Chatbox
A messaging UI for just a single conversation
There is no way for the user to switch between conversations (but you can change the active conversation through select). Create a Chatbox through Session.createChatbox and then call mount to show it.
createHtmlPanel | Puts custom HTML just above the message field. |
destroy | Destroys the chatbox and removes it from the DOM |
mount | Renders the Chatbox UI inside a DOM element on your page. |
onBlur | Triggers when focus moves out of the chat UI. |
onCustomConversationAction | Triggers when a user launches a custom action on a conversation within the TalkJS UI. |
onCustomMessageAction | Triggers when a user launches a custom action on a message within the TalkJS UI. |
onFocus | Triggers when the chat UI is focussed. |
onKeydown | Triggers a KeyEvent when the user presses a key. |
onKeyup | Triggers a KeyEvent when the user releases a key. |
onLeaveConversation | Triggers when the user clicks on the "Leave conversation" action |
onMarkConversationAsUnread | Triggers when the user clicks on the "Mark as unread" action |
onSendMessage | Triggers when the user sends a message using the TalkJS UI |
onTranslationToggled | Triggers when the user toggles message translation in the TalkJS UI. |
select | Switches the active conversation. |
sendFile | Upload a file attachment to the currently active conversation. |
sendLocation | Send the user's current location to the currently active conversation. |
setHighlightedWords | Highlights certain words in messages |
setMessageFilter | Used to control which messages are shown in the message list |
setPresence | Sets metadata for the current session. |
setTranslationEnabledDefault | Enable/disable translation by default. |
setTranslationEnabledForConversation | Enable or disable translation for a conversation. |
off Deprecated | Stops emitting events registered with on. |
on Deprecated | Listens for an event. |
toggleDesktopNotifications Deprecated | Toggles desktop notifications |
The conversation currently shown in the UI.
This field is null
when the UI does not currently show a conversation (eg because null
was passed to select or the selected conversation could not be found).
Whether the object is active and in a valid state.
When false, calling methods on this instance will throw errors.
This field is false when destroy has been called in the past. It is also false if Session.destroy has been called, because destroying a session destroys all its UI widgets.
Finally, an instance may also be considered if its previously mounted iframe has been removed from the DOM by some external library.
Once this instance has been destroyed, you cannot revive it. Instead, create a new instance.
Encapsulates the message entry field tied to the currently selected conversation.
chatbox.createHtmlPanel(options): Promise<HtmlPanel>
Puts custom HTML just above the message field.
Using HTML Panels, you can extend TalkJS UIs to have anything from credit card payments to lead collection forms, or, for instance, to show the product details of a marketplace transaction between your users. See our HTMLPanels documentation for more info.
Parameters
interface HtmlPanelOptions
Required. URL you want to load inside the HTML panel. Url can be absolute ("https://www.example.com/register-form.html") or relative ("register-form.html"). We recommend using same origin pages to have better control of the page. Learn more about HTML Panels and same origin pages here.
Either a Conversation
object (as returned from getOrCreateConversation
) or the id
field of a conversation (which you may have stored in your database). If given the HTML panel called will only show up for that conversation.
Optional, defaults to 100 (px).
Optional, defaults to true. Set false if you don't want the HTML panel to be shown after createHtmlPanel
is called. You can change the visibility of the HTML panels by calling .hide()
or .show()
on the HtmlPanel
instance returned by createHtmlPanel
's promise.
Returns
chatbox.destroy()
Destroys the chatbox and removes it from the DOM
Destroys the chatbox, removes it from the DOM and removes all event listeners it has running. Call this before removing the chatbox container from the DOM.
Returns
chatbox.mount(container): Promise<void>
Renders the Chatbox UI inside a DOM element on your page.
The container element specified by container
must either be a DOM Element (as returned by e.g. document.getElementById
) or a JQuery object with a single element.
Parameters
Returns
chatbox.onBlur(handler): Subscription
Triggers when focus moves out of the chat UI.
Emits an event when the user clicks/taps anywhere outside the chat UI.
