PHP BotMan 🤖 Create messaging bots in PHP with ease

BotMan is a framework agnostic PHP library that is designed to simplify the task of developing innovative bots for multiple messaging platforms, including Slack, Telegram, Microsoft Bot Framework, Nexmo, HipChat and Facebook Messenger.

$botman->hears('I want cross-platform bots with PHP!', function (BotMan $bot) {
    $bot->reply('Look no further!');
});

Getting Started

Want to get started even faster? Use the BotMan Laravel Starter Project!

Open the Laravel/Symfony/PHP project your new Bot will live in
Install BotMan with composer
Configure your messaging platform
Implement your bot logic

Installation using Composer

Require this package with composer using the following command:

$ composer require mpociot/botman

Basic Usage

This sample bot listens for the word "hello" - either in a direct message (a private message inside Slack between the user and the bot) or in a message the bot user is invited to.

use Mpociot\BotMan\BotManFactory;
use Mpociot\BotMan\BotMan;

$config = [
    'hipchat_urls' => [
        'YOUR-INTEGRATION-URL-1',
        'YOUR-INTEGRATION-URL-2',
    ],
    'nexmo_key' => 'YOUR-NEXMO-APP-KEY',
    'nexmo_secret' => 'YOUR-NEXMO-APP-SECRET',
    'microsoft_bot_handle' => 'YOUR-MICROSOFT-BOT-HANDLE',
    'microsoft_app_id' => 'YOUR-MICROSOFT-APP-ID',
    'microsoft_app_key' => 'YOUR-MICROSOFT-APP-KEY',
    'slack_token' => 'YOUR-SLACK-TOKEN-HERE',
    'telegram_token' => 'YOUR-TELEGRAM-TOKEN-HERE',
    'facebook_token' => 'YOUR-FACEBOOK-TOKEN-HERE'
];

// create an instance
$botman = BotManFactory::create($config);

// give the bot something to listen for.
$botman->hears('hello', function (BotMan $bot) {
    $bot->reply('Hello yourself.');
});

// start listening
$botman->listen();

Using BotMan within a Laravel app

BotMan comes with a Service Provider to make using this library in your Laravel application as simple as possible.

Go to your config/app.php and add the service provider:

Mpociot\BotMan\BotManServiceProvider::class,

Also add the alias / facade:

'BotMan' => Mpociot\BotMan\Facades\BotMan::class

Add your Facebook access token / Slack token to your config/services.php:

'botman' => [
    'hipchat_urls' => [
        'YOUR-INTEGRATION-URL-1',
        'YOUR-INTEGRATION-URL-2',
    ],
    'nexmo_key' => 'YOUR-NEXMO-APP-KEY',
    'nexmo_secret' => 'YOUR-NEXMO-APP-SECRET',
    'microsoft_bot_handle' => 'YOUR-MICROSOFT-BOT-HANDLE',
    'microsoft_app_id' => 'YOUR-MICROSOFT-APP-ID',
    'microsoft_app_key' => 'YOUR-MICROSOFT-APP-KEY',
    'slack_token' => 'YOUR-SLACK-TOKEN-HERE',
    'telegram_token' => 'YOUR-TELEGRAM-TOKEN-HERE',
    'facebook_token' => 'YOUR-FACEBOOK-TOKEN-HERE'
],

Using it:

use Mpociot\BotMan\BotMan;

$botman = app('botman');

$botman->hears('hello', function (BotMan $bot) {
    $bot->reply('Hello yourself.');
});

// start listening
$botman->listen();

Make sure that your controller method doesn't use the CSRF token middleware.

That's it.

Configuration

Cache

If not specified otherwise, BotMan will use array cache which is non-persistent. When using the Laravel facade it will automatically use the Laravel Cache component.

