Suggestions based on usage patterns.
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- We cannot get a list of unseen channel messages for a given user. We do get this, via the very helpful GetMessageCounts for the message system, but there is nothing comparable for chats.
I have a game that is using teams (or clans) and they have their own chat system. It would be very helpful to have a function where I could pass in an array of channel ids and get a response for each that tells me how many chat messages are unseen, so I can put up alert icons with a count in it (as I do for 1:1 messages).
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There is no RTT connection for group invites/requests to join. Right now the only way to get these is via calling GetMyGroups (it's a nice way of passing it, but it's a poll only mechanism right now.) I'd love an RTT system that pushes through the same Invite/Requests array of real time requests or invites that happen.
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Having the username in the ListGroups for the owner of a group. You give the profile Id, but effectively all that means is that I then have to call GetSummaryDataForProfileID, when all I want is the name (I want to display who owns a group) - the reality is that for most people, that's all they are going to want anyway. You pass the username for messages and chat messages sent, why not here too? Seems an easy win.
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On the JoinGroupRequest, it would be really nice to be able to send some meta data along with that. This would enable a user to be able to say "Hey Admin on group X, this is actually Y here, can you add me?", otherwise the admin has nothing to go on to decide to admit someone or not, except the user name (and email, if we look that up - in the interests of privacy, that's not really something that should be encouraged.) You would then get this metadata blob with a request and be able to parse it yourself to get a message out of it.
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While I get that there is Group Data, which can be used for what I'm about to suggest, I would argue that having it explicitly defined is just easier for usage. Have a description text block for a group as part of the group definition. Only admins and owners can update it. It's just easier than having to deal with Group Data for one small thing that almost everyone who uses groups is going to want.
Hope this helps!
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Regarding #3, The app can store the GroupOwner information in the GroupSummary data which comes back with ListGroups anyway. For existing groups, on login, have the client call GetMyGroups and UpdateGroupSummaryData for any owned groups. The GroupSummary data area is super useful, you could also put say, a group vibe “Casual”, faction alignment or other group descriptor as well.
Regarding #5 we discussed this idea. The devs emphasized that the description text block can be stored in the GroupSummary or GroupEntities areas. This keeps the system as broadly compatible and efficient as possible for all customers.
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Regarding #1, It looks like this can be implemented within the current functionality as follows:
When the client is viewing the chat channel, have the client write a user entity saying, in this channel I have read messages up to (the date of the most recent message they have seen). Next, when the app loads the next time, call “getRecentChatMessages” and count up the messages since (the date of the most recent message they have seen). This will give you your count to show for that channel.
Limitations:
The chat queue for a channel has a limit of 250.
Messages have max days and max history (settable by the developer) so if the players been away a long time, some of those messages wont be around to be counted up.
Go to Messaging Chat to view the settings for these.
