How to wait for new input from user in Telegram Bot? - google-apps-script

Question

I'm building a bot for Telegram to be able to users add to a spreadsheet "friends".
The idea is that when they start the bot they can simply write the name of the "friends" (e.g., #friend1 #friend2 #friend3), and they will be added to a new spreadsheet.
I'm writing in the Google Spreadsheet Script Editor.
Started to declare the variables, and set up the webhook.
var token = "token";
var url = "https://api.telegram.org/bot" + token;
var webAppUrl = "spreadhsheetURL"
var ssId = "spreadsheeID";
var myID = "$$$$$$$"
function getMe() {
var response = UrlFetchApp.fetch(url + "/getMe");
Logger.log(response.getContentText());
}
function getUpdates() {
var response = UrlFetchApp.fetch(url + "/getUpdates");
Logger.log(response.getContentText());
}
function setWebhook() {
var response = UrlFetchApp.fetch(url + "/setWebhook?url="+ webAppUrl);
Logger.log(response.getContentText());
}
function sendText(id, text) {
var response = UrlFetchApp.fetch(url + "/sendMessage?chat_id=" + id + "&text=" + encodeURIComponent(text));
Logger.log(response.getContentText());
}
function doGet(e){
return HtmlService.createHtmlOutput("Hello " + JSON.stringify(e));
}
All is functioning but when I tell BOT to ask the user if the wants to add new friends the program doesn't wait for the user to write and gives the "Error" of the last else.
function doPost(e){
try{
var contents = JSON.parse(e.postData.contents);
var text = contents.message.text;
var id = contents.message.from.id;
var name = contents.message.from.username;
sendText(id, "Hi " + name + " do you want to add more friends? (Yes/No)");
if(text == "Yes"){
sendText(id, "Add new friends (e.g., #friend1 #friend2 #friend3)).");
var sheetName = name;
var newText = text.split(" ").slice(1).join(" ");
//check if already exist the spreadshet
var sheet = ss.getSheetByName(sheetName) ? ss.getSheetByName(sheetName) : ss.insertSheet(sheetName);
// check the number of words (friends)
var str_len = newText.split(" ").length;
// Print friends per row
for (i=0; i<str_len; i++){
sheet.appendRow([new Date(), id, name, newText.split(" ")[i]]);
}
sendText(id,"The user " + newText + " was added to your list " + sheetName + " with success.");
}else{
if(text == "No"){
sendText(id, "Thank you.")
}else{
sendText(id, "Error.")
}
}
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.openById(ssId);
}catch(e){
sendText(myID, JSON.stringify(e,null,4));
}
}
Want to know if anyone could help me.
Thanks

Answer 1

The problem is that you are doing one delivery for two processes at once, and each process needs to be responded to at its own time, so you have to separate each response from each process.
You can use the reply_markup parameter with ForceReply for data input needs, which is available in almost all send methods.
A little improvement, modified version to solve the problem:
function doPost(e){
try {
var contents = JSON.parse(e.postData.contents);
var text = contents.message.text;
var id = contents.message.from.id;
var name = contents.message.from.username;
var answer = ["Yes","No"];
if ( text === "/start" ) {
sendText(id, "Hi " + name + " do you want to add more friends? (Yes/No)");
} else if ( answer.includes( text ) ) {
if ( text === "Yes" ) {
//force user to input
var dataForceReply = {
method: "post",
payload: {
method: "sendMessage",
chat_id: String( contents.message.chat.id ),
text: "Add new friends (e.g., #friend1 #friend2 #friend3))",
reply_markup: JSON.stringify({
"force_reply": true
})
}
};
UrlFetchApp.fetch( url + "/", dataForceReply );
} else sendText(id, "Thank you.");
//When the user provides feedback input
} else if ( (( contents || {} ).message || {}).reply_to_message ) {
//Make sure the user's answer is for the same question
if ( contents.message.reply_to_message.chat.id == contents.message.chat.id ) {
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.openById(ssId);
var sheetName = name;
var newText = text.split(" ").slice(1).join(" ");
//check if already exist the spreadshet
var sheet = ss.getSheetByName(sheetName) ? ss.getSheetByName(sheetName) : ss.insertSheet(sheetName);
//check the number of words (friends)
var str_len = newText.split(" ").length;
// Print friends per row
for (i=0; i<str_len; i++){
sheet.appendRow([new Date(), id, name, newText.split(" ")[i]]);
}
sendText(id,"The user " + newText + " was added to your list " + sheetName + " with success.");
} else sendText(id, "Error.");
}
} catch(e) {
sendText( myID, e );
}
}