Doctrine Cache

Use any Doctrine Cache driver by passing it to the factory:

use Mpociot\BotMan\Cache\DoctrineCache;

$botman = BotManFactory::create($config, new DoctrineCache($doctrineCacheDriver));

Symfony Cache

Use any Symfony Cache adapter by passing it to the factory:

use Mpociot\BotMan\Cache\SymfonyCache;

$botman = BotManFactory::create($config, new SymfonyCache($symfonyCacheAdapter));

Connect with your messaging service

After you've installed BotMan, the first thing you'll need to do is register your bot with a messaging platform, and get a few configuration options set. This will allow your bot to connect, send and receive messages.

You can support all messaging platforms using the exact same Bot-API.

Core Concepts

Bots built with BotMan have a few key capabilities, which can be used to create clever, conversational applications. These capabilities map to the way real human people talk to each other.

Bots can hear things, say things and reply to what they hear.

With these two building blocks, almost any type of conversation can be created.

Developing with BotMan

Table of Contents

Receiving Messages
- Middleware
Sending Messages

Receiving Messages

Driver specific information

BotMan can listen to many different messaging drivers and therefore it might be required for you, to respond differently depending on which driver was used to respond to your message.

Each messaging driver in BotMan has a getName() method, that returns a human readable name of the driver.

You can access the driver object using $botman->getDriver(). To match against the driver name, you can use each driver's NAME constant or use the table below.

The available driver names are:

Driver	Name
`BotFrameworkDriver`	BotFramework
`FacebookDriver`	Facebook
`HipChatDriver`	HipChat
`NexmoDriver`	Nexmo
`SlackDriver`	Slack
`TelegramDriver`	Telegram

Matching Patterns and Keywords with `hears()`

BotMan provides a hears() function, which will listen to specific patterns in public and/or private channels.

Argument	Description
pattern	A string with a regular expressions to match
callback	Callback function or `Classname@method` notation that receives a BotMan object, as well as additional matching regular expression parameters
in	Defines where the Bot should listen for this message. Can be either `BotMan::DIRECT_MESSAGE` or `BotMan::PUBLIC_CHANNEL`

$botman->hears('keyword', function(BotMan $bot) {
    // do something to respond to message
    $bot->reply('You used a keyword!');
});

$botman->hears('keyword', 'MyClass@heardKeyword');

When using the built in regular expression matching, the results of the expression will be passed to the callback function. For example:

$botman->hears('open the {doorType} doors', function(BotMan $bot, $doorType) {
    if ($doorType === 'pod bay') {
        return $bot->reply('I\'m sorry, Dave. I\'m afraid I can\'t do that.');
    }

    return $bot->reply('Okay');
});

Fallback replies

If you want to provide your bot users with a fallback reply, if they enter a command that you don't understand, you can use the fallback method on the BotMan instance.

$botman->fallback(function(BotMan $bot) {
    return $bot->reply('Sorry I do not know this command');
});

Middleware

The usage of custom middleware allows you to enrich the messages your bot received with additional information from third party services such as wit.ai or api.ai.

To let your BotMan instance make use of a middleware, simply add it to the list of middlewares:

$botman->middleware(Wit::create('MY-WIT-ACCESS-TOKEN'));
$botman->hears('emotion', function($bot) {
    $extras = $bot->getMessage()->getExtras();
    // Access extra information
    $entities = $extras['entities'];
});

The current Wit.ai middleware will send all incoming text messages to wit.ai and adds the entities received from wit.ai back to the message. You can then access the information using $bot->getMessage()->getExtras(). This method returns an array containing all wit.ai entities.

If you only want to get a single element of the extras, you can optionally pass a key to the getExtras method. If no matching key was found, the method will return null.

In addition to that, it will check against a custom trait entity called intent instead of using the built-in matching pattern.

Sending Messages

Bots have to send messages to deliver information and present an interface for their functionality. BotMan bots can send messages in several different ways, depending on the type and number of messages that will be sent.

Single message replies to incoming commands can be sent using the $bot->reply() function.

Multi-message replies, particularly those that present questions for the end user to respond to, can be sent using the $bot->startConversation() function and the related conversation sub-functions.

