Bots are the next hot thing in 2016! So in my spare-spare time I’ve been working on a wrapper for the Telegram API v2.0. It has a rather unconventional API but I’m reworking it to make it very easy to write bots in B4J.
Bots could be very useful as yet another way to ‘talk’ with IoT devices. You can control LEDs, temperatures, ask for stats etc right from within the Telegram Chat App (which runs on about every kind of platform, being the desktop, a browser, iOS, Android, etc…). Or you can, like I did to test the wrapper, write a little game:
Note: this library is in very early stages so the wrapper is not available for download yet. Full source code of the game will also be available when released.
Some sample code to show you how easy it is to write a bot in B4J (this is not the game code, just some tests):
Code to initialize the library:
Sub Process_Globals
Dim ABT As ABTelegram
End Sub
Sub AppStart (Args() As String)
Dim b As MyBot
b.Initialize
ABT.RegisterLongPollingBot(b.Bot)
StartMessageLoop
End Sub
Code for the Bot:
'Class module
Sub Class_Globals
Dim ABT As ABTelegram
Public Bot As ABTLongPollingBot
Private botToken As String = "207189xxxx:yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy"
Private botUserName As String = "zzzzzzzzzBot"
'Private callbackCounter As Int
End Sub
'Initializes the object. You can add parameters to this method if needed.
Public Sub Initialize
Bot.Initialize("Bot", Me, botToken, botUserName)
Dim upds As List = Bot.botgetUpdates
For i = 0 To upds.Size - 1
Dim upd As ABTUpdate = upds.Get(i)
Log("Go update: " & upd.UpdateId)
Next
End Sub
Sub Bot_UpdateReceived(update As ABTUpdate)
Log("Got an update")
If update.hasMessage Then
Dim msg As ABTMessage = update.GetMessage
Log("Message: " & msg.Text)
' Dim userPhotos As ABTUserProfilePhotos = Bot.BotGetUserProfilePhotos(msg.Chat.id)
' Log("photos: " & userPhotos.TotalCount)
' Dim Photos As List = userPhotos.Photos
' For i = 0 To Photos.Size - 1
' Dim photoSizes As ABTPhotoSizes = Photos.Get(i)
' For j = 0 To photoSizes.Sizes.Size - 1
' Dim photoSize As ABTPhotoSize = photoSizes.Sizes.Get(j)
' Dim photoFile As ABTFile = Bot.BotGetFile(photoSize.FileId)
' Log(photoFile.FilePath)
'
' Dim job1 As HttpJob
' job1.Initialize("Job" & j, Me)
' job1.Tag = photoFile.FilePath.Replace("photo/", "")
'
' Dim url As String = "https://api.telegram.org/file/bot" & botToken & "/" & photoFile.FilePath
' job1.Download(url)
' Next
' Next
' callbackCounter = callbackCounter + 1
' Bot.BotSendMessageAsync(callbackCounter, msg.ChatId, "Alweer hallo " & msg.Chat.FirstName)
Bot.BotSendMessage(msg.ChatId, "Using an Emoji " & ":grinning: in the message!") ' see https://github.com/vdurmont/emoji-java for a list of emojis
' Bot.BotSendPhoto(True, msg.ChatId, File.DirApp & "/" & "telegram.png")
' callbackCounter = callbackCounter + 1
' Bot.BotSendDocumentAsync(callbackCounter, True, msg.ChatId, File.DirApp & "/" & "mydocument.pdf", "mydocument.pdf")
' Bot.BotSendDocument(True, msg.ChatId, File.DirApp & "/" & "mydocument.pdf", "mydocument.pdf")
Bot.BotSendAudio(True, msg.ChatId, File.DirApp & "/" & "myaudio.mp3")
' Bot.BotSendVideo(True, msg.ChatId, File.DirApp & "/" & "myvideo.mp4")
' Bot.BotSendSticker(True, msg.ChatId, File.DirApp & "/" & "mysticker.webp")
' Bot.BotSendContact(msg.ChatId, "+32496000000", "Alain")
