Ruby Telegram bot: Custom keyboard and user interaction

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1

Hey everyone! I’m working on a Ruby Telegram bot and I’m stuck with a couple of things. I’m using a gem for the bot, but I won’t name it to avoid any promo.

First, I’ve set up a custom keyboard for a lottery feature:

when '/lottery'
  question = 'Pick your lucky number:'
  number_pad = Telegram::Bot::Types::ReplyKeyboardMarkup.new(
    keyboard: [
      %w[1 2 3],
      %w[4 5 6],
      %w[7 8 9],
      [' ', '0', ' ']
    ],
    one_time_keyboard: true
  )

  bot.api.send_message(chat_id: chat.id, text: question, reply_markup: number_pad)

How do I handle the user’s response? For example, if they pick ‘1’, I want to send a message like:

if user_choice == '1'
  bot.api.send_message(chat_id: chat.id, text: 'You picked 1!', reply_markup: number_pad)
end

Also, I’m trying to implement a feature where users can send messages to each other through the bot. How can I parse a command like ‘/message @user1’ and have the bot respond with ‘@user1, you’ve got a message from @sender’?

Any help would be awesome! Thanks!

2

I’ve faced similar challenges with Telegram bots in Ruby. For handling user responses to the custom keyboard, you can utilize a state machine or a simple flag to track the context. Here’s a basic approach:

@awaiting_lottery_pick = false

bot.listen do |message|
  if @awaiting_lottery_pick && message.text =~ /^[0-9]$/
    bot.api.send_message(chat_id: message.chat.id, text: "You picked #{message.text}!")
    @awaiting_lottery_pick = false
  elsif message.text == '/lottery'
    @awaiting_lottery_pick = true
    # Your existing lottery keyboard code here
  end
end

For the messaging feature, you could implement it like this:

when /^\/message @(\w+)\s+(.+)/
  recipient = $1
  content = $2
  sender = message.from.username
  bot.api.send_message(chat_id: message.chat.id, text: "@#{recipient}, message from @#{sender}: #{content}")
end

This captures both the recipient and the message content. Remember to add error handling and user verification as needed.

3

hey mate, ive done somethin similar before. for the lottery thing, you can use a global variable to track the state:

$waiting_for_lottery = false

bot.listen do |msg|
  if $waiting_for_lottery && msg.text =~ /^[0-9]$/
    bot.api.send_message(chat_id: msg.chat.id, text: "You picked #{msg.text}!")
    $waiting_for_lottery = false
  end
end

for messaging, regex is your friend:

when /^\/message @(\w+)/
  recipient = $1
  bot.api.send_message(chat_id: msg.chat.id, text: "@#{recipient}, msg from @#{msg.from.username}")
end
4

For handling user responses to the custom keyboard, you’ll want to set up a message handler in your main bot loop. Something like:

bot.listen do |message|
  case message.text
  when '1'..'9', '0'
    bot.api.send_message(chat_id: message.chat.id, text: "You picked #{message.text}!")
  end
end

As for the messaging feature, you can use regular expressions to parse the command:

when /^\/message @(\w+)/
  recipient = $1
  sender = message.from.username
  bot.api.send_message(chat_id: message.chat.id, text: "@#{recipient}, you've got a message from @#{sender}")

This assumes the recipient’s username exists in your bot’s user database. You might need additional logic to verify and handle user existence.