Azure Communication Chat Package client library for Python

This package contains a Python SDK for Azure Communication Services for Chat. Read more about Azure Communication Services here

Source code | Package (Pypi) | API reference documentation | Product documentation

Getting started

Prerequisites

• Python 2.7, or 3.6 or later is required to use this package.
• A deployed Communication Services resource. You can use the Azure Portal or the Azure PowerShell to set it up.

Install the package

Install the Azure Communication Service Chat SDK.

pip install --pre azure-communication-chat

User Access Tokens

User access tokens enable you to build client applications that directly authenticate to Azure Communication Services. You can generate these tokens with azure.communication.identity module, and then use them to initialize the Communication Services SDKs. Example of using azure.communication.identity:

pip install --pre azure-communication-identity

from azure.communication.identity import CommunicationIdentityClient
identity_client = CommunicationIdentityClient.from_connection_string("<connection string of your Communication service>")
user = identity_client.create_user()
tokenresponse = identity_client.get_token(user, scopes=["chat"])
token = tokenresponse.token

The user created above will be used later, because that user should be added as a participant of new chat thread when you creating it with this token. It is because the initiator of the create request must be in the list of the participants of the chat thread.

Create the Chat Client

This will allow you to create, get, list or delete chat threads.

from azure.communication.chat import ChatClient, CommunicationTokenCredential

# Your unique Azure Communication service endpoint
endpoint = "https://<RESOURCE_NAME>.communcationservices.azure.com"
chat_client = ChatClient(endpoint, CommunicationTokenCredential(token))

Create Chat Thread Client

The ChatThreadClient will allow you to perform operations specific to a chat thread, like send message, get message, update the chat thread topic, add participants to chat thread, etc.

You can get it by creating a new chat thread using ChatClient:

create_chat_thread_result = chat_client.create_chat_thread(topic)
chat_thread_client = chat_client.get_chat_thread_client(create_chat_thread_result.chat_thread.id)

Additionally, the client can also direct so that the request is repeatable; that is, if the client makes the request multiple times with the same Idempotency-Token and it will get back an appropriate response without the server executing the request multiple times. The value of the Idempotency-Token is an opaque string representing a client-generated, globally unique for all time, identifier for the request.

create_chat_thread_result = chat_client.create_chat_thread(
    topic, 
    thread_participants=thread_participants, 
    idempotency_token=idempotency_token
)
chat_thread_client = chat_client.get_chat_thread_client(create_chat_thread_result.chat_thread.id)

Alternatively, if you have created a chat thread before and you have its thread_id, you can create it by:

chat_thread_client = chat_client.get_chat_thread_client(thread_id) # thread_id is the id of an existing chat thread

Key concepts

A chat conversation is represented by a chat thread. Each user in the thread is called a thread participant. Thread participants can chat with one another privately in a 1:1 chat or huddle up in a 1:N group chat. Users also get near real-time updates for when others are typing and when they have read the messages.

Once you initialized a ChatClient class, you can do the following chat operations:

Create, get, update, and delete threads

Perform CRD(Create-Read-Delete) operations on threads

create_chat_thread(topic, **kwargs)
list_chat_threads(**kwargs)
delete_chat_thread(thread_id, **kwargs)

Once you initialized a ChatThreadClient class, you can do the following chat operations:

Update thread

Perform Update operation on thread topic

update_topic(topic, **kwargs)

Get Chat thread properties

get_properties(**kwargs)

Send, get, update, and delete messages

Perform CRUD(Create-Read-Update-Delete) operations on messages

send_message(content, **kwargs)
get_message(message_id, **kwargs)
list_messages(**kwargs)
update_message(message_id, content, **kwargs)
delete_message(message_id, **kwargs)

Get, add, and remove participants

Perform CRD(Create-Read-Delete) operations on thread participants

list_participants(**kwargs)
add_participants(thread_participants, **kwargs)
remove_participant(participant_identifier, **kwargs)

Send typing notification

Notify the service of typing notification

send_typing_notification(**kwargs)

Send and get read receipt

Notify the service that a message is read and get list of read messages.

send_read_receipt(message_id, **kwargs)
list_read_receipts(**kwargs)

Examples

The following sections provide several code snippets covering some of the most common tasks, including:

• Thread Operations
• Message Operations
• Thread Participant Operations
• Events Operations

Thread Operations

Create a thread

Use the create_chat_thread method to create a chat thread.

