Threads

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. Sendbird UIKit supports two reply types: quote reply and threads. Threads allow users to start a separate conversation in a new thread when responding to a message. The reply message is also sent to the channel in the message list component.

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Threads currently have the following limitations:

• UIKit message threading is available for group channels and supergroup channels only.
• Sendbird UIKit only supports 1-depth threads, meaning you can't reply to messages that are already thread replies to a parent message.

To turn on thread mode, set the reply type to thread:

SBUGlobals.reply.replyType = .thread

You have the option to set threadReplySelectType to PARENT or THREAD. This enum property allows you to direct your users to view either the parent message or the message thread when they tap on a reply in the group channel view.

// Set ThreadReplySelectType to the parent message.
SBUGlobals.reply.threadReplySelectType = .parent

// Set ThreadReplySelectType to the message thread.
SBUGlobals.reply.threadReplySelectType = .thread

Users can reply to messages in a group or supergroup channel through the SBUGroupChannelViewController class. To do so, long tap on the message you wish to reply to in the listComponent of SBUGroupChannelModule. Then, a message menu appears. Once the Reply in thread button is selected, users can start replying in a new thread using SBUMessageThreadViewController. A message that already has a reply is called a parent message and the replied message is called a reply. Both parent messages and replies can be either a user message or file message.

The Message menu contains an Emoji reaction bar, a Copy button, and a Reply in thread button. To view the menu, long tap on a message in the channel view. Then, tap Reply in thread in the menu to reply to the selected message in a new thread. Like quote reply, threads only allow 1-depth threads. This means that users can’t reply to messages that are already thread replies to a parent message. The Reply in thread button of a message that’s already a thread reply appears as deactivated. Similarly, the Delete button of a parent message that has one or more replies in a thread appears as deactivated. To delete the parent message, its thread replies must be deleted first.

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The UI for threads 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 in thread icon.

Once the current user taps Reply in thread in the Message menu, they can start a new thread through SBUMessageThreadViewController. In the thread view, the parent message is displayed through SBUParentMessageInfoView at the top of the ListComponent of SBUMessageThreadModule. The thread view is composed of three components: headerComponent, listComponent, and inputComponent.

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The header component shows the title of the message thread screen, which says Thread by default. Below the title, there's a text button that indicates the name of the channel that the thread belongs to. When a user taps on the button, they can view the corresponding parent message in the group channel screen. The title of the thread and the channel name are both displayed through SBUMessageThreadTitleView within headerComponent.

In the list component, the parent message and its replies are displayed in a chronological order. While in the input component, the user can send either a text message or a file message as a reply to the parent message.

If you reply with a user message in the message input field, the sendUserMessage(text:parentMessage:) method of SBUMessageThreadViewModel is invoked and a new thread is created. When replying with a file message, the SendFileMessage(Uri uri) method of SBUMessageThreadViewModel is invoked. The placeholder text in the thread input field changes depending on whether the parent message has an existing thread or not. If the parent message already has one or more thread replies, the default placeholder text shows as Reply to thread. If the parent message has no existing replies, the placeholder text shows as Reply in thread.

The UI for threads in HeaderComponent and InputComponent of SBUMessageThreadModule can be customized through SBUStringSet.

The following table shows customizable properties of SBUStringSet that appear in the message thread header component and message thread input component.

Users can view reply messages in both the thread view and the group channel view because all replies sent to a thread also get sent to the channel automatically. In the thread view, replies are shown chronologically in the ListComponent of SBUMessageThreadModule with the current user’s replies shown on the right and channel members’ replies shown on the left of the screen by default. In the group channel view, a parent message contains SBUThreadInfoView that shows the number of replies it has and the profile images of the users who replied to the message. SBUThreadInfoView is one of the many components that make up a message cell. The replies sent to the channel are displayed the same way as quoted messages in quote reply mode.

In a thread view, the parent message is shown using SBUParentMessageInfoView within ListComponent. A parent message info view includes the parent message, its reaction emojis, and the number of replies it has in the thread. Meanwhile, its replies are shown in a chronological order below the parent message info view in the lower part of the ListComponent of SBUMessageThreadModule. Both the parent message and the reply can be a text or file message. By default, the replies sent by the current user are displayed on the righdt side of the screen and the message bubble is purple.

You can customize the replies in the thread list the same way as customizing each message in the listComponent of SBUGroupChannelViewController. The thread replies are created by first calling the SBUMessageThreadViewController class. It uses SBUAdminMessageCell, SBUUserMessageCell, and SBUFileMessageCell classes to display the messages in the message thread.

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The following table shows customizable properties and methods of SBUParentMessageInfoView to modify the UI of the parent message info view.

To display the parent message info view, SBUParentMessageInfoView uses SBUMessageCellTheme in the SBUTheme class. The following table shows the properties of SBUMessageCellTheme for threads.

In a group channel view, the parent message contains SBUThreadInfoView that displays the number of thread replies and up to four profile images of users who responded in the thread. Since all replies sent to a thread also get sent to the channel automatically, the thread replies are shown in the channel as quoted messages in quote reply mode. Users can view these replies through SBUQuotedBaseMessageView, SBUQuotedUserMessageView, and SBUQuotedFileMessageView. These views are internally implemented in Sendbird UIKit to display the different types of reply messages on the screen. Both SBUQuotedUserMessageView and SBUQuotedFileMessageView inherit the properties and methods of SBUQuotedBaseMessageView. The SBUQuotedBaseMessageView shows the parent message and the repliedToLabel that indicates a user replied to another user in the channel.

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There are two types of quoted messages:

• User message: When the type of the quoted message is UserMessage.
• File message: When the type of the quoted message is FileMessage.

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 table shows customizable properties and methods of SBUThreadInfoView to modify the UI of the thread info view.

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 all the thread replies, SBUQuotedBaseMessageView, SBUQuotedUserMessageView, and SBUQuotedFileMessageView all use SBUMessageCellTheme in the SBUTheme class. The following table shows the properties of SBUMessageCellTheme.

The following table shows customizable properties of SBUStringSet that appears in the quoted message view.

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