Botkit for Facebook Class Reference

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This is a class reference for all the methods exposed by the botbuilder-adapter-facebook package.

Classes

• FacebookAdapter
• FacebookBotWorker
• FacebookAPI
• FacebookEventTypeMiddleware

Interfaces

• FacebookAdapterOptions

---

FacebookAdapter

Connect Botkit or BotBuilder to Facebook Messenger.

To use this class in your application, first install the package:

npm install --save botbuilder-adapter-facebook

Then import this and other classes into your code:

const { FacebookAdapter } = require('botbuilder-adapter-facebook');

This class includes the following methods:

• continueConversation()
• getAPI()
• init()
• processActivity()
• sendActivities()

Create a new FacebookAdapter()

Parameters

Argument	Type	Description
options	FacebookAdapterOptions	Configuration options

Create an adapter to handle incoming messages from Facebook and translate them into a standard format for processing by your bot.

The Facebook Adapter can be used in 2 modes:

• bound to a single Facebook page
• multi-tenancy mode able to serve multiple pages

To create an app bound to a single Facebook page, include that page's access_token in the options.

To create an app that can be bound to multiple pages, include getAccessTokenForPage - a function in the form async (pageId) => page_access_token

To use with Botkit:

const adapter = new FacebookAdapter({
     verify_token: process.env.FACEBOOK_VERIFY_TOKEN,
     app_secret: process.env.FACEBOOK_APP_SECRET,
     access_token: process.env.FACEBOOK_ACCESS_TOKEN
});
const controller = new Botkit({
     adapter: adapter,
     // other options
});

To use with BotBuilder:

const adapter = new FacebookAdapter({
     verify_token: process.env.FACEBOOK_VERIFY_TOKEN,
     app_secret: process.env.FACEBOOK_APP_SECRET,
     access_token: process.env.FACEBOOK_ACCESS_TOKEN
});
const server = restify.createServer();
server.use(restify.plugins.bodyParser());
server.post('/api/messages', (req, res) => {
     adapter.processActivity(req, res, async(context) => {
         // do your bot logic here!
     });
});

In multi-tenancy mode:

const adapter = new FacebookAdapter({
     verify_token: process.env.FACEBOOK_VERIFY_TOKEN,
     app_secret: process.env.FACEBOOK_APP_SECRET,
      getAccessTokenForPage: async(pageId) => {
          // do something to fetch the page access token for pageId.
          return token;
      })
});

FacebookAdapter Class Methods

continueConversation()

Standard BotBuilder adapter method for continuing an existing conversation based on a conversation reference. BotBuilder reference docs

Parameters

Argument	Type	description
reference	Partial<ConversationReference>	A conversation reference to be applied to future messages.
logic		A bot logic function that will perform continuing action in the form async(context) => { ... }

getAPI()

Get a Facebook API client with the correct credentials based on the page identified in the incoming activity. This is used by many internal functions to get access to the Facebook API, and is exposed as bot.api on any BotWorker instances passed into Botkit handler functions.

Parameters

Argument	Type	description
activity	Partial<Activity>	An incoming message activity

let api = adapter.getAPI(activity);
let res = api.callAPI('/me/messages', 'POST', message);

init()

Botkit-only: Initialization function called automatically when used with Botkit. * Amends the webhook_uri with an additional behavior for responding to Facebook's webhook verification request.

Parameters

Argument	Type	description
botkit	any

processActivity()

Accept an incoming webhook request and convert it into a TurnContext which can be processed by the bot's logic.

Parameters

Argument	Type	description
req	any	A request object from Restify or Express
res	any	A response object from Restify or Express
logic		A bot logic function in the form async(context) => { ... }

sendActivities()

Standard BotBuilder adapter method to send a message from the bot to the messaging API. BotBuilder reference docs.

Parameters

Argument	Type	description
context	TurnContext	A TurnContext representing the current incoming message and environment.
activities		An array of outgoing activities to be sent back to the messaging API.

FacebookBotWorker

This is a specialized version of Botkit's core BotWorker class that includes additional methods for interacting with Facebook. It includes all functionality from the base class, as well as the extension methods below.

When using the FacebookAdapter with Botkit, all bot objects passed to handler functions will include these extensions.

To use this class in your application, first install the package:

npm install --save botbuilder-adapter-facebook

Then import this and other classes into your code:

const { FacebookBotWorker } = require('botbuilder-adapter-facebook');

This class includes the following methods:

• startConversationWithUser()

Create a new FacebookBotWorker()

Parameters

Argument	Type	Description
botkit	Botkit	The Botkit controller object responsible for spawning this bot worker.
config	any	Normally, a DialogContext object. Can also be the ID of a Facebook page managed by this app.