Bots can originate messages - that is, send a message based on some internal logic or external stimulus - using $bot->say() method.

Single Message Replies to Incoming Messages

Once a bot has received a message using hears(), a response can be sent using $bot->reply().

Messages sent using $bot->reply() are sent immediately. If multiple messages are sent via $bot->reply() in a single event handler, they will arrive in the client very quickly and may be difficult for the user to process. We recommend using $bot->startConversation() if more than one message needs to be sent.

You may pass either a string, a Message object or a Question object to the function.

As a second parameter, you may also send any additional fields to pass along the configured driver.

$bot->reply()

Argument	Description
reply	String or Message or Question Outgoing response
additionalParameters	Optional Array containing additional parameters

Simple reply example:

$botman->hears('keyword', function (BotMan $bot) {
    // do something to respond to message
    // ...

    $bot->reply("Tell me more!");
});

You can also compose your message using the Mpociot\BotMan\Messages\Message class to have a unified API to add images to your chat messages.

use Mpociot\BotMan\Messages\Message;

$botman->hears('keyword', function (BotMan $bot) {
    // Build message object
    $message = Message::create('This is my text')
                ->image('http://www.some-url.com/image.jpg');
    // Reply message object
    $bot->reply($message);
});

Slack-specific fields and attachments:

$botman->hears('keyword', function (BotMan $bot) {
    // do something...

    // then respond with a message object
    $bot->reply("A more complex response",[
        'username' => "ReplyBot",
        'icon_emoji' => ":dash:",
    ]);
})

Multi-message Replies to Incoming Messages

For more complex commands, multiple messages may be necessary to send a response, particularly if the bot needs to collect additional information from the user.

BotMan provides a Conversation object that is used to string together several messages, including questions for the user, into a cohesive unit. BotMan conversations provide useful methods that enable developers to craft complex conversational user interfaces that may span several minutes of dialog with a user, without having to manage the complexity of connecting multiple incoming and outgoing messages across multiple API calls into a single function.

Start a Conversation

$bot->startConversation()

Argument	Description
conversation	A `Conversation` object

startConversation() is a function that creates conversation in response to an incoming message. You can control where the bot should start the conversation by calling startConversation in the hears() method of your bot.

Simple conversation example:

$botman->hears('start conversation', function (BotMan $bot) {
    $bot->startConversation(new PizzaConversation);
});

Creating Conversations

When starting a new conversation using the startConversation() method, you need to pass the method the conversation that you want to start gathering information with. Each conversation object needs to extend from the BotMan Conversation object and must implement a simple run() method.

This is the very first method that gets executed when the conversation starts.

Example conversation object:

class PizzaConversation extends Conversation
{
    protected $size;

    public function askSize()
    {
        $this->ask('What pizza size do you want?', function(Answer $answer) {
            // Save size for next question
            $this->size = $answer->getText();

            $this->say('Got it. Your pizza will be '.$answer->getText());
        });
    }

    public function run()
    {
        // This will be called immediately
        $this->askSize();
    }
}

Control Conversation Flow

$conversation->say()

Argument	Description
message	String or `Question` object

Call $conversation->say() several times in a row to queue messages inside the conversation. Only one message will be sent at a time, in the order in which they are queued.

$conversation->ask()

Argument	Description
message	String or `Question` object
callback or array of callbacks	callback function in the form function($answer), or array of arrays in the form `[ 'pattern' => regular_expression, 'callback' => function($answer) { ... } ]`

When passed a callback function, $conversation->ask will execute the callback function for any response. This allows the bot to respond to open-ended questions, collect the responses, and handle them in whatever manner it needs to.

When passed an array, the bot will look first for a matching pattern, and execute only the callback whose pattern is matched. This allows the bot to present multiple choice options, or to proceed only when a valid response has been received. The patterns can have the same placeholders as the $bot->reply() method has. All matching parameters will be passed to the callback function.

