GSOC 2022 Report - React Native SDK for Jitsi-Meet
Over the last four months I had the chance to contribute to Jitsi Meet. A popular feature of Jitsi is their offering of SDKs for React, iOS and Android which enables developers to embed a video conferencing feature in their apps including the complete capability of the Jitsi Meet app. As React-Native has become a big part of the mobile app development community and they missed a way to include Jitsi in their React-Native apps, the project idea got published on the GSOC ideas board.
Project scope
After clarifying what the SDK needed to have with the community I proposed a React Native SDK that would expose React Native components with a similar functionality of the already known Jitsi Meet Native SDK classes. Interestingly enough, these Native SDKs are already utilising a React Native Component at their core that exposes Jitsi’s functionality for native mobile apps. Consequently, it was not necessary to rewrite all functionalities in React from scratch. After getting a great walkthrough from my mentors Saúl and Titus we decided to create a SDK Component that would expose those exisiting components.
Contributions
Pull Requests
Merged
- fix(prejoin) rename Prejoin.js to Prejoin.web.js
- fix(ios) use the RN logger in RN modules
- fix(helpers) move copyText function to web.js file
Open
- ref(remove ReactInstanceHolder from AudioModule)
- feat(rnsdk) Create initial directory for React Native SDK (Main PR for the project)
Example repository
Open Tasks
- ToDos that were too tricky to solve in time
- Add documentation to Jitsi Handbook
- React Native SDK tests for CI Pipeline
The open tasks that don’t require a bigger reformating effort on Android side will be handled by me after the end of the GSOC project.
Learnings and Conclusion
I remember the overwhelming feeling of being confronted with this huge codebase for the first time. Even with a clear project scope at hand it is hard to find an entry point. While nobody can or should skip the work of going through the code layer for layer, having a direct channel to Saúl and Titus anytime of the day was invaluable to the project’s success. So if you are reading this because you want to apply for a future GSOC project, don’t be afraid to reach out to the community forum or the Github issues page to get a better understanding! Working on this project really helped me become a better programmer. But what’s more important: It helped me understand the immense value that open source has and that being a open source contributor is fun! That being said thank you Saúl and Titus for teaching me so much!