Message threading

Message threading is a feature that allows users to reply to each other's messages in a channel. Users can ask questions, give feedback or add context to a specific message without interrupting the conversation flow. A message thread refers to a group of messages and their replies. Currently, Sendbird UIKit only supports quote reply type of message threading where users' messages and replies are all shown in the channel view.

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Message threading currently has the following limitations:

• UIKit message threading is available for group channels only.
• Quote reply is the only reply type that Sendbird UIKit provides.
• Sendbird UIKit only supports 1-depth threads, meaning you can't reply to a quote reply message.

To enable message threading, set the reply type to quote reply mode:

SBUGlobals.ReplyTypeToUse = .quoteReply

Users can reply to each other's messages in a group channel through the SBUChannelViewController class. The List component of SBUChannelViewController will allow the users to press and hold the message they wish to reply to. A Message menu will appear and once they tap Reply, they can start quote replying using SBUMessageInputView and SBUQuoteMessageInputView. A message that already has a reply is called quoted message and the replied message is called a reply. Both quoted messages and replies can be either user messages or file messages.

The Message menu contains an Emoji reaction bar, a Copy button, and a Reply button. To view the menu, long tap on a message in channel view. Then, tap Reply in the menu to quote reply to the selected message. The sendUserMessage(text:quoteMessageId:) method of SBUChannelViewController is invoked and the selected message becomes a quoted message.

The Reply button of a message that is already a reply appears as deactivated because Sendbird UIKit only supports 1-depth replies.

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The Delete button of a quoted message that has one or more replies appears as deactivated. To delete the quoted message, its replies must be deleted first.

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The UI for message threading in the Message menu can be customized through SBUStringSet and SBUIconSet.

The following table shows a customizable property of SBUStringSet that appears in the Message menu. The SBUStringSet is a set of strings used to compose a view. You need to modify the stringSet values in advance if you want to make changes to the view.

The following table shows a customizable reply message icon.

The startQuoteReplyMode(_:) method of the SBUMessageInputView class is called when a user chooses to Reply in the Message menu. Then, a preview of the quoted message is displayed through SBUQuoteMessageInputView above the messageInput component of SBUChannelViewController. Type a message in the input field and Send. Then, the sendUserMessage(text:quoteMessageID:) method of SBUChannelViewController is called to send the reply message.

If the user closes the quoted message in SBUQuoteMessageInputView, the endQuoteReplyMode method of SBUMessageInputView is called and the preview of the quoted message disappears.

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The following table lists customizable methods of SBUMessageInputView for message threading.

The following tables show customizable properties and methods of SBUQuoteMessageInputView to modify the UI of the quoted message input view.

The following table lists parameters that you can configure to customize the quote message input view.

The SBUQuoteMessageInputView class uses SBUMessageInputViewTheme to customize various theme components. The following table shows the properties of SBUMessageInputViewTheme.

The following table shows a customizable property of SBUStringSet that appears in SBUQuoteMessageInputView. The SBUStringSet is a set of strings used to compose a view. You need to modify the stringSet values in advance if you want to make changes to the view.

Users can view all quoted messages in the channel through SBUQuotedBaseMessageView, SBUQuotedUserMessageView, and SBUQuotedFileMessageView. Both SBUQuotedUserMessageView and SBUQuotedFileMessageView inherit the properties and methods of SBUQuotedBaseMessageView. The SBUQuotedBaseMessageView only shows the quoted message and the repliedToLabel as all reply messages are considered individual message cells that inherit the SBUBaseMessageCell class.

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There are two types of quoted messages:

• User message: When the type of the quoted message is SBDUserMessage.
• File message: When the type of the quoted message is SBDFileMessage.

When the quoted message is a user message, the message is displayed through SBUQuotedUserMessageView. When the quoted message is a file message, the message is shown through SBUQuotedFileMessageView. If you wish to customize the quoted message view, you must inherit the SBUQuotedBaseMessageView class for both message types.

The following tables show customizable properties and methods of SBUQuotedBaseMessageView to modify the UI of the quoted message view.

The following table lists parameters that you can configure to customize the quoted message view.

The following tables show customizable properties and methods that only apply to the UI of quoted user messages.

The following tables show customizable properties and methods that only apply to the UI of quoted file messages.

To display the quoted message view, SBUQuotedBaseMessageView, SBUQuotedUserMessageView, and SBUQuotedFileMessageView all use SBUMessageCellTheme in the SBUTheme class. The following table shows the properties of SBUMessageCellTheme for quote reply.

The following table shows customizable properties of SBUStringSet that appears in the quoted message view. The SBUStringSet is a set of strings used to compose a view. You need to modify the stringSet values in advance if you want to make changes to the view.

The following table shows a customizable icon in the quoted message view.

The quoted message view supports an event delegate for tap gestures. When the current user taps on the quoted message, the didTapQuotedMessageView(_:) method of SBUQuotedMessageViewDelegate is called and the screen scrolls to the quoted message cell in the channel view.

You can customize the action by overriding the didTapQuotedMessageView(_:) method in the SBUChannelViewController class.