Chat SDKs Android v3

Chat SDKs Android

Chat SDKs

Android

Version 3

Sendbird Chat SDK v3 for Android is no longer supported as a new version is released. Check out our latest Chat SDK v4

Application

Before you start building your chat, it is important to understand that your Sendbird application has core functionalities to maintain chat service stability and basic features for application management. This page presents how you can use a Sendbird application in your app to ensure optimal performance.

Default settings

To prevent abnormal user activity, a Sendbird application has the following limits on the number of messages per second which a user can send and an open channel can display.

Imposed on	Limit	If exceeded
User	Five messages per second	Excess messages are neither sent to the channel nor saved in the database but are displayed in the user's channel view.
Channel	Five messages per second	Excess messages aren't displayed but saved in the database.

You can change the default limit settings by contacting our sales team.

Manage connections with Sendbird server

For a seamless chat experience, our Chat SDK for Android manages connections to Sendbird server at an application-wide level. The table below shows how connections between a client app's SendBird instance and our server are managed. This is according to the states of Android devices where your native app is working on.

App state	Connection	SDK behavior when going to another state
Foreground	Connected continuously	Disconnects the current user from Sendbird server when going to the background. * Tries to restore the connection and keeps the current user connected to Sendbird server when the connection is lost due to unexpected network issues in the foreground. In this case, restoration attempts and results can be checked in the connection event handler if registered.
Background	Disconnected	Tries to reconnect and establishes the current user's new connection with Sendbird server when going to the foreground.

One user ID can make connections to up to 30 devices or browsers simultaneously. All connections from one user ID are counted and reflected in your application’s concurrent connections. Since they are used to calculate your service billing, caution is advised.

Retrieve a list of users

You can retrieve a list of all or certain users in your Sendbird application using an ApplicationUserListQuery instance. The next() method returns a list of User objects containing information on users within the application.

// Retrieving all users
ApplicationUserListQuery listQuery = SendBird.createApplicationUserListQuery();

listQuery.next(new UserListQuery.UserListQueryResultHandler() {
    @Override
    public void onResult(List<User> list, SendBirdException e) {
        if (e != null) {
            // Handle error.
        }

        // A list of users is successfully retrieved.
        // Through the "list" parameter of the onResult() callback method,
        // you can access the data of each user from the result list that Sendbird server has passed to the onResult().
        ...
    }
});

With the several different types of filters the ApplicationUserListQuery instance provides, you can retrieve a list of specific users that match the set values in the filters. Currently the ApplicationUserListQuery instance supports the following two filters:

List of filters

Name	Filters...
UserIdsFilter	Users who are using the specified user IDs. The `setUserIdsFilter()` method can be used to enable this filter.
MetaDataFilter	Users with metadata containing an item with the specified key and values. This filter can be enabled using the `setMetaDataFilter()` method.
NicknameStartsWithFilter	Users whose nicknames start with the specified value. This filter can be enabled using the `setNicknameStartsWithFilter()` method.

Note: We recommend you set the maximum number of user IDs to 250 in the UserIdsFilter. If exceeded, your query may receive an HTTP 414 error indicating that the submitted request data is longer than Sendbird server is willing to interpret.

// Retrieving certain users using the UserID filter
ArrayList<String> userIds = new ArrayList<>();
userIds.add("Harry");
userIds.add("Jay");
userIds.add("Jin");

ApplicationUserListQuery listQuery = SendBird.createApplicationUserListQuery();
listQuery.setUserIdsFilter(userIds);

listQuery.next(new UserListQuery.UserListQueryResultHandler() {
    @Override
    public void onResult(List<User> list, SendBirdException e) {
        if (e != null) {
            // Handle error.
        }

        // A list of matching users is successfully retrieved.
        ...
    }
});

// Retrieving certain users using the MetaDataKey filter
ArrayList<String> metaDataValues = new ArrayList<>();
metaDataValues.add("movie");
metaDataValues.add("book");
metaDataValues.add("exercise");

ApplicationUserListQuery listQuery = SendBird.createApplicationUserListQuery();
listQuery.setMetaDataFilter("hobby", metaDataValues);

listQuery.next(new UserListQuery.UserListQueryResultHandler() {
    @Override
    public void onResult(List<User> list, SendBirdException e) {
        if (e != null) {
            // Handle error.
        }

        // A list of matching users is successfully retrieved.
        ...
    }
});

Block and unblock other users

A user can block specific users to stop receiving further messages from them in 1-to-1 group channels and notifications of their messages in 1-to-N group channels. You can choose whether or not users can view which users they have blocked in the channel UI.