• Use topic, required, to give a thread topic;
• Use thread_participants, optional, to provide a list the ChatParticipant to be added to the thread;
  • user, required, it is the CommunicationUserIdentifier you created by CommunicationIdentityClient.create_user() from User Access Tokens
  • display_name, optional, is the display name for the thread participant.
  • share_history_time, optional, time from which the chat history is shared with the participant.
• Use idempotency_token, optional, to specify the unique identifier for the request.

CreateChatThreadResult is the result returned from creating a thread, you can use it to fetch the id of the chat thread that got created. This id can then be used to fetch a ChatThreadClient object using the get_chat_thread_client method. ChatThreadClient can be used to perform other chat operations to this chat thread.

# Without idempotency_token and thread_participants
topic = "test topic"
create_chat_thread_result = chat_client.create_chat_thread(topic)
chat_thread_client = chat_client.get_chat_thread_client(create_chat_thread_result.chat_thread.id)

# With idempotency_token and thread_participants
from azure.communication.identity import CommunicationIdentityClient
from azure.communication.chat import ChatParticipant, ChatClient, CommunicationTokenCredential
import uuid
from datetime import datetime

# create an user
identity_client = CommunicationIdentityClient.from_connection_string('<connection_string>')
user = identity_client.create_user()

# user access tokens
tokenresponse = identity_client.get_token(user, scopes=["chat"])
token = tokenresponse.token

## OR pass existing user
# from azure.communication.chat import CommunicationUserIdentifier
# user_id = 'some_user_id'
# user = CommunicationUserIdentifier(user_id)

# create the chat_client
endpoint = "https://<RESOURCE_NAME>.communcationservices.azure.com"
chat_client = ChatClient(endpoint, CommunicationTokenCredential(token))

# modify function to implement customer logic
def get_unique_identifier_for_request(**kwargs):
    res = uuid.uuid4()
    return res

topic = "test topic"
thread_participants = [ChatParticipant(
    identifier=user,
    display_name='name',
    share_history_time=datetime.utcnow()
)]

# obtains idempotency_token using some customer logic
idempotency_token = get_unique_identifier_for_request()

create_chat_thread_result = chat_client.create_chat_thread(
    topic, 
    thread_participants=thread_participants, 
    idempotency_token=idempotency_token)
thread_id = create_chat_thread_result.chat_thread.id

# fetch ChatThreadClient
chat_thread_client = chat_client.get_chat_thread_client(create_chat_thread_result.chat_thread.id)

# Additionally, you can also check if all participants were successfully added or not
# and subsequently retry adding the failed participants again
def decide_to_retry(error, **kwargs):
    """
    Insert some custom logic to decide if retry is applicable based on error
    """
    return True

retry = [thread_participant for thread_participant, error in create_chat_thread_result.errors if decide_to_retry(error)]
if retry:
    chat_thread_client.add_participants(retry)

Get a thread

Use get_properties method retrieves a ChatThreadProperties from the service; thread_id is the unique ID of the thread.

chat_thread_properties = chat_thread_client.get_properties()

List chat threads

Use list_chat_threads method retrieves the list of created chat threads

• Use results_per_page, optional, The maximum number of messages to be returned per page.
• Use start_time, optional, The start time where the range query.

An iterator of [ChatThreadItem] is the response returned from listing threads

from azure.communication.chat import ChatClient, CommunicationTokenCredential
from datetime import datetime, timedelta

token = "<token>"
endpoint = "https://<RESOURCE_NAME>.communcationservices.azure.com"
chat_client = ChatClient(endpoint, CommunicationTokenCredential(token))
start_time = datetime.utcnow() - timedelta(days=2)

chat_threads = chat_client.list_chat_threads(results_per_page=5, start_time=start_time)
for chat_thread_item_page in chat_threads.by_page():
    for chat_thread_item in chat_thread_item_page:
        print("thread id:", chat_thread_item.id)

Update a thread topic

Use update_topic method to update a thread's properties. topic is used to describe the change of the thread topic

• Use topic to give thread a new topic;

topic = "new topic"
chat_thread_client.update_topic(topic=topic)

chat_thread = chat_client.get_properties(thread_id)

assert chat_thread.topic == topic

Delete a thread

Use delete_chat_thread method to delete a thread; thread_id is the unique ID of the thread.

