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This bot is what controls the @Slacker bot on the sndevs.com workspace.

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CONTRIBUTORS must follow all guidelines in CONTRIBUTING.md or run the risk of having your Pull Requests labeled as spam.
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Contents

Ideas

See the Issues tab for parser ideas. Make sure to leave a comment on an issue if you're working on it.

Two ways to contribute

Easy or Hard

Easy method (Adding new parser)

Can be done without pulling this app into a ServiceNow instance.
This is the preferred method for adding simple call & response parsers (see Bowtie when chuck is mentioned, or Clap Back for examples)

  1. Fork this repo
  2. Create a new branch (name it according to what functionality you are adding)
  3. Create a new .js file in the Parsers folder (see CONTRIBUTING.md for requirements)
  4. Submit a pull request to the ServiceNowDevProgram/SlackerBot main branch

If approved, your new parser automatically goes live for the bot's immediate use!


Hard method (Adding new functionality types)

This method requires more setup, but is the preferred method for more complex parsers and functionalities, as it provides a method to robustly test before submitting a pull request.

  1. Fork this repo
  2. Go to your ServiceNow instance
  3. Go to System Applications => Studio
  4. Once Studio loads, select Import From Source Control
  5. Use your forked repo to Import your application
  6. Optional: See below on how to get this bot working on your own slack server
  7. Make updates to the application (see CONTRIBUTING.md for additional details)
  8. In Studio, commit your changes to source control
  9. Submit a pull request to the ServiceNowDevProgram/SlackerBot main branch

An accepted Pull Request and merge does not necessarily mean the functionality will go live immediately, as an admin for the host instance will need to pull the application into ServiceNow.

Installing this bot on your own workspace

Create App and Install it

Via a Manifest

When you tab out of the field, make sure the URL is "Verified" before you proceed.

  • Navigate to Settings > Install App
  • Click the Install to Workspace button
  • Verify the view and do permissions
  • Click the Allow button
  • Copy the Bot User OAuth Token for the ServiceNow system property configuration later

Manually

When you tab out of the field, make sure the URL is "Verified" before you proceed.

  • Expand the Subscribe to bot events section
  • Click the Add bot User Event button
  • Search for and select message.channels
  • Search for and select message.groups
  • Click the Save Changes button
  • Navigate to Features > OAuth & Permissions
  • Scroll down to Bot Token Scopes
  • Click the Add an OAuth Scope button
  • Search for and select chat:write
  • Navigate to Settings > Install App
  • Click the Install to Workspace button
  • Verify the view and do permissions
  • Click the Allow button
  • Copy the Bot User OAuth Token for the ServiceNow system property configuration later

Connect them together

  • Place token into the ServiceNow system property 'x_snc_slackerbot.SlackerBot.token'
    • REMINDER: When you commit your changes, always delete the value of this property before you commit. If you forget to do this, the token will automatically be disabled GitHub sees that you accidentally placed your private token online. If this happens, go into your app and issue a new token.

Testing

  • Invite your bot to a channel
  • Create a parser on the x_snc_slackerbot_parser table
  • Trigger the parser in the channel

Troubleshooting

  • Check the Payload x_snc_slackerbot_payload table to make sure SN is receiving messages
  • Check 'Outbound HTTP Requests' to make sure the bot is replying to the channel

GitHub to ServiceNow Integrations

Auto populate your Parsers table

To fill your Parsers x_snc_slackerbot_parser table with all the parsers that exist on this repo:

  • Go to the Parsers table list (type x_snc_slackerbot_parser.list in your filter navigator and press enter)
  • Click on the "Sync Parsers" Banner UI Action

This syncs your table to this repo, if you rather sync it to another repo, change the value of your x_snc_slackerbot.Parsers_Sync_Repo system property.

Setting up the GitHub to ServiceNow integration

The Parsers folder on ServiceNowDevProgram/SlackerBot is set up to send changes to the ServiceNow instance that @Slacker is hosted on (automatically, on every commit). To do this for your own fork and ServiceNow instance:

  • In your forked repository, click on the Actions tab
  • Click on "I understand" to activate workflows
  • Go to the Settings tab
  • Under Secrets and Actions add the following repository secrets:
    • SN_INSTANCE_NAME your ServiceNow instance name
    • ADMIN_USERNAME the username of an admin account on your ServiceNow instance
    • ADMIN_PASSWORD the password of the above account

Testing

  • Create a new file in the Parsers folder and name it something.js
  • Follow the template in the CONTRIBUTING.md document
  • Commit the file
  • Check your ServiceNow instance on the Parsers x_snc_slackerbot_parser table and verify the file was uploaded
  • Trigger the parser on a channel that your bot is in

Notes for setting this app up in ServiceNow Studio

Never commit your tokens to GitHub

System Properties

  • x_snc_slackerbot.SlackerBot.token is your bot's user token. Required to send messages back to your workspace
  • x_snc_slackerbot.SlackerBot.supertoken is any admin token for your server. Used for deleting messages (see in-app SRAPI).
  • x_snc_slackerbot.maps.token is your Google Maps token (if you wish to use the !iss parser)

Scripted Rest APIs (SRAPIs)

  • SlackerBot Event Handler is used to validate to the Events handler and to convert incoming chats to the x_snc_slackerbot_payload table
  • SlackerBotGitHub is used to automate the creation of parsers from ServiceNowDevProgram/SlackerBot/Parsers

Available APIs/variables in parsers

  • current.text the entire text of the chat that is being parsed
  • current.ts the timestamp of the chat
  • current.thread_ts if the chat was in a thread, the original message's timestamp
  • current.channel the channel's unique ID that the chat was sent in
  • current.user.user_id the chat's sender's unique ID
  • current.user.name the chat's sender's display name
  • new x_snc_slackerbot.Slacker().send_chat(param 1, param 2, param 3) How to send chats back to your workspace after parsing.
    • param 1 Required reference object. The gliderecord that contains the channel and timestamps. Should almost always be current
      • If you do not have a gliderecord, this can be faked by providing a JSON object. The only key that is required is a channel, eg. {"channel":"ABC123"}
    • param 2 Required string or object
      • Required string. The chat message to be sent as plaintext. Can be an expression, eg. originalNumber + ' is the result.
      • Required object. The chat content to be sent, as per the Block Kit API format. Object requires text and blocks properties. See Block Kit API Reference
        • Example Object:
{
	"text": "",
	"blocks": [
		{ "type": "header", "text": { "type": "plain_text", "text": "Exemplar" } }
	]
}
  • param 3 Optional boolean. If set to true, will always push chat to the thread instead of to the main channel chat. Useful if param 2 is expected to be long and you don't want to flood chat. Defaults to false if not provided.
  • new x_snc_slackerbot.Slacker().send_reaction(param 1, param 2) How to send reactions back to a specific chat after parsing.
    • param 1 Required reference object. The gliderecord that contains the channel and timestamps. Should almost always be current
      • If you do not have a gliderecord, this can be faked by providing a JSON object. Both the channel and ts keys are required. {"channel":"ABC123","ts":"0123456789"}
    • param 2 Required string. The name of the emoji to send. Do not include surrounding :. Eg. joy and not :joy: