Add Members To A Group

Add members to a group, listen for real-time member added events, and handle missed events using the CometChat React Native SDK.

Quick Reference - Add members to a group:

const members = [
  new CometChat.GroupMember("UID", CometChat.GROUP_MEMBER_SCOPE.PARTICIPANT),
];
await CometChat.addMembersToGroup("GUID", members, []);

Available via: SDK | REST API

Add Members to Group

You can add members to the group using the addMembersToGroup() method. This method takes the below parameters:

1. GUID - GUID of the group the members are to be added to.
2. members - This is a list of GroupMember objects. In order to add members, you need to create an object of the GroupMember class. The UID and the scope of the GroupMember are mandatory.
3. bannedMembers - This is the list of UID's that need to be banned from the Group. This can be set to null if there are no members to be banned.

JavaScript

let GUID = "GUID";
let UID = "UID";
let membersList = [
  new CometChat.GroupMember(UID, CometChat.GROUP_MEMBER_SCOPE.PARTICIPANT),
];

CometChat.addMembersToGroup(GUID, membersList, []).then(
  (response) => {
    console.log("response", response);
  },
  (error) => {
    console.log("Something went wrong", error);
  }
);

TypeScript

let GUID: string = "GUID";
let UID: string = "UID";
let membersList: CometChat.GroupMember[] = [
  new CometChat.GroupMember(UID, CometChat.GROUP_MEMBER_SCOPE.PARTICIPANT),
];

CometChat.addMembersToGroup(GUID, membersList, []).then(
  (response: Object) => {
    console.log("response", response);
  },
  (error: CometChat.CometChatException) => {
    console.log("Something went wrong", error);
  }
);

It will return a Array which will contain the UID of the users and the value will either be success or an error message describing why the operation to add the user to the group.

Real-Time Group Member Added Events

In other words, as a member of a group, how do I know when someone is added to the group when my app is running?

When a group member is added by another member, this event is triggered. When a user joins a group on their own, the joined event is triggered.

To receive real-time events whenever a new member is added to a group, you need to implement the onMemberAddedToGroup() methods of the GroupListener class.

onMemberAddedToGroup() - This method is triggered when any user is added to the group so that the logged in user is informed of the other members added to the group.

JavaScript

var listenerID = "UNIQUE_LISTENER_ID";

CometChat.addGroupListener(
  listenerID,
  new CometChat.GroupListener({
    onMemberAddedToGroup: (message, userAdded, userAddedBy, userAddedIn) => {
      console.log("User joined", {
        message,
        userAdded,
        userAddedBy,
        userAddedIn,
      });
    },
  })
);

TypeScript

var listenerID: string = "UNIQUE_LISTENER_ID";

CometChat.addGroupListener(
  listenerID,
  new CometChat.GroupListener({
    onMemberAddedToGroup: (
      message: CometChat.Action,
      userAdded: CometChat.User,
      userAddedBy: CometChat.User,
      userAddedIn: CometChat.Group
    ) => {
      console.log("User joined", {
        message,
        userAdded,
        userAddedBy,
        userAddedIn,
      });
    },
  })
);

Always remove group listeners when the component unmounts using CometChat.removeGroupListener(listenerId). Failing to remove listeners can cause memory leaks and duplicate event handling.

Member Added to Group event in Message History

In other words, as a member of a group, how do I know when someone is added to the group when my app is not running?

When you retrieve the list of previous messages if a member has been added to any group that the logged-in user is a member of, the list of messages will contain an Action message. An Action message is a sub-class of BaseMessage class.

For the group member added event, in the Action object received, the following fields can help you get the relevant information-

1. action - added
2. actionOn - User object containing the details of the user who was added to the group
3. actionBy - User object containing the details of the user who added the member to the group
4. actionFor - Group object containing the details of the group to which the member was added

Best Practices

Check per-UID results after adding

The addMembersToGroup() response includes per-UID results (“success” or error). Check each result rather than assuming all members were added successfully.

Only Admins and Moderators can add members

The logged-in user must have Admin or Moderator scope to add members. Verify scope before attempting the operation.

Troubleshooting

addMembersToGroup fails with permission error

Verify the logged-in user has Admin or Moderator scope in the group. Participants cannot add members.

Some UIDs return error in response

Check the per-UID results in the response object. Common causes include invalid UIDs or users that don’t exist in your CometChat app.

onMemberAddedToGroup not firing

Ensure the group listener is registered before the add event occurs. Also verify the listenerId is unique.

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Next Steps

Retrieve Group Members

Fetch group member lists with filtering and pagination

Kick/Ban Members

Kick, ban, and unban group members

Change Member Scope

Update member roles within a group

Join a Group

Join public or password-protected groups