CODEWITHSUNDEEP
node.jsbotsslack-api
Jesse
Jesse

Reputation: 10466

Slack slash commands - show user-entered text?

I'm working with the slack slash commands API, and it works swimmingly with my bot (https://github.com/jesseditson/slashbot) so far, except for one thing:

In other slash integrations (for instance giphy), when a user types a slash command, the command is output to the public chat, then the response is posted:

giphy integration
(source: pxfx.io)

However when I use a custom slash command, the original command is not output at all:

no message
(source: pxfx.io)

I'm currently using the Incoming Webhooks API to post messages back to the channel, which works OK, but the responses are disembodied and lacking context without the original request.

What I'd like it to do:

  1. A user types /command
  2. That command is echoed out to the chat room as a message that everyone can see (preferably if I return 2XX from the URL the slash command hits)
  3. The response is posted either inline, or via an incoming webhook (either works for me, having both as an option would be preferable)

This appears to be possible via whatever giphy uses to integrate, which leaves me with some questions:

I'm using node.js, but I'm more interested in if this is possible at all, language aside.

As a side note, I realize I could use the Bot API or Real Time Messaging API to achieve something similar, but without the slash - however, I really like the documentation options and autocomplete that comes with the slash commands, so that's what I'm after with this question.

Upvotes: 8

Views: 4118

Answers (4)

Jason Lieu
Jason Lieu

Reputation: 31

I believe it has to do with the difference between 'immediate response' and 'delayed response'.

When I send my messages through cURL, it doesn't show the slash command 'in channel'. I found that if I merely included header('content-type header: application/json'), and echo'd my response with a json payload including 'in_channel', the slash command showed up. No API required!

Example:

$reply = "Whatever you want";
    $data = array(
        "response_type"=>"in_channel",
        "text"=>$repy,
        );
    header('Content-Type: application/json');
    echo json_encode($data);

Hope this helps, this is my first post, so be gentle if I broke any unspoken rules of stackoverflow.

Upvotes: 3

Hooray Im Helping
Hooray Im Helping

Reputation: 5264

I was having this problem recently and even came across this question. The answer is spread across two places in the slash command documentation. Under the '"In Channel" vs "Ephemeral" responses' heading:

By default, the response messages sent to commands will only be visible to the user that issued the command (we call these "ephemeral" messages). However, if you would like the response to be visible to all members of the channel in which the user typed the command, you can add a response_type of in_channel to the JSON response, like this.

Then later, when talking about delayed responses (which a request from a node server will be):

The only user-facing difference between immediate responses and delayed responses is that "in channel" delayed responses will not include the initial command sent by the user. To echo the command back to the channel, you'll still need to provide a response to Slack's original visit to your invocation URL.

So at the end of your initial request to the server the bot is on, you'll want to send a response looking something like

response.send({"response_type": "in_channel"});

which will echo back /command. Shortly after, when the response from the image fetching request comes back, posting to the response_url will send the payload back to slack and it will be printed under the echoed out /command.

Upvotes: 4

esamek
esamek

Reputation: 41

From Slack's /Command API Docs:

In Channel" vs "Ephemeral" responses

By default, the response messages sent to commands will only be visible to the user that issued the command (we call these "ephemeral" messages). However, if you would like the response to be visible to all members of the channel in which the user typed the command, you can add a response_type of in_channel to the JSON response, like this:

{ "response_type": "in_channel", "text": "It's 80 degrees right now.", "attachments": [ { "text":"Partly cloudy today and tomorrow" } ] }

I think you need to set response_type to "in_channel" to allow other users to see the response.

Upvotes: 4

Ben J
Ben J

Reputation: 34

Unfortunately Slack doesn't offer an option to echo the /command to the channel at the moment, /giphy is a unique in-house integration.

The only option for now is to create a Slack API app and have your users individually auth. Following the use of /command post the original /command message back to the channel with chat.postMessage, then post your Incoming webhook message.

Upvotes: 1

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