• Use thread_id, required, to specify the unique ID of the thread.

chat_client.delete_chat_thread(thread_id=thread_id)

Message Operations

Send a message

Use send_message method to sends a message to a thread identified by thread_id.

• Use content, required, to provide the chat message content.
• Use chat_message_type, optional, to provide the chat message type. Possible values include: ChatMessageType.TEXT, ChatMessageType.HTML, 'text', 'html'; if not specified, ChatMessageType.TEXT will be set
• Use sender_display_name,optional, to specify the display name of the sender, if not specified, empty name will be set

SendChatMessageResult is the response returned from sending a message, it contains an id, which is the unique ID of the message.

from azure.communication.chat import ChatMessageType

topic = "test topic"
create_chat_thread_result = chat_client.create_chat_thread(topic)
thread_id = create_chat_thread_result.chat_thread.id
chat_thread_client = chat_client.get_chat_thread_client(create_chat_thread_result.chat_thread.id)

content='hello world'
sender_display_name='sender name'
chat_message_type = ChatMessageType.TEXT

# without specifying sender_display_name and chat_message_type
send_message_result = chat_thread_client.send_message(content)
send_message_result_id = send_message_result.id
print("Message sent: id: ", send_message_result_id)

# specifying sender_display_name and chat_message_type
send_message_result_w_type = chat_thread_client.send_message(
            content,
            sender_display_name=sender_display_name,
            chat_message_type=chat_message_type # equivalent to chat_message_type = 'text'
)
send_message_result_w_type_id = send_message_result_w_type.id
print("Message sent: id: ", send_message_result_w_type_id)

Get a message

Use get_message method retrieves a message from the service; message_id is the unique ID of the message.

• Use message_id,required, to specify message id of an existing message ChatMessage is the response returned from getting a message, it contains an id, which is the unique ID of the message, and other fields please refer to azure.communication.chat.ChatMessage

chat_message = chat_thread_client.get_message(message_id=send_message_result_id)
print("get_chat_message succeeded, message id:", chat_message.id, "content: ", chat_message.content)

List messages

Use list_messages method retrieves messages from the service.

• Use results_per_page, optional, The maximum number of messages to be returned per page.
• Use start_time, optional, The start time where the range query.

An iterator of [ChatMessage] is the response returned from listing messages

from datetime import datetime, timedelta

start_time = datetime.utcnow() - timedelta(days=1)

chat_messages = chat_thread_client.list_messages(results_per_page=1, start_time=start_time)
for chat_message_page in chat_messages.by_page():
    for chat_message in chat_message_page:
        print("ChatMessage: Id=", chat_message.id, "; Content=", chat_message.content.message)

Update a message

Use update_message to update a message identified by threadId and messageId.

• Use message_id,required, is the unique ID of the message.
• Use content, optional, is the message content to be updated; if not specified it is assigned to be empty

content = "updated message content"
chat_thread_client.update_message(send_message_result_id, content=content)

chat_message = chat_thread_client.get_message(message_id=send_message_result_id)

assert chat_message.content == content

Delete a message

Use delete_message to delete a message.

• Use message_id, required, is the unique ID of the message.

chat_thread_client.delete_message(message_id=send_message_result_id)

Thread Participant Operations

List thread participants

Use list_participants to retrieve the participants of the thread.

• Use results_per_page, optional, The maximum number of participants to be returned per page.
• Use skip, optional, to skips participants up to a specified position in response.

An iterator of [ChatParticipant] is the response returned from listing participants

chat_participants = chat_thread_client.list_participants(results_per_page=5, skip=5)
for chat_participant_page in chat_participants.by_page():
    for chat_participant in chat_participant_page:
        print("ChatParticipant: ", chat_participant)

Add thread participants

Use add_participants method to add thread participants to the thread.

• Use thread_participants, required, to list the ChatParticipant to be added to the thread;
  • user, required, it is the CommunicationUserIdentifier you created by CommunicationIdentityClient.create_user() from User Access Tokens
  • display_name, optional, is the display name for the thread participant.
  • share_history_time, optional, time from which the chat history is shared with the participant.

