Using message reactions

Message reactions allow users to send back an emoji reaction (for example, a thumbs up or a smiley face) or a custom reaction on a message that they received. These reactions are typically visible to all users in the chat room and displayed with the original message.

User ID / UUID

User ID is also referred to as UUID/uuid in some APIs and server responses but holds the value of the userId parameter you set during initialization.

Add a reaction

Use the addMessageAction to add a reaction to a message in a channel. You can use the method to add an emoji reaction to a message, or to add any custom reaction as long as it's a string.

You need to provide your own emoji library; this isn't included in the PubNub SDKs.

JavaScript

pubnub.addMessageAction(
    {
        channel: 'channel1',
        messageTimetoken: '15610547826970040',
        action: {
            type: 'reaction',
            value: 'smiley_face',
        },
    },
    function(status, response) {
        // handle the response
    }
);

Swift

extension MyAppMessageAction: MessageAction {}

let action = MyAppMessageAction(type: "reaction", value: "smiley_face")

pubnub.addMessageAction(
  channel: "ch-1",
  message: action,
  messageTimetoken: 15610547826970040
) { result in
  switch result {
  case let .success(response):
    print("Successfully Message Action Add Response: \(response)")
  case let .failure(error):
    print("Error from failed response: \(error.localizedDescription)")
  }

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Java

pubnub.addMessageAction()
    .channel("ch_1")
    .messageAction(new PNMessageAction()
            .setType("reaction")
            .setValue("smiley_face")
            .setMessageTimetoken(15610547826970040L)
    )
    .async(new PNCallback<PNAddMessageActionResult>() {
        @Override
        public void onResponse(PNAddMessageActionResult result, PNStatus status) {
            if (!status.isError()) {
                System.out.println(result.getType());
                System.out.println(result.getValue());
                System.out.println(result.getUserId());
                System.out.println(result.getActionTimetoken());

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Unity

MessageActionAdd messageAct = new MessageActionAdd();
messageAct.ActionType = "reaction";
messageAct.ActionValue = "smiley_face";

pubnub.AddMessageActions().Channel("ch-1").MessageAction(messageAct).MessageTimetoken(15610547826970040).Async((result, status) => {
        if (!status.Error) {
            Debug.Log("result.ActionTimetoken: " + result.ActionTimetoken);
            Debug.Log("result.ActionType: " + result.ActionType);
            Debug.Log("result.ActionValue: " + result.ActionValue);
            Debug.Log("result.MessageTimetoken: " + result.MessageTimetoken);
            Debug.Log("result.UserID: " + result.UserId);
        } else {
            Debug.Log(status.Error);
            Debug.Log(status.ErrorData.Info);
        }

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Remove a reaction

Use the removeMessageAction() method to remove a reaction from a message by providing an actionTimetoken and messageTimetoken for the original message.

JavaScript

pubnub.removeMessageAction(
  {
    channel: 'ch-1',
    messageTimetoken: '15610547826970040',
    actionTimetoken: '15610547826999081',
  },
  function(status, response) {

  }
);

Swift

pubnub.removeMessageActions(
  channel: "ch-1",
  message: 15610547826970040,
  action: 15610547826999081
) { result in
  switch result {
  case let .success(response):
    print("Successfully Message Action Remove Response: \(response)")
  case let .failure(error):
    print("Error from failed response: \(error.localizedDescription)")
  }
})

Java

pubnub.removeMessageAction()
    .channel("ch-1")
    .messageTimetoken(15610547826970040L)
    .actionTimetoken(15610547826999081L)
    .async(new PNCallback<PNRemoveMessageActionResult>() {
        @Override
        public void onResponse(PNRemoveMessageActionResult result, PNStatus status) {
            if (!status.isError()) {
                // result has no actionable data
                // it's enough to check if the status itself is not an error
            } else {
                status.getErrorData().getThrowable().printStackTrace();
            }
        }
    });

Unity

pubnub.RemoveMessageActions().ActionTimetoken(15610547826999081).Channel("ch-1").MessageTimetoken(    .messageTimetoken(15610547826970040L)
).Async((result, status) => {
        if (!status.Error) {
            // result has no actionable data
        } else {
            Debug.Log(status.Error);
            Debug.Log(status.ErrorData.Info);
        }
});

Fetch reactions in channel

Reactions are stored in history alongside messages when they are added by a user.

