Learn Skype Web SDK Day 13 : Starting a New IM Conversation

We can use Skype for Web API to start a new IM conversation with someone. In order to do this, we need at least one person object representing the person we want to start a conversation with. If you want to start a group conversation with more than one person then you will need to have multiple person objects to repesent these people. Once we have this we are ready to create the conversation.

Conversations are started, stopped and managed from the conversationManager, which is a member of the top-level parent Application. Creating a new conversation with Skype for Web API is actually a lot easier than you might think. It consists of 4 distinct steps: create the conversation, add participants, register the new conversation, start the conversation.

Step 1 – Create the conversation. Like the rest of Skype for Web API – new objects are not ever instantiated in isolation – they always come from a parent. In this case we use the parent conversationManager to create a new conversation:

var application;
//do sign-in process to instantiate application object
var conversation = application.conversationsManager.createConversation();

Step 2 – Add the participants. You don’t need to add yourself, but you need to add anyone else in the conversation. Assuming you already have the person object:

var conversationParticipant = conversation.createParticipant(person);
conversation.participants.add(conversationParticipant);

Step 3 – Register the conversation. Before you start the conversation you need to tell the conversationsManager about it by adding it into its list of conversation:

application.conversationsManager.conversations.add(conversation);

Step 4 – Start the conversation! You’re now ready to begin the conversation. Unlike the Skype for Business client you don’t actually need to send an initial message when begining a new conversation:

conversation.chatService.start();

You won’t see anything happening, but the participant should receive an incoming IM popup. Assuming they accept the popup, the conversation has now started.

 <div class="form-horizontal">
    <div class="form-group">
      <label for="username" class="col-sm-2 control-label">Username</label>
      <div class="col-sm-10">
        <input type="email" class="form-control" id="username" placeholder="Email">
      </div>
    </div>
    <div class="form-group">
      <label for="password" class="col-sm-2 control-label">Password</label>
      <div class="col-sm-10">
        <input type="password" class="form-control" id="password" placeholder="Password">
      </div>
    </div>

    <div class="form-group">
      <div class="col-sm-offset-2 col-sm-10">
        <button class="btn btn-default" id="btnLogIn">Log in</button>
      </div>
    </div>

    <div class="form-group">
      <div class="col-sm-offset-2 col-sm-10">
        <button class="btn btn-default" id="btnLogOut">Log out</button>
      </div>
    </div>
  </div>

  <div>
    <span id="loginStatus"></span>
  </div>

  <hr/>

  <div class="form-horizontal">
    <div class="form-group">
      <label for="contact" class="col-sm-2 control-label">Start Conversation with:</label>
      <div class="col-sm-10">
        <input type="email" class="form-control" id="contact" placeholder="Contact SIP Address">
      </div>
    </div>  

    <div class="form-group">
      <div class="col-sm-offset-2 col-sm-10">
        <button class="btn btn-default" id="btnStartConversation" disabled="disabled">Start</button>
      </div>
    </div>
  </div>

  <div id="footer"></div>
  
  <script type="text/javascript">

  <!-- These variables are only needed for laying out the code sample, they are not part of the sample code. -->
  var pageTitle = 'Starting a New Conversation';
  var blogPostLocation = "http://thoughtstuff.co.uk";
  var githubLocation = "http://github.com";
  
  <!-- end layout code -->
  

  var client;
  $(function () {
    'use strict';

	Skype.initialize({
            apiKey: 'SWX-BUILD-SDK',
        }, function (api) {
            client = new api.application();           
			
		// whenever client.state changes, display its value
		client.signInManager.state.changed(function (state) {
		$('#loginStatus').text("Login State: " + state);
		});
	
        }, function (err) {
            alert('Error loading Skype Web SDK: ' + err);
        }); 


    $('#btnLogIn').click(function () {

        // start signing in
        client.signInManager.signIn({
          username: $('#username').val(),
          password: $('#password').val()
        }).then(function () {
            //log in worked!
            alert('Logged in!');
            $('#btnStartConversation').prop('disabled', false);
            
          }, function (error) {
            //Something went wrong.
            alert(error);
          });
      });

    $('#btnLogOut').click(function () {
        // start signing out
        client.signInManager.signOut()
        .then(function () {
               //log out worked!
               alert('Logged out!');
               $('#btnStartConversation').prop('disabled', true);
             }, function (error) {
                //Something went wrong.
                alert(error);
              });
      });

    $('#btnStartConversation').click(function () {
      StartConversation($('#contact').val());
    });

  function StartConversation (contactSIP) {
  //first, get the person to start a conversation with. Assume one person.
  var person;
  GetContactFromName(contactSIP).then(function (results) {
    results.forEach(function (result) {
    person = result.result;          
  });

 //create the conversation object
 var conversation = client.conversationsManager.createConversation();

 //add the person to the conversation by creating a conversation participant object
 var convParticipant = conversation.createParticipant(person);
 conversation.participants.add(convParticipant);

 //add the newly created conversation to the ConversationManager list
 client.conversationsManager.conversations.add(conversation);

 conversation.chatService.start();
});

}

function GetContactFromName(contactSIP)
{
 var query = client.personsAndGroupsManager.createPersonSearchQuery();
 query.text(contactSIP);
 query.limit(1);
 return query.getMore();          
}

});

</script>

Demo Online

You can try this code out against your own Skype for Business environment by going to the demo page. From here you can also download the code from GitHub if you want to host it locally, or take it and use it in your next project.

Good to Know

• Before you can run this code, make sure you've read my post on all the prerequisites you need to have in place.
• You don't have to copy the code from here - it's all on GitHub!
• If you liked this post, there are more! Check out the dedicated Skype for Web SDK Collection page, or signup to the newsletter
• Need a Skype for Web SDK solution, but not in a position to build yourself? Hire me!

Written by Tom Morgan

Tom is a Microsoft Teams Platform developer and Microsoft MVP who has been blogging for over a decade. Find out more.

---

Buy the book: Building and Developing Apps & Bots for Microsoft Teams. Now available to purchase online with free updates.

Related posts:

Learn Skype Web SDK Day 12 : Getting Users in Groups Learn Skype Web SDK Day 9 : Getting & Displaying Contact Photos Learn Skype Web SDK Day 3 : Getting Your Own Presence Learn Skype Web SDK Day 10 : Getting the Contact List Learn Skype Web SDK Day 1 : Logging In