Message Structure And Hierarchy

Understand the various message categories, types, and statuses in CometChat — including message, custom, action, call, and interactive messages.

Quick Reference - Message categories and their common types:

// Check message category and type
const category = message.getCategory(); // "message" | "custom" | "action" | "call" | "interactive"
const type = message.getType();         // "text" | "image" | "video" | "audio" | "file" | custom type

The diagram below helps you understand the various message categories and types that a CometChat message can belong to.

As you can see in the above diagram, every message belongs to a particular category. A message can belong to one of the 5 categories:

1. Message
2. Custom
3. Action
4. Call
5. Interactive

Each category can be further classified into types.

Message

A message belonging to the category message can be classified into one of the following types:

Type	Description
text	A plain text message
image	An image message
video	A video message
audio	An audio message
file	A file message

Custom

In the case of messages that belong to the custom category, there are no predefined types. Custom messages can be used by developers to send messages that do not fit in the default category and types provided by CometChat. For messages with the category custom, the developers can set their own type to uniquely identify the custom message.

A good example of a custom message would be sharing location coordinates. In this case, the developer can decide to use the custom message with type set to location.

Interactive

An InteractiveMessage is a specialized object that encapsulates an interactive unit within a chat message, such as an embedded form that users can fill out directly within the chat interface. This enhances user engagement by making the chat experience more interactive and responsive to user input.

Type	Description
form	For interactive form messages
card	For interactive card messages
customInteractive	For custom interaction messages

To learn more about Interactive messages, please refer to the Interactive Messages guide.

Action

Action messages are system-generated messages. Messages belonging to the action category can further be classified into one of the below types:

Type	Description
groupMember	Action performed on a group member
message	Action performed on a message

Action messages hold another property called action which determines the action that has been performed.

groupMember Actions

Action	Description
joined	When a group member joins a group
left	When a group member leaves a group
kicked	When a group member is kicked from the group
banned	When a group member is banned from the group
unbanned	When a group member is unbanned from the group
added	When a user is added to the group
scopeChanged	When the scope of a group member is changed

message Actions

Action	Description
edited	When a message is edited
deleted	When a message is deleted

Call

Messages with the category call are calling-related messages. These can belong to either one of the 2 types:

Type	Description
audio	Audio call
video	Video call

The call messages have a property called status that helps you determine the status of the call:

Status	Description
initiated	When a call is initiated to a user/group
ongoing	When the receiver of the call has accepted the call
canceled	When the call has been canceled by the initiator of the call
rejected	When the call has been rejected by the receiver of the call
unanswered	When the call was not answered by the receiver
busy	When the receiver of the call was busy on another call
ended	When the call was successfully completed and ended by either party

Next Steps

Send Messages

Start sending text, media, and custom messages

Interactive Messages

Build forms, cards, and custom interactive messages

Receive Messages

Listen for and handle incoming messages in real-time

Key Concepts

Review the fundamental building blocks of CometChat