This Discord bot provides weather data from the FHDW Weatherstation. The bot can subscribe and unsubscribe channels to receive weather updates, list the currently subscribed channels, and unsubscribe all channels at once.
The aim of this repository is to provide a comprehensive example of how to integrate data from an end device in The Things Stack into a Discord bot using the MQTT protocol. By doing so, it bridges the gap between IoT devices using LoRaWAN technology and the popular communication platform, Discord. This enables users and communities to receive real-time updates from their IoT devices, such as weather data, directly in their Discord channels.
Through this demonstration, the repository seeks to empower developers and enthusiasts to explore the potential of integrating IoT data with Discord. The project serves as a foundation for creating more sophisticated applications that leverage LoRaWAN data in innovative ways. Ultimately, this repository aims to inspire the community to find new and creative ways to utilize IoT data and enhance the capabilities of their Discord bots.
The integration of data from The Things Stack into a Discord bot was achieved using the MQTT protocol, a lightweight and efficient messaging protocol designed for IoT devices. MQTT allows for secure and reliable data transfer between the end device and the Discord bot. By subscribing to the appropriate topics in The Things Stack, the Discord bot can receive the data transmitted by the IoT devices.
The necessary code is implemnted in the mqttHandler.js. The integration was achieved by following these steps:
- Import the
createMqttClientfunction from themqttHandler.jsfile in theindex.js. - Configure MQTT settings by providing the required credentials, such as the MQTT address, application user, device ID, and password in the
config.jsonfile. - Create an MQTT client by calling the
createMqttClient()function in theindex.jsfile and providing the necessary credentials and a callback function to handle received messages.- The
createMqttClient()function sets up the MQTT client by connecting to The Things Stack and subscribing to the specified topic. - It sets up event listeners for various MQTT events such as 'connect', 'subscribe', 'error', and 'message'.
- The 'connect' event is triggered when the MQTT client is connected to The Things Stack.
- The 'subscribe' event is triggered when the MQTT client successfully subscribes to the specified topic.
- The 'error' event is triggered when an error occurs in the MQTT client.
- The 'message' event is triggered when a message is received from the specified topic, which then calls the provided callback function.
- The
- In the callback function defined in the
index.jsfile:- Decode the payload and parse the relevant data from the received message.
- Create a Discord embed using the parsed data by calling the
createWeatherEmbed()function. - Send the Discord embed to the specified channels by iterating through the channel IDs stored in the
dataStoragemodule. - If an error occurs while sending the embed to a channel, remove the channel ID from the
dataStoragemodule.
By understanding the process, developers can build upon this knowledge for future projects involving IoT devices. The integration serves as a template for various applications, such as connecting IoT devices to different platforms, transforming and processing the data, and creating custom alerts or notifications. This example showcases how MQTT can be used as a powerful tool to bridge the gap between IoT devices and other applications, fostering more innovative and integrated solutions for the Internet of Things.
- Node.js v14 or higher
- npm (usually bundled with Node.js)
- An active Discord account with administrative access to a server
- A bot and the corresponding bot token from the Discord Developer Portal
- The Things Network/Stack Application ID and API Key
-
Go to the Discord Developer Portal and sign in with your Discord account.
-
Click on the "New Application" button, give your application a name, and then click "Create".
-
In the application's settings, click on the "Bot" tab, then click on the "Add Bot" button to create a bot for your application. Confirm by clicking "Yes, do it!".
-
In the "Bot" tab make sure that the "MESSAGE CONTENT INTENT" is set to
true. -
Under the "TOKEN" section, click "Copy" to copy your bot token. Keep this token safe, as it will be used to authenticate your bot with Discord.
-
(Optional) Customize your bot's name, profile picture, and other settings as desired. Open
- Clone the repository:
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/FHDW-Weatherstation-Discord-Bot.git- Install the required dependencies:
...\TheThingsNetwork-DiscordBot-FHDW-WeatherData\Bot> npm installYou might have to navigate to the Bot directory before running `npm install`.
To navigate use `cd folder_name`
- Create a config.json file in the Bot directory and add your Discord bot token, client ID, guild ID , and other required details ( guild ID is optional, only needed for server specific commands):
{
"token": "your_discord_bot_token",
"clientId": "your_discord_bot_client_id",
"guildId": "your_discord_server_guild_id",
"ttnAppUser": "your_ttn_app_user",
"ttnAppPw": "your_ttn_app_pw",
"ttnAdress": "your_ttn_address",
"ttnAppDevice": "your_ttn_app_device"
}Example:
{
"token": "AAA0000aaa000AAAA000AA.AAA00AAA.aaa-AaaaaAA0000AAAAAAAAAAaaaAAAA00AAAAAA",
"clientId": "1234567891234567891",
"guildId": "1234567891234567891",
"ttnAppUser": "hello-world-weather",
"ttnAppPw": "NXYXX.0A0AAAAAAAA0AAAAAAA4AAA00AAAMAAAAAAAAA.AA0AAAAA0AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA",
"ttnAdress": "mqtts://eu1.cloud.thethings.network:8883",
"ttnAppDevice": "eui-00a0000aa000a000"
}- Invite the bot to your Discord server using the appropriate URL (replace your_discord_bot_client_id with the actual client ID):
Example FHDW-Weather-Bot: https://discord.com/api/oauth2/authorize?client_id=1088555644333867069&permissions=8&scope=bot
- Deploy slash commands to your Discord server:
...\TheThingsNetwork-DiscordBot-FHDW-WeatherData\Bot> node deploy-commands.js(You might have to restart your Discord-Client afterwards)
- Run the bot:
3.1. To start the bot, run:
...\TheThingsNetwork-DiscordBot-FHDW-WeatherData\Bot> npm start3.2. To run the bot in development mode with nodemon, run:
...\TheThingsNetwork-DiscordBot-FHDW-WeatherData\Bot> npm run dev/subscribe [channel]: Subscribe a channel to the FHDW-Weatherstation. If no channel is provided, the current channel will be subscribed./unsubscribe [channel]: Unsubscribe a channel from the FHDW-Weatherstation. If no channel is provided, the current channel will be unsubscribed./list: List all channels currently subscribed to the FHDW-Weatherstation./unsubscribe_all: Unsubscribe all channels from the FHDW-Weatherstation.
To deploy the bot on a hosting platform, follow the platform-specific instructions for Node.js applications. Make sure to include the config.json file with your credentials in the deployment package.
Ensure that the config.json file is included in your deployment and that your bot token and other sensitive information are kept secure. If the hosting platform supports environment variables, it's recommended to store your credentials as environment variables rather than including them in the config.json file.
For example, you can deploy the bot to Heroku by following these steps:
- Create a new app on Heroku and connect your GitHub repository.
- Enable automatic deployment or manual deployment from the GitHub repository.
- Set up environment variables in the Heroku app settings for your Discord bot token, client ID, guild ID, and other required details.
- Deploy the bot to Heroku. The package.json file already contains the necessary scripts for starting the bot.
For more detailed instructions on deploying a Discord bot to Heroku, check out this guide.
This project is licensed under the MIT License.