Create a channel

Two basic types of channels you can create with Sendbird Chat SDK are open channels and group channels.

An open channel is ideal for use cases that don't require a permanent membership in the channel, such as short-lived live events and news-feed style messaging to a massive audience. On the other hand, a group channel is suitable for closer interactions among a limited number of users. To learn more about the different use cases and characteristics of open and group channels, see the channel overview page.

When creating a channel, you can append additional information like cover image, description, and URL by passing several arguments to the corresponding parameters. The channel URL can only contain numbers, letters, underscores, or hyphens, and the URL's length must be between 4 and 100 characters. If you don't specify the channelUrl property, a URL is automatically generated.

If you want to create and continue to use a single group channel for a 1-to-1 chat, set the isDistinct property of the channel to true. Otherwise, if the isDistinct property is set to false, multiple 1-to-1 channels, each with their own chat history and data, may be created for the same two users even if a channel already exists between them.

You can create an open channel by passing a configured OpenChannelCreateParams object as an argument to the parameter in the createChannel() method like the following.

val listOfOperatorUserIds = listOf("Jeff")
val params = OpenChannelCreateParams().apply {
    name = NAME
    channelUrl = UNIQUE_CHANNEL_URL
    coverImage = COVER_IMAGE            // Or coverUrl = COVER_URL
    operatorUserIds = listOfOperatorUserIds         // Or operators = listOfOperators
    data = DATA
}

OpenChannel.createChannel(params) { channel, e ->
    if (e != null) {
        // Handle error.
    }

    if (channel != null) {
        // An open channel of the specified users is successfully created.
        // You can get the open channel's data from the result object of the callback handler.

        val channelUrl = channel.url
    }
    // ...
}

This table only contains properties shown in the code above. See the API reference for a complete list of properties.

You can create a group channel by passing a configured GroupChannelCreateParams object as an argument to the parameter in the createChannel() method like the following.

val params = GroupChannelCreateParams().apply {
    name = NAME
    coverUrl = COVER_IMAGE_URL
    userIds = USER_IDS
    isDistinct = IS_DISTINCT
    customType = CUSTOM_TYPE
}

GroupChannel.createChannel(params) { channel, e ->
    if (e != null) {
        // Handle error.
    }

    if (channel != null) {
        // A group channel with the specified configuration is successfully created.
        // You can get the group channel's data from the result object of the callback handler.

        val channelUrl = channel.url
    }
    // ...
}

This table only contains properties shown in the code above. See the API reference for a complete list of properties.

Note: You can also use the Chat API to create open channels and group channels. For group channels, using the Chat API helps you control channel member invitations on your server side.

Creating a Supergroup channel follows the same process as creating a group channel with one exception of the isSuper property. The GroupChannelCreateParams class has the isSuper property that determines whether a newly created channel is a Supergroup channel or a regular group channel. Set isSuper to true to create a new Supergroup channel.

Because the distinct option isn't available for Supergroup channels, the isDistinct property is set to false by default when creating a Supergroup channel.

val params = GroupChannelCreateParams().apply {
    users = USERS
    isSuper = true
}

GroupChannel.createChannel(params) { channel, e ->
    if (e != null) {
        // Handle error.
    }

    // A group channel of the specified users is successfully created.
    // Through the groupChannel parameter of the callback handler,
    // you can get the group channel's data from the result object that
    // the the Sendbird server has passed to the callback method.

    val channelUrl = channel?.url
}