This guide explains how to use the patch
method on the Message
resource of
the Google Chat API to update a text or card message in a space. Update a
message to change message attributes, such as what it says, or the content of a
card. You can also prepend a text message to a
card message, or append a card to a text message.
Chat API also supports the
update
method,
but we strongly recommend calling the
patch
method
because it uses a PATCH
HTTP request while
update
uses a
PUT
HTTP request. To learn more, see the
AIP-134's PATCH
and PUT
section.
In the Chat API, a Chat message is represented by the
Message
resource.
While Chat users can only send messages that contain text,
Chat apps can use many other messaging features, including
displaying static or interactive user interfaces, collecting information from
users, and delivering messages privately. To learn more about messaging
features available for the Chat API, see the
Google Chat messages overview.
Prerequisites
Python
- A Business or Enterprise Google Workspace account with access to Google Chat.
- Python 3.6 or greater
- The pip package management tool
- The latest Google client libraries. To install or update them,
run the following command in your command-line interface:
pip3 install --upgrade google-api-python-client google-auth-oauthlib
- Set up your environment:
- Create a Google Cloud project.
- Configure the OAuth consent screen.
- Enable and configure the Google Chat API with a name, icon, and description for your Chat app.
- Create access credentials based on how you want to authenticate in your Google Chat API
request:
- To authenticate as a Chat user,
create OAuth client ID
credentials and save the credentials as a JSON file named
client_secrets.json
to your local directory. - To authenticate as the Chat app,
create service account
credentials and save the credentials as a JSON file named
credentials.json
.
- To authenticate as a Chat user,
create OAuth client ID
credentials and save the credentials as a JSON file named
- Choose an authorization scope based on whether you want to authenticate as a user or the Chat app.
Update a text message, or prepend a text message to a card message, with user authentication
To update a text message with user authentication, pass the following in your request:
- The
chat.messages
authorization scope. - The
name
of the message to update. updateMask='text'
- A
body
that specifies the updated message.
If the updated message is a card message, then the text message prepends to the card message (which continues to display).
Here's how to update a text message, or prepend a text message to a card message with user authentication:
Python
- In your working directory, create a file named
chat_update_text_message_user.py
. Include the following code in
chat_update_text_message_user.py
:from google_auth_oauthlib.flow import InstalledAppFlow from googleapiclient.discovery import build # Define your app's authorization scopes. # When modifying these scopes, delete the file token.json, if it exists. SCOPES = ["https://www.googleapis.com/auth/chat.messages"] def main(): ''' Authenticates with Chat API via user credentials, then updates a message. ''' # Authenticate with Google Workspace # and get user authorization. flow = InstalledAppFlow.from_client_secrets_file( 'client_secrets.json', SCOPES) creds = flow.run_local_server() # Build a service endpoint for Chat API. chat = build('chat', 'v1', credentials=creds) # Update a Chat message. result = chat.spaces().messages().patch( # The message to update, and the updated message. # # Replace SPACE with a space name. # Obtain the space name from the spaces resource of Chat API, # or from a space's URL. # # Replace MESSAGE with a message name. # Obtain the message name from the response body returned # after creating a message asynchronously with Chat REST API. name='spaces/SPACE/messages/MESSAGE', updateMask='text', body={'text': 'Updated message!'} ).execute() # Prints details about the updated message. print(result) if __name__ == '__main__': main()
In the code, replace the following:
SPACE
: a space name, which you can obtain from thespaces.list
method in the Chat API, or from a space's URL.MESSAGE
: a message name, which you can obtain from the response body returned after creating a message asynchronously with the Chat API, or with the custom name assigned to the message at creation.
In your working directory, build and run the sample:
python3 chat_update_text_message_user.py
Update a text message, or prepend a text message to a card message, with app authentication
To update a text message with app authentication, pass the following in your request:
- The
chat.bot
authorization scope. - The
name
of the message to update. updateMask='text'
- A
body
that specifies the updated message.
If the updated message is a card message, then the text message prepends to the card message (which continues to display).
Here's how to update a text message to a text message, or prepend a text message to a card message with app authentication:
Python
- In your working directory, create a file named
chat_update_text_message_app.py
. Include the following code in
chat_update_text_message_app.py
:from google.oauth2 import service_account from apiclient.discovery import build # Specify required scopes. SCOPES = ['https://www.googleapis.com/auth/chat.bot'] # Specify service account details. CREDENTIALS = ( service_account.Credentials.from_service_account_file('credentials.json') .with_scopes(SCOPES) ) # Build the URI and authenticate with the service account. chat = build('chat', 'v1', credentials=CREDENTIALS) # Update a Chat message. result = chat.spaces().messages().patch( # The message to update, and the updated message. # # Replace SPACE with a space name. # Obtain the space name from the spaces resource of Chat API, # or from a space's URL. # # Replace MESSAGE with a message name. # Obtain the message name from the response body returned # after creating a message asynchronously with Chat REST API. name='spaces/SPACE/messages/MESSAGE', updateMask='text', body={'text': 'Updated message!'} ).execute() # Print Chat API's response in your command line interface. print(result)
In the code, replace the following:
SPACE
: a space name, which you can obtain from thespaces.list
method in the Chat API, or from a space's URL.MESSAGE
: a message name, which you can obtain from the response body returned after creating a message asynchronously with the Chat API, or with the custom name assigned to the message at creation.
