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Chat and notifications

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Chat and notifications

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1. Chat

  • The chat is used for sending short messages between NET Genium users. A message can be sent to a single user with the New message icon at the user's record in the list of users; an administrator and a user account administrator can also send it to a whole user group or to all users currently signed in. A message to a whole group or to all signed-in users is not delivered to the sender, even if the sender is a member of the group. A message can also be sent by a script.
  • A recipient who has NET Genium open sees the message within 10 seconds in a dialog with the buttons Reply and Close – but only in a window that is currently visible (not minimized and not in a browser tab in the background) and only when no other dialog with a message or a question is open in it, such as the dialog with the previous chat message. Otherwise the message is shown once the window becomes visible again, or within 10 seconds after the dialog is closed. At the same time, a red badge with the number of received messages appears on the recipient's avatar and the senders are listed in the personal menu; clicking a sender opens the reply window. The badge counts the messages the window has picked up since the NET Genium header was last loaded (for example when switching the application group); a hidden window picks up none, and behind an open dialog only the oldest waiting message is counted. A sender disappears from the badge and from the menu once a reply window to that sender is opened – in the window from which the reply is made; in other windows the sender stays until the header is reloaded; showing or closing the message in the dialog does not decrease the badge. After the header is reloaded, the badge only includes messages that have not been shown yet.
  • Showing the message in the dialog marks it as read – even when nobody is looking at the screen at that moment. Opening the reply window to a sender marks all of that sender's unread messages as read, including those the window does not show (it only shows messages from the last 2 hours). Messages sent to all signed-in users that have not been shown are usually marked as read when the application starts.
  • If the recipient is not signed in, the message waits and is shown after the recipient's next sign-in.
  • The history of messages with a particular user opens with the History icon at the user's record in the list of users or with a button in the reply window. Only the two participants of a conversation can open its history – not even an administrator can open someone else's conversation in NET Genium. All messages, or only messages older than six months, can be deleted from the history; deleted messages disappear for both participants, including messages the other participant has not read yet. The history opened with the History icon at the user's own record contains all messages the user has sent or received, with all users, and deleting from it deletes all of them.

2. Notifications on a mobile phone

A notification is a system alert on a mobile phone (or on a computer) that a chat message has arrived for the user. It is shown even when NET Genium is closed and on the lock screen. Nothing is installed on the device – notifications are handled by the browser and delivered by the service of the operating system vendor (Google on Android, Apple on iPhone and iPad, and in a browser on a computer Google, Apple, Mozilla or Microsoft depending on the browser).

2.1. When a notification arrives

  • A notification only announces that a chat message has arrived. The message itself is shown in the chat dialog after NET Genium is opened. Other events, such as saving a record or receiving an e-mail, do not trigger notifications.
  • A notification arrives for a message that stays unread for 30 seconds. No notification is sent for a message older than 24 hours. Whoever has NET Genium open in a window that is currently visible, with no other dialog with a message or a question open in it, sees the message in the chat dialog within that time – it is thereby read and no notification follows. This also applies to such a window left open on a computer the user has walked away from; if a dialog with a previous message stays open in it, however, further messages are not shown and notifications for them follow, unless the user opens the reply window to their sender earlier.
  • A message sent to all signed-in users does not trigger a notification.
  • Tapping a notification opens NET Genium. If the sign-in has expired meanwhile, the sign-in page is shown; the message is shown in the chat dialog after signing in.
  • If the message contains a link into this NET Genium instance – to a record, a new record or a view page (a link to the “Default.aspx”, “Form.aspx” or “ViewPage.aspx” page with the “form”, “id” or “viewpage” parameters, such as the one inserted by the “Send email” script step or copied by the “Link” icon in the page toolbar; pasting the address into the message text is enough) – tapping the notification opens that target directly. Both a relative link and the full address of the instance are recognized – the address from the NET Genium settings and the address under which the sender of any chat message had the portal open since the application was last started. If the message links to several different targets or to none, the main page opens.
  • If NET Genium is added to the Home Screen as an app, its icon shows a badge with the number of unread messages. The badge is set together with the notification and updated after NET Genium is opened: it decreases once a message is displayed in the chat dialog and disappears when there are no unread messages. The badge is shown by Android (Chrome) and by iPhone and iPad with notifications allowed.

