TextChannel
Represents a text chat channel. Contains TextSources as descendants.
To send a chat message to the TextChannel, call TextChannel:SendAsync() from a LocalScript. The corresponding TextSource of the user with TextSource.CanSend = true must be in that channel.
Messages from different TextChannels can be separated into different tabs in the chat window using ChannelTabsConfiguration.
To learn more, see In-Experience Text Chat.
Summary
Properties
The TextChannel will only deliver messages to users that can send direct messages to the DirectChatRequester.
Methods
Adds a TextSource to the TextChannel given userId of a Player.
Displays a system message to the user.
Sends a TextChatMessage to the server.
Sets the DirectChatRequester for the TextChannel. The TextChannel will only deliver messages to users that can send direct messages to the DirectChatRequester.
Events
Fires when TextChannel:DisplaySystemMessage() is invoked on the client, or when the client receives a valid TextChannel:SendAsync() response from the server.
Callbacks
Called when TextChannel is receiving an incoming message.
Called for each client when TextChannel is receiving an incoming message to determine whether or not it should be delivered to that client.
Properties
DirectChatRequester
The TextChannel will only deliver messages to users that can send direct messages to the DirectChatRequester. This property can only be set using SetDirectChatRequester().
Methods
AddUserAsync
Adds a TextSource to the TextChannel given userId of the user (with Player.UserId). Can only be used in a Script.
If a TextSource representing the user does not exist, this adds a TextSource.
If a TextSource representing the user does exist, this returns the TextSource.
If the user has chat off or isn't in the server, this returns a tuple nil, false.
Parameters
Returns
Returns TextSource and true if a new TextSource is created for the user, TextSource and false if there is an existing TextSource, or nil and false if the user has chat off or is not in this server.
DisplaySystemMessage
Displays a system message to user. Can only be used in a LocalScript, or in a Script with RunContext of Enum.RunContext.Client. Messages are only visible to that user and aren't automatically filtered or localized.
Parameters
The system message sent to the TextChannel.
Use to identify system message types, such as the default system messages.
Returns
A TextChatMessage with TextChatMessage.Status property that indicates the condition of the message.
SendAsync
Sends a TextChatMessage to the server. Can only be used in a LocalScript, or in a Script with RunContext of Enum.RunContext.Client.
The metadata argument has a limit of 200 characters. If this is called with a metadata argument that has more than 200 characters, the message will not be sent to other users. Instead, the sender will receive a TextChatMessage with the TextChatMessage.Metadata and TextChatMessage.Text properties set to empty strings.
Parameters
The message to send to the TextChannel.
Custom metadata to attach to the message.
Returns
A TextChatMessage with TextChatMessage.Status property that indicates the condition of the message.
SetDirectChatRequester
Sets the DirectChatRequester for the TextChannel. This method is only available for use in server scripts.
Use this API if you are working with TextChatService and have a custom implementation of direct chat outside of the default text channels.
When called on a TextChannel that is parented to TextChatService and has no existing TextSources, SetDirectChatRequester adds the requested users as a TextSource and set the DirectChatRequester property for the channel.
When DirectChatRequester is set, only messages between users that can direct chat with the DirectChatRequester are delivered.
local function createWhisperChannel(fromPlayer, toPlayer)
local whisperChannel = Instance.new("TextChannel")
whisperChannel:SetDirectChatRequester(fromPlayer)
whisperChannel:AddUserAsync(toPlayer.UserId)
-- The TextChannel instance now has two TextSource instances.
return whisperChannel
end
Parameters
Returns
Events
MessageReceived
Like TextChatService.MessageReceived, fires when TextChannel:DisplaySystemMessage() is invoked on the client, or when the client receives a valid TextChannel:SendAsync() response from the server. This event is only fired on the client.
If the server's TextChannel.ShouldDeliverCallback property is bound and returns false, the client will not fire TextChannel.MessageReceived.
Use the TextChatMessage parameter to get the TextSource and the text of the message (with TextChatMessage.Text).
The TextChatMessage parameter is the final result of any functions bound to TextChatService.OnIncomingMessage or TextChannel.OnIncomingMessage.
Parameters
The received TextChatMessage.
Callbacks
OnIncomingMessage
Called when TextChannel is receiving an incoming message. Can only be implemented on the client.
Use this to decorate TextChatMessages. If this callback returns a TextChatMessageProperties, those properties are merged with the TextChatMessage parameter to create a new TextChatMessage.
When bound to the client sending a message, this callback is run twice; first when the message is initially sent and received locally, and again when the client receives the result of the filtered message from the server.
TextChannel.OnIncomingMessage callbacks always run after the TextChatService.OnIncomingMessage callback.
This should be defined only once per TextChannel in the source code. Multiple bindings to the same channel will override one another in a nondeterministic manner.
When TextChatService:CreateDefaultTextChannels() is true, those default TextChannels have their TextChannel.OnIncomingMessage callbacks assigned internally in order to exhibit special default behavior.
Parameters
The incoming TextChatMessage.
Returns
If a TextChatMessageProperties is returned, those properties are merged with the TextChatMessage parameter to create a new TextChatMessage with those properties.
ShouldDeliverCallback
Called for each client when TextChannel is receiving an incoming message to determine whether or not it should be delivered to that client. Can only be defined on the server.
Once defined, this callback needs to return a truthy value such as true, 1, or "hello" to deliver the message to said client. If the callback returns anything else (including nil), the message won't be delivered to that client, although the sender will see the message regardless.
The sender can be referenced by TextChatMessage.TextSource, while the receiver is the textSource argument. Note that the sender and receiver can be the same, as the callback iterates through all possible receivers. In Roblox Studio, you will be the only sender and recipient of a message while in solo Play mode.
Parameters
The message being sent, which also contains the sender of the message.
The TextSource of the user who will be receiving the message.