This simple node.js + express application demonstrates how to use the webhook feature of Respoke to integrate a server-side application. It uses the default webhook created through the developer console. (This webhook is automatically assigned the endpointId of "application".)
-
It handles brokered authentication. The server component includes a /token route that the client calls to fetch an access token. The server makes a REST call to Respoke to fetch the token.
-
It serves up static content from the 'public' folder, which includes a very simple demo client application.
-
It listens for messages sent to the "robot" group and keeps a history of the last 50 messages. The client app automatically copies "robot" on every message it sends. The robot stores the history and can replay it. The client automatically retrieves the history when it connects. Users can manually request the history by sending "/history" from the text input box.
In the Respoke developer console, create a new application. Call it whatever you like. Set the "Development Mode" switch to "off". Note the "Application ID" value. You'll need that momentarily.
Clone the project onto a publicly available server with a current version of node.js and npm. You'll need to make sure that port 3000 is open and reachable from the Internet.
Change directories into the 'hookme' directory.
Install dependencies using 'npm install'
Change directories into the 'controllers' directory.
Edit the 'chatbot.js' file. Towards the bottom of the file you'll find two lines that you will need to edit: one for the appId and one for the appSecret. Replace the placeholder values with you Application ID and Application Secret values;
Start the server using 'npm start'
Set the "WebHook URL" to point to your server.
Note the ":3000" at the end of the URL. You'll need that, as the sample runs on port 3000 by default. You can, of course, change that if you want.
To test it out, fire up a web browser and point it to your server. Remember to add the port number (:3000) to the URL. You should see the simple client login screen appear.
Log in using whatever name you want. Now do the same thing again from another browser tab (or from another computer). Enter the name you used on the first browser tab in the "Place a call or send a message to:" box. Then enter a message and hit .
You should see the message appear in the first browser tab. Repeat the process to send messages back to the second browser tab from the first. To get a history of messages just type "/history" (no quotes) and it
If you're familiar with express, you should recognize most of what's included. The main file for the application is app.js which contains a virtually default express configuration.
The routing in this example is handled by a the 'index.js' file in the 'routes' folder. The default index.js was modified to require the chatbot controller and to add a handler for POST requests.
The chatbot.js file is where most of the action takes place:
- process token requests from the client
- process events from the webhook
- store message history for any message sent to the 'robot' group
- sends out the history upon request
These files handle the process of formatting and passing REST requests to Respoke. In general, all of the exposed functions expect the caller to include a callback parameter that receives three return values: error (hopefully null), response (the complete response object) and body (the actual returned data)
This is just a sample. You could easily improve on it by:
- Using a database instead of an array
- Sending a more detailed message to the 'robot' group with the 'to' message so the history can be sorted by recipient
- all kinds of error handling!