Chat Models Documentation

Overview

This document explains the purpose and structure of the Chat and Message models in your project. These models enable one-on-one communication between vendors and users, supporting various message types such as text, images, audio, and video.

Chat Model

The Chat model represents a conversation between a vendor and a user.

Fields

Field Name	Type	Description
`id`	Integer (PK)	Primary key of the chat record.
`vendor`	ForeignKey	A reference to the `Vendor` model.
`user`	ForeignKey	A reference to the `User` model.
`created_at`	DateTime	The timestamp when the chat was created.
`updated_at`	DateTime	The timestamp when the chat was last updated.

Constraints

Unique Together: Ensures that each vendor and user combination can have only one active chat.

Database Table

The Chat model maps to the tbl_chat table in the database.

Message Model

The Message model represents individual messages exchanged in a Chat.

Fields

Field Name	Type	Description
`id`	UUID (PK)	Primary key of the message record.
`chat`	ForeignKey	A reference to the `Chat` model.
`sender`	ForeignKey	A reference to the `User` who sent the message.
`receiver`	ForeignKey	A reference to the `User` who receives the message.
`message_type`	CharField	Specifies the type of message (`text`, `image`, `audio`, `video`).
`content`	TextField	The textual content of the message (optional, depending on type).
`image`	ImageField	An uploaded image file (optional, depending on type).
`audio`	FileField	An uploaded audio file (optional, depending on type).
`video`	FileField	An uploaded video file (optional, depending on type).
`is_read`	BooleanField	Indicates whether the message has been read by the receiver.
`created_at`	DateTime	The timestamp when the message was created.
`updated_at`	DateTime	The timestamp when the message was last updated.

Validation Rules

Content Exclusivity: Only one of content, image, audio, or video can be set per message.
File Validation: Each file type (image, audio, video) is validated using custom validators to ensure proper formats.

Database Table

The Message model maps to the tbl_chat_messages table in the database.

Relationships

Chat to Message: One Chat can contain multiple Message records.
User to Message: Each Message has a sender and a receiver, both of which are User instances.
Vendor to Chat: Each Chat is associated with a Vendor.

Summary

These models collectively allow for structured and validated communication between vendors and users, supporting various types of content while maintaining database integrity and performance.