Welcome to the KnowlesBot README! KnowlesBot is a Facebook Messenger Bot that I developed for my roommate and I to more effectively manage living together slash the day to day things we want to do. The messenger server back end is deployed using Heroku, but there are also other components that will work through a Raspberry Pi (IE Spotify + Netflix + Youtube integration).
Also, the communication functions interfacing with the FB Messenger API were mostly themselves (sometimes verbatim) implemented in Facebook's Node sample code. I have taken what they provided within that sample code and tried to run with it.
The project itself, at this point in time, is in an early stage. I'm just profiling out exactly what I want to build, and setting up Continuous Integration and Build Scripts so that I can more efficiently work on this in the months to come.
- Role / State tracking via Redis
- Kitty Image Sending
- Secret Functions to Promote People to Different Roles (IE DJ, Admin)
- whoami function to give your state, role and Facebook ID
- Timers and Reminders
- Video streaming via VLC through command line on Raspberry Pi via Chromecast
- Netflix streaming through Tasker and Google Chrome via Chromecast
- Spotify streaming through Mopidy and Chromecast Audio
- Weird, idiosyncratic things (like Wesley Crusher Memes, etc.)
- Shopping Lists (probably through Redis, for lightweight storage that easily expires -- I don't care if I wanted to get milk 6 weeks ago)
- Event/Exam Reminders (for extra courtesy towards someone studying for something)
Some sort of ability for friends to figure out what we're up to in an externally facing way (IE board game nights, parties, concerts, etc)..-- Not allowed by Facebook API (lame)- Ability to query when certain establishments are open (IE ION Restaurant and Weshop in my use case, at Wesleyan University).
I was thinking about perhaps spinning the Message Bot framework code I wrote (super readable + modular, within commands.ts) into multiple other projects, like a Animal-based bot that sends you GIFs, Pet Info and encourages people to donate to the SPCA, and a Singing-centric bot which keeps track of a group's repertoire (alongside who sings what parts), so that one can see, given a gig where X people can come (queried through the bot), what songs we can sing, how long our set will be, and who needs to learn what to make our group more resilient towards missing one or two key members.
TLDR will happen later, but I'm in a good position to do it right.
Note that Facebook forces you to deploy your Messenger BackEnd server out of an external server with proper SSL certificates set up (IE it needs to use HTTPS protocol, to prevent their messages from being piggybacked by unwieldy individuals -- makes sense). For that reason, I use Heroku to deploy my app externally.
One can just deploy the code using git heroku push (after having set up
a Heroku account, and linked Heroku to the current git repo using heroku create,
installing all required module dependencies using npm install, and setting up your environmental variables, which I outline below).
To properly deploy the server, you need to set up four environmental variables. They are as follows:
APP_SECRET : This is your 'Application Secret', which you can obtain from the
Facebook Developer Platform. This is used to cryptographically check, via the
'crypto' module and the sha1 hashing algorithm, that the packet actually comes
from Facebook itself, and not anyone else masquerading as Facebook (looking at you,
Weibo!).
MESSENGER_VALIDATION_TOKEN: This is the token used by Facebook to verify your
Webhook works, initially. It can be assigned to any string -- just make sure to
copy that same string into Facebook's prompt in the Webhook confirmation dialogue
on the Facebook Developer platform. The explanation for that comes later.
SERVER_URL: This is just the address to which Facebook's GET and POST requests
should be directed. In my case, it's my_heroku_name.herokuapps.com/messenger. Your
URL will depend upon which address your web app is hosted on (for Heroku, it will
look very similar).
FB_PAGE_ACCESS_TOKEN : Generated from Facebook's App Dashboard on the Developer
Platform.
To set environmental variables on your heroku server, run heroku config:set <VARIABLE_NAME>=value. IE, for a MESSENGER_VALIDATION_TOKEN of hello, one
would run heroku config:set MESSENGER_VALIDATION_TOKEN=hello.
Facebook requires that you whitelist all domains you link to externally through your Facebook bot. If you do such a thing (IE in my 'wesley' function), you must whitelist it by running the following command in the terminal
curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{ "setting_type" : "domain_whitelisting", "whitelisted_domains" : ["https://examplesitetowhitelist.com"], "domain_action_type": "add" }' "https://graph.facebook.com/v2.6/me/thread_settings?access_token=PAGE_ACCESS_TOKEN"
in which
Finally, you need to set up use of Redis Cloud through Heroku. To do so (using the free plan), run heroku addons:create rediscloud:30.
Doing so creates a new environmental variable called REDISCLOUD_URL, which I then use to access the Redis instance in redis_interaction.ts.
Then, all you need to do is 'hook up' your Webhooks on Facebook's Developer Platform,
and you should be able to run the Messenger
Backend in its current form, via git push heroku. Message the Bot, and it
should give you a response. If not, check your environmental variables and URLs.
Happy Hacking,
-@lacoperon