Dialogs

Before you begin

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.
Configure QuickBlox SDK for your app. Check out Setup page for more details.
Create a user session to be able to use QuickBlox functionality. See Authentication page to learn how to do it.
Connect to the Chat server. See Connection page to learn how to do it.

Visit Key Concepts page to learn the most important QuickBlox concepts.

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 dialog type to 3 and ID of an opponent you want to create a chat with.

JavaScript

var params = {
  type: 3,
  occupants_ids: [56]
};

QB.chat.dialog.create(params, function(error, dialog) {});

To create a group dialog for a predefined number of occupants, you need to set the dialog type to 2 and IDs of opponents, you want to create a chat with.

JavaScript

var params = {
  type: 2,
  occupants_ids: [56, 98, 34],
  name: "Hawaii relax team"
  // Photo can be a link to a file in Content module, Custom Objects module or just a web link.
  // photo: ""
};

QB.chat.dialog.create(params, function(error, dialog) {});

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 just need to set the dialog type to 1 and a name for a new dialog.

JavaScript

var params = {
  type: 1,
  name: "Blockchain trends"
  // Photo can be a link to a file in Content module, Custom Objects module or just a web link.
  // photo: ""
};

QB.chat.dialog.create(params, function(error, dialog) {});

Create dialog with custom parameters

A dialog can be extended with additional parameters. These parameters can be used to store additional data. Also, these parameters can be used in dialogs retrieval requests. To start using additional parameters, create an additional schema of your parameters. This is a custom objects class. Just create an empty class with all fields that you need. These fields will be additional parameters in your dialog. See this section to learn how to create a schema using Custom Objects. Then, specify the parameters defined in the schema in a new dialog.

JavaScript

// you should already have created a 'CoolDialog'custom objects class

var params = {
  type: 2,
  name: "My friends",
  data:{
    "class_name":"CoolDialog",
    "category":"friends"
  }
};

QB.chat.dialog.create(params, function(error, dialog) {});

Set the following fields of the params.

Field	Required	Description
type	yes	Dialog type. There tree dialog types:- type: 1 - public dialog.- type: 2 - group dialog.- type: 3 - private dialog.
name	yes	Dialog name.
data	yes	Specifies additional parameters in a new dialog.

Create group dialog with join required

Available since QuickBlox JavaScript SDK v2.19.0. If you use TypeScript, type definitions for is_join_required (including the QBDialogCreateParams type and runtime validation) are available starting from v2.23.0.Prior to server version 2.34.0, all group dialogs required joining. Starting from server version 2.34.0, new applications do not require joining, while existing applications retain the previous behavior. You can change the default in application settings.If is_join_required is explicitly set when creating a dialog, the provided value takes priority over the default in application settings.Most applications do not need this feature. The default behavior where participants can send and receive real-time messages without joining is recommended for most use cases.

When creating a group dialog, you can set the is_join_required parameter to 1 to require participants to explicitly join the dialog before they can send or receive real-time messages. This is only needed when you want to restrict real-time messaging in specific dialogs until participants explicitly join. By default, is_join_required is 0 and participants can message without joining. This parameter applies only to group dialogs (type 2). You can change the default in application settings.

JavaScript

var params = {
  type: 2,
  occupants_ids: [56, 98, 34],
  name: "Hawaii relax team",
  is_join_required: 1
};

QB.chat.dialog.create(params, function(error, dialog) {
  if (error) {
    console.error(error);
  } else {
    var isJoinRequired = dialog.is_join_required;
    console.log("is_join_required:", isJoinRequired);
  }
});

The value of is_join_required must be 0 or 1. Invalid values (e.g., 2, 'yes', -1) are silently ignored and the dialog is created without this parameter, using the default from application settings.

Changing is_join_required via QB.chat.dialog.update() is not supported in the SDK. The parameter can only be set when creating a dialog. To change is_join_required for an existing dialog, use the Server API directly.

Check if join required for group dialog

The is_join_required field is available starting from QuickBlox JavaScript SDK v2.19.0. See Create group dialog with join required for details.

You can get the is_join_required value for any group dialog:

JavaScript

var isJoinRequired = dialog.is_join_required;

Join group dialog

Starting from QuickBlox JavaScript SDK v2.19.0, joining a group dialog is required only when is_join_required is set to 1 for a dialog. See Create group dialog with join required for details.

