Manage user updates

Update user details and receive events whenever someone updates them.

Usage in Blueprints and C++

Requires App Context

To store data about users, you must enable App Context for your app's keyset in the Admin Portal.

Update user details

You can edit the metadata of an existing user with Update() and UpdateUser().

Both of these methods give the same output. The only difference is that you call a given method either on the Chat (UpdateUser()) or the User (Update()) object. Depending on the object, these methods take a different set of input parameters - you either have to specify the user ID you want to update or not because it's already known.

Method signature

Blueprint

C++

• User->Update()

  User->Update(FPubnubChatUserData UserData);

• Chat->UpdateUser()

  Chat->UpdateUser(
      FString UserID, 
      FPubnubChatUserData UserData
  );

Parameter	Type	Required in User->Update()	Required in Chat->UpdateUser()	Default	Description
UserID	FString	No	Yes	n/a	Unique user identifier.
UserData	FPubnubChatUserData	Yes	Yes	n/a	Additional user data.

FPubnubChatUserData

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
UserName	FString	No	n/a	Display name for the user (must not be empty or consist only of whitespace characters).
ExternalID	FString	No	n/a	User's identifier in an external system. You can use it to match id with a similar identifier from an external database.
ProfileUrl	FString	No	n/a	URL of the user's profile picture.
Email	FString	No	n/a	User's email address.
CustomDataJson	FString	No	n/a	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	FString	No	n/a	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	FString	No	n/a	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.

API limits

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

Output

Type	Description
UPubnubUser*	Returned object containing the updated user metadata.

Basic usage

Change the link to the user's support_agent_15 LinkedIn profile to https://www.linkedin.com/mkelly_vp2.

• Update()

  #include "Kismet/GameplayStatics.h"
  #include "PubnubChatSubsystem.h"
  
  UGameInstance* GameInstance = UGameplayStatics::GetGameInstance(this);
  UPubnubChatSubsystem* PubnubChatSubsystem = GameInstance->GetSubsystem<UPubnubChatSubsystem>();
  
  UPubnubChat* Chat = PubnubChatSubsystem ->InitChat("demo", "demo", "my_user");
  
  // Define user ID
  FString UserID = "support_agent_15";
  UPubnubUser* User = Chat->GetUser(UserID);
  
  FPubnubChatUserData UserData;
  UserData.CustomDataJson = "{\"LinkedIn\":\"https://www.linkedin.com/mkelly_vp2\"}";
  

  show all 17 lines

• UpdateUser()

  #include "Kismet/GameplayStatics.h"
  #include "PubnubChatSubsystem.h"
  
  UGameInstance* GameInstance = UGameplayStatics::GetGameInstance(this);
  UPubnubChatSubsystem* PubnubChatSubsystem = GameInstance->GetSubsystem<UPubnubChatSubsystem>();
  
  UPubnubChat* Chat = PubnubChatSubsystem ->InitChat("demo", "demo", "my_user");
  
  // Define user ID
  FString UserID = "support_agent_15";
  
  FPubnubChatUserData UserData;
  UserData.CustomDataJson = "{\"LinkedIn\":\"https://www.linkedin.com/mkelly_vp2\"}";
  
  // Update the user and save the reference

  show all 16 lines

Get user updates

Two methods let you receive updates about users (user IDs) added, edited, or removed on other clients:

• StreamUpdates() checks updates on a single User object.
• StreamUpdatesOn() checks updates on a list of User objects.

Both methods accept a callback function as an argument. The Unreal Chat SDK invokes this callback whenever someone adds, changes, or removes user metadata.

Underneath, these methods subscribe the current user to a channel and add an objects event listener to receive all objects (known as App Context) events of type uuid. These methods also return the unsubscribe function you can invoke to stop receiving objects events and unsubscribe from the channel.

Method signature

Blueprint

C++

• StreamUpdates()

  User->StreamUpdates(FOnPubnubUserStreamUpdateReceived UserUpdateCallback);

• StreamUpdatesOn()

  User->StreamUpdatesOn(
      TArray<UPubnubUser*> Users, 
      FOnPubnubUserStreamUpdateReceived UserUpdateCallback
  );

Parameter	Type	Required in StreamUpdates()	Required in StreamUpdatesOn()	Default	Description
Users	TArray<UPubnubUser*>	No	Yes	n/a	Array of User objects for which you want to get updates.
UserUpdateCallback	FOnPubnubUserStreamUpdateReceived	Yes	Yes	n/a	Callback function passed as a parameter to both methods. It defines the custom behavior to be executed when detecting channel metadata changes.

Handle the response

Output

Type	Description
UPubnubCallbackStop*	Object on which you can call Stop() to stop receiving updates.

Basic usage

Get updates on support_agent_15.

• StreamUpdates()

  #include "Kismet/GameplayStatics.h"
  #include "PubnubChatSubsystem.h"
  
  UGameInstance* GameInstance = UGameplayStatics::GetGameInstance(this);
  UPubnubChatSubsystem* PubnubChatSubsystem = GameInstance->GetSubsystem<UPubnubChatSubsystem>();
  
  UPubnubChat* Chat = PubnubChatSubsystem ->InitChat("demo", "demo", "my_user");
  
  // Define user ID
  FString UserID = "support_agent_15";
  
  // Get the user and save the reference
  UPubnubUser* User = Chat->GetUser(UserID);
  
  // Create a pubnub response delegate

  show all 20 lines

Get updates on support_agent_15 and support-manager.

• StreamUpdatesOn()

  #include "Kismet/GameplayStatics.h"
  #include "PubnubChatSubsystem.h"
  
  UGameInstance* GameInstance = UGameplayStatics::GetGameInstance(this);
  UPubnubChatSubsystem* PubnubChatSubsystem = GameInstance->GetSubsystem<UPubnubChatSubsystem>();
  
  UPubnubChat* Chat = PubnubChatSubsystem ->InitChat("demo", "demo", "my_user");
  
  // Get the users and save the reference
  UPubnubUser* User1 = Chat->GetUser("support_agent_15");
  UPubnubUser* User2 = Chat->GetUser("support-manager");
  
  TArray<UPubnubUser*> Users;
  Users.Add(User1);
  Users.Add(User2);

  show all 22 lines

Other examples

Stop listening to updates on support_agent_15.

• StreamUpdates()

  auto StopUpdates = User->StreamUpdates(StreamUpdatesResponse);
  
  StopUpdates->Stop();

Stop listening to updates on support_agent_15 and support-manager.

• StreamUpdatesOn()

  auto StopUpdates = User->StreamUpdatesOn(Users, StreamUpdatesOnResponse);
  
  StopUpdates->Stop();