How to implement interactive buttons in a Telegram bot?

Other Questions Telegram bot
1

I’m working on a Telegram bot using Node.js and I’m stuck with a feature. I want to give users a set of buttons to click instead of typing messages. When a user presses a button, I need the bot to receive a specific message like “yes” or “no”.

I tried using inline keyboards, but they don’t send messages back to the bot when clicked. Here’s what I’ve attempted:

const buttonOptions = {
  reply_markup: {
    keyboard: [
      ['Option A', 'Option B'],
      ['Option C', 'Option D']
    ],
    resize_keyboard: true,
    one_time_keyboard: true
  }
};

bot.sendMessage(chatId, 'Please choose an option:', buttonOptions);

This code creates buttons, but they don’t behave as I want. How can I make buttons that send predefined messages to the bot when clicked? Is there a way to add these buttons to the bottom of the user’s chat interface?

2

I’ve been working with Telegram bots for a while now, and I can share some insights on implementing interactive buttons. The key is to use inline keyboards with callback data, as others have mentioned. In my experience, it’s effective to first create an inline keyboard markup with buttons and associated callback data, then send the message with this keyboard attached, and finally set up a callback query handler to process button clicks. One thing to keep in mind is that inline keyboards appear within the chat rather than at the bottom like regular keyboards; this can be an advantage, allowing for more context-specific interactions. Also, remember to respond to callback queries—even with an empty response—to clear the loading state on the button, which greatly improves the user experience. Finally, consider using a library like node-telegram-bot-api to simplify much of the boilerplate code for these interactions.

3

To implement interactive buttons in a Telegram bot, you should use InlineKeyboardMarkup instead of regular keyboards. This approach allows you to create clickable buttons that send specific data back to your bot.

Here’s how to set it up:

Define your inline keyboard with callback data by constructing an array of arrays where each object has a text and callback_data property. Then, send the message using the sendMessage method with the inline keyboard provided in the reply_markup field. Handle callback queries to manage user responses.

Note that while ReplyKeyboardMarkup offers persistent buttons at the bottom of the chat interface, these buttons do not send predefined data like inline keyboards do.

4

hey there! i’ve dealt with this before. you’re on the right track with inline keyboards, but you need to use InlineKeyboardMarkup instead of regular keyboard. here’s a quick example:

const keyboard = {
  inline_keyboard: [
    [{text: 'Yes', callback_data: 'yes'}, {text: 'No', callback_data: 'no'}]
  ]
};
bot.sendMessage(chatId, 'Choose:', {reply_markup: keyboard});

then handle the callback with bot.on('callback_query', ...). hope this helps!