===============================
Working with Chats and Channels
===============================
.. note::
These examples assume you have read :ref:`accessing-the-full-api`.
Joining a chat or channel
*************************
Note that :tl:`Chat` are normal groups, and :tl:`Channel` are a
special form of ``Chat``, which can also be super-groups if
their ``megagroup`` member is ``True``.
Joining a public channel
************************
Once you have the :ref:`entity <entities>` of the channel you want to join
to, you can make use of the :tl:`JoinChannelRequest` to join such channel:
.. code-block:: python
from telethon.tl.functions.channels import JoinChannelRequest
client(JoinChannelRequest(channel))
# In the same way, you can also leave such channel
from telethon.tl.functions.channels import LeaveChannelRequest
client(LeaveChannelRequest(input_channel))
For more on channels, check the `channels namespace`__.
__ https://lonamiwebs.github.io/Telethon/methods/channels/index.html
Joining a private chat or channel
*********************************
If all you have is a link like this one:
``https://t.me/joinchat/AAAAAFFszQPyPEZ7wgxLtd``, you already have
enough information to join! The part after the
``https://t.me/joinchat/``, this is, ``AAAAAFFszQPyPEZ7wgxLtd`` on this
example, is the ``hash`` of the chat or channel. Now you can use
:tl:`ImportChatInviteRequest` as follows:
.. code-block:: python
from telethon.tl.functions.messages import ImportChatInviteRequest
updates = client(ImportChatInviteRequest('AAAAAEHbEkejzxUjAUCfYg'))
Adding someone else to such chat or channel
*******************************************
If you don't want to add yourself, maybe because you're already in,
you can always add someone else with the :tl:`AddChatUserRequest`, which
use is very straightforward, or :tl:`InviteToChannelRequest` for channels:
.. code-block:: python
# For normal chats
from telethon.tl.functions.messages import AddChatUserRequest
# Note that ``user_to_add`` is NOT the name of the parameter.
# It's the user you want to add (``user_id=user_to_add``).
client(AddChatUserRequest(
chat_id,
user_to_add,
fwd_limit=10 # Allow the user to see the 10 last messages
))
# For channels (which includes megagroups)
from telethon.tl.functions.channels import InviteToChannelRequest
client(InviteToChannelRequest(
channel,
[users_to_add]
))
Checking a link without joining
*******************************
If you don't need to join but rather check whether it's a group or a
channel, you can use the :tl:`CheckChatInviteRequest`, which takes in
the hash of said channel or group.
Retrieving all chat members (channels too)
******************************************
You can use
`client.get_participants <telethon.telegram_client.TelegramClient.get_participants>`
to retrieve the participants (click it to see the relevant parameters).
Most of the time you will just need ``client.get_participants(entity)``.
This is what said method is doing behind the scenes as an example.
In order to get all the members from a mega-group or channel, you need
to use :tl:`GetParticipantsRequest`. As we can see it needs an
:tl:`InputChannel`, (passing the mega-group or channel you're going to
use will work), and a mandatory :tl:`ChannelParticipantsFilter`. The
closest thing to "no filter" is to simply use
:tl:`ChannelParticipantsSearch` with an empty ``'q'`` string.
If we want to get *all* the members, we need to use a moving offset and
a fixed limit:
.. code-block:: python
from telethon.tl.functions.channels import GetParticipantsRequest
from telethon.tl.types import ChannelParticipantsSearch
from time import sleep
offset = 0
limit = 100
all_participants = []
while True:
participants = client(GetParticipantsRequest(
channel, ChannelParticipantsSearch(''), offset, limit,
hash=0
))
if not participants.users:
break
all_participants.extend(participants.users)
offset += len(participants.users)
.. note::
If you need more than 10,000 members from a group you should use the
mentioned ``client.get_participants(..., aggressive=True)``. It will
do some tricks behind the scenes to get as many entities as possible.
Refer to `issue 573`__ for more on this.
Note that :tl:`GetParticipantsRequest` returns :tl:`ChannelParticipants`,
which may have more information you need (like the role of the
participants, total count of members, etc.)
__ https://github.com/LonamiWebs/Telethon/issues/573
Recent Actions
**************
"Recent actions" is simply the name official applications have given to
the "admin log". Simply use :tl:`GetAdminLogRequest` for that, and
you'll get AdminLogResults.events in return which in turn has the final
`.action`__.
