Building fails for ios and android. Need better installation guide.

[AlexAndrei98]

It is not clear from the readme what the steps are to use this library.
Doing an npm install is not sufficient for our app. I do not have an ios nor an android folder in my react native app. How do I go about installing the native dependencies?
I am using expo to build the app.

[AlexAndrei98]

this is what I get for my ios 13 emulator

Alexandrus-MBP:roots-react-native alex$ expo run:ios
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                                                                         │
│   There is a new version of expo-cli available (6.0.8).                 │
│   You are currently using expo-cli 6.0.5                                │
│   Install expo-cli globally using the package manager of your choice;   │
│   for example: `npm install -g expo-cli` to get the latest version      │
│                                                                         │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

This command is being executed with the global Expo CLI. Learn more.
To use the local CLI instead (recommended in SDK 46 and higher), run:
› npx expo run:ios

⚠️  Something went wrong running `pod install` in the `ios` directory.
Command `pod install` failed.
└─ Cause: Unable to find a specification for `DidcommSDK` depended upon by `didcomm-react-native`

You have either:
 * mistyped the name or version.
 * not added the source repo that hosts the Podspec to your Podfile.

[AlexAndrei98]

this is what I get when I try to build for android

Alexandrus-MBP:roots-react-native alex$ expo run:android
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                                                                         │
│   There is a new version of expo-cli available (6.0.8).                 │
│   You are currently using expo-cli 6.0.5                                │
│   Install expo-cli globally using the package manager of your choice;   │
│   for example: `npm install -g expo-cli` to get the latest version      │
│                                                                         │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

This command is being executed with the global Expo CLI. Learn more.
To use the local CLI instead (recommended in SDK 46 and higher), run:
› npx expo run:android

✔ Created native project | gitignore already synced
✔ Updated package.json and added index.js entry point for iOS and Android
📦 Using npm to install packages.
✔ Cleaned JavaScript dependencies 10092ms
✔ Installed JavaScript dependencies 28862ms
» android: userInterfaceStyle: Install expo-system-ui in your project to enable this feature.
✔ Config synced
› Building app...

[....]

WARNING:Software Components will not be created automatically for Maven publishing from Android Gradle Plugin 8.0. To opt-in to the future behavior, set the Gradle property android.disableAutomaticComponentCreation=true in the `gradle.properties` file or use the new publishing DSL.

FAILURE: Build completed with 2 failures.

1: Task failed with an exception.
-----------
* Where:
Build file '/Users/alex/Projects/rootid/roots-react-native/node_modules/@sicpa_open_source/didcomm-react-native/android/build.gradle' line: 22

* What went wrong:
A problem occurred evaluating project ':sicpa_open_source_didcomm-react-native'.
> Plugin with id 'kotlin-android' not found.

* Try:
> Run with --stacktrace option to get the stack trace.
> Run with --info or --debug option to get more log output.
> Run with --scan to get full insights.
==============================================================================

2: Task failed with an exception.
-----------
* What went wrong:
A problem occurred configuring project ':sicpa_open_source_didcomm-react-native'.
> compileSdkVersion is not specified. Please add it to build.gradle

* Try:
> Run with --stacktrace option to get the stack trace.
> Run with --info or --debug option to get more log output.
> Run with --scan to get full insights.
==============================================================================

[AlexAndrei98]

all I did is
npm install @sicpa_open_source/didcomm-react-native
to https://github.com/roots-id/roots-react-native

[AlexAndrei98]

@dmitry-vychikov do you have any tips on how to link the libraries?

[dmitry-vychikov]

Hi @AlexAndrei98

We haven't tried to use expo for building. We tested only with plain react-native app.
I don't have much experience with expo, but after looking at this doc https://docs.expo.dev/workflow/using-libraries/#determining-third-party-library-compatibility I would say this library is just not compatible with expo.

@dkulic @yvgny
Please prioritise this. It seems we should play around with expo ourselves and see if we can add support for it.

[dkulic]

Hi @AlexAndrei98, unfortunately, we do not have plans to support Expo at least in short term. Do you think it would be possible to contribute?

[AlexAndrei98]

@dkulic I am not familiar with expo modules but I will do some research and let you know! I have tried to build with the react-native cli and I am getting

TypeError: Cannot read property 'getConstants' of null, js engine: hermes
    at App (http://localhost:8081/index.bundle?platform=android&dev=true&minify=false&app=com.rootsdidcommreact&modulesOnly=false&runModule=true:93619:54)
    at RCTView
    at View
    at RCTView
    at View
    at AppContainer (http://localhost:8081/index.bundle?platform=android&dev=true&minify=false&app=com.rootsdidcommreact&modulesOnly=false&runModule=true:85300:36)
    at rootsDidcommReact(RootComponent) (http://localhost:8081/index.bundle?platform=android&dev=true&minify=false&app=com.rootsdidcommreact&modulesOnly=false&runModule=true:89907:28)
 ERROR  TypeError: Cannot read property 'DIDCommResolversProxy' of undefined

Are there any other steps besides npm installing this package? Do I need to change something in the metro.config.js or in the babel.js?

thank you!