Converting regular keyboard to inline keyboard in Python Telegram bot

Other Questions Telegram bot
1

I’m working on a Python Telegram bot and I’ve got the regular keyboard working. But now I want to switch to an inline keyboard. Here’s a snippet of my current code:

def send_message(text, buttons):
    keyboard = {
        'keyboard': [['Button 1', 'Button 2'], ['Button 3', 'Button 4']],
        'resize_keyboard': True
    }
    
    response = requests.post(
        f'{API_URL}/sendMessage',
        data={
            'chat_id': CHAT_ID,
            'text': text,
            'reply_markup': json.dumps(keyboard)
        }
    )
    return response.json()

This works fine for a regular keyboard, but I’m not sure how to modify it for an inline keyboard. Can anyone help me figure out the correct syntax and structure for inline keyboards in Telegram bots? I’m pretty new to this, so any advice would be really helpful. Thanks in advance!

2

hey there! for inline keyboard, u need to change ‘keyboard’ to ‘inline_keyboard’ and use a different structure. Here’s a quick example:

inline_keyboard = {
    'inline_keyboard': [[{'text': 'Button 1', 'callback_data': '1'}]]
}

Hope this helps! Lemme know if u need more info.

3

Having worked extensively with Telegram bots, I can share some insights on transitioning to inline keyboards. The key difference lies in how you structure the keyboard data and handle responses.

For inline keyboards, you’ll need to modify your ‘keyboard’ to ‘inline_keyboard’ and include both ‘text’ and ‘callback_data’ for each button. Here’s how you could adapt your existing code:

def send_message(text, buttons):
    inline_keyboard = {
        'inline_keyboard': [[
            {'text': 'Button 1', 'callback_data': 'action1'},
            {'text': 'Button 2', 'callback_data': 'action2'}
        ], [
            {'text': 'Button 3', 'callback_data': 'action3'},
            {'text': 'Button 4', 'callback_data': 'action4'}
        ]]
    }
    
    response = requests.post(
        f'{API_URL}/sendMessage',
        data={
            'chat_id': CHAT_ID,
            'text': text,
            'reply_markup': json.dumps(inline_keyboard)
        }
    )
    return response.json()

Remember to implement a callback query handler to process button clicks. This setup has worked well for me in creating interactive bot interfaces.

4

I recently faced a similar issue when switching from a regular to an inline keyboard and found that the key change is in the structure of the reply_markup. Instead of having a list of strings organized under ‘keyboard’, you need a list of dictionaries under ‘inline_keyboard’, where each dictionary includes both a ‘text’ and a ‘callback_data’ field. For example:

inline_keyboard = {
    'inline_keyboard': [[
        {'text': 'Button 1', 'callback_data': 'btn1'},
        {'text': 'Button 2', 'callback_data': 'btn2'}
    ], [
        {'text': 'Button 3', 'callback_data': 'btn3'},
        {'text': 'Button 4', 'callback_data': 'btn4'}
    ]]
}

Ensure that your bot’s logic correctly handles these callback data values. This approach helped me get a responsive inline keyboard implementation with my Telegram bot.