' Bot.BotSendChatAction(msg.ChatId, ABT.CHATACTIONTYPE_TYPING)
' Bot.BotSendLocation(msg.ChatId, 50.8492, 2.8779)
' Bot.BotSendVenue(msg.ChatId, 50.8492, 2.8779, "my venue", "Grote markt 1")
Bot.BotSendVoice(True, msg.ChatId, File.DirApp & "/" & "telegram.ogg")
' Dim keyb As ABTReplyKeyboard
' Dim rows As List
' rows.Initialize
' Dim tmpRow As ABTInlineKeyboardRow
' tmpRow.Initialize
' tmpRow.AddButton("test button", "http://one-two.com", "", "")
' rows.Add(tmpRow)
' keyb.InitializeAsInlineKeyboardMarkup(rows)
' Bot.BotEditMessageTextEx(msg.ChatId, msg.MessageId, 0, "Extended test", ABT.PARSEMODE_HTML, False, keyb)
Dim rkeyb As ABTReplyKeyboard
rkeyb.InitializeAsForceReplyKeyboard(False)
Bot.BotSendMessageEx(msg.ChatId, "some test: reply please", ABT.PARSEMODE_HTML, False, False, 0, rkeyb)
' Dim rkeyb2 As ABTReplyKeyboard
' Dim rows2 As List
' rows2.Initialize
' For i = 1 To 100
' Dim tmpRow2 As ABTKeyboardRow
' tmpRow2.Initialize
' tmpRow2.AddButton("Press me")
' rows2.Add(tmpRow2)
' Next
' rkeyb2.InitializeAsReplyKeyboardMarkup(rows2,False, False, False)
' Bot.BotSendMessageEx(msg.ChatId, "some test: press the button", ABT.PARSEMODE_HTML, False, False, 0, rkeyb2)
' Dim rkeyb3 As ABTReplyKeyboard
' Dim rows3 As List
' rows3.Initialize
' Dim tmpRow3 As ABTInlineKeyboardRow
' tmpRow3.Initialize
' tmpRow3.AddButton("Show image", "", "showimage", "")
' rows3.Add(tmpRow3)
'
' rkeyb3.InitializeAsInlineKeyboardMarkup(rows3)
' Bot.BotSendMessageEx(msg.ChatId, "some test: press the button", ABT.PARSEMODE_HTML, False, False, 0, rkeyb3)
End If
If update.hasCallbackQuery Then
Dim cquery As ABTCallbackQuery = update.GetCallbackQuery
Log("CallbackQuery: " & cquery.data)
Select Case cquery.Data
Case "showimage"
Dim msg As ABTMessage = cquery.Message
Bot.BotSendPhotoEx(True, msg.ChatId , File.DirApp & "/" & "myphoto.jpg", "A new photo of darth vader!",False, 0, Null )
Bot.BotSendLocation(msg.ChatId, 50.8492, 2.8779)
Bot.BotEditMessageText(msg.ChatId, msg.MessageId, "", "Shown")
End Select
End If
If update.hasInlineQuery Then
Dim ciquery As ABTInlineQuery = update.GetInlineQuery
Log("InlineQuery: " & ciquery.Query)
If ciquery.Query = "loc" Then
Dim lstResults As List
lstResults.Initialize
Dim myanswer As ABTInlineQueryResult
myanswer.InitializeAsLocation("1", 50.8492, 2.8779, "Your location")
lstResults.Add(myanswer)
Bot.BotAnswerInlineQuery(ciquery.Id, lstResults)
End If
End If
If update.hasChosenInlineResult Then
Dim ccresult As ABTChosenInlineResult = update.GetChosenInlineResult
Log("ChosenInlineResult: " & ccresult.Query)
End If
End Sub
Sub Bot_AsyncSendReceived(methodType As String, callbackId As String, success As Boolean, asyncObject As ABTObject)
Log("Async method: " & callbackId & " " & methodType & " " & success)
If success And asyncObject <> Null Then
If asyncObject.objectType="ABTMessage" Then
Dim message As ABTMessage = asyncObject
Log("Async callback: " & message.MessageId)
End If
End If
End Sub
Sub JobDone (Job As HttpJob)
Log("JobName = " & Job.JobName & ", Success = " & Job.Success)
If Job.Success = True Then
Dim fSave As OutputStream = File.OpenOutput(File.DirApp, Job.tag, False)
File.Copy2(Job.GetInputStream, fSave)
fSave.Close
Else
Log("Error: " & Job.ErrorMessage)
End If
Job.Release
End Sub
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