How can i ignore user messages in MS Bot framework using direct line channel - botframework

I have created a bot in one scenario it will call an API and it will take same time to get the output from that API, if in between user type anything it will start working on the text which user sent recently. I want till API output is not received, if user sent any messages it will get ignored.

If your bot is integrated into some app then you can actually disable the send button until you receive an answer for the previous question.

I am setting one session when user is requesting to talk with Live Agent, Then i am checking if that session is in progress and any new message is coming from user then i am just ignoring them.

Related

Is there a way to keep my Slack App from being used in Channels?

Is there a way to keep my Slack App from being used in Channels?
I only want the current user to be able to interact with the App directly and it not to show in any channels.
When setting up a app in MS Teams using App Studio there is a option that lets you limit the App to "Personal" I'm looking for something similar in Slack.
I am not sure what use cases you want to prohibit exactly, but in general your app can check each incoming request and decide if and how it wants to react to it.
For example you will always get the user ID of who sent the slash command or message to the bot. You can use that to filter our users that should not have access.
Update
To restrict your app the the app channel you need to do the following:
When receiving a request from the user, first open a direct message channel to the user from the bot user. That will always give you the channel ID of the app channel.
Then reply with a direct message in that app channel
or alternatively check if the received request is from the app channel and ask the user to only talk in app channel if it is not.
See also this answer on how this works in detail.

Unable to get timestamp of the message posted by Slack App

Whenever my app posts ephemeral message to Slack channel (in response to a query by a user), I am unable to get the timestamp of my Slack app response. As I want to delete it once the user has made a selection using one of the buttons. Although I have subscribed to 'message.channels' event, I don't get a notification to my app whenever my app posts in the channel (in response to the user input), therefore, I am unable to get the timestamp of the message which I'll use to delete it. All I want is the timestamp of the message posted by my app so that I can delete it but I am unable to receive the timestamp. Please help!
For e.g. in Giphy app for Slack. Let's say the user invokes the app by calling '/giphy [dog]' where 'dog' is just an example of a search term. The app responds by sending a gif and user can either send it, shuffle to the next one or cancel it. I want a similar capability of cancelling the app response but I need the timestamp of the message in order to do so therefore I am asking for help.
Thanks.
Your approach can not work, because Slack is handling ephemeral messages differently from "normal" messages. They are only visible by one user and can not be modified by API methods (e.g. deletion).
But of course its possible to replace ephemeral messages. Here is how:
Your app can just reply to the interactive message request from Slack with a new message. That new message will by default override the original message including ephemeral messages.
You can reply in two ways:
Directly reply to the request from Slack with a message within 3 seconds
Send a message to the response_url from the Slack request within 30 minutes.
See here for the official documentation on how to respond to interactive messages.
This approach works both with interactive messages and slash commands.
See also this answer for a similar situation.

Design Slackbot service to send automated messages

It is my very first time to write a slack bot and i am wondering how to design it.
The bot supposed to be available and respond to end-users' messages immediately.
The thing is that I need that the bot will also send schedules messages to registered users with automation results.
Use case example:
A user sends a message to the bot and registered to a service that
will check for changes in X. On a specific interval, my backend will
call an automation that checks for those changes and will send a
message to the user with the results.
What will be the best practice for this scenario?
Here is a basic outline.
1. Basic setup
Slack app with bot user
Database
Scheduler (e.g. local CRON service, or web-cron like cron-job.org)
2. Registration
Use Events API to listen to messages from users send via mention (app_mention) or direct message (message.im)
You app needs to store the received "registration" from each user in a database
Respond to user request directly if needed with chat.postMessage
3. Scheduled response
Scheduler calls your app
Your app check if responses are due with a database query
If yes: App sends responses to users via chat.postMessage (but not more than one message per sec due to rate limiting)

Slack polls with HTTP Response

I'm trying to have my backend create a poll for a given user and when the user responds to the poll receive the response on the backend. However I cannot find a way to do the second part with an API available.
I know I can use Incoming Webhooks to send a command to users slackbot channel: /poll .. ... ... however I'm unsure how to receive a response from when user selects one of the options in the poll.
OK, one approach would be
Slash command for the /pollcommand, it will send a request to your app every time a user enters the command
Your app can then sends the actual message containing the poll details back to the channel incl. message menus simply by responding to the slash request or with Web API e.g. chat.PostMessage
User chooses polls option from message menus. Chosen option is send back to your app by Slack.
This is just one approach. Alternatively you could also show the options as message buttons or open a Dialog for the user.
I would advise against using outgoing webhooks, since its no longer part of the main features (and slash commands and interactive menus will send a request directly to your app anyway). Also Web API / chat.PostMessage is better than Incoming webhooks.

How do I receive only the messages that are direct messages to my bot user?

I have successfully setup my slack bot app, have enabled events etc. I want to receive any direct messages that the members of my slack team send to my bot. For this, I have only enabled Bot Events and No Team Events like below
However, I do not get any event on my webhook on this setting.
If I enable message.im event under Team Events, then I start getting events. But then, I get every message that the user (who has installed the app) sends to any other user in the team.
How do I get only the messages that are sent to my bot user?
Update 1
Based on this SO question I created a private channel with the bot user. Even then, the messages in the private channel do not arrive in my webhook with the above event subscriptions.
Update 2
After reinstalling the app, it seems to be working fine. I have only used it for few minutes after the reinstall so far. I will keep posting here how it goes. It would still be interesting to know what went wrong where.
It is normal behavior that your script receives all messages (for every channel your bot is a member of), not only the messages sent directly to your bot. At this time you can not filter further in the event configuration. So you need to filter out any unwanted message in your script handling the event.
See also this answer.

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