Group Business Overview
Group chat is a common multi-user communication method in instant messaging applications, typically involving two or more users. RC's group business supports rich group member management, mute management, and other features, including offline message push and historical message roaming, making it suitable for interest groups, work groups, and customer service communication.
Key points of group business:
- RC is only responsible for delivering messages to all users in the group and does not maintain group member profiles (avatars, names, group member cards, etc.), which need to be maintained by the developer's application server.
- Group management operations such as creating/dissolving/joining/exiting groups must be implemented by the App server through RC's server API. The RC client SDK does not provide corresponding methods. For details, see Group Management Functions below.
- There is no limit to the number of groups that can be created under an App Key, and the default maximum number of members in a single group is 3,000. You can submit a ticket to modify the maximum number of group members.
- There is no limit to the number of groups a single user can join.
- After enabling the Cloud Storage for One-to-One and Group Messages service for the App Key from the Console's Chat pricing plans page, you can use RC's message storage service to achieve message history roaming. This service can be activated for Chat Premium Plan or Chat Ultimate Plan. Specific features and fees are subject to the Billing Instructions document.
Service Configuration
The client SDK supports group business by default and does not require application for activation.
Some basic features and value-added services of group business can be activated and configured in the Console's Basic Features and Chat pricing plans pages.
Group Management Functions
RC does not host users or manage the business logic of groups, so all group business logic needs to be implemented on the App server.
Group owner, group administrator, group announcements, group invitations, and group number search are all part of group business logic and need to be implemented on the App side.
For client developers, basic management operations such as creating and dissolving groups only require interaction with the App's own business server, which is responsible for calling the corresponding RC server API (Server API) interfaces to complete these operations.
The table below lists the basic group management interfaces provided by the RC server. Note that the client does not provide group management APIs.
| Function Category | Function Description | RC Server API |
|---|---|---|
| Create, Dissolve Group | Provide the creator's user ID, group ID, and group name to apply to the RC server for group creation. If the group is dissolved, the group member relationships will no longer exist. | Create Group, Dissolve Group |
| Join, Exit Group | After joining a group, new messages generated after joining can be viewed by default. After exiting the group, new messages from the group will no longer be received. | Join Group, Exit Group |
| Modify Group Information on RC Server | Modify the group information used in RC's push service. | Refresh Group Information |
| Query Group Members | Query the user ID information of all members in a specified group. | Query Group Members |
| Query Groups a User Belongs To | Query all groups a user has joined based on the user ID, returning group IDs and group names. RC does not store group profile information, so group profiles and member information need to be maintained by the developer on the application server. If there are missing user-group relationships on the application server, this interface can be used for verification. | Query Groups a User Belongs To |
| Synchronize Groups a User Belongs To | Synchronize all groups a specified user currently belongs to with the RC server to prevent inconsistencies between the user's group information in the application and the user's group information on the RC server. If there are existing group and member data on the App Server before integrating RC services, this interface can be used to synchronize existing user-group relationships with RC during the first connection. | Synchronize Groups a User Belongs To |
| Mute a User in a Group | Mute one or more users in a specified single group or all groups. Muted users can receive and view messages from other users in the group but cannot send messages through the client SDK. | Mute a User |
| Mute All in a Group | Mute all members of a group. All members of a muted group cannot send messages. If certain users need to speak, they can be added to the group mute allowlist. | Mute All |
| Group Mute Allowlist | After a group is muted, users in the mute allowlist can send group messages. | Mute Exceptions |
Group Chat Message Functions
Group chat message functions are similar to one-to-one chat business, sharing some APIs and configurations.
