Thread management
Updated
Shows how to use the Agora Chat SDK to create and manage threads in your app.
Threads enable users to create a separate conversation from a specific message within a chat group to keep the main chat uncluttered.
The following illustration shows the implementation of creating a thread, a conversation in a thread, and the operations you can perform in a thread.
This page shows how to use the Chat SDK to create and manage threads in your app.
Understand the tech
The Chat SDK provides the ChatManager, ChatMessageThread, ChatMessageEventListener, and ChatMessageThreadEvent classes for thread management, which allow you to implement the following features:
Prerequisites
Before proceeding, ensure that you meet the following requirements:
- You have initialized the Chat SDK. For details, see SDK quickstart.
- You understand the call frequency limit of the Chat APIs supported by different pricing plans as described in Limitations.
The thread feature is supported by all types of Pricing Plans and is enabled by default once you have enabled Chat in Agora Console.
Implementation
This section describes how to call the APIs provided by the Chat SDK to implement thread features.
Create a thread
All chat group members can call createChatThread to create a thread from a specific message in a chat group.
Once a thread is created in a chat group, all chat group members receive the ChatMessageEventListener#onChatMessageThreadCreated callback. In a multi-device use-case, all the other devices receive the ChatMultiDeviceEventListener#onThreadEvent callback triggered by the THREAD_CREATE event.
The following sample code shows how to create a thread in a chat group:
// name: The name of a thread. The maximum length of a thread name is 64 characters.
// msgId: The ID of a message, from which a thread is created.
// parentId: The ID of a chat group where a thread resides.
ChatClient.getInstance()
.chatManager.createChatThread(name, msgId, parentId)
.then((result) => {
console.log("success: ", result);
})
.catch((error) => {
console.log("fail: ", error);
});Destroy a thread
Only the chat group owner and admins can call destroyChatThread to disband a thread in a chat group.
Once a thread is disbanded, all chat group members receive the ChatMessageEventListener#onChatMessageThreadDestroyed callback. In a multi-device use-case, all the other devices receive the ChatMultiDeviceEventListener#onThreadEvent callback triggered by the THREAD_DESTROY event.
Once a thread is destroyed or the chat group where a thread resides is destroyed, all data of the thread is deleted from the local database and memory.
The following sample code shows how to destroy a thread:
// chatThreadID: The ID of a thread.
ChatClient.getInstance()
.chatManager.destroyChatThread(chatThreadID)
.then((result) => {
console.log("success: ", result);
})
.catch((error) => {
console.log("fail: ", error);
});Join a thread
All chat group members can refer to the following steps to join a thread:
- Use either of the following two approaches to retrieve the thread ID:
- Retrieve the thread list in a chat group by calling
fetchChatThreadWithParentFromServer, and locate the ID of the thread that you want to join. - Retrieve the thread ID within the
ChatMessageEventListener#onChatMessageThreadCreatedandChatMessageEventListener#onChatMessageThreadUpdatedcallbacks that you receive.
- Call
joinChatThreadto pass in the thread ID and join the specified thread.
In a multi-device use-case, all the other devices receive the ChatMultiDeviceEventListener#onThreadEvent callback triggered by the THREAD_JOIN event.
The following sample code shows how to join a thread:
// chatThreadID: The ID of a thread.
ChatClient.getInstance()
.chatManager.joinChatThread(chatThreadID)
.then((result) => {
console.log("success: ", result);
})
.catch((error) => {
console.log("fail: ", error);
});Leave a thread
All thread members can call leaveChatThread to leave a thread. Once a member leaves a thread, they can no longer receive the thread messages.
In a multi-device use-case, all the other devices receive the ChatMultiDeviceEventListener#onThreadEvent callback triggered by the THREAD_LEAVE event.
The following sample code shows how to leave a thread:
// chatThreadID: The ID of a thread.
ChatClient.getInstance()
.chatManager.leaveChatThread(chatThreadID)
.then((result) => {
console.log("success: ", result);
})
.catch((error) => {
console.log("fail: ", error);
});Remove a member from a thread
Only the chat group owner and admins can call removeMemberWithChatThread to remove the specified member from a thread.
Once a member is removed from a thread, they receive the ChatMessageEventListener#onUserRemoved callback and can no longer receive the thread messages. In a multi-device use-case, all the other devices receive the ChatMultiDeviceEventListener#onThreadEvent callback triggered by the THREAD_KICK event.
The following sample code shows how to remove a member from a thread:
// chatThreadID: The ID of a thread.
// member: The ID of the user to be removed from a thread.
ChatClient.getInstance()
.chatManager.removeMemberWithChatThread(chatThreadID, memberId)
.then((result) => {
console.log("success: ", result);
})
.catch((error) => {
console.log("fail: ", error);
});Update the name of a thread
Only the chat group owner, chat group admins, and thread creator can call updateChatThreadName to update a thread name.
Once a thread name is updated, all chat group members receive the ChatMessageEventListener#onChatMessageThreadUpdated callback. In a multi-device use-case, all the other devices receive the ChatMultiDeviceEventListener#onThreadEvent callback triggered by the THREAD_UPDATE event.