A Sendbird application provides two blocking options: including or excluding blocked users when sending invitations and turning on/off push notifications from blocked users. The previous block modes are now deprecated and only supported for customers who have been using them from before.

Including or excluding blocked users when sending invitations: determines whether or not to automatically filter out blocked users when a user invites a group of users to a new group channel. The value of this option can be adjusted only from our side before integrating your Sendbird application to an app. If you want to change the value, contact our sales team for further assistance. (Default: including)
Turning on/off push notifications from blocked users: determines whether or not to send push notifications to a user for the messages that blocked users sent in a specific 1-on-N group channel where they are members together. The value of this option can be set individually by channel. If you want to use this option, contact our sales team for further assistance. (Default: off)

1-to-1 group channel

Channel list	Push notifications	Messages
A user's channel list will not be updated and rearranged from the blocked user's messages.	A user will not be notified that the blocked user sent a message.	New messages sent from the blocked user will not be delivered to the channel, but are saved in the database and displayed in the blocked user's channel view. The blocked user is not aware of their blocked status. A user can only see the messages that the blocked user has sent before being blocked. * If the blocked user is unblocked, a user can see all the messages except those that were sent during the blocking period.

1-to-N group channel

Channel list	Push notifications	Messages
For a blocked user's message, a user's channel list will be updated and rearranged.	A user will be notified of messages from blocked users if push notifications from blocked users is turned on. Otherwise, they will not be notified.	All the messages from blocked users are delivered to the channel. You can choose whether a user can view which users they have blocked in the UI of the channel.

You can allow a users to block and unblock other users by implementing the following code to your client app.

// Blocking a user
SendBird.blockUser(USER, new SendBird.UserBlockHandler() {
    @Override
    public void onBlocked(User user, SendBirdException e) {
        if (e != null) {
            // Handle error.
        }

        // The blocked user can be retrieved through the "user" parameter of the onBlocked() callback method.
        ...
    }
});

// Unblocking a user
SendBird.unblockUser(USER, new SendBird.UserUnblockHandler() {
    @Override
    public void onUnblocked(SendBirdException e) {
        if (e != null) {
            // Handle error.
        }

        // The user is successfully unblocked.
        ...
    }
});

Note: You can use the blockUserWithUserId() and unblockUserWithUserID() methods, instead of the blockUser() and unblockUser() methods, as they have the same functionalities.

Retrieve a list of blocked users

By creating and using a BlockedUserListQuery instance, you can retrieve a list of all or certain blocked users within your Sendbird application. The next() method returns a list of User objects containing information on blocked users.

// Retrieving all blocked users
BlockedUserListQuery listQuery = SendBird.createBlockedUserListQuery();

listQuery.next(new UserListQuery.UserListQueryResultHandler() {
    @Override
    public void onResult(List<User> list, SendBirdException e) {
        if (e != null) {
            // Handle error.
        }

        // A list of blocked users is successfully retrieved.
        // Through the "list" parameter of the onResult() callback method,
        // you can access the data of each blocked user from the result list that Sendbird server has passed to the onResult().
        ...
    }
});

Using the UserID filter of the BlockedUserListQuery instance, you can retrieve a list of the blocked users that match the user IDs in the filter.

// Retrieving certain blocked users using the UserID filter.
ArrayList<String> userIds = new ArrayList<>();
userIds.add("John");
userIds.add("Daniel");
userIds.add("Jeff");

BlockedUserListQuery listQuery = SendBird.createBlockedUserListQuery();
listQuery.setUserIdsFilter(userIds);

listQuery.next(new UserListQuery.UserListQueryResultHandler() {
    @Override
    public void onResult(List<User> list, SendBirdException e) {
        if (e != null) {
            // Handle error.
        }

        // A list of matching users is successfully retrieved.
        ...
    }
});

Check if a user is online

You can check if a certain user is currently connected to Sendbird server.

ArrayList<String> userIds = new ArrayList<>();
userIds.add("Jeff");

ApplicationUserListQuery listQuery = SendBird.createApplicationUserListQuery();
listQuery.setUserIdsFilter(userIds);

listQuery.next(new UserListQuery.UserListQueryResultHandler() {
    @Override
    public void onResult(List<User> list, SendBirdException e) {
        if (e != null) {
            // Handle error.
        }

        // list.get(0) = 'Jeff'
        if (list.get(0).getConnectionStatus() == User.ConnectionStatus.ONLINE) {
            // 'Jeff' is currently online.
            // User.ConnectionStatus consists of NON_AVAILABLE, ONLINE, and OFFLINE.
            ...
        }
    }
});

On this page

Default settings Manage connections with Sendbird server Retrieve a list of users Block and unblock other users Retrieve a list of blocked users Check if a user is online

Sample app