__ https://lonamiwebs.github.io/Telethon/types/channel_admin_log_event_action.html
Admin Permissions
*****************
Giving or revoking admin permissions can be done with the :tl:`EditAdminRequest`:
.. code-block:: python
from telethon.tl.functions.channels import EditAdminRequest
from telethon.tl.types import ChannelAdminRights
# You need both the channel and who to grant permissions
# They can either be channel/user or input channel/input user.
#
# ChannelAdminRights is a list of granted permissions.
# Set to True those you want to give.
rights = ChannelAdminRights(
post_messages=None,
add_admins=None,
invite_users=None,
change_info=True,
ban_users=None,
delete_messages=True,
pin_messages=True,
invite_link=None,
edit_messages=None
)
# Equivalent to:
# rights = ChannelAdminRights(
# change_info=True,
# delete_messages=True,
# pin_messages=True
# )
# Once you have a ChannelAdminRights, invoke it
client(EditAdminRequest(channel, user, rights))
# User will now be able to change group info, delete other people's
# messages and pin messages.
.. note::
Thanks to `@Kyle2142`__ for `pointing out`__ that you **cannot** set all
parameters to ``True`` to give a user full permissions, as not all
permissions are related to both broadcast channels/megagroups.
E.g. trying to set ``post_messages=True`` in a megagroup will raise an
error. It is recommended to always use keyword arguments, and to set only
the permissions the user needs. If you don't need to change a permission,
it can be omitted (full list `here`__).
Restricting Users
*****************
Similar to how you give or revoke admin permissions, you can edit the
banned rights of an user through :tl:`EditAdminRequest` and its parameter
:tl:`ChannelBannedRights`:
.. code-block:: python
from telethon.tl.functions.channels import EditBannedRequest
from telethon.tl.types import ChannelBannedRights
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
# Restricting an user for 7 days, only allowing view/send messages.
#
# Note that it's "reversed". You must set to ``True`` the permissions
# you want to REMOVE, and leave as ``None`` those you want to KEEP.
rights = ChannelBannedRights(
until_date=datetime.now() + timedelta(days=7),
view_messages=None,
send_messages=None,
send_media=True,
send_stickers=True,
send_gifs=True,
send_games=True,
send_inline=True,
embed_links=True
)
# The above is equivalent to
rights = ChannelBannedRights(
until_date=datetime.now() + timedelta(days=7),
send_media=True,
send_stickers=True,
send_gifs=True,
send_games=True,
send_inline=True,
embed_links=True
)
client(EditBannedRequest(channel, user, rights))
Kicking a member
****************
Telegram doesn't actually have a request to kick an user from a group.
Instead, you need to restrict them so they can't see messages. Any date
is enough:
.. code-block:: python
from telethon.tl.functions.channels import EditBannedRequest
from telethon.tl.types import ChannelBannedRights
client(EditBannedRequest(channel, user, ChannelBannedRights(
until_date=None,
view_messages=True
)))
__ https://github.com/Kyle2142
__ https://github.com/LonamiWebs/Telethon/issues/490
__ https://lonamiwebs.github.io/Telethon/constructors/channel_admin_rights.html
Increasing View Count in a Channel
**********************************
It has been asked `quite`__ `a few`__ `times`__ (really, `many`__), and
while I don't understand why so many people ask this, the solution is to
use :tl:`GetMessagesViewsRequest`, setting ``increment=True``:
.. code-block:: python
# Obtain `channel' through dialogs or through client.get_entity() or anyhow.
# Obtain `msg_ids' through `.get_message_history()` or anyhow. Must be a list.
client(GetMessagesViewsRequest(
peer=channel,
id=msg_ids,
increment=True
))
Note that you can only do this **once or twice a day** per account,
running this in a loop will obviously not increase the views forever
unless you wait a day between each iteration. If you run it any sooner
than that, the views simply won't be increased.
__ https://github.com/LonamiWebs/Telethon/issues/233
__ https://github.com/LonamiWebs/Telethon/issues/305
__ https://github.com/LonamiWebs/Telethon/issues/409
__ https://github.com/LonamiWebs/Telethon/issues/447