The following sample code shows how to update a thread name:
// chatThreadID: The ID of a thread.
// newChatThreadName: The updated thread name. The maximum length of a thread name is 64 characters.
ChatClient.getInstance()
.chatManager.updateChatThreadName(chatThreadID, newName)
.then((result) => {
console.log("success: ", result);
})
.catch((error) => {
console.log("fail: ", error);
});Retrieve the attributes of a thread
All chat group members can call fetchChatThreadFromServer to retrieve the thread attributes from the server.
The following sample code shows how to retrieve the thread attributes:
// chatThreadID: The ID of a thread.
ChatClient.getInstance()
.chatManager.fetchChatThreadFromServer(chatThreadID)
.then((result) => {
console.log("success: ", result);
})
.catch((error) => {
console.log("fail: ", error);
});Retrieve the member list of a thread
All chat group members can call fetchMembersWithChatThreadFromServer to retrieve a paginated member list of a thread from the server, as shown in the following sample code:
// chatThreadId: The ID of a thread.
// pageSize: The maximum number of members to retrieve per page. The range is [1, 50].
// cursor: The position from which to start getting data. Pass in `null` or an empty string at the first call.
ChatClient.getInstance()
.chatManager.fetchMembersWithChatThreadFromServer(
chatThreadID,
cursor,
pageSize
)
.then((result) => {
console.log("success: ", result);
})
.catch((error) => {
console.log("fail: ", error);
});Retrieve a thread list
Users can call fetchJoinedChatThreadFromServer to retrieve a paginated list from the server of all the threads they have joined, as shown in the following sample code:
// pageSize: The maximum number of threads to retrieve per page. The range is [1, 50].
// cursor: The position from which to start getting data. Pass in `null` or an empty string at the first call.
ChatClient.getInstance()
.chatManager.fetchJoinedChatThreadFromServer(cursor, pageSize)
.then((result) => {
console.log("success: ", result);
})
.catch((error) => {
console.log("fail: ", error);
});Users can call fetchJoinedChatThreadWithParentFromServer to retrieve a paginated list from the server of all the threads they have joined in a specified chat group, as shown in the following sample code:
// parentId: The chat group ID.
// pageSize: The maximum number of threads to retrieve per page. The range is [1, 50].
// cursor: The position from which to start getting data. Pass in `null` or an empty string at the first call.
ChatClient.getInstance()
.chatManager.fetchJoinedChatThreadWithParentFromServer(
parentId,
cursor,
pageSize
)
.then((result) => {
console.log("success: ", result);
})
.catch((error) => {
console.log("fail: ", error);
});Users can also call fetchChatThreadWithParentFromServer to retrieve a paginated list from the server of all the threads in a specified chat group, as shown in the following sample code:
// parentId: The chat group ID.
// pageSize: The maximum number of threads to retrieve per page. The range is [1, 50].
// cursor: The position from which to start getting data. Pass in `null` or an empty string at the first call.
ChatClient.getInstance()
.chatManager.fetchChatThreadWithParentFromServer(parentId, cursor, pageSize)
.then((result) => {
console.log("success: ", result);
})
.catch((error) => {
console.log("fail: ", error);
});Retrieve the latest message from multiple threads
Users can call fetchLastMessageWithChatThread to retrieve the latest message from multiple threads.
The following sample code shows how to retrieve the latest message from multiple threads:
// chatThreadIDs: The thread IDs. You can pass in a maximum of 20 thread IDs at each call.
ChatClient.getInstance()
.chatManager.fetchLastMessageWithChatThread(chatThreadIDs)
.then((result) => {
console.log("success: ", result);
})
.catch((error) => {
console.log("fail: ", error);
});Listen for thread events
To monitor thread events, users can listen for the callbacks in the ChatManager class and add app logics accordingly. If a user wants to stop listening for the callbacks, make sure that the user removes the listener to prevent memory leakage.
Refer to the following sample code to listen for thread events:
// Inherits and implements ChatMessageEventListener.
class ChatMessageEvent implements ChatMessageEventListener {
// Occurs when a thread is created.
onChatMessageThreadCreated(msgThread:
ChatMessageThreadEvent): void {
console.log(`onChatMessageThreadCreated: `, msgThread);
}
// Occurs when a thread has a new message, a thread name is updated, or a thread message is recalled.
onChatMessageThreadUpdated(msgThread: ChatMessageThreadEvent): void {
console.log(`onChatMessageThreadUpdated: `, msgThread);
}
// Occurs when a thread is destroyed.
onChatMessageThreadDestroyed(msgThread: ChatMessageThreadEvent): void {
console.log(`onChatMessageThreadDestroyed: `, msgThread);
}
// Occurs when a member is removed from a thread.
onChatMessageThreadUserRemoved(msgThread: ChatMessageThreadEvent): void {
console.log(`onChatMessageThreadUserRemoved: `, msgThread);
}
}
const listener = new ChatMessageEvent();
// Adds the message listener.
ChatClient.getInstance().chatManager.addMessageListener(listener);
// Removes the message listener.
ChatClient.getInstance().chatManager.removeMessageListener(listener);
// Removes all the message listeners.
ChatClient.getInstance().chatManager.removeAllMessageListener();