Parameters
Returns
chatbox.onCustomConversationAction(action, handler): Subscription
Triggers when a user launches a custom action on a conversation within the TalkJS UI.
To set up a custom action, you can either create it on the "Chat UI" page in your dashboard or add an action button to the ChatHeader
, MessageField
, ConversationListHeader
or ConversationListItem
components of your theme in the Theme Editor, which you can access from the "Themes" page in your dashboard. If an action is allowed on a particular conversation, it'll show up in that conversation's action menu. The name you specify when setting up the action, is also the name you should pass in here (case sensitive). The event you get contains information about the conversation on which the action was called, including its ID, so you can look it up later via our REST API.
Parameters
Optional. The action you want to listen for. Omit to listen for any action.
The handler to be called
Returns
A subscription you can use to unsubscribe.
chatbox.onCustomMessageAction(action, handler): Subscription
Triggers when a user launches a custom action on a message within the TalkJS UI.
To set up a custom action, you can either create it on the "Chat UI" page in your dashboard, add an action button to your messages, or add an action button to the UserMessage
, SystemMessage
, or MessageBody
components of your theme in the Theme Editor, which you can access from the "Themes" page in your dashboard. If an action is allowed on a particular message, it'll show up in that message's action menu. The name you specify when setting up the action, is also the name you should pass in here (case sensitive). The event you get contains information about the message on which the action was called, including its ID, so you can look it up later via our REST API.
Parameters
Optional. The action you want to listen for. Omit to listen for any action.
The handler to be called
Returns
A subscription you can use to unsubscribe.
chatbox.onFocus(handler): Subscription
Triggers when the chat UI is focussed.
Parameters
Returns
chatbox.onKeydown(handler): Subscription
Triggers a KeyEvent when the user presses a key.
See onKeyup for more details.
Parameters
Returns
chatbox.onKeyup(handler): Subscription
Triggers a KeyEvent when the user releases a key.
This event is only emitted when ChatboxOptions.captureKeyboardEvents is enabled. In that case, it is emitted for every keypress, including regular letters typed into text fields.
Note that there's a notorious system limitation on macOS: metaKey
is not set in keyup events when hitting keystrokes (eg Cmd+p). Consider using onKeydown if you need to support Cmd
.
event.isInputFocused
is true when a TalkJS input area is focused (eg the message field, the search box, or adjacent buttons). When this is the case, keypresses are likely to cause changes inside the chat UI. We recommend that you discard these events except when implementing global shortcuts that should take effect regardless of whether the user is typing a message or otherwise interacting with the chat UI using the keyboard.
Note: by design, the TalkJS UI does not handle special multi-key shortcuts other than those provided by the user's device (eg ctrl+v for paste). This means that it is usually safe to assign special behavior to unused keyboard shortcuts with one or more modifier keys (like alt, shift or ctrl), even when isInputFocused
is true.
All other event fields are the same as the corresponding fields in the browser's KeyboardEvent.
Example
1myChatbox.onKeyup(event => {2 if(event.shiftKey || event.altKey || event.metaKey) {3 return;4 }56 // let the 1 key switch to our app's main panel, except if the user is typing7 if(!event.isInputFocused && event.key === "1") {8 myApp.selectMainPanel();9 }1011 // quit if the user hits ctrl+q, irrespective of whether they're typing.12 if(event.ctrlKey && event.key === "q") {13 myApp.quit();14 }15});
Parameters
Returns
chatbox.onLeaveConversation(handler): Subscription
Triggers when the user clicks on the "Leave conversation" action
This event triggers *before* the user actually leaves the conversation. You can call event.preventDefault()
to disallow the user from actually leaving.
This event only triggers when the user performs a Leave action from inside the chat UI. Notably, when a user leaves the conversation through other means (for example, they're removed from the conversation using the REST API), this event does not trigger.
Parameters
Returns
chatbox.onMarkConversationAsUnread(handler): Subscription
Triggers when the user clicks on the "Mark as unread" action
This event triggers *before* the user actually marks the conversation as unread. You can call event.preventDefault()
to disallow the user from actually marking it as unread.
