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diff --git a/docs/client-server/howto.rst b/docs/client-server/howto.rst new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..de096ab60c --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/client-server/howto.rst @@ -0,0 +1,285 @@ +TODO(kegan): Tweak joinalias API keys/path? Event stream historical > live needs +a token (currently doesn't). im/sync responses include outdated event formats +(room membership change messages). Room config (specifically: message history, +public rooms). /register seems super simplistic compared to /login, maybe it +would be better if /register used the same technique as /login? + + +How to use the client-server API +================================ + +This guide focuses on how the client-server APIs *provided by the reference +home server* can be used. Since this is specific to a home server +implementation, there may be variations in relation to registering/logging in +which are not covered in extensive detail in this guide. + +If you haven't already, get a home server up and running on +``http://localhost:8080``. + + +Accounts +======== +Before you can send and receive messages, you must **register** for an account. +If you already have an account, you must **login** into it. + +Registration +------------ +The aim of registration is to get a user ID and access token which you will need +when accessing other APIs:: + + curl -XPOST -d '{"user_id":"example", "password":"wordpass"}' "http://localhost:8080/matrix/client/api/v1/register" + + { + "access_token": "QGV4YW1wbGU6bG9jYWxob3N0.AqdSzFmFYrLrTmteXc", + "home_server": "localhost", + "user_id": "@example:localhost" + } + +NB: If a ``user_id`` is not specified, one will be randomly generated for you. +If you do not specify a ``password``, you will be unable to login to the account +if you forget the ``access_token``. + +Implementation note: The matrix specification does not enforce how users +register with a server. It just specifies the URL path and absolute minimum +keys. The reference home server uses a username/password to authenticate user, +but other home servers may use different methods. + +Login +----- +The aim when logging in is to get an access token for your existing user ID:: + + curl -XGET "http://localhost:8080/matrix/client/api/v1/login" + + { + "type": "m.login.password" + } + + curl -XPOST -d '{"type":"m.login.password", "user":"example", "password":"wordpass"}' "http://localhost:8080/matrix/client/api/v1/login" + + { + "access_token": "QGV4YW1wbGU6bG9jYWxob3N0.vRDLTgxefmKWQEtgGd", + "home_server": "localhost", + "user_id": "@example:localhost" + } + +Implementation note: Different home servers may implement different methods for +logging in to an existing account. In order to check that you know how to login +to this home server, you must perform a ``GET`` first and make sure you +recognise the login type. If you do not know how to login, you can +``GET /login/fallback`` which will return a basic webpage which you can use to +login. The reference home server implementation support username/password login, +but other home servers may support different login methods (e.g. OAuth2). + + +Communicating +============= + +In order to communicate with another user, you must **create a room** with that +user and **send a message** to that room. + +Creating a room +--------------- +If you want to send a message to someone, you have to be in a room with them. To +create a room:: + + curl -XPOST -d '{"room_alias_name":"tutorial"}' "http://localhost:8080/matrix/client/api/v1/rooms?access_token=QGV4YW1wbGU6bG9jYWxob3N0.vRDLTgxefmKWQEtgGd" + + { + "room_alias": "#tutorial:localhost", + "room_id": "!CvcvRuDYDzTOzfKKgh:localhost" + } + +The "room alias" is a human-readable string which can be shared with other users +so they can join a room, rather than the room ID which is a randomly generated +string. You can have multiple room aliases per room. + +TODO(kegan): How to add/remove aliases from an existing room. + + +Sending messages +---------------- +You can now send messages to this room:: + + curl -XPUT -d '{"msgtype":"m.text", "body":"hello"}' "http://localhost:8080/matrix/client/api/v1/rooms/%21CvcvRuDYDzTOzfKKgh:localhost/messages/%40example%3Alocalhost/msgid1?access_token=QGV4YW1wbGU6bG9jYWxob3N0.vRDLTgxefmKWQEtgGd" + +NB: There are no limitations to the types of messages which can be exchanged. +The only requirement is that ``"msgtype"`` is specified. + +NB: Depending on the room config, users who join the room may be able to see +message history from before they joined. + +Users and rooms +=============== + +Each room can be configured to allow or disallow certain rules. In particular, +these rules may specify if you require an **invitation** from someone already in +the room in order to **join the room**. In addition, you may also be able to +join a room **via a room alias** if one was set up. + +Inviting a user to a room +------------------------- +You can directly invite a user to a room like so:: + + curl -XPUT -d '{"membership":"invite"}' "http://localhost:8080/matrix/client/api/v1/rooms/%21CvcvRuDYDzTOzfKKgh:localhost/members/%40myfriend%3Alocalhost/state?access_token=QGV4YW1wbGU6bG9jYWxob3N0.vRDLTgxefmKWQEtgGd" + +This informs ``@myfriend:localhost`` of the room ID +``!CvcvRuDYDzTOzfKKgh:localhost`` and allows them to join the room. + +Joining a room via an invite +---------------------------- +If you receive an invite, you can join the room by changing the membership to +join:: + + curl -XPUT -d '{"membership":"join"}' "http://localhost:8080/matrix/client/api/v1/rooms/%21CvcvRuDYDzTOzfKKgh:localhost/members/%40myfriend%3Alocalhost/state?access_token=QG15ZnJpZW5kOmxvY2FsaG9zdA...XKuGdVsovHmwMyDDvK" + +NB: Only the person invited (``@myfriend:localhost``) can change the membership +state to ``"join"``. + +Joining a room via an alias +--------------------------- +Alternatively, if you know the room alias for this room and the room config +allows it, you can directly join a room via the alias:: + + curl -XPUT -d '{}' "http://localhost:8080/matrix/client/api/v1/join/%23tutorial%3Alocalhost?access_token=QG15ZnJpZW5kOmxvY2FsaG9zdA...XKuGdVsovHmwMyDDvK" + + { + "room_id": "!CvcvRuDYDzTOzfKKgh:localhost" + } + +You will need to use the room ID when sending messages, not the room alias. + +NB: If the room is configured to be an invite-only room, you will still require +an invite in order to join the room even though you know the room alias. As a +result, it is more common to see a room alias in relation to a public room, +which do not require invitations. + +Getting events +============== +An event is some interesting piece of data that a client may be interested in. +It can be a message in a room, a room invite, etc. There are many different ways +of getting events, depending on what the client already knows. + +Getting all state +----------------- +If the client doesn't know any information on the rooms the user is +invited/joined on, they can get all the user's state for all rooms:: + + curl -XGET "http://localhost:8080/matrix/client/api/v1/im/sync?access_token=QG15ZnJpZW5kOmxvY2FsaG9zdA...XKuGdVsovHmwMyDDvK" + + [ + { + "membership": "join", + "messages": { + "chunk": [ + { + "content": { + "body": "@example:localhost joined the room.", + "hsob_ts": 1408444664249, + "membership": "join", + "membership_source": "@example:localhost", + "membership_target": "@example:localhost", + "msgtype": "m.text" + }, + "event_id": "lZjmmlrEvo", + "msg_id": "m1408444664249", + "room_id": "!CvcvRuDYDzTOzfKKgh:localhost", + "type": "m.room.message", + "user_id": "_homeserver_" + }, + { + "content": { + "body": "hello", + "hsob_ts": 1408445405672, + "msgtype": "m.text" + }, + "event_id": "BiBJqamISg", + "msg_id": "msgid1", + "room_id": "!CvcvRuDYDzTOzfKKgh:localhost", + "type": "m.room.message", + "user_id": "@example:localhost" + }, + [...] + { + "content": { + "body": "@myfriend:localhost joined the room.", + "hsob_ts": 1408446501661, + "membership": "join", + "membership_source": "@myfriend:localhost", + "membership_target": "@myfriend:localhost", + "msgtype": "m.text" + }, + "event_id": "IMmXbOzFAa", + "msg_id": "m1408446501661", + "room_id": "!CvcvRuDYDzTOzfKKgh:localhost", + "type": "m.room.message", + "user_id": "_homeserver_" + } + ], + "end": "20", + "start": "0" + }, + "room_id": "!CvcvRuDYDzTOzfKKgh:localhost" + } + ] + +This returns all the room IDs of rooms the user is invited/joined on, as well as +all of the messages and feedback for these rooms. This can be a LOT of data. You +may just want the most recent message for each room. This can be achieved by +applying pagination stream parameters to this request:: + + curl -XGET "http://localhost:8080/matrix/client/api/v1/im/sync?access_token=QG15ZnJpZW5kOmxvY2FsaG9zdA...XKuGdVsovHmwMyDDvK&from=END&to=START&limit=1" + + [ + { + "membership": "join", + "messages": { + "chunk": [ + { + "content": { + "body": "@myfriend:localhost joined the room.", + "hsob_ts": 1408446501661, + "membership": "join", + "membership_source": "@myfriend:localhost", + "membership_target": "@myfriend:localhost", + "msgtype": "m.text" + }, + "event_id": "IMmXbOzFAa", + "msg_id": "m1408446501661", + "room_id": "!CvcvRuDYDzTOzfKKgh:localhost", + "type": "m.room.message", + "user_id": "_homeserver_" + } + ], + "end": "20", + "start": "21" + }, + "room_id": "!CvcvRuDYDzTOzfKKgh:localhost" + } + ] + +Getting live state +------------------ +Once you know which rooms the client has previously interacted with, you need to +listen for incoming events. This can be done like so:: + + curl -XGET "http://localhost:8080/matrix/client/api/v1/events?access_token=QG15ZnJpZW5kOmxvY2FsaG9zdA...XKuGdVsovHmwMyDDvK&from=END" + + { + "chunk": [], + "end": "215", + "start": "215" + } + +This will block waiting for an incoming event, timing out after several seconds. +Even if there are no new events (as in the example above), there will be some +pagination stream response keys. The client should make subsequent requests +using the value of the ``"end"`` key (in this case ``215``) as the ``from`` +query parameter. This value should be stored so when the client reopens your app +after a period of inactivity, you can resume from where you got up to in the +event stream. If it has been a long period of inactivity, there may be LOTS of +events waiting for the user. In this case, you may wish to get all state instead +and then resume getting live state from a newer end token. + +NB: The timeout can be changed by adding a ``timeout`` query parameter, which is +in milliseconds. A timeout of 0 will not block. + |