Before you begin

1. Visit our Key Concepts page to get an overall understanding of the most important QuickBlox concepts.
2. Register a QuickBlox account. This is a matter of a few minutes and you will be able to use this account to build your apps.
3. Configure QuickBlox SDK for your app. Check out our Setup page for more details.
4. Create a user session to be able to use QuickBlox functionality. See our Authentication page to learn how to do it.
5. Connect to the Chat server. See our Connection page to learn how to do it.

Dialog types

All chats between users are organized in dialogs. There are 3 types of dialogs:

• private dialog - a dialog between 2 users.
• group dialog - a dialog between the specified list of users.
• public dialog - an open dialog. Any user from your app can be joined to it.

You need to create a new dialog and then use it to chat with other users. You also can obtain a list of your existing dialogs.

Create dialog

To create a private dialog, you need to set the QBChatDialogTypes.CHAT dialog type and ID of an opponent you want to create a chat with.

try {
  QBDialog createdDialog = await QB.chat.createDialog(
    [234234324, 3243243],    
    "Private Chat", 
    dialogType: QBChatDialogTypes.CHAT);
} on PlatformException catch (e) {
  // Some error occured, look at the exception message for more details
}

To create a group dialog for a predefined number of occupants, you need to set the QBChatDialogTypes.GROUP_CHAT dialog type and IDs of opponents you want to create a chat with.

try {
  QBDialog createdDialog = await QB.chat.createDialog(
    [234234324, 3243243],
    "Group Chat", 
    dialogType: QBChatDialogTypes.GROUP_CHAT);
} on PlatformException catch (e) {
  // Some error occured, look at the exception message for more details
}

It's possible to create a public dialog, so any user from your application can be joined to it. There is no list of occupants. This dialog is open for everybody. You need to set the QBChatDialogTypes.PUBLIC_CHAT dialog type to create a public dialog.

try {
  QBDialog createdDialog = await QB.chat.createDialog(
    [234234324, 3243243],
    "Public Chat", 
    dialogType: QBChatDialogTypes.PUBLIC_CHAT);
} on PlatformException catch (e) {
  // Some error occured, look at the exception message for more details
}

Join dialog

Before you start chatting in a group or public dialog, you need to join it by calling the joinDialog() method. If you've successfully joined the dialog, you can send/receive messages in real-time. See this section to learn how to send/receive messages.

try {
   await QB.chat.joinDialog(dialogId);
} on PlatformException catch (e) {
  // Some error occured, look at the exception message for more details
}

Let's see, how the joinDialog() method is used with regard to the dialog type.

📘

You can join a group dialog only if your user ID is present in the occupantIDs array, in the dialog model.

Your user ID is added to the occupantIDs array if you create a dialog or you are added to the dialog by the other user. See this section to learn how to add/remove occupants from the group dialog.

Leave dialog

You can leave the group and public dialog by calling the leaveDialog() method. If the dialog is left, you can't send/receive messages. To be able to receive/send messages, you need to join it.

try {
  await QB.chat.leaveDialog(dialogId);
} on PlatformException catch (e) {
  // Some error occured, look at the exception message for more details
}

📘

When a group dialog is left, your user ID is removed occupantIDs array, in the dialog model. As a result, the dialog is removed from the list of dialogs and you won't have access to the chat history.

To remove a dialog for all users, use the deleteDialog() method. See this section to learn how to delete the dialog completely for all users.

Retrieve list of dialogs

It's common to request all your dialogs on every app login. The request below will return all your private, group, and public dialogs you participate in.

try {
  List<QBDialog> dialogs = await QB.chat.getDialogs(
    sort: qbSort, 
    filter: qbFilter, 
    limit: limit, 
    skip: skip);
} on PlatformException catch (e) {
  // Some error occured, look at the exception message for more details
}

Filters

If you want to retrieve only dialogs updated after some specific date time, you can pass the filter. This is useful if you cache dialogs somehow and do not want to obtain the whole list of your dialogs on every app start.

You can apply filters for the following fields:

• _id (string)
• type (integer)
• name (string)
• last_message_date_sent (integer)
• created_at (date)
• updated_at (date)

You can apply sort for the following fields:

• last_message_date_sent

Search operators

Here are the search operators that you can use to retrieve dialogs.

Update dialog

You can update the information for a private, group, and public dialog.

try {
  QBDialog updatedDialog = await QB.chat.updateDialog(
    dialogId, 
    dialogName: dialogName);
} on PlatformException catch (e) {
  // Some error occured, look at the exception message for more details
}

Let's see what capabilities a particular user role has with regard to the dialog type.

Add/Remove occupant

You can add/remove occupants in a group dialog. Set the addUsers parameter to add occupants to the dialog. Set the removeUsers parameter to remove occupants from the dialog. As a result, the ID of the opponent will be added to the oppupantIDs array or removed from it.

try {
  QBDialog updatedDialog = await QB.chat.updateDialog(
    dialogId,
    addUsers: addUsers, 
    removeUsers: removeUsers);
} on PlatformException catch (e) {
  // Some error occured, look at the exception message for more details
}

Let's see what capabilities a particular user role has with regard to the dialog type.

Delete dialog

Delete a dialog for all users using the request below. When deleting a group dialog, all user IDs will be removed from the oppupantIDs array in the dialog model. You can also delete multiple dialogs in a single request.

To delete a dialog for yourself, just leave the dialog. See this section for more information.

try {
  await QB.chat.deleteDialog(dialogId);
} on PlatformException catch (e) {
  // Some error occured, look at the exception message for more details
}

Let's see what capabilities a particular user role has with regard to the dialog type.