Service Cloud Chat Developer Guide

About This Guide
Prerequisites
API Versions
Customize Deployments with the Deployment APIs
Create Deployments
Log Deployment Activity with the Deployment APIs
Customize Your Chat Window with the Deployment APIs
Customize Chat Buttons with the Deployment APIs
showWhenOnline
showWhenOffline
addButtonEventHandler
startChat
startChatWithWindow
Corresponding Calls for Chat Buttons
Find and Create Records Automatically with the Deployment APIs
Customize Automated Chat Invitations with the Deployment APIs
Deployment API Code Sample
Use Pre-Chat to Gather Visitor Information and Set Context for the Agent
Implement a Custom Chat Window Using Visualforce
Use Post-Chat to Wrap Up the Chat Interaction with Your Customer
Set Up Direct-to-Agent Chat Routing with the Deployment APIs
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Note: This release is in preview. Features described here don’t become generally available until the latest general availability date that Salesforce announces for this release. Before then, and where features are noted as beta, pilot, or developer preview, we can’t guarantee general availability within any particular time frame or at all. Make your purchase decisions only on the basis of generally available products and features.

startChat

Use the startChat method to request a chat from a button in a new window.

Usage

Requests a chat from the provided button in a new window.

Optionally, you can route chats from a specific button directly to the agent with the userId you specify. If the agent is unavailable, you can route the chat to additional agents by specifying whether to fallback to the button’s routing rules (true) or not (false).

Syntax

void startChat(String buttonId, (optional) String userId, (optional) Boolean fallback)

Parameters

Name Type Description Available Versions
buttonId String The ID of the chat button for which to request a chat in a new window. Available in API versions 28.0 and later
(Optional) userId String The Salesforce user ID of the agent to whom to directly route chats from the button. Available in API versions 29.0 and later.
(Optional) fallback Boolean Specifies whether to fall back to the button’s routing rules (true) or not (false) if the agent with the specified sfdcUserId is unavailable. Available in API versions 29.0 and later.