If is_join_required is set to 1 for a group dialog, you need to join it by calling the join() method before you can send or receive real-time messages. See this section to learn how to send/receive real-time messages. You must join the dialog after every new connection or reconnection. If the connection is lost and then restored, whether manually or automatically, you need to call join() again for each dialog where is_join_required is 1.

JavaScript

var dialogJid = QB.chat.helpers.getRoomJidFromDialogId(dialog._id);
try {
  QB.chat.muc.join(dialogJid, function(error, result) {
    if (error) {
      console.error(error);
    } else {
      // successfully joined
    }
  });
} catch (e) {
  if (e.name === 'ChatNotConnectedError') {
    // not connected to chat
  }
}

Argument	Required	Description
dialogJid	yes	Room JID. JID (Jabber ID) of XMPP room in the XMPP server. Generated automatically by the server after dialog creation. You can get JID from the dialog ID. The JID format is the following: `<app_id>-<dialog_id>@muc.chat.quickblox.com`
function()	yes	Specifies a callback function that accepts an error and result.

You can join a group dialog only if your user ID is present in the occupants_ids array in the dialog model.Your user ID is added to the occupants_ids array if you create a dialog or you are added to the dialog by another user. See this section to learn how to add occupants to the group dialog.

Join public dialog

Before you start chatting in a public dialog, you must join it by calling the join() method. Unlike group dialogs, joining a public dialog is always required. If you’ve successfully joined the dialog, you can send/receive real-time messages. See this section to learn how to send/receive real-time messages. You must join the dialog after every new connection or reconnection. If the connection is lost and then restored, whether manually or automatically, you need to call join() again.

JavaScript

var dialogJid = QB.chat.helpers.getRoomJidFromDialogId(dialog._id);
try {
  QB.chat.muc.join(dialogJid, function(error, result) {
    if (error) {
      console.error(error);
    } else {
      // successfully joined
    }
  });
} catch (e) {
  if (e.name === 'ChatNotConnectedError') {
    // not connected to chat
  }
}

Leave group dialog

You can leave the group dialog by calling the leave() method. After leaving, you will stop receiving real-time messages from this dialog. You need to join the dialog again to resume receiving real-time messages.

Starting from QuickBlox JavaScript SDK v2.19.0, leaving a group dialog is only needed when is_join_required is set to 1. If is_join_required is 0, you do not need to call leave().

JavaScript

var dialogJid = QB.chat.helpers.getRoomJidFromDialogId(dialog._id);
try {
  QB.chat.muc.leave(dialogJid, function(error) {
    if (error) {
      console.error(error);
    }
  });
} catch (e) {
  if (e.name === 'ChatNotConnectedError') {
    // not connected to chat
  }
}

Argument	Required	Description
dialogJid	yes	Room JID. JID (Jabber ID) of XMPP room in the XMPP server. Generated automatically by the server after dialog creation. You can get JID from the dialog ID. The JID format is the following: `<app_id>-<dialog_id>@muc.chat.quickblox.com`
function()	yes	Specifies a callback function that accepts an error.

When you leave a group dialog, your user ID is still present in the occupants_ids array in the dialog model. The dialog will still appear in the list of dialogs and you will still have access to the chat history.To remove yourself from the group dialog, use the update() method. See this section to learn how to remove occupants from the group dialog.

Leave public dialog

You can leave the public dialog by calling the leave() method. After leaving, you will stop receiving real-time messages from this dialog. You need to join the dialog again to resume receiving real-time messages.

JavaScript

var dialogJid = QB.chat.helpers.getRoomJidFromDialogId(dialog._id);
try {
  QB.chat.muc.leave(dialogJid, function(error) {
    if (error) {
      console.error(error);
    }
  });
} catch (e) {
  if (e.name === 'ChatNotConnectedError') {
    // not connected to chat
  }
}

Retrieve online users

You can get a list of online users from the dialog. Call the listOnlineUsers() method to get the list of online users who are joined to the dialog. As a result, an array of user IDs is returned.

JavaScript

var dialogId = "...";
var dialogJid = QB.chat.helpers.getRoomJidFromDialogId(dialogId);

try {
  QB.chat.muc.listOnlineUsers(dialogJid, function(users) {

  });
} catch (e) {
  if (e.name === 'ChatNotConnectedError') {
    // not connected to chat
  }
}

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

Capabilities	Public	Group	Private
Retrieve online users	✗	✓	✗

You can retrieve online users from the group dialog only if you are joined to it.

