Customization

Customizing UIKit v4 with config file.

In Social Plus UIKit 4.0, customization is a pivotal aspect, allowing for extensive personalization across UI elements, components, and pages. Understanding the hierarchy and role of each of these entities is crucial for effectively utilizing the UIKit's capabilities.

Understanding Elements, Components, and Pages

UI Elements:

• Definition: The fundamental building blocks of the user interface.

• Characteristics: Atomic views constitute the most basic UI elements, offering essential interactivity and visual elements but often requiring additional structure to fulfill complete business use cases​​.

• Example: A button or an individual text field.

Components:

• Definition: Combinations of UI elements that serve a specific function.

• Types: Divided into Presentational and Controller components.

  • Presentational Components: Direct renderers, providing straightforward rendering capabilities. They offer high flexibility and are foundational for Controller components​​.

  • Controller Components: Handle complex logic and are pivotal in supporting various business use cases. For example, FeedList or PostView components​​.

• Customization: Both types of components offer diverse customization opportunities, from visual appearance to functional behavior.

Pages:

• Definition: Represent distinct screens within an application, offering a focused set of content and functionality.

• Role: A page comprises a combination of UI elements and components, providing a holistic user experience. It acts as a container for various components and elements tailored to specific user objectives​​.

• Customization: Pages can be tailored in terms of layout, content, and the interactivity of the components they contain.

Customization Options

Feature Settings:

• Scope: Global level.

• Purpose: Configure business-specific settings.

• Example: Allow or restrict certain types of posts or messages​​.

Theme Settings:

• Scope: Global level.

• Purpose: Define the visual appearance of UI elements uniformly.

• Example: Set primary and secondary colors and font family​​.

Element Customization:

• Scope: Local level, per element.

• Purpose: Configure individual UI elements according to specific requirements.

• Limitation: This does not include customization of internal views of an element​​.

Internal View Customization:

• Scope: Local level, specific to Controller components.

• Purpose: Customize internal views within Controller components.

• Example: Altering cells within ConversationList or modifying views in PostView​​.

Event-Driven API and Navigation Management

• Event-Driven API: Allows for maximum adaptability in crafting user journeys, particularly suited for simpler UI scenarios like standalone views​​.

• UIKit Managed Navigation: For more complex UI scenarios, such as pages, the framework autonomously manages flow, navigation, and transitions, leveraging common business logic assumptions​​.

Customization Basics