How to determine the message status (read/unread) in chat?

Question

How to determine the message status (read/unread). Chat is realized with the XMPP protocol.

Answer 1

XEP-0184: Message Delivery Receipts supports notifying senders when their message has been delivered. You might be able to use that as a building block, as long as you don't expect existing clients to send these receipts -- the XEP is not widely-implemented today.

Answer 2

If you want to get the read receipts then instead of sending auto message delivery receipts, send it whenever user reads that message. Each message has it's corresponding message_id. Use that message_id to send the delivery receipt for the particular message that has been read. Add following code while making connection

//message delivery
    XMPPMessageDeliveryReceipts* xmppMessageDeliveryRecipts = [[XMPPMessageDeliveryReceipts alloc] initWithDispatchQueue:dispatch_get_main_queue()];
//don't write this line as it will send auto receipts whenever message will be delivered
    //xmppMessageDeliveryRecipts.autoSendMessageDeliveryReceipts = YES;
    xmppMessageDeliveryRecipts.autoSendMessageDeliveryRequests = YES;
    [xmppMessageDeliveryRecipts activate:self.xmppStream];

I solved this problem by adding 'chatStatus' attribute in my message entity. For sender I have kept value of chatStatus as sent, unsent, or received(received by other side or not). For Receiver Side I have kept the Values as read or unread(Have I read message or not, So that for unread message I could send read Receipts).

On Click Of send Button:

//Save to your Message Entity 

NSMutableDictionary *m = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init];
[m setObject: message_body forKey:@"message_body"];
[m setObject:messageID forKey:@"message_id"];
[m setObject:@"yes" forKey:@"isOutgoing"];
[m setObject:dateString forKey:@"date"];
[m setObject:timeString forKey:@"time"];
[m setObject:[NSDate date] forKey:@"timeStamp"];
[m setObject:yourId forKey:@"from"];
[m setObject:toId forKey:@"to"];

if (!Is_InternetAvailable]) {
 [m setObject:unsent forKey:@"chatStatus"];
}
else{
 [m setObject:sent forKey:@"chatStatus"];
}
[[CoreDataMethods sharedCoreDataMethods] saveUserMessage:m];
}

In cellForRowAtIndexPath:

if ([message isoutGoing]) {//If I have sent the message

        // Mine bubble
        if ([[messageDict valueForKey:@"chatStatus"] isEqualToString:unsent]) {
            //set unsent image
        }
        else if ([[messageDict valueForKey:@"chatStatus"] isEqualToString:sent]){
            //set sent image
        }
        else if ([[messageDict valueForKey:@"chatStatus"] isEqualToString:received]){
          //set Received Image
        }
    }
    else{
        // Other Bubble , Notify them that you have read the message if it is unread/new message

        if ([[messageDict valueForKey:@"chatStatus"] isEqualToString:unread]) {

            //send read receipt
                NSXMLElement *receivedelement = [NSXMLElement elementWithName:@"received" xmlns:@"urn:xmpp:receipts"];

                NSXMLElement *message = [NSXMLElement elementWithName:@"message" xmlns:@"jabber:client"];
                [message addAttributeWithName:@"to" stringValue:toId];
                [message addAttributeWithName:@"from" stringValue:fromID];
                [receivedelement addAttributeWithName:@"id" stringValue:[messageDict valueForKey:@"message_id"]];
                [message addChild:receivedelement];

                //XMPPMessage *generatedReceiptResponse = [[messageDict valueForKey:@"xmppMessage"] generateReceiptResponse];
                [[[kAppDelegate xmppHandler] xmppStream] sendElement:message];

                // update message entity
                [self updateChatStatus:read withMessageID:[messageDict valueForKey:@"message_id"]];
        }
    }

And finally when you receive the delivery Receipt in didReceiveMessage, update the chatStatus to received

- (void)xmppStream:(XMPPStream *)sender didReceiveMessage:(XMPPMessage *)message{

if ([message hasReceiptResponse]) {//message read
//Update database message entity
 [self updateChatStatus:@"received" withMessageID:[message receiptResponseID]];
}
}

You could set the values of chatStatus as per your requirement. As for unsent messages I have set it as sent in didSendMessage delegate.

Note: In my app I had to just show the read, sent and unset status, not the delivered status. If you also wanna show delivery status, then don't comment autoSendMessageDeliveryReceipts and whenever messages are read send the IQ stanza to sender instead of delivery receipt and change the chatStatus accordingly.

This is just the basic idea, you could use it as per your requirement.

Hope it Helps!!

Answer 3

I think you need to use the Displayed Chat Marker, per http://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0333.html

Answer 4

Xmpp does not have a read/unread receipt. While received is something that was implemented in XEP-0184.