Retrieve list of dialogs

It’s common to request all your dialogs on every app login. The request below will return all private, group, and public dialogs created before the current date, sorted in descending order by the created_at field, and limited to 10 dialogs on the page.

JavaScript

let params = {
  created_at: {
    lt: Date.now()/1000
  },
  sort_desc: 'created_at',
  limit: 10
};

QB.chat.dialog.list(params, function(error, dialogs) {

});

Argument	Required	Description
params	no	Specifies param fields that should be set.
function()	yes	A callback function that an accepts error and dialogs.

If you want to retrieve only dialogs updated after some specific date time and order the search results, you can apply operators. This is useful if you cache dialogs somehow and do not want to obtain the whole list of your dialogs on every app start. Thus, you can apply search and sort operators to the list of dialogs on the page so that it is easier to view specific dialogs. If you want to get a paginated list of dialogs or just a count of dialogs from the server, you can set the following fields of the filter:

Field	Required	Description
skip	no	Skip N records in search results. Useful for pagination. Default (if not specified): 0. Should be an Integer.
limit	no	Limit search results to N records. Useful for pagination. Default value: 100.

Search operators

You can use search operators to get more specific search results. The request below will return a list of all private and group dialogs.

JavaScript

let params = {
  type: {
    in: [2,3]
  }
};

QB.chat.dialog.list(params, function(error, dialogs) {

});

Here are the search operator that you can use to search for the exact data that you need.

Search operators	Applicable to types	Applicable to fields	Description
lt	number, string, date	last_message_date_sent, created_at, updated_at	Less Than operator.
lte	number, string, date	last_message_date_sent, created_at, updated_at	Less Than or Equal to operator.
gt	number, string, date	last_message_date_sent, created_at, updated_at	Greater Than operator.
gte	number, string, date	last_message_date_sent, created_at, updated_at	Greater Than or Equal to operator.
ne	number, string, date	_id, name, last_message_date_sent	Not Equal to operator.
in	number, string, date	type, last_message_date_sent, name	IN array operator.
nin	number, string, date	last_message_date_sent	IN array operator.
all	number	occupants_ids	ALL are contained in array.
ctn	string	name	All records that contain a particular substring.

Sort operators

You can use sort operators to order the search results. The request below will return dialogs created since the beginning of this year and sorted in descending order.

JavaScript

let params = {
  created_at: {
    gte: (new Date(new Date().getFullYear(), 0, 1))/1000
  },
  sort_desc: 'sort_desc'
};

QB.chat.dialog.list(params, function(error, dialogs) {

});

Here are the sort operators that you can use to order search results.

Sort operator	Applicable to types	Applicable to fields	Description
sort_asc	All types	id, created_at, name, last_message_date_sent	Search results will be sorted in ascending order by the specified field.
sort_desc	All types	id, created_at, name, last_message_date_sent	Search results will be sorted in descending order by the specified field.

Aggregation operators

You can use an aggregation operator to count search results. The request below will return a count of all group dialogs from the server.

JavaScript

let params = {
  type: 2,
	count:1
};
QB.chat.dialog.list(params, function(err, result) {
  if (err) {
    console.log(err);
  } else {
  }
});

Here are the aggregation operators you can use to retrieve dialogs.

Aggregation operator	Description
count	Count search results. The response will contain only a count of records found. Set count to 1 to apply.

Retrieve dialogs by custom parameters

You can retrieve dialogs by custom parameters. The request below will return all private, group, and public dialogs with a given category and class_name.

JavaScript

var filters = {
	data: { // search by custom parameters
    category:'friends',
    class_name:'CoolDialog'
  }
};

QB.chat.dialog.list(filters, function(error, dialogs) {});

Update dialog

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

JavaScript

var dialogId = "5356c64ab35c12bd3b108a41";

var toUpdateParams = {
  name: "Tesla club"
};

QB.dialog.update(dialogId, toUpdateParams, function(error, dialog) {});

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

Capabilities	Public dialog	Group dialog	Private dialog
Update a dialog name	Owner	Owner	✗
Update a photo	Owner	Owner	✗
Update custom parameters	Owner,Occupant	Owner,Occupant	Owner,Occupant

Add occupants

Set the push_all field to add occupants to the dialog. As a result, the ID of the opponent will be added to the occupants_ids array.

