Azure Communication Chat (Java)

Build real-time chat applications with thread management, messaging, participants, and read receipts.

Installation

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.azure</groupId>
    <artifactId>azure-communication-chat</artifactId>
    <version>1.6.0</version>
</dependency>

Client Creation

import com.azure.communication.chat.ChatClient;
import com.azure.communication.chat.ChatClientBuilder;
import com.azure.communication.chat.ChatThreadClient;
import com.azure.communication.common.CommunicationTokenCredential;

// ChatClient requires a CommunicationTokenCredential (user access token)
String endpoint = "https://<resource>.communication.azure.com";
String userAccessToken = "<user-access-token>";

CommunicationTokenCredential credential = new CommunicationTokenCredential(userAccessToken);

ChatClient chatClient = new ChatClientBuilder()
    .endpoint(endpoint)
    .credential(credential)
    .buildClient();

// Async client
ChatAsyncClient chatAsyncClient = new ChatClientBuilder()
    .endpoint(endpoint)
    .credential(credential)
    .buildAsyncClient();

Key Concepts

Class

Purpose

ChatClient	Create/delete chat threads, get thread clients
ChatThreadClient	Operations within a thread (messages, participants, receipts)
ChatParticipant	User in a chat thread with display name
ChatMessage	Message content, type, sender info, timestamps
ChatMessageReadReceipt	Read receipt tracking per participant

Create Chat Thread

import com.azure.communication.chat.models.*;
import com.azure.communication.common.CommunicationUserIdentifier;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

// Define participants
List<ChatParticipant> participants = new ArrayList<>();

ChatParticipant participant1 = new ChatParticipant()
    .setCommunicationIdentifier(new CommunicationUserIdentifier("<user-id-1>"))
    .setDisplayName("Alice");

ChatParticipant participant2 = new ChatParticipant()
    .setCommunicationIdentifier(new CommunicationUserIdentifier("<user-id-2>"))
    .setDisplayName("Bob");

participants.add(participant1);
participants.add(participant2);

// Create thread
CreateChatThreadOptions options = new CreateChatThreadOptions("Project Discussion")
    .setParticipants(participants);

CreateChatThreadResult result = chatClient.createChatThread(options);
String threadId = result.getChatThread().getId();

// Get thread client for operations
ChatThreadClient threadClient = chatClient.getChatThreadClient(threadId);

Send Messages

// Send text message
SendChatMessageOptions messageOptions = new SendChatMessageOptions()
    .setContent("Hello, team!")
    .setSenderDisplayName("Alice")
    .setType(ChatMessageType.TEXT);

SendChatMessageResult sendResult = threadClient.sendMessage(messageOptions);
String messageId = sendResult.getId();

// Send HTML message
SendChatMessageOptions htmlOptions = new SendChatMessageOptions()
    .setContent("<strong>Important:</strong> Meeting at 3pm")
    .setType(ChatMessageType.HTML);

threadClient.sendMessage(htmlOptions);

Get Messages

import com.azure.core.util.paging.PagedIterable;

// List all messages
PagedIterable<ChatMessage> messages = threadClient.listMessages();

for (ChatMessage message : messages) {
    System.out.println("ID: " + message.getId());
    System.out.println("Type: " + message.getType());
    System.out.println("Content: " + message.getContent().getMessage());
    System.out.println("Sender: " + message.getSenderDisplayName());
    System.out.println("Created: " + message.getCreatedOn());
    
    // Check if edited or deleted
    if (message.getEditedOn() != null) {
        System.out.println("Edited: " + message.getEditedOn());
    }
    if (message.getDeletedOn() != null) {
        System.out.println("Deleted: " + message.getDeletedOn());
    }
}

// Get specific message
ChatMessage message = threadClient.getMessage(messageId);

Update and Delete Messages

// Update message
UpdateChatMessageOptions updateOptions = new UpdateChatMessageOptions()
    .setContent("Updated message content");

threadClient.updateMessage(messageId, updateOptions);

// Delete message
threadClient.deleteMessage(messageId);

Manage Participants

// List participants
PagedIterable<ChatParticipant> participants = threadClient.listParticipants();

for (ChatParticipant participant : participants) {
    CommunicationUserIdentifier user = 
        (CommunicationUserIdentifier) participant.getCommunicationIdentifier();
    System.out.println("User: " + user.getId());
    System.out.println("Display Name: " + participant.getDisplayName());
}

