Build a Self-Destructing Messaging App

Yeah in the opening video (or as they call it "trailer") it only said something about sending pictures and short videos. Maybe the text feature is already there as you work along with it..idk. The Wordpress is going fine, I'm working on an ecommerce website and a blog, I havent started the ecommerce website yet, but I have all the props for it. The blog I'm still working on is going pretty well, not gonna give it away yet though. The ruby n rails project went pretty well too, idk maybe someday I'll take what I've learned from that and make my own social network. Thanks for asking!

Ok thanks, btw, when exactly will the self destructing messaging app project come out for Android, I know it says Fall, but what month during fall? So in the mean time I can focus on the basic android corses.

Good advice from Amit! We thought about adding text functionality, but it's quite trivial after you see how to send photos and videos. If you are not able to figure out how to do text after completing the app then I have failed you as a teacher!

I am about to start the Android course as I'm finishing up the final two stages for this project. I don't have a timeline yet but will add details to the Roadmap as I know more. I hope to pump it out more quickly than the iOS version, so stay tuned!

What then why didn't you add the text functionality then? How is it a "messaging app" if you can't even message each others. Just photos and videos does not make it a self destructing "messaging app" the text functionality does, the photos n videos is just a side feature. And obviously I wouldn't be able to figure out how to do text after completing the app, that's why I'm here on treehouse, it's your job to teach us.

Could you please show us how to add the text functionality to the android self destructing messaging app? Because how else would it be a messaging app then, and like I said, I wouldn't be able to figure it out once I complete the app just as u said, it is the very reason why I joined treehouse, so I could learn how to do that...

Thank you!

I see I'm catching you on multiple threads in the Forum tonight! :)

I didn't add text because it would have been a bit more time on an already long project. If you make it through the whole project then hopefully you will see how it could be added to the app, but let's go over it at a high-level. I'll assume you are familiar with the whole project, but do feel free to post follow-up questions!

We saw how to add data to messages, like the sender name. We would use the same methods and steps to add any text data (not just names). So we can copy that code to send, store, and retrieve text data on Parse.

So that means we just need to capture the text data somehow. This is an "advanced" project, so hopefully you are familiar with capturing text data using a UITextView. We are doing that in the Login and Sign Up screens, actually, so there's another example!

So to add this functionality, you could:

1. Add a 4th tab for text messages.
2. On that 4th tab, add a UITextView to collect text as an NSString and a button to send the message.
3. Have that "Send" button hook into the same "Choose Recipients" screen that we use for the photo or video messages.
4. Upload the message in exactly the same was as photos and videos, except leave out the PFFile stuff and add a new field on Parse for text data. Also give it a new "fileType" (maybe "none"?) to indicate text.
5. When retrieving messages, add a check for this new fileType. Add a screen or some other way to display the text message.

Hope this helps, and hope you enjoy the rest of the project!