simple-telegram-bot.md

Simple Telegram Bot

A simple relay communication between Rocket.Chat and Telegram is possible by configuring a basic bot. The guide below shows a community example of how this can be achieved with webhooks.

This gives you the possibility of relaying messages between Telegram and Rocket.Chat in a specified room of your choice.

{% hint style="warning" %} This integration is not suitable for Omnichannel Conversations. Consult the telegram-app for managing your Omnichannel conversations with Telegram. Workspaces subscribed to any of Rocket.Chat's premium plans can install the Telegram App, which comes with additional functionalities and Omnichannel features. {% endhint %}

Getting Started

{% hint style="info" %} Make sure Your Rocket.Chat workspace URL is publicly available. {% endhint %}

1. Log in to your Telegram account on your mobile or using a browser.
2. Add and open a conversation with the user BotFather.
3. Click start.
4. Send /newbot to start creating a new bot.
5. Follow the instructions to continue.
   • Set the bot's username. Telegram successfully creates the bot and shows how to access it.
6. Copy the token provided, it is needed for the configuration.

Configuration

{% hint style="info" %} Before configuring the Telegram integration, make sure you:

• Create a channel on Rocket.Chat for incoming and outgoing conversations.
• Create a user with bot the role to be used for the relay. {% endhint %}

Creating an Incoming Telegram webhook in Rocket.Chat

The incoming webhook is responsible for relaying messages from Telegram into Rocket.Chat into a specific Channel.

To create an incoming webhook:

• Go to Administration > Workspace > Integrations in Rocket.Chat
• Create a new Incoming Webhook following the guide #create-a-new-incoming-webhook
  • Enable the integration
  • Set the webhook integration name.
  • Set the Post to Channel as the channel created above.
  • Set Post as, as the user created above.
  • Enable the script and paste the following code.

class Script {
    addQuotePrefix(str) {
        let tmp = str.split('\n'),
            res = [];

        for (const frag of tmp) {
            res.push(`> ${frag}`);
        }

        return res.join('\n');
    }

    process_incoming_request({ request }) {
        // UNCOMMENT THE BELOW LINE TO DEBUG IF NEEDED.
        // console.log(request.content);
        if ('edited_message' in request.content) {
            request.content.message = request.content.edited_message;
        }
        let from = request.content.message.from;
        let who = from.username
        let icon_url = '/avatar/' + from.username + '.jpg'
        if(!who)  {
          if (from.first_name && from.last_name) {
            who = `${from.first_name} ${from.last_name}`
          } else if (from.first_name) {
            who = from.first_name
          } else {
            who = from.last_name
          }
          icon_url = `/avatar/${request.content.message.from.first_name}.jpg`
        }
        let body = request.content.message.text

        if(!body) {
          if(request.content.message.hasOwnProperty("sticker") && request.content.message.sticker.emoji) {
            // It's a sticker
            body = request.content.message.sticker.emoji
        } else {
           return {}
          }
        }

        if(request.content.message.reply_to_message) {
              var quotedMessage = 
                "*" +
                request.content.message.reply_to_message.from.username +
                "*\n" +
                request.content.message.reply_to_message.text;

              quotedMessage = this.addQuotePrefix(quotedMessage);
            body = quotedMessage + '\n' + body;
        }

        return {
            content: {
                username: who,
                icon_url: icon_url,
                text: body
            }
        };
    }
}

• Save the integration.

This creates a new incoming integration with a webhook URL and token provided.

Setting Telegram webhook

• Copy the incoming webhook URL provided by Rocket.Chat after saving.
• Change the following URL with yourTelegramBotToken and Incoming webhookURL and open it on your browser.

https://api.telegram.org/bot<my-telegram-authorization-token>/setwebhook?url=<Incoming_Webhook_Link_from_Rocket.Chat>

• A response indicating success is sent which looks like this:

{
"ok": true,
"result": true,
"description": "Webhook was set"
}

Test Telegram Incoming Integration

Test your incoming Webhook by sending a telegram message to the Telegram bot.

The message sent gets posted in channel by the useryou specified in the incoming webhook configuration page.

Creating a Telegram Group with Bot access

A Telegram group can be configured to send and receive messages to and from Rocket.Chat.

Create a Telegram group and grant bot access.

• Create a new Telegram group.
• Get the group chat id. This can be gotten by:
  • Adding the user RawDataBotto the group
  • On joining, a response like below is seen with the chat id

Your chat id is -873457731, your id is 1140377161

Also you can send me username or joinchat link in a private message

Kisses, your bot

• Change the bot group privacy settings so it can listen to all messages by:
  • Sending the message /setprivacy to BotFather.
  • Choosing the bot you want to edit.
  • Setting the status to Disable.

Creating an Outgoing Telegram webhook in Rocket.Chat

The outgoing integration is used to relay messages back from Rocket.Chat to Telegram.

• Go to Administration > Workspace > Integrations in Rocket.Chat.
• Create an outgoing webhook following this guide #create-a-new-outgoing-webhook.
  • Select the Message sent as the Event Trigger.
  • Enable the integration.
  • Set any Trigger Words which messages must have before they get relayed if needed.
  • Specify the channel to listen to.
  • Set the URL following this format:

https://api.telegram.org/bot<my-telegram-authorization-token>/sendMessage?chat_id=<chat-id>

• Enable Script and paste the following code

class Script {
    prepare_outgoing_request({ request }) {
        if (request.data.bot) {
            //Don't repost messages from the bot.
            return { };
        } else {
            return {
                url: request.url + '&parse_mode=HTML' + '&text=' + encodeURIComponent('<b>' + request.data.user_name+ '</b>: ' + request.data.text),
                method: 'GET'
            };
        }
    }
}

• Save the integration.
• Add your bot to the telegram group and enjoy cross-platform communication between Rocket.Chat and Telegram.

{% hint style="success" %}

• Multiple Outgoing Triggers can be configured to cover all use cases.
• The scripts can be customized as needed. Learn more here #script-details {% endhint %}