// Add participants
List<ChatParticipant> newParticipants = new ArrayList<>();
newParticipants.add(new ChatParticipant()
    .setCommunicationIdentifier(new CommunicationUserIdentifier("<new-user-id>"))
    .setDisplayName("Charlie")
    .setShareHistoryTime(OffsetDateTime.now().minusDays(7))); // Share last 7 days

threadClient.addParticipants(newParticipants);

// Remove participant
CommunicationUserIdentifier userToRemove = new CommunicationUserIdentifier("<user-id>");
threadClient.removeParticipant(userToRemove);

Read Receipts

// Send read receipt
threadClient.sendReadReceipt(messageId);

// Get read receipts
PagedIterable<ChatMessageReadReceipt> receipts = threadClient.listReadReceipts();

for (ChatMessageReadReceipt receipt : receipts) {
    System.out.println("Message ID: " + receipt.getChatMessageId());
    System.out.println("Read by: " + receipt.getSenderCommunicationIdentifier());
    System.out.println("Read at: " + receipt.getReadOn());
}

Typing Notifications

import com.azure.communication.chat.models.TypingNotificationOptions;

// Send typing notification
TypingNotificationOptions typingOptions = new TypingNotificationOptions()
    .setSenderDisplayName("Alice");

threadClient.sendTypingNotificationWithResponse(typingOptions, Context.NONE);

// Simple typing notification
threadClient.sendTypingNotification();

Thread Operations

// Get thread properties
ChatThreadProperties properties = threadClient.getProperties();
System.out.println("Topic: " + properties.getTopic());
System.out.println("Created: " + properties.getCreatedOn());

// Update topic
threadClient.updateTopic("New Project Discussion Topic");

// Delete thread
chatClient.deleteChatThread(threadId);

List Threads

// List all chat threads for the user
PagedIterable<ChatThreadItem> threads = chatClient.listChatThreads();

for (ChatThreadItem thread : threads) {
    System.out.println("Thread ID: " + thread.getId());
    System.out.println("Topic: " + thread.getTopic());
    System.out.println("Last message: " + thread.getLastMessageReceivedOn());
}

Pagination

import com.azure.core.http.rest.PagedResponse;

// Paginate through messages
int maxPageSize = 10;
ListChatMessagesOptions listOptions = new ListChatMessagesOptions()
    .setMaxPageSize(maxPageSize);

PagedIterable<ChatMessage> pagedMessages = threadClient.listMessages(listOptions);

pagedMessages.iterableByPage().forEach(page -> {
    System.out.println("Page status code: " + page.getStatusCode());
    page.getElements().forEach(msg -> 
        System.out.println("Message: " + msg.getContent().getMessage()));
});

Error Handling

import com.azure.core.exception.HttpResponseException;

try {
    threadClient.sendMessage(messageOptions);
} catch (HttpResponseException e) {
    switch (e.getResponse().getStatusCode()) {
        case 401:
            System.out.println("Unauthorized - check token");
            break;
        case 403:
            System.out.println("Forbidden - user not in thread");
            break;
        case 404:
            System.out.println("Thread not found");
            break;
        default:
            System.out.println("Error: " + e.getMessage());
    }
}

Message Types

Type	Description

TEXT	Regular chat message
HTML	HTML-formatted message
TOPIC_UPDATED	System message - topic changed
PARTICIPANT_ADDED	System message - participant joined
PARTICIPANT_REMOVED	System message - participant left

Environment Variables

AZURE_COMMUNICATION_ENDPOINT=https://<resource>.communication.azure.com
AZURE_COMMUNICATION_USER_TOKEN=<user-access-token>

Best Practices

1. Token Management - User tokens expire; implement refresh logic with CommunicationTokenRefreshOptions
2. Pagination - Use listMessages(options) with maxPageSize for large threads
3. Share History - Set shareHistoryTime when adding participants to control message visibility
4. Message Types - Filter system messages (PARTICIPANT_ADDED, etc.) from user messages
5. Read Receipts - Send receipts only when messages are actually viewed by user

Trigger Phrases

• "chat application Java", "real-time messaging Java"
• "chat thread", "chat participants", "chat messages"
• "read receipts", "typing notifications"
• "Azure Communication Services chat"