Upgrade to v2.23.0 or above

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This article provides general instructions and precautions when you upgrade the Express Flutter SDK version to 2.23.0 or above.

Changes

To support developers in implementing the video rendering feature, the ZegoExpressTextureRenderUtils and ZegoExpressPlatformViewUtils API modules have been removed since v2.23.0.

When upgrading from an old version to v2.23.0, developers need to migrate to the new ZegoExpressCanvasViewUtils API module to implement the video rendering feature.

The new ZegoExpressCanvasViewUtils API module supports both External Texture and PlatformView rendering methods.

Reason

The Express Flutter SDK supports two rendering methods: External Texture and PlatformView

Prior to v2.22.0, the two rendering methods correspond to two sets of APIs. Since Flutter only supports one of the rendering methods on some platforms, developers need to determine which set of APIs can be used in the corresponding platform.

• External Texture：ZegoExpressTextureRenderUtils
  • createTextureRenderer
  • destroyTextureRenderer
  • updateTextureRendererSize
• PlatformView：ZegoExpressPlatformViewUtils
  • createPlatformView
  • destroyPlatformView

To reduce the cost of use for developers, a new set of APIs is launched in the v2.22.0 version:

• ZegoExpressCanvasViewUtils
  • createCanvasView
  • destroyCanvasView

This set of APIs eliminates the differences associated with the use of the previous two rendering methods and supports both External Texture and PlatformView rendering methods.

• For platforms that support both rendering methods, the use of PlatformView or External Texture is determined according to the enablePlatformView parameter when createEngineWithProfile is called.

• For platforms that only support one of the rendering methods, the supported rendering method is used by default, and the enablePlatformView parameter will be ignored. The behavior mode of the enablePlatformView parameter is preference instead of specify.

The SDK v2.23.0 or above supports macOS and Windows. The following rendering methods and platforms are supported by the current version:

To support CanvasView, the implementation of the video rendering function is refactored. While this improves performance, it also destroys the original ZegoExpressTextureRenderUtils behavior (view mode abnormal).

To ensure a good user experience, we decided to delete the ZegoExpressTextureRenderUtils and ZegoExpressPlatformViewUtils API modules.

Developers should migrate to the new ZegoExpressCanvasViewUtils API module, and take note of the following API changes:

Sample

You can refer to the following sample code or example demo for migration.

v2.22.0 and below

• External Texture

// TextureRenderer

late int _viewID;
Widget? _viewWidget;

void start() {
  ZegoExpressEngine.instance.createTextureRenderer(width, height).then((viewID) {
    _viewID = viewID;
    setState(() {
      _viewWidget = Texture(textureId: viewID)
    });
    ZegoCanvas canvas = ZegoCanvas.view(viewID);
    // Call [startPreview] or [startPlayingStream]
    // ......
  });
}

void stop() {
  // Call [stopPreview] or [stopPlayingStream]
  // ......
  ZegoExpressEngine.instance.destroyTextureRenderer(_viewID);
}

• PlatformView

// PlatformView

late int _viewID;
Widget? _viewWidget;

void start() {
  setState(() {
    _viewWidget = ZegoExpressEngine.instance.createPlatformView((viewID) {
      _viewID = viewID;
      ZegoCanvas canvas = ZegoCanvas.view(viewID);
      // Call [startPreview] or [startPlayingStream]
      // ......
    });
  });
}

void stop() {
  // Call [stopPreview] or [stopPlayingStream]
  // ......
  ZegoExpressEngine.instance.destroyPlatformView(_viewID);
}

v2.23.0 or above

// CanvasView

late int _viewID;
Widget? _viewWidget;

void start() {
  ZegoExpressEngine.instance.createCanvasView((viewID) {
    _viewID = viewID;
    // Call [startPreview] or [startPlayingStream]
    // ......
  }).then((widget) {
    setState(() {
      _viewWidget = widget;
    });
  });
}

void stop() {
  // Call [stopPreview] or [stopPlayingStream]
  // ......
  ZegoExpressEngine.instance.destroyCanvasView(_viewID);
}