chatty-bot v1.0.1

chatty-bot

Little framework to test and build Facebook Messenger Chatbots on Node

You can run your app from the command line

Before deploying

Getting Started

1. Create a node project

   npm init

2. Install chatty-bot globally (so it can run from the command line)

   npm install -g chatty-bot

   Then add it to your current project

   npm install -save chatty-bot

3. Create a file called app.js This is where your chat code goes. And copy this into it.

   var app = {};
   
   app.request = function(text, senderId, sendText, sendTemplateData){
     if(text.toLowerCase().indexOf('help') > -1){
       sendText('I can help you. Ask me a question.');
     } else if (text.toLowerCase().indexOf('?') > -1){
       sendTemplateData(createMsg());
     } else {
       sendText('Hello there ');
     }
   };
   
   app.postback = function(payload, senderId, sendText, sendTemplateData){
     if(payload === 'robot'){
       sendText('Hello comrade');
     }
     if(payload === 'human'){
       sendText('Human beings are a disease, a cancer on this planet, you are a plague, and we...are the cure.');
     }
   }
   
   function createMsg(){
     var messageData = {
         "attachment": {
             "type": "template",
             "payload": {
                 "template_type": "generic",
                 "elements": [{
                     "title": "Before we start",
                     "subtitle": "Are you a robot or a human?",
                     "image_url": "http://i.imgur.com/JD3ydzu.jpg",
                     "buttons": [{
                         "type": "postback",
                         "title": "Robot",
                         "payload": "robot",
                     },{
                         "type": "postback",
                         "title": "Human",
                         "payload": "human",
                     }],
                 }]
             }
         }
     }
     return messageData;
   }
   
   module.exports = app;

   The app is passed to the chatty-app cli and server, you just need to write implementations for app.request and app.postback.

   Two functions: sendText and sendTemplateData are passed to the app. Call these to either send text or a structured message.

   sendText('Hello there ');

4. On the command line type:

   chattybot

   And start chatting on the command line.

   To select a structured template message type ~ followed by the title, followed by the button title. e.g.

   ~Before we start Human

5. To hook up your app to messenger, create a file called index.js And copy the code below into it.

   var chattybot = require('chatty-bot')
   var app = require('./app')
   
   chattybot.listen(app,
     process.env.PORT || 5000,
     <YOUR PAGE ACCESS TOKEN>,
     <YOUR VERFIY TOKEN>);

   Then deploy.

   Help

   Get the tokens from Facebook.

   An excellent beginner's tutorial.

   This is a new project so pull requests and issues welcome.

   TODO

6. Add welcome message for a new thread

7. Pass sequence number to app