This event only triggers when the user performs a "Mark as unread" action from inside the chat UI. Notably, when a user marks the conversation as unread through other means (for example, via the REST API), this event does not trigger.
Parameters
Returns
chatbox.onSendMessage(handler): Subscription
Triggers when the user sends a message using the TalkJS UI
Parameters
Returns
chatbox.onTranslationToggled(handler): Subscription
Triggers when the user toggles message translation in the TalkJS UI.
Parameters
Returns
chatbox.select(conversation, params): Promise<void>
Switches the active conversation.
conversation
can be either a ConversationBuilder object or a TalkJS conversation id. Passing null
means that the conversation will be de-selected in the UI and the message list will disappear. Passing undefined
means that the last conversation (or "no chats yet" page if there are no other conversations) will be rendered in the message list component.
Parameters
interface SelectConversationOptions
Returns
A promise that resolves once the new conversation has been selected.
chatbox.sendFile(file): Promise<void>
Upload a file attachment to the currently active conversation.
The behaviour of this method is similar to if the user clicked the attachment button, in that the confirmation dialog is shown to the user.
Ensure that the File object's name property has an appropriate file extension.
Parameters
The File object to be uploaded.
Returns
chatbox.sendLocation(): Promise<void>
Send the user's current location to the currently active conversation.
The behaviour of this method is identical to the user clicking the location button in message field i.e the confirmation dialog is shown.
Note: If the user had not previously granted location access to your website, calling this method will trigger the browser's popup asking them for permission to access their location. The user's location will only be shared if they allow.
Returns
chatbox.setHighlightedWords(words)
Highlights certain words in messages
The TalkJS search feature includes the ability to highlight certain words in messages. Call this method to highlight certain words without having the user invoke the search feature. Call again with an empty array to disable highlighting.
Note: like the search feature, this option only works on the Growth plan and up.
Also see ChatboxOptions.highlightedWords
Parameters
Returns
chatbox.setMessageFilter(filter)
Used to control which messages are shown in the message list
Lets you filter messages depending on a type, origin or custom message attributes.
Note: Messages are only filtered in the message list. The inbox UI's conversation feed will always show the last message sent to the conversation, regardless of the message filter set.
See MessagePredicate for all available options.
Example
1// only show messages sent by users with role "admin"2chatbox.setMessageFilter({3 sender: {4 role: ["==", "admin"],5 }6});
Parameters
A predicate object that controls which messages are shown.
Returns
chatbox.setPresence(presence)
Sets metadata for the current session.
Note: If you want to mount UI that is already hidden, set presence when creating the UI or call setPresence({ visible: false })
before calling mount.
Also, important to note, is that the Popup internally calls this method when a user opens or closes it. visible
is set to true
or false
respectively.
Parameters
interface UserPresence
This is an additional parameter to store the custom fields that you may want to use in the REST API call.
Set any property to null
to delete the existing value (if any). When omitted or undefined
, the existing value remains unchanged.
Manually sets the information about the visibility of TalkJS. This is useful when TalkJS is hidden with CSS. TalkJS will assume that UIs marked visible: false
cannot be seen, and thus messages arriving on this UI will not be marked as read until you set visible
to true again.
When omitted or undefined
, the existing value remains unchanged.
Returns
chatbox.setTranslationEnabledDefault(enabled)
Enable/disable translation by default.
This setting is applied to any conversation for which you haven't set a specific value.
Parameters
Whether conversations should be translated by default or not. Pass "auto" to enable translation for conversations with users with different locales.
Returns
chatbox.setTranslationEnabledForConversation(conversation, enabled)
Enable or disable translation for a conversation.
Parameters
The conversation for which this should be set. If not specified, the setting will be applied to the currently selected conversation.