Reserved for use internally by Botkit's controller.spawn(), this class is used to create a BotWorker instance that can send messages, replies, and make other API calls.

When used with the FacebookAdapter's multi-tenancy mode, it is possible to spawn a bot instance by passing in the Facebook page ID representing the appropriate bot identity. Use this in concert with startConversationWithUser() and changeContext() to start conversations or send proactive alerts to users on a schedule or in response to external events.

let bot = await controller.spawn(FACEBOOK_PAGE_ID);

Properties and Accessors

Name	Type	Description
api	FacebookAPI	A copy of the FacebookAPI client giving access to let res = await bot.api.callAPI(path, method, parameters);

FacebookBotWorker Class Methods

startConversationWithUser()

Change the operating context of the worker to begin a conversation with a specific user. After calling this method, any calls to bot.say() or bot.beginDialog() will occur in this new context.

Parameters

Argument	Type	description
userId	any	the PSID of a user the bot has previously interacted with

This method can be used to send users scheduled messages or messages triggered by external events.

let bot = await controller.spawn(FACEBOOK_PAGE_ID);
await bot.startConversationWithUser(FACEBOOK_USER_PSID);
await bot.say('Howdy human!');

FacebookAPI

A simple API client for the Facebook API. Automatically signs requests with the access token and app secret proof. It can be used to call any API provided by Facebook.

To use this class in your application, first install the package:

npm install --save botbuilder-adapter-facebook

Then import this and other classes into your code:

const { FacebookAPI } = require('botbuilder-adapter-facebook');

This class includes the following methods:

• callAPI()

Create a new FacebookAPI()

Parameters

Argument	Type	Description
token	string	a page access token
secret	string	an app secret
api_host	string	optional root hostname for constructing api calls, defaults to graph.facebook.com
api_version	string	optional api version used when constructing api calls, defaults to v3.2

Create a FacebookAPI client.

let api = new FacebookAPI(TOKEN, SECRET);
await api.callAPI('/some/api','POST', {some_options});

FacebookAPI Class Methods

callAPI()

Call one of the Facebook APIs

Parameters

Argument	Type	description
path	string	Path to the API endpoint, for example /me/messages
method	string	HTTP method, for example POST, GET, DELETE or PUT.
payload	any	An object to be sent as parameters to the API call.

FacebookEventTypeMiddleware

This adapter middleware, when used in conjunction with FacebookAdapter and Botkit, will result in Botkit emitting events with names based on their event type.

const adapter = new FacebookAdapter(MY_OPTIONS);
adapter.use(new FacebookEventTypeMiddleware());
const controller = new Botkit({
     adapter: adapter,
});

// define a handler for one of the new events
controller.on('facebook_option', async(bot, message) => {
     // ...
});

When used, events emitted may include:

• facebook_postback
• facebook_referral
• facebook_optin
• message_delivered
• message_read
• facebook_account_linking
• message_echo
• facebook_app_roles
• standby
• facebook_receive_thread_control
• facebook_request_thread_control

To use this class in your application, first install the package:

npm install --save botbuilder-adapter-facebook

Then import this and other classes into your code:

const { FacebookEventTypeMiddleware } = require('botbuilder-adapter-facebook');

Interface FacebookAdapterOptions

This interface defines the options that can be passed into the FacebookAdapter constructor function.

Fields

Name	Type	Description
access_token	string	When bound to a single page, use access_token to specify the "page access token" provided in the Facebook developer portal's "Access Tokens" widget of the "Messenger Settings" page.
api_host	string	Alternate root url used to contruct calls to Facebook's API. Defaults to 'graph.facebook.com' but can be changed (for mocking, proxy, etc).
api_version	string	Alternate API version used to construct calls to Facebook's API. Defaults to v3.2
app_secret	string	The "app secret" from the "basic settings" page from your app's configuration in the Facebook developer portal
enable_incomplete	boolean	Allow the adapter to startup without a complete configuration. This is risky as it may result in a non-functioning or insecure adapter. This should only be used when getting started.
getAccessTokenForPage		When bound to multiple teams, provide a function that, given a page id, will return the page access token for that page.
verify_token	string	The "verify token" used to initially create and verify the Webhooks subscription settings on Facebook's developer portal.