Watch channels

You can let users watch a given channel and its messages using the connect() method, without the need to join the channel as members.

Under the hood, this method allows your app to receive messages on a given channel by subscribing it to a message event listener underneath to receive all message events of type text. This method also returns a function you can invoke to stop receiving message events and unsubscribe from the channel.

Method signature

connect() accepts a callback function as an argument. The Chat SDK invokes this callback whenever someone sends a message on the given channel. This function takes a single argument of a Message object.

This method takes the following parameters:

channel.connect(callback: (Message) -> Unit): AutoCloseable

Input

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
callback	(Message) -> Unit	Yes	n/a	Callback function passed as a parameter. It defines the custom behavior to be executed whenever a message is received on a channel.

Output

Type	Description
AutoCloseable	Interface you can call to stop listening for new messages and clean up resources when they are no longer needed by invoking the close() method.

Basic usage

Start receiving messages on the support channel.

// assume `chat` is an instance of your chat service or client
// get the "support" channel asynchronously
chat.getChannel("support").async { result ->
    result.onSuccess { supportChannel ->
        // handle success
        // start receiving messages on the "support" channel
        val messageSubscription = supportChannel.connect { message ->
            // handle the new message received on the channel
            println("New message received on 'support' channel: ${message.content}")
        }

        // The subscription can later be closed if needed
        // messageSubscription.close()
    }.onFailure {
        // handle failure

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Other examples

Stop receiving messages on the support channel.

// assume `chat` is an instance of your chat service or client
// get the "support" channel asynchronously
chat.getChannel("support").async { result ->
    result.onSuccess { supportChannel ->
        // handle success
        // start receiving messages on the "support" channel
        val messageSubscription = supportChannel.connect { message ->
            // handle the new message received on the channel
            println("New message received on 'support' channel: ${message.content}")
        }

        // later, when you want to stop receiving messages:
        messageSubscription.close()
        println("Stopped receiving messages on 'support' channel.")
        

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