Manage user updates

Update user details and receive real-time update events.

You can use PubNub's functionality via Blueprints or directly in C++ code.

• In Blueprints, you can access PubNub from any Widget or Actor. Start by initializing chat using InitChat on UPubnubChatSubsystem. Afterwards, you can use the returned UPubnubChat object reference to call all Chat SDK functions.

Blueprint functions

The Blueprints provided in the documentation show how you can structure your application and may contain utility methods and elements like buttons that are not part of the Unreal Chat SDK and are meant to serve as guidance.

• In C++, you can use UPubnubChatSubsystem as any other Game Instance Subsystem.

  1
  

  Chat now allows you to call all Chat SDK functions, for example, Chat->GetChannel("my_channel").

Usage in Blueprints and C++

Asynchronous and synchronous method execution

Most PubNub Unreal SDK methods are available in both asynchronous and synchronous variants.

• Asynchronous methods (Async suffix) return void and take an optional delegate parameter that fires when the operation completes.

  1User->UpdateAsync(UpdateData, OnOperationResponseDelegate);

  You can also use native callbacks that accept lambdas instead of dynamic delegates. Native callback types have the Native suffix (for example, FOnPubnubChatOperationResponseNative).

• Synchronous methods (no suffix) block the main game thread until the operation completes and return a result struct directly.

  1FPubnubChatOperationResult Result = User->Update(UpdateData);

Requires App Context

Enable App Context in the Admin Portal to store user data.

Update user details

Edit user metadata with Update() or UpdateUser().

• Update() - call on a User object (no ID needed)
• UpdateUser() - call on a Chat object (requires user ID)

Method signature

C++ / Input parameters

• User->Update()

  1User->Update(FPubnubChatUpdateUserInputData UpdateUserData);

• Chat->UpdateUser()

  1Chat->UpdateUser(
  2    FString UserID,
  3    FPubnubChatUpdateUserInputData UpdateUserData
  4);

Parameter	Required in User->Update()	Required in Chat->UpdateUser()	Description
UserID Type: FString Default: n/a	No	Yes	Unique user identifier.
UpdateUserData Type: FPubnubChatUpdateUserInputData Default: n/a	Yes	Yes	User data fields to update and optional ForceSet flags.

FPubnubChatUpdateUserInputData

* required

Parameter	Description
UserName Type: FString Default: ""	Display name for the user (must not be empty or consist only of whitespace characters).
ExternalID Type: FString Default: ""	User's identifier in an external system. You can use it to match id with a similar identifier from an external database.
ProfileUrl Type: FString Default: ""	URL of the user's profile picture.
Email Type: FString Default: ""	User's email address.
Custom Type: FString Default: ""	JSON providing custom data about the user. Values must be scalar only; arrays or objects are not supported. Filtering App Context data through the custom property is not recommended in SDKs.
Status Type: FString Default: ""	Tag that lets you categorize your app users by their current state. The tag choice is entirely up to you and depends on your use case. For example, you can use status to mark users in your chat app as invited, active, or archived.
Type Type: FString Default: ""	Tag that lets you categorize your app users by their functional roles. The tag choice is entirely up to you and depends on your use case. For example, you can use type to group users by their roles in your app, such as moderator, player, or support-agent.
ForceSetUserName Type: bool Default: false	When true, replaces the field value entirely instead of merging with the existing value.
ForceSetExternalID Type: bool Default: false	When true, replaces the field value entirely instead of merging.
ForceSetProfileUrl Type: bool Default: false	When true, replaces the field value entirely instead of merging.
ForceSetEmail Type: bool Default: false	When true, replaces the field value entirely instead of merging.
ForceSetCustom Type: bool Default: false	When true, replaces the field value entirely instead of merging.
ForceSetStatus Type: bool Default: false	When true, replaces the field value entirely instead of merging.
ForceSetType Type: bool Default: false	When true, replaces the field value entirely instead of merging.

Blueprint

API limits

To learn about the maximum length of parameters used to set user metadata, refer to REST API docs.

Output

Type	Description
FPubnubChatOperationResult	Returned object containing Error (bool) and ErrorMessage (FString). The same User object is updated in-place via the local cache.

Sample code

Reference code

This example is a self-contained code snippet ready to be run. Set up your Unreal project and follow the instructions in the lines marked with ACTION REQUIRED before running the code. Use it as a reference when working with other examples in this document.

Update user metadata asynchronously.

C++

Actor.h

1

Actor.cpp

1

Blueprint

• UpdateUser()

C++

1

Blueprint

Get user updates

Receive updates when User objects are edited or removed:

• StreamUpdates() - monitors a single user
• StreamUpdatesOn() - monitors multiple users (static method)
• StopStreamingUpdates() - stops monitoring

To receive updates, bind to the OnUpdated and OnDeleted multicast delegates on the User object before calling StreamUpdates(). Updates are delivered through the delegates rather than callback parameters.

Delegate behavior

• OnUpdated - fires when user metadata changes (params: FString UserID, FPubnubChatUserData UserData)
• OnDeleted - fires when the user is deleted on the server (no params)

Method signature

C++ / Input parameters

• StreamUpdates()

  1User->StreamUpdates();

• StreamUpdatesOn() (static)

  1UPubnubChatUser::StreamUpdatesOn(
  2    const TArray<UPubnubChatUser*>& Users
  3);

• StopStreamingUpdates()

  1User->StopStreamingUpdates();

* required

Parameter	Description
Users Type: TArray<UPubnubChatUser*> Default: n/a	Array of User objects for which you want to get updates. Each user must have its delegates bound before calling this method.

Blueprint

Most methods in the Unreal Chat SDK return an FPubnubChatOperationResult (or a domain-specific result struct). Check the Error field to determine if the operation succeeded.

1FPubnubChatOperationResult Result = Channel->Connect();
2if (Result.Error)
3{
4    UE_LOG(LogTemp, Error, TEXT("Operation failed: %s"), *Result.ErrorMessage);
5}

For streaming operations (such as receiving messages, typing indicators, or channel updates), bind the channel's multicast delegate before calling the streaming method:

1Channel->OnMessageReceivedNative.AddUObject(this, &AMyActor::OnMessageReceived);
2Channel->ConnectAsync(nullptr);

You can implement the callback function to handle the response as follows:

AMyActor.h

1void OnMessageReceived(UPubnubChatMessage* Message);

AMyActor.cpp

1void AMyActor::OnMessageReceived(UPubnubChatMessage* Message)
2{
3    UE_LOG(LogTemp, Log, TEXT("Received message: %s"), *Message->GetCurrentText());
4}

Handle the response

Output

Method	Return type	Description
StreamUpdates()	FPubnubChatOperationResult	Operation result with Error (bool) and ErrorMessage (FString). No-op if already streaming.
StreamUpdatesOn()	FPubnubChatOperationResult	Combined operation result from calling StreamUpdates() on each user.
StopStreamingUpdates()	FPubnubChatOperationResult	Operation result. No-op if not streaming.

Sample code

C++

1

Blueprint