Callback functions passed to ask() receive (at least) two parameters - the first is an Answer object containing the user's response to the question. If the conversation continues because of a matching pattern, all matching pattern parameters will be passed to the callback function too. The last parameter is always a reference to the conversation itself.

Using $conversation->ask with a callback:

// ...inside the conversation object...
public function askMood()
{
    $this->ask('How are you?', function (Answer $response) {
        $this->say('Cool - you said ' . $response->getText());
    });
}

Using $conversation->ask with an array of callbacks:

// ...inside the conversation object...
public function askNextStep()
{
    $this->ask('Shall we proceed? Say YES or NO', [
        [
            'pattern' => 'yes|yep',
            'callback' => function () {
                $this->say('Okay - we\'ll keep going');
            }
        ],
        [
            'pattern' => 'nah|no|nope',
            'callback' => function () {
                $this->say('PANIC!! Stop the engines NOW!');
            }
        ]
    ]);
}

Using $conversation->ask with a Question object

Instead of passing a string to the ask() method, it is also possible to create a Question object. The Question objects make use of the interactive messages from Facebook, Telegram and Slack to present the user buttons to interact with.

When passing question objects to the ask() method, the returned Answer object has a method called isInteractiveMessageReply to detect, if the user interacted with the message and clicked on a button.

Creating a simple Question object:

// ...inside the conversation object...
public function askForDatabase()
{
    $question = Question::create('Do you need a database?')
        ->fallback('Unable to create a new database')
        ->callbackId('create_database')
        ->addButtons([
            Button::create('Of course')->value('yes'),
            Button::create('Hell no!')->value('no'),
        ]);

    $this->ask($question, function (Answer $answer) {
        // Detect if button was clicked:
        if ($answer->isInteractiveMessageReply()) {
            $selectedValue = $answer->getValue(); // will be either 'yes' or 'no'
            $selectedText = $answer->getText(); // will be either 'Of course' or 'Hell no!'
        }
    });
}

Originating Messages

$bot->say()

Argument	Description
message	String or Question The message you want to send
channel	String A string containing the `channel` you want to send the message to.
driver	Optional A DriverInterface class name to use when sending the message

Simple example:

$botman->say('Hello user', 'U123456789');

Specific driver example:

$botman->say('Hello user', 'U123456789', FacebookDriver::class);

Note: The channel argument depends on the driver(s) you plan to use for sending messages.

Driver	Channel type
`BotFrameworkDriver`	Skype / Framework User ID
`FacebookDriver`	Facebook User ID
`HipChatDriver`	HipChat User ID
`NexmoDriver`	Phone number
`SlackDriver`	Slack User/Channel ID
`TelegramDriver`	Telegram User ID

Long running tasks

BotMan uses the Webhook APIs to get information from the messaging system. When the messaging system of your choice sends the information to your app, you have 3 seconds to return an HTTP 2xx status. Otherwise, the delivery attempt will be considered as a failure and the messaging system will attempt to deliver the message up to three more times.

This means that you should push long running tasks into an asynchronous queue.

Queue example using Laravel:

// ...inside the conversation object...
public function askDomainName()
{
    $this->ask('What should be the domain name?', function (Answer $answer) {
        // Push long running task onto the queue.
        $this->reply('Okay, creating subdomain ' . $answer->getText());
        dispatch(new CreateSubdomain($this, $answer->getText()));
    });
}

License

BotMan is free software distributed under the terms of the MIT license.

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 197 Commits
src/Mpociot/BotMan		src/Mpociot/BotMan
tests		tests
.gitignore		.gitignore
.php_cs		.php_cs
.styleci.yml		.styleci.yml
.travis.yml		.travis.yml
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
README.md		README.md
composer.json		composer.json
phpunit.xml		phpunit.xml
readme-botframework.md		readme-botframework.md
readme-facebook.md		readme-facebook.md
readme-hipchat.md		readme-hipchat.md
readme-nexmo.md		readme-nexmo.md
readme-slack.md		readme-slack.md
readme-telegram.md		readme-telegram.md

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