Whether translation should be enabled
Returns
The following methods remain supported for backward compatibility reasons. In new projects, we recommend that you use the suggested alternatives instead.
off Deprecated | Stops emitting events registered with on. |
on Deprecated | Listens for an event. |
toggleDesktopNotifications Deprecated | Toggles desktop notifications |
chatbox.off("sendMessage", handler)
Stops emitting events registered with on.
Deprecated. Please use the Subscription.unsubscribe method on the object returned by onSendMessage instead.
Parameters
The handler function must be the same handler function that was passed to on("sendMessage")
Returns
chatbox.off("focus", handler)
Stops emitting events registered with on.
Deprecated. Please use the Subscription.unsubscribe method on the object returned by onFocus instead.
Parameters
The handler function must be the same handler function that was passed to on("focus")
Returns
chatbox.off("blur", handler)
Stops emitting events registered with on.
Deprecated. Please use the Subscription.unsubscribe method on the object returned by onBlur instead.
Parameters
The handler function must be the same handler function that was passed to on("blur")
Returns
chatbox.off("translationToggled", handler)
Stops emitting events registered with on.
Deprecated. Please use the Subscription.unsubscribe method on the object returned by onTranslationToggled instead.
Parameters
The handler function must be the same handler function that was passed to on("translationToggled")
Returns
chatbox.off("keyup", handler)
Stops emitting events registered with on.
Deprecated. Please use the Subscription.unsubscribe method on the object returned by onKeyup instead.
Parameters
Returns
chatbox.on("sendMessage", handler)
Listens for an event.
Triggers when the user sends a message using the TalkJS UI
Deprecated. Please use onSendMessage instead.
Parameters
Returns
chatbox.on("focus", handler)
Listens for an event.
Emits an event when the user clicks/taps anywhere inside the chat UI.
Deprecated. Please use onFocus instead.
Parameters
Returns
chatbox.on("blur", handler)
Listens for an event.
Emits an event when the user clicks/taps anywhere outside the chat UI.
Deprecated. Please use onBlur instead.
Parameters
Returns
chatbox.on("translationToggled", handler)
Listens for an event.
Triggers when the user toggles translation in a conversation
Deprecated. Please use onTranslationToggled instead.
Parameters
Returns
chatbox.on("keyup", handler)
Listens for an event.
This event is only emitted when ChatboxOptions.captureKeyboardEvents is enabled. In that case, it is emitted for every keypress, including regular letters typed into text fields.
event.isInputFocused
is true when a TalkJS input area is focused (eg the message field, the search box, or adjacent buttons). When this is the case, keypresses are likely to cause changes inside the chat UI. We recommend that you discard these events except when implementing global shortcuts that should take effect regardless of whether the user is typing a message or otherwise interacting with the chat UI using the keyboard.
Note: by design, TalkJS does not handle special multi-key shortcuts other than those provided by the user's device (eg ctrl+v for paste). This means that it is usually safe to assign special behavior to unused keyboard shortcuts with one or more modifier keys (like alt, shift or ctrl), even when isInputFocused
is true.
All other event fields are the same as the corresponding fields in the browser's KeyboardEvent.
Example
1myChatbox.on("keyup", event => {2 if(event.shiftKey || event.altKey || event.metaKey) {3 return;4 }5 if(!event.isInputFocused && event.key === "1") {6 // let the 1 key switch to our app's main panel, except if the user is typing7 myApp.selectMainPanel();8 }9 if(event.ctrlKey && event.key === "q") {10 // quit if the user hits ctrl+q, irrespective of whether they're typing.11 myApp.quit();12 }13});
Deprecated. Please use onKeyup instead.
Parameters
Returns
chatbox.toggleDesktopNotifications(isEnabled)
Toggles desktop notifications
This method will keep being supported, but for new projects, we recommend that you use Session.setDesktopNotificationEnabled.
Sets desktop notification on or off. Has the same effect as toggling the "Desktop notification" toggle in the TalkJS Inbox UI. Use this function to replicate that toggle elsewhere in your UI if you're using TalkJS in a mode that doesn't show this toggle.
Deprecated. Please use Session.setDesktopNotificationEnabled instead.