2.2. Turning notifications on

  • Android – it is enough to open NET Genium in Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Samsung Internet, choose Notifications in the personal menu under the avatar and tap the Turn on notifications button.
  • iPhone and iPad (iOS and iPadOS 16.4 and later) – notifications only work in the app added to the Home Screen: in Safari tap Share, choose Add to Home Screen, open the app from the Home Screen and turn notifications on there. Notifications do not work in a Safari tab, so the Turn on notifications button only shows these instructions there.
  • Computer – notifications can be turned on the same way (the Notifications item in the personal menu under the avatar, the Turn on notifications button) in a browser on a computer as well, provided the browser supports web notifications.
  • The app added to the Home Screen has the name “Portal name” from the NET Genium settings and the icon of the instance uploaded to the “Themes” directory (otherwise the NET Genium icon); notifications carry the same icon. It is described in the guide Layout settings.
  • The browser asks for permission the first time notifications are turned on. Once the prompt is declined, it is not shown again and the permission can only be restored in the browser or system settings.
  • The Send a test notification button on the same tab checks that notifications reach the device. The Turn off notifications button turns them off on the device on which the dialog is open.
  • If the test notification reports a successful send but nothing appears on the phone, the browser app itself has notifications turned off in the system settings (on Android: Settings › Apps › the browser › Notifications). Granting the permission to the site in the browser does not help – NET Genium reports notifications as turned on, but the system discards them.

2.3. Who receives notifications and where

  • Signing in is only needed to turn notifications on. Notifications then go to the user who turned them on, regardless of whether that user is signed in on the device – even after the sign-in expires and with the browser closed. Signing out does not cancel them; they can be turned off with the Turn off notifications button on the device, or by removing the device on the Notifications tab (see below).
  • Notifications are tied to the browser and device on which they were turned on, not to whoever is currently signed in on it. When a user hands a phone with notifications turned on over to another person, notifications meant for the original user keep arriving on it. Notifications must therefore be turned off before the phone is handed over. When the new user turns notifications on on the handed-over device, the subscription passes to that user and notifications for the original user stop arriving on this device.
  • A user with several devices turns notifications on on each of them, and they then arrive on all of them.
  • An overview of all devices on which the user has notifications turned on is on the Notifications tab of the Change password dialog (the Notifications item in the personal menu under the avatar). For every device the browser and operating system, the date notifications were turned on and the last delivery are shown; the icon next to a device turns notifications on it off from elsewhere – typically for a lost or handed-over phone. The button Send a test notification sends a test notification to all devices at once.
  • iPhone and iPad – the Home Screen app and a Safari tab are separate; a Safari tab does not affect notifications turned on in the app in any way.
  • Android – the Home Screen app and a tab of the same browser share one setting: turned on in the app means turned on in the tab, and turning them off in the tab turns the app off as well.
  • Turning notifications on in two different browsers on one device (for example Chrome and Samsung Internet) makes every message arrive twice. It is therefore enough to turn notifications on in a single browser.
  • Clearing the browser data or removing the app from the Home Screen ends the notifications; they also end when the vendor's service repeatedly refuses to deliver them. The Notifications tab then offers the Turn on notifications button on that device again.

2.4. Security and server requirements

  • A notification carries at most the first 300 characters of the message text without formatting and is shown even on the lock screen. Messages with sensitive data should therefore be worded generally. The content travels encrypted through the servers of Google, Apple, Mozilla or Microsoft.
  • Notifications require a secure connection (HTTPS) with a trusted certificate; in NET Genium available only over HTTP the Turn on notifications button is not shown. The server must be allowed outgoing HTTPS connections to the push service domains fcm.googleapis.com, android.googleapis.com, push.apple.com, push.services.mozilla.com and notify.windows.com, including all their subdomains – it does not itself have to be reachable from the internet.