ChatChannel

Named channel that holds a buffer of ChatMessage entries and notifies listeners when new messages arrive. Channels are managed by the Chat singleton and identified by name.

Definition

Namespace: Paragon.Townskeep.ChatSystem Assembly: Townskeep.dll

public class ChatChannel

Remarks

ChatChannel wraps a ChatBuffer — a fixed-capacity (256) ring buffer that stores messages in insertion order and iterates newest-first. When the buffer is full, the oldest message is overwritten.

Channels are created and accessed via the Chat singleton (Chat.AddChannel(), Chat.GetChannel()). Two default channels are created on initialization: "General" and "System".

The MessageSent event fires after each message is pushed to the buffer, allowing UI or logging systems to react immediately.

Quick Lookup

Goal	How
Send a message	channel.SendMessage(chatMessage)
Get a message by index	channel.GetMessage(index)
Get all messages (newest first)	channel.GetAllMessages()
Listen for new messages	channel.MessageSent += OnMessage
Check message count	channel.MessageCount
Get channel via singleton	Chat.GetChannel("General")

Properties

ID

Unique identifier for the channel.

public int ID { get; }

Name

The display name of the channel.

public string Name { get; }

MessageCount

The number of messages currently stored in the buffer (max 256).

public int MessageCount { get; }

Events

MessageSent

Fired after a message is pushed to the buffer.

public event Action<ChatMessage> MessageSent

Parameter	Type	Description
message	ChatMessage	The message that was just sent

Methods

Constructor

Creates a new channel with the given name and an empty buffer.

public ChatChannel(string name)

Parameter	Type	Description
name	string	Display name for the channel

SendMessage

Pushes a message to the buffer and fires the MessageSent event.

public void SendMessage(ChatMessage message)

Parameter	Type	Description
message	ChatMessage	The message to send

GetMessage

Retrieves a message by index. Supports System.Index (e.g., ^1 for the last message).

public ChatMessage GetMessage(Index index)

Parameter	Type	Description
index	Index	Position in the buffer

Returns: The ChatMessage at the given index.

GetAllMessages

Returns all messages in the buffer, iterated newest-first.

public IEnumerable<ChatMessage> GetAllMessages()

Returns: Enumerable of all stored ChatMessage entries (newest first).

Common Pitfalls

Buffer capacity is 256 The underlying ChatBuffer holds a maximum of 256 messages. Once full, the oldest message is silently overwritten. There is no notification when messages are evicted.

Iteration order is newest-first GetAllMessages() returns messages in reverse chronological order (newest first). If you need chronological order, reverse the enumerable.

Examples

Listening for Messages

ChatChannel general = Chat.GetChannel("General");
general.MessageSent += message =>
{
    Debug.Log($"[{message.Category}] {message}");
};

Sending a Message Directly to a Channel

ChatChannel channel = Chat.GetChannel("System");
var msg = new ChatMessage(DateTime.Now, "Server", "Welcome!", "System");
channel.SendMessage(msg);

See Also

• ChatMessage — the data struct stored in the buffer