ChatMessage

Immutable value type representing a single chat message with timestamp, sender, message body, and category. Used throughout the Chat System as the data unit stored in channels.

Definition

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

public readonly struct ChatMessage

Remarks

ChatMessage is a readonly struct — it is stack-allocated, immutable, and passed by value. All fields are set via the constructor and cannot be modified after creation.

The ToString() format is [HH:mm:ss] Sender: Message, pre-computed at construction time for display efficiency.

Quick Lookup

Goal	How
Create a message	new ChatMessage(DateTime.Now, "Player", "Hello!", "General")
Get empty/default	ChatMessage.Empty
Display formatted	message.ToString() → [14:30:05] Player: Hello!
Check sender	message.Sender
Get category	message.Category

Properties

Time

The timestamp when the message was created.

public DateTime Time { get; }

Sender

The name of the entity that sent the message.

public string Sender { get; }

Message

The text content of the message.

public string Message { get; }

Category

A category tag for the message (e.g., "General", "System", "Combat").

public string Category { get; }

Methods

Constructor

Creates a new chat message with all fields.

public ChatMessage(DateTime time, string sender, string message, string category)

Parameter	Type	Description
time	DateTime	Timestamp of the message
sender	string	Name of the sender
message	string	Message body text
category	string	Category tag for filtering

ToString

Returns the pre-formatted display string.

public override string ToString()

Returns: [HH:mm:ss] Sender: Message

Statics

Empty

A default-initialized ChatMessage with null/default fields.

public static readonly ChatMessage Empty

Common Pitfalls

Comparing with ChatMessage.Empty ChatMessage.Empty has null strings for Sender, Message, and Category. Direct string operations on an empty message will throw NullReferenceException. Check for null or use default comparison.

Examples

Creating and Displaying a Message

var msg = new ChatMessage(DateTime.Now, "Guard", "Halt!", "Dialogue");
Debug.Log(msg);           // [14:30:05] Guard: Halt!
Debug.Log(msg.Category);  // Dialogue

Using with Chat Singleton

// Preferred: use Chat.SendMessage which constructs the ChatMessage internally
Chat.SendMessage("Hello everyone!", "General");

// Manual construction for custom sender/time
var msg = new ChatMessage(DateTime.Now, "NPC", "Welcome, traveler.", "General");
Chat.GetChannel("General").SendMessage(msg);

See Also

• ChatChannel — channel that stores and dispatches messages