Use the getMessageActions method to fetch reactions on a channel. The method works much like other PubNub history methods and allows you to pass a start and end timetoken and fetch all message reactions that were published during that time.

JavaScript

pubnub.getMessageActions(
  {
    channel: 'chats.room1',
    start: '15901706735798836',
    end: '15901706735370016',
    limit: 100,
  },
  function(status, response) {
    console.log(status, response);
  }
);

Swift

pubnub.fetchMessageActions(
  channel: "chats.room1") { result in
    switch result {
    case let .success(response):
      print("Successfully Message Action Fetch Response: \(response)")

    case let .failure(error):
      print("Error from failed response: \(error.localizedDescription)")
    }
})

Objective-C

PNFetchMessageActionsRequest *request =
    [PNFetchMessageActionsRequest requestWithChannel:@"chats.room1"];

request.start = @(1234567891);
request.limit = 100;

[self.pubnub fetchMessageActionsWithRequest:request
      completion:^(PNFetchMessageActionsResult *result, PNErrorStatus *status) {

  if (!status.isError) {

  }
  else {

  }

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Android

pubnub.getMessageActions()
  .channel("chats.room1")
  .async(new PNCallback<PNGetMessageActionsResult>() {
    @Override
    public void onResponse(PNGetMessageActionsResult result, PNStatus status) {
      if (!status.isError()) {
        List<PNMessageAction> actions = result.getActions();
        for (PNMessageAction action : actions) {
          System.out.println(action.getType());
          System.out.println(action.getValue());
          System.out.println(action.getUserId());
          System.out.println(action.getActionTimetoken());
          System.out.println(action.getMessageTimetoken());
        }
      }

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C#

pubnub.GetMessageActions()
  .Channel("chats.room1")
  .Execute(new PNGetMessageActionsResultExt((result, status) =>
  {

  }));

Return Type: PNGetMessageActionsResult

{
  "MessageActions":[{
    "MessageTimetoken":15610547826970040,
    "Action":{
        "type":"reaction",
        "value":"smiley_face"
    },
    "Uuid":"pn-5903a053-592c-4a1e-8bfd-81d92c962968",
    "ActionTimetoken": 15610547826999081
  }],
}

Python

pubnub.get_message_actions()
        .channel('chats.room1')
        .start(15901706735798836) # Some start timetoken or None
        .end(15901706735370016) # Some end timetoken or None
        .pn_async(message_action_callback)

Fetch messages with reactions

Use the fetchMessages method with the includeMessageActions parameter set to fetch past messages in a channel along with reactions that were added to those messages. When you're fetching messages with their reactions, you can only fetch on a single channel at a time.

Message Reaction Events

PubNub triggers events to notify clients when reactions are added to or removed from messages. To receive these events, clients should be subscribed to the channel, and add a messageAction listener in the code.

Event	Description
Message Action Added	Generated when a message action is added to a message.
Message Action Removed	Generated when a message action is removed from a message.

Message Action Added:

{
   "channel":"my_channel",
   "subscription":null,
   "timetoken":"15610547826970040",
   "publisher":"user-1",
   "message":{
      "source":"actions",
      "version":"1.0",
      "action":"added",
      "data":{
         "type":"reaction",
         "value":"smiley_face",
         "messageTimetoken":"15610547826970040",
         "actionTimetoken":"15610547826999081"
      }

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Message Action Removed:

{
   "channel":"my_channel",
   "subscription":null,
   "timetoken":"15610547826970040",
   "publisher":"user-1",
   "message":{
      "source":"actions",
      "version":"1.0",
      "action":"removed",
      "data":{
         "type":"reaction",
         "value":"smiley_face",
         "messageTimetoken":"15610547826970040",
         "actionTimetoken":"15610547826999081"
      }

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