uncomment
        // the code below and comment the call completionHandler();

        //[super application:application handleActionWithIdentifier:identifier forRemoteNotification:userInfo completionHandler:completionHandler];
        completionHandler();
    }
}

- (void) application:(UIApplication *)application handleActionWithIdentifier:(NSString *)identifier forLocalNotification:(UILocalNotification *)notification completionHandler:(void (^)())completionHandler {
    if(![HelpshiftCore handleInteractiveLocalNotification:notification forAction:identifier completionHandler:completionHandler]) {
        // Handle action with identifier. Once you have implemented this function in UnityAppController, uncomment
        // the code below and comment the call completionHandler();

        //[super application:application handleActionWithIdentifier:identifier forLocalNotification:notification completionHandler:completionHandler];
        completionHandler();
    }
}

Start using Helpshift

Helpshift is now integrated in your app. You should now use the support APIs to present FAQ or conversation screens inside your app.

Run your app, and try starting a test conversation using the showConversation API call. Then goto your Helpshift agent dashboard and reply to experience the in-app messaging.

Sample usage for FAQs and conversation APIs:

public class MyGameControl : MonoBehaviour
{
    private HelpshiftSdk help;

    void Start () {
        this.help = HelpshiftSdk.getInstance();
    }

    void onGUI () {
        ...
        Dictionary<string, object> configMap = new Dictionary<string, object>();

        // Presenting FAQs to your customers
        if (MenuButton (helpButton))
        {
            help.showFAQs(configMap);
        }

        // Starting a conversation with your customers
        if (MenuButton (contactButton))
        {
            help.showConversation(configMap);
        }
    }
}

Configuring the Helpshift SDK

We have now added a Helpshift Configurator for Unity which can help app developers configure the various flags which are generally passed via the config option in all Helpshift APIs. Once you import the helpshift unitypackage, you will see a Helpshift menu in the Unity Editor

From the Helpshift menu, you can launch the Configurator by click on Edit Config. This will open up a GUI inspector which will contain all the available flag options.

Install keys

You can supply the ApiKey, DomainName and AppId through the Configurator. ApiKeys and DomainName remain the same for Android and iOS apps. AppIds are different for different platforms If you want to use the values supplied through the configurator, please use [HelpshiftUnityInstaller installDefault] as explained above in Install Helpshift via ObjC or you may use HelpshiftSdk.install() call and do not pass in any argument. Both of these methods pick instal time configurations from the Configurator.

Install configurations

There are some configurations which are meant to be passed via the install call which configure the instance of Helpshift running in the application.

1. unityGameObject Name of the Game object which will respond to Helpshift's callbacks.
2. enableInAppNotifications Whether you want to enable in-app notifications for updates to on-going conversations.

SDK configurations

The Helpshift SDK accepts multiple flags which govern the behaviour of the individual Helpshift screens. If you want to use the SDK configurations via the Configurator, please use the HelpshiftSdk APIs without any arguments, or use the *WithMeta variety if you want to pass in some custom meta-data.

For example :

using Helpshift;
.
.
.
.
private HelpshiftSdk help;
void foo () {
  help = HelpshiftSdk.getInstance();
  // Show FAQs with config from GUI and no meta-data
  help.showFAQs();
  // Show FAQs with config from GUI and meta-data
  Dictionary <string, object> meta = new Dictionary <string, object>();
  ...
  ...
  help.showFAQsWithMeta(meta);
}

Next up