| Function | Description | Client API | RC Server API |
|---|---|---|---|
| Send Message | Can send ordinary messages and media messages, such as text, images, GIFs, etc., or custom messages. Supports adding @ information when sending messages. | Send Message | Send Group Chat Message |
| Send Group Targeted Message | Can send ordinary messages and media messages to one or more specified members in the group, other members will not receive the message. | Send Group Targeted Message | Send Group Chat Targeted Message |
| Receive Message | Listen and receive messages in real-time, or receive offline messages when the client is online. | Receive Message | Not applicable |
| Group Chat Message Read Receipt | If you need to check the read status of a group message after sending it, you need to send a receipt request first, and then obtain the read data through the recipient's response. | Group Chat Message Receipt | Not applicable |
| Offline Message | Supports offline message storage, storage time can be set (1 ~ 7 days), defaults to storing all group messages within 7 days, supports adjusting storage duration and the number of stored group messages. | Not provided | Not provided |
| Offline Message Push | In offline state, when there are new messages in the group, push notifications are supported. | Push Development Guide | Not provided |
| Recall Message | A message can be recalled after it is successfully sent. | Recall Message | Recall Message |
| Local Message Search | Messages are stored locally (on mobile devices), supports searching local messages in specified conversations by keyword or user. | Search Message | Not provided |
| Get Historical Messages | Get historical messages from the local database or remote server. Note that getting historical messages from the remote server requires activating the Cloud Storage for One-to-One and Group Messages service, with a default storage duration of 6 months. | Get Historical Messages | Not provided |
| Get Historical Message Logs | The RC server can save historical message records of all conversations in the APP, provided in log files that are compressed. You can use the server API to get or delete historical message logs for a specified App. | Not provided | Get Historical Message Logs |
| Local Message Insertion | Insert messages into the local database. Locally inserted messages are not actually sent to the server or the other party. | Insert Message | Not applicable |
| Delete Message | Supports deleting specified messages or all historical messages in a conversation from the local and server storage. | Delete Message | Message Clear |
| One-to-One and Group Chat Message Expansion | Add status identifiers (extension data as KV key-value pairs) to the original message, providing interfaces for adding, deleting, and querying extension information. | Message Expansion | One-to-One/Group Chat Message Expansion |
| Custom Message Type | If the built-in message types do not meet your needs, you can customize message types. Supports custom ordinary message types and custom media message types. | Custom Message Type | Not applicable |
By default, new members of a group can only receive messages generated after joining the group. If you need to view historical messages before joining the group, please enable the following two services for the App Key (please distinguish between development and production environments):
Enable the Cloud Storage for One-to-One and Group Messages service from the Console's Chat pricing plans page. After enabling this service, you can use RC's message storage service to achieve message history roaming. This service can be activated for Chat Premium Plan or Chat Ultimate Plan. Specific features and fees are subject to the Billing Instructions document.
- Enable New Users Get Historical Messages Before Joining Group from the Console's Basic Features page.
Group Chat Conversation Functions
Group chat conversation functions are similar to one-to-one chat business, sharing some APIs and configurations.
| Function | Description | Client API | RC Server API |
|---|---|---|---|
| Get Conversation | The SDK generates corresponding conversations in the local database based on sent and received messages. You can get the conversation list generated by the SDK from the local database. | Get Conversation | Not provided |
| Handle Conversation Unread Message Count | Get or clear the unread message count in a conversation, which can be used for UI display. | Conversation Unread Count | Not provided |
| Delete Conversation | Delete one or more conversations from the conversation list generated by the SDK. | Delete Conversation | Not provided |
| Conversation Draft | Save a draft content to a specified conversation. | Conversation Draft | Not provided |
| Input Status | Can set whether to remind new messages for a specified group chat conversation, defaults to reminding new messages. | Input Status | Not provided |
| Conversation Top | Pin a specified conversation to the top of the conversation list. | Conversation Top | Conversation Top |
| Conversation Do Not Disturb | Controls whether users can receive push notifications for offline messages when the client device is offline. Supports setting Do Not Disturb by conversation or by conversation type. | Do Not Disturb Overview | Do Not Disturb Overview |
| Multi-Device Synchronization of Read Status | Actively synchronize the read status of conversations across multiple devices of the same user account. | Multi-Device Synchronization of Read Status | Not applicable |
Differences from Chatrooms and Ultra Groups
You can understand the differences between business types and all functions through the following documents: