The specification of Chat State Notifications (XEP-0085) [1] defines a protocol for exchanging information about the activity of the user, for example that the user is currently typing. However with the new possibilities of media sharing as in Stateless Inline Media Sharing (XEP-0385) [2] and HTTP File Upload (XEP-0363) [3] there are also new desirable chat states. For example when a user uploads an image, the upload usually takes a while. To notify the chat partner about the uploading process a new chat state is required.
When users send large files or have a very slow upstream connection it can make the chat partner confused when they are receiving an uploading state for a long time. In these cases it can be nice to share the upload progress. This way the chat partner can estimate if a file will arrive immediately or if it is better to go and get a coffee first.
Apart from notifications for sending files, there should also be notifications when a user is creating new media files, for example when the user is recording audio, recording a video or is taking a picture.
<message
from='bernardo@shakespeare.lit/pda'
to='francisco@shakespeare.lit'
type='chat'>
<creating xmlns='urn:xmpp:fsn:0' type='image' />
</message>
Bernardo is informing Francisco about his activity of taking a picture to send it afterwards. If Francisco's client supports file sharing notifications, it should display this similarly to 'Bernardo is taking a photo…'.
A list of possible 'type' attributes is defined below.
| Type | Definition |
|---|---|
| animation | An animated image file, for example a GIF file. It SHOULD NOT be used in the <creating/> state. |
| audio | An audio file. This MAY also be displayed as a voice recording when used in the <creating/> state. |
| image | An image file. |
| video | A video file. |
<message
from='bernardo@shakespeare.lit/pda'
to='francisco@shakespeare.lit'
type='chat'>
<uploading xmlns='urn:xmpp:fsn:0' type='image' progress='0.28' />
</message>
Bernardo has taken a good picture for sending and has started uploading, now. The same notification is also used when the image existed before and there were no process of creating it.
The client SHOULD include a 'progress' attribute. It MUST be in the range of zero (0) and one (1). This value represents the bytes already sent divided by the total bytes. Generally it is not necessary to include more than two digits after the decimal point since the exact uploading status is not important. Clients MUST NOT send progress updates more often than once per second.
The 'type' attribute equals the 'type' attribute by the <creating/> element.
<message
from='bernardo@shakespeare.lit/pda'
to='francisco@shakespeare.lit'
type='chat'>
<upload-finished xmlns='urn:xmpp:fsn:0'>
</message>
The file upload has succeeded. Now Bernardo can send the file sharing message as in Stateless Inline Media Sharing (XEP-0385) [2] or another file sharing protocol. Francisco's client MUST clear the previous <uploading> notification. The <upload-finished/> notification itself SHOULD NOT be displayed to the user.
<message
from='bernardo@shakespeare.lit/pda'
to='francisco@shakespeare.lit'
type='chat'>
<upload-aborted xmlns='urn:xmpp:fsn:0' type='image' />
</message>
Of course the file upload also could have ended otherwise. In this case Bernardo has manually aborted the file upload. If the client encounters problems with the upload service after sending the first file sharing notification, the same format will also be used.
When a sending client chooses to map file sharing notifcations to Chat State Notifications (XEP-0085) [1], it MUST follow the following rules:
A client MAY choose not to apply this mapping if it allows text input while creating or uploading media, to allow transmitting normal XEP-0085 states for the text input.
If a client allows a user to pick media which are already created (thus skipping the <creating/> state), it MAY treat interaction with the media selection like text input in XEP-0085 (i.e. send <composing/> while the user is actively engaging with it and switch to <paused/> if inactive for a certain time).
Media sharing protocols as Stateless Inline Media Sharing (XEP-0385) [2] don't forbid concurrent file uploads, so it may be the case that a client is uploading multiple files of different types to the same user or groupchat at the same time. This could result in different file types being affected at the same time. In this case clients SHOULD follow these rules:
Servers supporting Client State Indication (XEP-0352) [4] SHOULD discard messages containing only a file sharing notification as long as a client is inactive.
File sharing notifications MAY be used in groupchats as defined in Multi-User Chat (XEP-0045) [5] or Mediated Information eXchange (MIX) (XEP-0369) [6] just as in normal chats.
It is possible that the connection to any client is lost at any time or a client crashes. Thus, a client SHOULD work with timeouts that will clear notifications after certain intervals.
A client MUST have a possibility to disable file sharing notifications. This setting MAY be the same as the one for enabling Chat State Notifications (XEP-0085) [1].
This document requires no interaction with the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA).
This specification defines the following XML namespace:
Upon advancement of this specification from a status of Experimental to a status of Draft, the XMPP Registrar [7] shall add the foregoing namespace to the registry located at <https://xmpp.org/registrar/namespaces.html>, as described in Section 4 of XMPP Registrar Function (XEP-0053) [8].
tbd
Thanks to Jonas Wielicki for his helpful feedback and input.
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1. XEP-0085: Chat State Notifications <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0085.html>.
2. XEP-0385: Stateless Inline Media Sharing (SIMS) <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0385.html>.
3. XEP-0363: HTTP File Upload <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0363.html>.
4. XEP-0352: Client State Indication <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0352.html>.
5. XEP-0045: Multi-User Chat <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0045.html>.
6. XEP-0369: Mediated Information eXchange (MIX) <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0369.html>.
7. The XMPP Registrar maintains a list of reserved protocol namespaces as well as registries of parameters used in the context of XMPP extension protocols approved by the XMPP Standards Foundation. For further information, see <https://xmpp.org/registrar/>.
8. XEP-0053: XMPP Registrar Function <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0053.html>.
Note: Older versions of this specification might be available at https://xmpp.org/extensions/attic/
Add upload-finished state, minor improvements.
Added Requirements and Acknowledgements, simplified some definitions and added rules for CSI.
Seperated parts about the usage of chat states and moved the definitions of types to their examples.
First draft.
@report{jahn2018xepxxxx,
title = {File Sharing Notifications},
author = {Jahn, Linus},
type = {XEP},
number = {xxxx},
version = {0.0.4},
institution = {XMPP Standards Foundation},
url = {https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-xxxx.html},
date = {2018-07-17/2018-08-21},
}END