quiq-chat

quiq-chat

Library to handle the communication with Quiq Messaging APIs to build a web chat app

Installation

Install quiq-chat with

npm install --save quiq-chat

or

yarn add quiq-chat

Usage

Using QuiqChatClient

The default export of quiq-chat is the QuiqChatClient class which will fetch information about the current webchat, initialize a websocket connection, and allow you to register callbacks so that you can keep your app's UI in sync with the webchat state.

All the functions to register callbacks return the QuiqChatClient object so that you can chain them together. You also need to call start() to connect to Quiq Messaging. The start method returns a promise that resolves to the QuiqChatClient, so you can add a callback that will be executed after the connection is opened;

import QuiqChatClient from 'quiq-chat';

const client = new QuiqChatClient()
  .onNewMessages(messages => {
    // Update your app with the new array of messages
  })
  .onAgentTyping(typing => {
    // Show or hide the typing indicator
  })
  .onConnectionStatusChange(connected => {
    // Show the connection status of the app
  })
  .onError(error => {
    // Show some error message
  })
  .onRetryableError(error => {
    // Show some error message
  }).
  .onErrorResolved(() => {
    // Remove the error message
  })
  .start()
  .then(client => {
    // Run some code after the webchat app is connected
  });

Without using QuiqChatClient

Before quiq-chat can call any APIs, you need to call init and pass in your site's host (i.e. https://your-company.goquiq.com) and the contact point you want your chat client to connect to

import {init, fetchConversation} from 'quiq-chat';

init({
  HOST: 'https://your-company.goquiq.com',
  CONTACT_POINT: 'default',
});

// Now we can call the API
fetchConversation().then(conversation => {
  // Do something with the conversation object
});

Trying to call any other methods before init will throw an error

Documentation

QuiqChatClient

onNewMessages(messages: Array<Message>) => QuiqChatClient

Called whenever new messages are received. messages is an array containing full transcript of the current chat

onAgentTyping(typing: boolean) => QuiqChatClient

Called whenever the support agent starts or stops typing

onError(error: ?ApiError) => QuiqChatClient

Called whenever there is a non-retryable error or an error that has exceeded the maximum number of retries from the API.

onRetryableError(error: ?ApiError) => QuiqChatClient

Called whenever there is a retryable error from the API

onErrorResolved() => QuiqChatClient

Called whenever any error from the API has been resolved

onConnectionStatusChanged(connected: boolean) => QuiqChatClient

Called when a connection is established or terminated

onBurn() => QuiqChatClient

Called when quiq-chat gets in a fatal state and page holding webchat needs to be refreshed

start() => Promise<QuiqChatClient>

Establishes the connection to QuiqMessaging

stop() => void

Disconnects the websocket from Quiq

Other methods

subscribe(callbacks: WebsocketCallbacks) => void

Opens a websocket connection and hook up some callbacks

import {subscribe} from 'quiq-chat';

subscribe({
  onConnectionLoss() {
    // Called when the connection is lost
  },

  onConnectionEstablish() {
    // Called when the connection is established or reopened after a disconnect
  },

  onMessage(message) {
    // React to the websocket message
  },

  onTransportFailure(error, req) {
    // Called if websockets don't work and we need to fall back to long polling
  },

  onClose() {
    // Called if the websocket connection gets closed for some reason
  },

  onBurn(burnData) {
    // Called if the client gets in a bad state and can't make any more network requests (need to hit refresh)
  }
});

The message object in handleMessage is of the type

{
  data: Object,
  messageType: 'Text' | 'ChatMessage',
  tenantId: string
}

The ApiError object in onError andonRetryableError is of the type

{
  code?: number,
  message?: string,
  status?: number,
}

unsubscribe() => void

Unsubscribes from the current websocket connection

fetchConversation() => Promise<Conversation>

Fetches the current conversation object from Quiq

addMessage(text:string) => void

Sends the text as a webchat message in to Quiq Messaging

joinChat() => void

Sends a message to Quiq Messaging that the end user has opened the chat window

leaveChat() => void

Sends a message to Quiq Messaging that the end user has closed the chat window

updateMessagePreview(text:string, typing:boolean) => void

Sends a message to Quiq Messaging that the end user is typing and what they've typed in the message field

checkForAgents() => Promise<{available: boolean}>

Fetches whether or not there are agents available for the contact point the webchat is connected to

sendRegistration(data: {[string]: string}) => Promise

Submits a map of custom (key, value) pairs to be included in the data for the current chat. Method accepts a single parameter, a JavaScript object with values of type String. key is limited to 80 characters and must be unique; value is limited to 1000 characters.

hasActiveChat() => boolean

Returns whether the end-user has performed a meaningful action that triggers a conversation, such as submitting the Welcome Form, or sending a message to the agent. State persists through page flips using quiq-chat-launcher-visible cookie.

isChatVisible() => boolean

Returns the last state of chat's visibility. Only includes actions that call the joinChat and leaveChat events. For instance, if your user maximizes chat, but you never call joinChat, isChatVisible won't reflect this change. State persists through page flips using quiq-chat-container-visible cookie. Can be used to re-open webchat on page turns if the user had chat previously open. Defaults to false if user has taken no actions.

Data types

Message

{
  authorType: 'Customer' | 'Agent',
  text: string,
  id: string,
  timestamp: number,
  type: 'Text' | 'Join' | 'Leave',
}

Conversation

{
  id: string,
  messages: Array<Message>,
}