JavaScript

let
 dialogId = "5356c64ab35c12bd3b108a41",
 toUpdateParams = {
  push_all: { occupants_ids: [97, 789] }
};

QB.chat.dialog.update(dialogId, toUpdateParams, function(error, dialog) {});

Arguments	Required	Description
dialogId	yes	Dialog ID.
toUpdateParams	yes	Specifies the toUpdateParams fields that should be set.

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

Capabilities	Public dialog	Group dialog	Private dialog
Add other users	✗	Owner,Occupant	✗

Remove occupants

Set the pull_all field to remove occupants from the dialog. As a result, the ID of the opponent will be removed from the occupants_ids array.

JavaScript

let
 dialogId = "5356c64ab35c12bd3b108a41",
 toUpdateParams = {
  pull_all: { occupants_ids: [97, 789] }
};

QB.chat.dialog.update(dialogId, toUpdateParams, function(error, dialog) {});

Argument	Required	Description
dialogId	yes	Dialog ID.
toUpdateParams	yes	Specifies the toUpdateParams fields that should be set.

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

Capabilities	Public dialog	Group dialog	Private dialog
Remove other users	✗	Owner	✗
Remove yourself	✗	Owner,Occupant	✗

Delete dialog

The request below will remove the dialog for a current user, but other users will be still able to chat there.

JavaScript

var dialogId = "5356c64ab35c12bd3b108a41";

QB.chat.dialog.delete([dialogId], function(error) {

});

Set the force to 1 to completely remove the dialog for all users. You can also delete multiple dialogs in a single request.

JavaScript

var dialogId = "5356c64ab35c12bd3b108a41";

QB.chat.dialog.delete([dialogId], {force: 1}, function(error) {

});

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

Capabilities	Public	Group	Private
Delete dialog for all userusing forceparameter.	Owner	Owner	Owner
Delete dialog for a current user	Owner	Owner,Occupant	Owner,Occupant

Get number of unread messages

You can get a number of unread messages from a particular dialog using the list() method.

JavaScript

var filters = { limit: 1 };
QB.chat.dialog.list(filters, function(error, dialogs) {
  if (error) {
    // handle error
  } else {
    var dialog = dialogs.items[0];
	var unreadCount = dialog.unread_messages_count;
  }
})

You can also retrieve total unread messages count using unreadCount() method.

JavaScript

var params = {
  chat_dialog_ids: ["5356c64ab35c12bd3b108a41"]
};

QB.chat.message.unreadCount(params, function(error, result) {

});

Set the following fields of the params:

Field	Description
chat_dialog_ids	IDs of dialogs.- If chat_dialog_ids are not specified, the total number of unread messages for all dialogs of the user will be returned.- If chat_dialog_ids are specified, the number of unread messages for each specified dialog will be returned. Also, the total number of unread messages for all dialogs of the user will be returned.

Resources

A sequence of steps a user takes to start a dialog by moving through the application lifecycle.

SDKs

iOS

Android

JavaScript

React Native

Flutter

Before you begin

Dialog types

Create dialog

Create dialog with custom parameters

Create group dialog with join required

Check if join required for group dialog

Join group dialog

Join public dialog

Leave group dialog

Leave public dialog

Retrieve online users

Retrieve list of dialogs

Search operators

Sort operators

Aggregation operators

Retrieve dialogs by custom parameters

Update dialog

Add occupants

Remove occupants

Delete dialog

Get number of unread messages

Resources

SDKs

iOS

Android

JavaScript

React Native

Flutter

​Before you begin

​Dialog types

​Create dialog

​Create dialog with custom parameters

​Create group dialog with join required

​Check if join required for group dialog

​Join group dialog

​Join public dialog

​Leave group dialog

​Leave public dialog

​Retrieve online users

​Retrieve list of dialogs

​Search operators

​Sort operators

​Aggregation operators

​Retrieve dialogs by custom parameters

​Update dialog

​Add occupants

​Remove occupants

​Delete dialog

​Get number of unread messages

​Resources

Before you begin

Dialog types

Create dialog

Create dialog with custom parameters

Create group dialog with join required

Check if join required for group dialog

Join group dialog

Join public dialog

Leave group dialog

Leave public dialog

Retrieve online users

Retrieve list of dialogs

Search operators

Sort operators

Aggregation operators

Retrieve dialogs by custom parameters

Update dialog

Add occupants

Remove occupants

Delete dialog

Get number of unread messages

Resources