FinnaA/nodejs-webhook

Node JS Webhook template for Aimylogic

Node JS webhook template

Please read more about Aimylogic webhooks in our Help Center.

How to run on Heroku

heroku.com provides a free plan for Node JS applications. Please click on the button below to run your copy of this webhook on Heroku

Heroku will build and deploy your webhook automatically. After that you have to provide a public URL of your webhook in your bot's settings.

How to upload code changes

Please make the next steps to upload your changes on Heroku.

Install git and Heroku CLI. Run a terminal (or console) on your machine and type

heroku login
heroku git:clone -a <your Heroku application name>
cd <your Heroku application name>
git remote add origin https://github.com/aimylogic/nodejs-webhook
git pull origin master

You have to do these steps only once.

Once you are ready to upload your changes to Heroku, please type

git add .
git commit -am "some comments"
git push

Heroku will build and deploy your changes automatically.

How to run this template locally in development mode

Run a terminal (or console) and jump into the folder with your copy of this template. Type npm install, then node dev.

You will see a temporal URL for your webhook. Like https://42cbddca.ngrok.io. Copy it and paste into the field named "Webhook for tests" in your bot's settings. All requests to your webhook will go to your local machine while you test your bot scenario via a test widget on Aimylogic. This is very useful for rapid development and debugging purposes.

Note that you don't have to restart the local server each time you change any source file. Nodemon will handle it for you serving the same public URL.

How to use this template

webhook.js file contains all source code you need to change. Here you can add/remove action handlers for your webhook (please read more about webhook actions on Help Center).

How to add action handler

Change the webhook.js file

module.exports = (webhook) => {
  webhook.on('action1', (session) => session.variable = 'some value');
}

Once the bot steps into the screen with enabled action action1, it calls your webhook and receives variable named variable with value "some value".

How to return multiple variables

Just add variables in session object

module.exports = (webhook) => {
  webhook.on('action1', (session) => {
      session.variable1 = 'some value';
      session.variable2 = 'some value';
  });
}

How to run an asynchronious operation

Just return a Promise object if you need to run long operation like a HTTP request or database query

const https = require('https');

module.exports = (webhook) => {
  webhook.on('action1', (session) => {
      return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
         https.get('https://example.com', (resp) => {
             session.variable = 'some value';
             resolve();
         });
      });
  });
}

How to handle multiple actions

You can add as many handlers as you need

module.exports = (webhook) => {
  webhook
    .on('action1', (session) => {
            ...
        }
    )
    .on('action2', (session) => {
            ...
        }
    );
}

How to use a single handler for multiple actions

Just use an array instead of an action string

module.exports = (webhook) => {
  webhook.on(['action1', 'action2'], (session) => {
      session.variable1 = 'some value';
  });
}