User Management

When a user logs into your app, you need to programmatically login the user into CometChat. But before you log in the user to CometChat, you need to create the user.

Summing up-

When a user registers in your app

1. You add the user details in your database
2. You create a user in CometChat

When a user logs into your app

1. You log in the user to your app
2. You log in the user to CometChat (programmatically)

Creating a user

Ideally, user creation should take place at your backend. You can refer to our Rest API to learn more about creating a user and use the appropriate code sample based on your backend language.

However, if you wish to create users on the fly, you can use the createUser() method. This method takes a User object and the Auth Key as input parameters and returns the created User object if the request is successful.

Javascript

let authKey = "AUTH_KEY";
var uid = "user1";
var name = "Kevin";

var user = new CometChat.User(uid);

user.setName(name);

CometChat.createUser(user, authKey).then(
  user => {
      console.log("user created", user);
  }, error => {
      console.log("error", error);
  }
)

Typescript

let authKey: string = "AUTH_KEY";
var uid: string = "user1";
var name: string = "Kevin";

var user: CometChat.User = new CometChat.User(uid);

user.setName(name);

CometChat.createUser(user, authKey).then(
  (user: CometChat.User) => {
      console.log("user created", user);
  }, (error: CometChat.CometChatException) => {
      console.log("error", error);
  }
);

Warning

UID can be alphanumeric with underscore and hyphen. Spaces, punctuation and other special characters are not allowed.

Updating a user

Updating a user similar to creating a user should ideally be achieved at your backend using the Restful APIs. For more information, you can check the update a user section. However, this can be achieved on the fly as well as using the updateUser() method. This method takes a User object and the Auth Key as inputs and returns the updated User object on the successful execution of the request.

Javascript

let authKey = "AUTH_KEY";
let uid = "user1";
let name = "Kevin Fernandez";

var user = new CometChat.User(uid);

user.setName(name);

CometChat.updateUser(user, authKey).then(
  user => {
      console.log("user updated", user);
  }, error => {
      console.log("error", error);
  }
)

Typescript

let authKey: string = "AUTH_KEY";
var uid: string = "user1";
var name: string = "Kevin Fernandez";

var user: CometChat.User = new CometChat.User(uid);

user.setName(name);

CometChat.updateUser(user, authKey).then(
  (user: CometChat.User) => {
      console.log("user updated", user);
  }, (error: CometChat.CometChatException) => {
      console.log("error", error);
  }
)

Please make sure the User object provided to the updateUser() method has the UID of the user to be updated set.

Updating logged-in user

Updating a logged-in user is similar to updating a user. The only difference being this method does not require an AuthKey. This method takes a User object as input and returns the updated User object on the successful execution of the request.

Javascript

let uid = "user1";
let name = "Kevin Fernandez";

var user = new CometChat.User(uid);

user.setName(name);

CometChat.updateCurrentUserDetails(user).then(
  user => {
      console.log("user updated", user);
  }, error => {
      console.log("error", error);
  }
)  

Typescript

var uid: string = "user1";
var name: string = "Kevin Fernandez";

var user: CometChat.User = new CometChat.User(uid);

user.setName(name);

CometChat.updateCurrentUserDetails(user).then(
  (user: CometChat.User) => {
      console.log("user updated", user);
  }, (error: CometChat.CometChatException) => {
      console.log("error", error);
  }
);

By using the updateCurrentUserDetails() method one can only update the logged-in user irrespective of the UID passed. Also, it is not possible to update the role of a logged-in user.

Deleting a user

Deleting a user can only be achieved via the Restful APIs. For more information please check the delete a user section.

User Class

Field	Editable	Information
uid	specified on user creation. Not editable after that	Unique identifier of the user
name	Yes	Display name of the user
avatar	Yes	URL to profile picture of the user
link	Yes	URL to profile page
role	Yes	User role of the user for role based access control
metadata	Yes	Additional information about the user as JSON
status	No	Status of the user. Could be either online/offline
statusMessage	Yes	Any custom status message that needs to be set for a user
lastActiveAt	No	The unix timestamp of the time the user was last active.
hasBlockedMe	No	A boolean that determines if the user has blocked the logged in user
blockedByMe	No	A boolean that determines if the logged in user has blocked the user
tags	Yes	A list of tags to identify specific users