A list(tuple(ChatParticipant, ChatError)) is returned. When participant is successfully added, an empty list is expected. In case of an error encountered while adding participant, the list is populated with the failed participants along with the error that was encountered.

from azure.communication.identity import CommunicationIdentityClient
from azure.communication.chat import ChatParticipant
from datetime import datetime

# create 2 users
identity_client = CommunicationIdentityClient.from_connection_string('<connection_string>')
new_users = [identity_client.create_user() for i in range(2)]

# # conversely, you can also add an existing user to a chat thread; provided the user_id is known
# from azure.communication.chat import CommunicationUserIdentifier
#
# user_id = 'some user id'
# user_display_name = "Wilma Flinstone"
# new_user = CommunicationUserIdentifier(user_id)
# participant = ChatParticipant(
#     identifier=new_user,
#     display_name=user_display_name,
#     share_history_time=datetime.utcnow())

participants = []
for _user in new_users:
  chat_participant = ChatParticipant(
    identifier=_user,
    display_name='Fred Flinstone',
    share_history_time=datetime.utcnow()
  ) 
  participants.append(chat_participant) 

response = chat_thread_client.add_participants(thread_participants=participants)

def decide_to_retry(error, **kwargs):
    """
    Insert some custom logic to decide if retry is applicable based on error
    """
    return True

# verify if all users has been successfully added or not
# in case of partial failures, you can retry to add all the failed participants 
retry = [p for p, e in response if decide_to_retry(e)]
if retry:
    chat_thread_client.add_participants(retry)

Remove thread participant

Use remove_participant method to remove thread participant from the thread identified by threadId. identifier is the CommunicationUserIdentifier you created by CommunicationIdentityClient.create_user() from azure-communication-identity

and was added into this chat thread.

• Use identifier to specify the CommunicationUserIdentifier you created

chat_thread_client.remove_participant(identifier=new_user)

# # conversely you can also do the following; provided the user_id is known
# from azure.communication.chat import CommunicationUserIdentifier
# 
# user_id = 'some user id'
# chat_thread_client.remove_participant(identifier=CommunicationUserIdentifier(new_user))

Events Operations

Send typing notification

Use send_typing_notification method to post a typing notification event to a thread, on behalf of a user.

chat_thread_client.send_typing_notification()

Send read receipt

Use send_read_receipt method to post a read receipt event to a thread, on behalf of a user.

• Use message_id to specify the id of the message whose read receipt is to be sent

content='hello world'
send_message_result = chat_thread_client.send_message(content)
send_message_result_id = send_message_result.id
chat_thread_client.send_read_receipt(message_id=send_message_result_id)

List read receipts

Use list_read_receipts method retrieves read receipts for a thread.

• Use results_per_page, optional, The maximum number of read receipts to be returned per page.
• Use skip,optional, to skips read receipts up to a specified position in response.

An iterator of [ChatMessageReadReceipt] is the response returned from listing read receipts

read_receipts = chat_thread_client.list_read_receipts(results_per_page=5, skip=5)

for read_receipt_page in read_receipts.by_page():
    for read_receipt in read_receipt_page:
        print(read_receipt)
        print(read_receipt.sender)
        print(read_receipt.chat_message_id)
        print(read_receipt.read_on)

Sample Code

These are code samples that show common scenario operations with the Azure Communication Chat client library. The async versions of the samples (the python sample files appended with _async) show asynchronous operations, and require Python 3.6 or later. Before run the sample code, refer to Prerequisites

to create a resource, then set some Environment Variables

set AZURE_COMMUNICATION_SERVICE_ENDPOINT="https://<RESOURCE_NAME>.communcationservices.azure.com"
set AZURE_COMMUNICATION_SERVICE_CONNECTION_STRING="<connection string of your Communication service>"

pip install azure-communication-identity

python samples\chat_client_sample.py
python samples\chat_client_sample_async.py
python samples\chat_thread_client_sample.py
python samples\chat_thread_client_sample_async.py

Troubleshooting

Running into issues? This section should contain details as to what to do there.

Next steps

More sample code should go here, along with links out to the appropriate example tests.

Contributing

If you encounter any bugs or have suggestions, please file an issue in the Issues section of the project.