In your working directory, build and run the sample:
python3 chat_update_text_message_app.py
Update a card message, or append a card message to a text message
To update a card message, pass the following in your request:
- The
chat.bot
authorization scope. Updating a card message requires app authentication. - The
name
of the message to update. updateMask='cardsV2'
- A
body
that specifies the updated message.
If the updated message is a text message, then a card appends to the text message (which continues to display). If the updated message is itself a card, then the displayed card is updated.
Here's how to update a message to a card message:
Python
- In your working directory, create a file named
chat_update_card_message.py
. Include the following code in
chat_update_card_message.py
:from google.oauth2 import service_account from apiclient.discovery import build # Specify required scopes. SCOPES = ['https://www.googleapis.com/auth/chat.bot'] # Specify service account details. CREDENTIALS = ( service_account.Credentials.from_service_account_file('credentials.json') .with_scopes(SCOPES) ) # Build the URI and authenticate with the service account. chat = build('chat', 'v1', credentials=CREDENTIALS) # Update a Chat message. result = chat.spaces().messages().patch( # The message to update, and the updated message. # # Replace SPACE with a space name. # Obtain the space name from the spaces resource of Chat API, # or from a space's URL. # # Replace MESSAGE with a message name. # Obtain the message name from the response body returned # after creating a message asynchronously with Chat REST API. name='spaces/SPACE/messages/MESSAGE', updateMask='cardsV2', body= { 'cardsV2': [{ 'cardId': 'updateCardMessage', 'card': { 'header': { 'title': 'An Updated Card Message!', 'subtitle': 'Updated with Chat REST API', 'imageUrl': 'https://developers.google.com/chat/images/chat-product-icon.png', 'imageType': 'CIRCLE' }, 'sections': [ { 'widgets': [ { 'buttonList': { 'buttons': [ { 'text': 'Read the docs!', 'onClick': { 'openLink': { 'url': 'https://developers.google.com/chat' } } } ] } } ] } ] } }] } ).execute() # Print Chat API's response in your command line interface. print(result)
In the code, replace the following:
SPACE
: a space name, which you can obtain from thespaces.list
method in the Chat API, or from a space's URL.MESSAGE
: a message name, which you can obtain from the response body returned after creating a message asynchronously with the Chat API, or with the custom name assigned to the message at creation.
In your working directory, build and run the sample:
python3 chat_update_card_message.py
The Chat API returns an instance of
Message
that details the message that's updated.
Update a message with multiple field paths simultaneously
When a message is updated, you can update multiple message field paths at the
time. For example, in an update message request, you can specify a change to the
text
and cardsv2
field paths at the same time, which updates both the
message's text and card. If the message includes only text and no card, a card
is added to the message. For more information about the supported field paths,
see
updateMask
parameters.
To update both the
text
and
card
of a message with
user authentication,
pass the following in your request:
- The
chat.messages
authorization scope. - The
name
of the message to update. An
updateMask
that specifies the message field paths to update, separated by commas:updateMask='text', 'cardsV2'
.A
body
that specifies the updated message, including all updated field paths.
Here's how to update the text
and cardsV2
field paths in a
message with
user authentication:
Python
- In your working directory, create a file named
chat_update_text_message_user.py
. Include the following code in
chat_update_text_message_user.py
:from google_auth_oauthlib.flow import InstalledAppFlow from googleapiclient.discovery import build # Define your app's authorization scopes. # When modifying these scopes, delete the file token.json, if it exists. SCOPES = ["https://www.googleapis.com/auth/chat.messages"] def main(): ''' Authenticates with Chat API via user credentials, then updates a message. ''' # Authenticate with Google Workspace # and get user authorization. flow = InstalledAppFlow.from_client_secrets_file( 'client_secrets.json', SCOPES) creds = flow.run_local_server() # Build a service endpoint for Chat API. chat = build('chat', 'v1', credentials=creds) # Update a Chat message. result = chat.spaces().messages().patch( # The message to update, and the updated message. # # Replace SPACE with a space name. # Obtain the space name from the spaces resource of Chat API, # or from a space's URL. # # Replace MESSAGE with a message name. # Obtain the message name from the response body returned # after creating a message asynchronously with Chat REST API. name='spaces/SPACE/messages/MESSAGE', updateMask='text,cardsV2', body= {'text': 'Updated message!', 'cardsV2': [{ 'cardId': 'updateCardMessage', 'card': { 'header': { 'title': 'An Updated Card Message!', 'subtitle': 'Updated with Chat REST API', 'imageUrl': 'https://developers.google.com/chat/images/chat-product-icon.png', 'imageType': 'CIRCLE' }, 'sections': [ { 'widgets': [ { 'buttonList': { 'buttons': [ { 'text': 'Read the docs!', 'onClick': { 'openLink': { 'url': 'https://developers.google.com/chat' } } } ] } } ] } ] } }] } ).execute() # Prints details about the updated message. print(result) if __name__ == '__main__': main()
In the code, replace the following:
SPACE
: a space name, which you can obtain from thespaces.list
method in the Chat API, or from a space's URL.MESSAGE
: a message name, which you can obtain from the response body returned after creating a message asynchronously with the Chat API, or with the custom name assigned to the message at creation.
In your working directory, build and run the sample:
python3 chat_update_text_message_user.py
Related topics
- Format a message.
- Delete a message.
- Get details about a message.
- List messages in a space.
- Send a message.