This package contains a receiver and a sender node which act as a telegram bot. The only thing required is the token that can be retrieved by the @botfather telegram bot. https://core.telegram.org/bots
dvv (Vladimir Dronnikov) for providing the saveDataDir configuration option. snippet-java for adding venue messages. And for providing the markdown problem fallback.
greenstone7 for providing the callback query node.
dceejay for cleaning up the project
psyntium for providing the weblink for additional content link videos, pictures, audio files.
The nodes are a simple wrapper around the node-telegram-bot-api
The nodes are tested with nodejs 8.11.1 and node-red 0.18.4.
The input node receives messages from the bot and sends a message object with the following layout:
msg.payload contains the message details
- chatId : the unique id of the chat. This value needs to be passed to the out node when responding to the same chat.
- type : the type of message received: message, photo, audio, location, video, voice, contact
- content : received message content: string or file_id, or object with full data (location, contact)
msg.originalMessage contains the original message object from the underlying node-telegram-bot-api lib.
The simple echo flow looks like:
source flow
The only thing to be entered here is the token which you received from @botfather when creating a new bot. The string is automatically trimmed. The node contains two optional properties: users and chatids. You may enter a list of names and/or chatids that are authorized to use this bot. This is useful, if the bot should only accept incoming calls from dedicated persons. The values in the property fields must be separated by a , e.g.: Hugo,Sepp,Egon Leave the fields blank if you do not want to use this feature. saveDataDir is an optional configuration value that can be set to automatically download all contents like music, video, documents, etc.
This node receives all messages from a chat. Simply invite the bot to a chat. (You can control if the bot receives every message by calling /setprivacy @botfather.) The original message from the underlying node library is stored in msg.originalMessage. msg.payload contains the most important data like chatId, type and content. The content depends on the message type. E.g. if you receive a message then the content is a string. If you receive a location, then the content is an object containing latitude and longitude. The second output is triggered when security is applied and the user is not authorized to access the bot. See below.
When the receiver node receives data like videos, documents and so on, the file is downloaded automatically to the local harddisc when saveDataDir is set in the configuration node. The directory is also part of the message payload: msg.payload.path In addition to that the message contains the direct download link in the payload: msg.payload.weblink
This node sends the payload to the chat. The payload must contain the following fields: msg.payload.chatId - chatId msg.payload.type - e.g. "message" msg.payload.content - your message text msg.error - is set when an exception occurred
The command node can be used for triggering a message when a specified command is received: e.g. help. See example below. It has two outputs
- is triggered when the command is received
- is triggered when the command is not received
The second one is useful when you want to use a keyboard. See example below.
The node receives the callback queries of inline keyboards. See example-flow inlinekeyboard in examples folder.
The reply node waits for an answer to a specified message. It should be used in conjunction with the sender node: See example below.
This example is self-explaining. The received message is returned to the sender.
source flow
This flow returns the help message of your bot. It receives the command and creates a new message, which is returned:
Note: You can access the sender's data via the originalMessage property.
Keyboards are very useful for getting additional data from the sender.
When the command is received the first output is triggered and a dialog is opened:
source flow
The answer is send to the second output triggering the lower flow. Data is passed via global properties here.
Next to the keyboard the bot could also ask a question and wait for the answer.
When the user responds to a specified message the telegram reply node can be used:
source flow
The question is sent to the chat. This node triggers the on reply node waiting for the answer.
Note: that the user has to explicitly respond to this message. If the user only writes some text, the node will not be triggered.
The last function shows how to evaluate the answer using a function node with two outputs.
An inline keyboard contains buttons that can send a callback query back to the bot to trigger any kind of function.
When the command is received the first output is triggered and a inline keyboard is shown:
source flow
The callback query is received by the receiver node. It must be answered like shown as follows: Here you can add your code to trigger the desired bot command. The answer contains the callback query data in msg.payload.content.
An inline keyboard can be modified using the 'editMessageReplyMarkup' instruction. To be able to modify an existing message you need
to know the messageId of the message of the keyboard.
A sample flow is provided in the examples folder and could look like this:
source flow
The message id needs to be saved in the flow or gobal context. This is just a demo assuming that there is only one single chat.
Replace the initial keyboard with a modified one using the magic 'editMessageReplyMarkup' command as type.
The following switch node just handles the response and hides the keyboard using another magic command: 'deleteMessage'
As an alternative to 'editMessageReplyMarkup' you can also use 'editMessageText' to replace the keyboard and also the text as follows:
Locations can be send to the chat. The bot can receive the longitude and latitude:
If you have the chatId, you can send any message without the need of having received something before.
source flow
Next to sending text messages you can send almost any content like photos and videos. Set the right type and content and you are done. If you want to respond to a received message with a picture you could write:
msg.payload.content = 'foo.jpg';
msg.payload.type = 'photo';
Note: that the chatId is already the correct one when you reuse the received msg object from a receiver node.
You can use one of the following types to send your file as content:
- photo
- audio
- video
- video_note
- sticker
- voice
- document The content can be downloaded automatically to a local folder by setting the saveDataDir entry in the configuration node. You can add a caption to photo, audio, document, video, voice by setting the caption property as follows:
msg.payload.caption = "You must have a look at this!";
The following types require a special content format to be used. See the underlying node api for further details.
- location
- contact
- venue
- callback_query
Sending a contact is limited to the fields supported by the underlying API to "phone_number" and "first_name". But you can also receive "last_name" if the client sends it.
msg.payload.type = 'contact';
msg.payload.content : { phone_number: "+49 110", first_name: "Polizei" };
Text messages can be in markdown format to support fat and italic style. To enable markdown format set the parse_mode options property as follows:
msg.payload.options = {parse_mode : "Markdown"};
Telegram always adds a preview when you send a web link. To suppress this behavior you can disable the preview by setting the options property as follows:
msg.payload.options = {disable_web_page_preview : true};
The callback query answer has a show_alert option to control the visibility of the answer on the client. It is directly mapped to the options property.
msg.payload.options = true;
The configuration node contains two properties for applying security to your bot. You can choose between configuring
the single usernames or configure one or more chat-ids that are allowed to access the bot. The values must be separated using a comma like shown in the screenshot.
Note: that the chat-ids are positive in chats where you talk to the bot in an 1:1 manner. A negative chat-id indicates a group-chat. Everybody in this group is allowed to use the bot if you enter the chat-id of the group into the lower field of the configuration node.
The receiver node has a second output, that is triggered when authorization fails. The message is send to this output for further processing.
You can reply on that message or log it to a file to see who wanted to access your bot.
The message needs to be formatted before the log to file node can be triggered. A simple function could look like this:
Putting all pieces together you will have a simple bot implementing some useful functions.
source flow
All example flows can be found in the examples folder of this package.
Author: Karl-Heinz Wind
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