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 push notifications and historical message roaming. It can be used for interest groups, office groups, customer service communication, and more.
Key points of group business are as follows:
- RC is only responsible for delivering messages to all users in the group and does not maintain group member profiles (avatars, names, member cards, etc.), which need to be maintained by the developer's application server.
- Group management operations such as creating/dissolving/joining/exiting a group 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. The default maximum number of members in a single group is 3000. 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 with the Chat Premium Plan or Chat Ultimate Plan. Specific features and fees are subject to the Billing Instructions documents.
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 the group business can be activated and configured on the Console's Basic Features and Chat pricing plans pages.
Group Management Functions
RC does not host users or manage group business logic, so all group business logic needs to be implemented on the App server.
Group owner, group administrator, group announcement, group invitation, and group number search are all part of the 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 RC's 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 for group creation to the RC server. If the group is dissolved, the group member relationships will no longer exist. | Create Group, Dissolve Group |
| Join, Exit Group | After joining a group, members can view new messages generated after joining by default. After exiting the group, members will no longer receive new messages from the group. | 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, which needs to be maintained by the developer on the application server. If there are missing user-group relationships on the App 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 App 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 the existing user-group relationships with RC when connecting to the RC server for the first time. | 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 the 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 and share some APIs and configurations.
| Function | Description | Client API | RC Server API |
|---|---|---|---|
| Send Message | Can send regular 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 regular messages and media messages to one or more specified members in the group, and 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 obtain the read data through the recipient's response. | Group Chat Message Receipt | Not applicable |
| Offline Message | Supports offline message storage, which can be set (1 to 7 days). By default, all group messages within 7 days are stored. Supports adjusting the storage duration and the number of stored group messages. | Not provided | Not provided |
| Offline Push Notification | When offline, push notifications are supported when there are new messages in the group. | Push Development Guide | Not provided |
| Recall Message | Messages can be recalled after being successfully sent. | Recall Message | Recall Message |
| Local Message Search | Messages are stored locally (on mobile devices). Supports searching for message content in specified conversations by keyword or user. | Search Message | Not provided |
| Get Historical Messages | Get historical messages from the local database or remote. Note that obtaining historical messages from the remote requires enabling 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 within the APP. Historical message records are provided in log files and have been compressed. You can use the server API to obtain 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 Message Extension | Adds status identifiers (extension data as KV key-value pairs) to the original message, providing interfaces for adding, deleting, and querying extension information. | Message Extension | One-to-One/Group Message Extension |
| Custom Message Types | If the built-in message types do not meet your needs, you can customize message types. Supports custom regular message types and custom media message types. | Custom Message Types | Not applicable |
By default, new members 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 with the Chat Premium Plan or Chat Ultimate Plan. Specific features and fees are subject to the Billing Instructions documents.
- 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 and share some APIs and configurations.
| Function | Description | Client API | RC Server API |
|---|---|---|---|
| Get Conversation | The SDK will generate 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 |
| Typing Status | Can set whether to remind new messages for a specified group chat conversation, with new message reminders enabled by default. | Typing Status | Not provided |
| Conversation Pin | Pin a specified conversation to the top of the conversation list. | Conversation Pin | Conversation Pin |
| 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 Sync Reading Status | Actively sync the reading status of conversations across multiple devices under the same user account. | Multi-Device Sync Reading Status | Not applicable |
Differences from Chatroom and Ultra Group
You can understand the differences between business types and all functions through the following documents: