pyTelegramBotAPI/README.rst

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pyTelegramBotAPI

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A simple, but extensible Python implementation for the `Telegram Bot
API <https://core.telegram.org/bots/api>`__.

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|Build Status|

-  `Getting started. <#getting-started>`__
-  `Writing your first bot <#writing-your-first-bot>`__

   -  `Prerequisites <#prerequisites>`__
   -  `A simple echo bot <#a-simple-echo-bot>`__

-  `General API Documentation <#general-api-documentation>`__

   -  `Types <#types>`__
   -  `Methods <#methods>`__
   -  `General use of the API <#general-use-of-the-api>`__
   -  `Message handlers <#message-handlers>`__
   -  `TeleBot <#telebot>`__
   -  `Reply markup <#reply-markup>`__

-  `Advanced use of the API <#advanced-use-of-the-api>`__

   -  `Asynchronous delivery of
      messages <#asynchronous-delivery-of-messages>`__
   -  `Sending large text messages <#sending-large-text-messages>`__
   -  `Controlling the amount of Threads used by
      TeleBot <#controlling-the-amount-of-threads-used-by-telebot>`__
   -  `The listener mechanism <#the-listener-mechanism>`__
   -  `Using web hooks <#using-web-hooks>`__
   -  `Logging <#logging>`__

-  `F.A.Q. <#faq>`__

   -  `How can I distinguish a User and a GroupChat in
      message.chat? <#how-can-i-distinguish-a-user-and-a-groupchat-in-messagechat>`__

-  `The Telegram Chat Group <#the-telegram-chat-group>`__
-  `More examples <#more-examples>`__

Getting started.
================

This API is tested with Python 2.6, Python 2.7, Python 3.4, Pypy and
Pypy 3. There are two ways to install the library:

-  Installation using pip (a Python package manager)\*:

::

    $ pip install pyTelegramBotAPI

-  Installation from source (requires git):

::

    $ git clone https://github.com/eternnoir/pyTelegramBotAPI.git
    $ cd pyTelegramBotAPI
    $ python setup.py install

It is generally recommended to use the first option.

\*\*While the API is production-ready, it is still under development and
it has regular updates, do not forget to update it regularly by calling
``pip install pytelegrambotapi --upgrade``\ \*

Writing your first bot
======================

Prerequisites
-------------

It is presumed that you [have obtained an API token with
@BotFather](https://core.telegram.org/bots#botfather). We will call this
token ``TOKEN``. Furthermore, you have basic knowledge of the Python
programming language and more importantly `the Telegram Bot
API <https://core.telegram.org/bots/api>`__.

A simple echo bot
-----------------

The TeleBot class (defined in \_\_init\_\_.py) encapsulates all API
calls in a single class. It provides functions such as ``send_xyz``
(``send_message``, ``send_document`` etc.) and several ways to listen
for incoming messages.

Create a file called ``echo_bot.py``. Then, open the file and create an
instance of the TeleBot class.

.. code:: python

    import telebot

    bot = telebot.TeleBot("TOKEN")

*Note: Make sure to actually replace TOKEN with your own API token.*

After that declaration, we need to register some so-called message
handlers. Message handlers define filters which a message must pass. If
a message passes the filter, the decorated function is called and the
incoming message is passed as an argument.

Let's define a message handler which handles incoming ``/start`` and
``/help`` commands.

.. code:: python

    @bot.message_handler(commands=['start', 'help'])
    def send_welcome(message):
        bot.reply_to(message, "Howdy, how are you doing?")

A function which is decorated by a message handler **can have an
arbitrary name, however, it must have only one parameter (the
message)**.

Let's add another handler:

.. code:: python

    @bot.message_handler(func=lambda m: True)
    def echo_all(message):
        bot.reply_to(message, message.text)

This one echoes all incoming text messages back to the sender. It uses a
lambda function to test a message. If the lambda returns True, the
message is handled by the decorated function. Since we want all messages
to be handled by this function, we simply always return True.

*Note: all handlers are tested in the order in which they were declared*

We now have a basic bot which replies a static message to "/start" and
"/help" commands and which echoes the rest of the sent messages. To
start the bot, add the following to our source file:

.. code:: python

    bot.polling()

Alright, that's it! Our source file now looks like this:

.. code:: python

    import telebot

    bot = telebot.TeleBot("TOKEN")

    @bot.message_handler(commands=['start', 'help'])
    def send_welcome(message):
        bot.reply_to(message, "Howdy, how are you doing?")

    @bot.message_handler(func=lambda message: True)
    def echo_all(message):
        bot.reply_to(message, message.text)

    bot.polling()

To start the bot, simply open up a terminal and enter
``python echo_bot.py`` to run the bot! Test it by sending commands
('/start' and '/help') and arbitrary text messages.

General API Documentation
=========================

Types
-----

All types are defined in types.py. They are all completely in line with
the `Telegram API's definition of the
types <https://core.telegram.org/bots/api#available-types>`__, except
for the Message's ``from`` field, which is renamed to ``from_user``
(because ``from`` is a Python reserved token). Thus, attributes such as
``message_id`` can be accessed directly with ``message.message_id``.
Note that ``message.chat`` can be either an instance of ``User`` or
``GroupChat`` (see `How can I distinguish a User and a GroupChat in
message.chat? <#how-can-i-distinguish-a-user-and-a-groupchat-in-messagechat>`__).

The Message object also has a ``content_type``\ attribute, which defines
the type of the Message. ``content_type`` can be one of the following
strings: 'text', 'audio', 'document', 'photo', 'sticker', 'video',
'location', 'contact', 'new\_chat\_participant',
'left\_chat\_participant', 'new\_chat\_title', 'new\_chat\_photo',
'delete\_chat\_photo', 'group\_chat\_created'.

Methods
-------

All `API
methods <https://core.telegram.org/bots/api#available-methods>`__ are
located in the TeleBot class. They are renamed to follow common Python
naming conventions. E.g. ``getMe`` is renamed to ``get_me`` and
``sendMessage`` to ``send_message``.

General use of the API
----------------------

Outlined below are some general use cases of the API.

Message handlers
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A message handler is a function which is decorated with the
``message_handler`` decorator of a TeleBot instance. The following
examples illustrate the possibilities of message handlers:

.. code:: python

    import telebot
    bot = telebot.TeleBot("TOKEN")

    # Handles all text messages that contains the commands '/start' or '/help'.
    @bot.message_handler(commands=['start', 'help'])
    def handle_start_help(message):
        pass

    # Handles all sent documents and audio files
    @bot.message_handler(content_types=['document', 'audio'])
    def handle_docs_audio(message):
        pass

    # Handles all text messages that match the regular expression
    @bot.message_handler(regexp="SOME_REGEXP")
    def handle_message(message):
        pass

    #Handles all messages for which the lambda returns True
    @bot.message_handler(func=lambda message: message.document.mime_type == 'text/plain', content_types=['document'])
    def handle_text_doc(message):
        pass

    #Which could also be defined as:
    def test_message(message):
        return message.document.mime_type == 'text/plan'

    @bot.message_handler(func=test_message, content_types=['document'])
    def handle_text_doc(message)
        pass

*Note: all handlers are tested in the order in which they were declared*
#### TeleBot

.. code:: python

    import telebot

    TOKEN = '<token_string>'
    tb = telebot.TeleBot(TOKEN) #create a new Telegram Bot object

    # Upon calling this function, TeleBot starts polling the Telegram servers for new messages.
    # - none_stop: True/False (default False) - Don't stop polling when receiving an error from the Telegram servers
    # - interval: True/False (default False) - The interval between polling requests
    #           Note: Editing this parameter harms the bot's response time
    # - block: True/False (default True) - Blocks upon calling this function
    tb.polling(none_stop=False, interval=0, block=True)

    # getMe
    user = tb.get_me()

    # getUpdates
    updates = tb.get_updates()
    updates = tb.get_updates(1234,100,20) #get_Updates(offset, limit, timeout):

    # sendMessage
    tb.send_message(chatid, text)

    # forwardMessage
    tb.forward_message(to_chat_id, from_chat_id, message_id)

    # All send_xyz functions which can take a file as an argument, can also take a file_id instead of a file.
    # sendPhoto
    photo = open('/tmp/photo.png', 'rb')
    tb.send_photo(chat_id, photo)
    tb.send_photo(chat_id, "FILEID")

    # sendAudio
    audio = open('/tmp/audio.mp3', 'rb')
    tb.send_audio(chat_id, audio)
    tb.send_audio(chat_id, "FILEID")

    ## sendAudio with duration, performer and title.
    tb.send_audio(CHAT_ID, file_data, 1, 'eternnoir', 'pyTelegram')

    # sendVoice
    voice = open('/tmp/voice.ogg', 'rb')
    tb.send_voice(chat_id, voice)
    tb.send_voice(chat_id, "FILEID")

    # sendDocument
    doc = open('/tmp/file.txt', 'rb')
    tb.send_document(chat_id, doc)
    tb.send_document(chat_id, "FILEID")

    # sendSticker
    sti = open('/tmp/sti.webp', 'rb')
    tb.send_sticker(chat_id, sti)
    tb.send_sticker(chat_id, "FILEID")

    # sendVideo
    video = open('/tmp/video.mp4', 'rb')
    tb.send_video(chat_id, video)
    tb.send_video(chat_id, "FILEID")

    # sendLocation
    tb.send_location(chat_id, lat, lon)

    # sendChatAction
    # action_string can be one of the following strings: 'typing', 'upload_photo', 'record_video', 'upload_video',
    # 'record_audio', 'upload_audio', 'upload_document' or 'find_location'.
    tb.send_chat_action(chat_id, action_string)

Reply markup
~~~~~~~~~~~~

All ``send_xyz`` functions of TeleBot take an optional ``reply_markup``
argument. This argument must be an instance of ``ReplyKeyboardMarkup``,
``ReplyKeyboardHide`` or ``ForceReply``, which are defined in types.py.

.. code:: python

    from telebot import types

    # Using the ReplyKeyboardMarkup class
    # It's constructor can take the following optional arguments:
    # - resize_keyboard: True/False (default False)
    # - one_time_keyboard: True/False (default False)
    # - selective: True/False (default False)
    # - row_width: integer (default 3)
    # row_width is used in combination with the add() function.
    # It defines how many buttons are fit on each row before continuing on the next row.
    markup = types.ReplyKeyboardMarkup(row_width=2)
    markup.add('a', 'v', 'd')
    tb.send_message(chat_id, "Choose one letter:", reply_markup=markup)

    # or add strings one row at a time:
    markup = types.ReplyKeyboardMarkup()
    markup.row('a', 'v')
    markup.row('c', 'd', 'e')
    tb.send_message(chat_id, "Choose one letter:", reply_markup=markup)

The last example yields this result:

.. figure:: https://pp.vk.me/c624430/v624430512/473e5/_mxxW7FPe4U.jpg
   :alt: ReplyKeyboardMarkup

   ReplyKeyboardMarkup

.. code:: python

    # ReplyKeyboardHide: hides a previously sent ReplyKeyboardMarkup
    # Takes an optional selective argument (True/False, default False)
    markup = types.ReplyKeyboardHide(selective=False)
    tb.send_message(chat_id, message, reply_markup=markup)

.. code:: python

    # ForceReply: forces a user to reply to a message
    # Takes an optional selective argument (True/False, default False)
    markup = types.ForceReply(selective=False)
    tb.send_message(chat_id, "Send me another word:", reply_markup=markup)

ForceReply:

.. figure:: https://pp.vk.me/c624430/v624430512/473ec/602byyWUHcs.jpg
   :alt: ForceReply

   ForceReply

Advanced use of the API
=======================

Asynchronous delivery of messages
---------------------------------

There exists an implementation of TeleBot which executes all
``send_xyz`` and the ``get_me`` functions asynchronously. This can speed
up you bot **significantly**, but it has unwanted side effects if used
without caution. To enable this behaviour, create an instance of
AsyncTeleBot instead of TeleBot.

.. code:: python

    tb = telebot.AsyncTeleBot("TOKEN")

Now, every function that calls the Telegram API is executed in a
separate Thread. The functions are modified to return an AsyncTask
instance (defined in util.py). Using AsyncTeleBot allows you to do the
following:

.. code:: python

    import telebot

    tb = telebot.AsyncTeleBot("TOKEN")
    task = tb.get_me() # Execute an API call
    # Do some other operations...
    a = 0
    for a in range(100):
        a += 10

    result = task.wait() # Get the result of the execution

*Note: if you execute send\_xyz functions after eachother without
calling wait(), the order in which messages are delivered might be
wrong.*

Sending large text messages
---------------------------

Sometimes you must send messages that exceed 5000 characters. The
Telegram API can not handle that many characters in one request, so we
need to split the message in multiples. Here is how to do that using the
API:

.. code:: python

    from telebot import util
    large_text = open("large_text.txt", "rb").read()

    # Split the text each 3000 characters.
    # split_string returns a list with the splitted text.
    splitted_text = util.split_string(large_text, 3000)
    for text in splitted_text:
        tb.send_message(chat_id, text)

Controlling the amount of Threads used by TeleBot
-------------------------------------------------

The TeleBot constructor takes the following optional arguments:

-  create\_threads: True/False (default True). A flag to indicate
   whether TeleBot should execute message handlers on it's polling
   Thread.
-  num\_threads: integer (default 4). Controls the amount of
   WorkerThreads created for the internal thread pool that TeleBot uses
   to execute message handlers. Is not used when create\_threads is
   False.

The listener mechanism
----------------------

As an alternative to the message handlers, one can also register a
function as a listener to TeleBot. Example:

.. code:: python

    def handle_messages(messages):
        for message in messsages:
            # Do something with the message
            bot.reply_to(message, 'Hi')

    bot.set_update_listener(handle_messages)
    bot.polling()

Using web hooks
---------------

If you prefer using web hooks to the getUpdates method, you can use the
``process_new_messages(messages)`` function in TeleBot to make it
process the messages that you supply. It takes a list of Message
objects. This function is still incubating.

Logging
-------

You can use the Telebot module logger to log debug info about Telebot.
Use ``telebot.logger`` to get the logger of the TeleBot module.

.. code:: python

    logger = telebot.logger
    formatter = logging.Formatter('[%(asctime)s] %(thread)d {%(pathname)s:%(lineno)d} %(levelname)s - %(message)s',
                                      '%m-%d %H:%M:%S')
    ch = logging.StreamHandler(sys.stdout)
    logger.addHandler(ch)
    logger.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)  # or use logging.INFO
    ch.setFormatter(formatter)

F.A.Q.
======

How can I distinguish a User and a GroupChat in message.chat?
-------------------------------------------------------------

There are two ways to do this:

-  Checking the instance of message.chat with ``isinstance``:
   \`\`\`python def is\_user(chat): return isinstance(chat, types.User)

print is\_user(message.chat) # True or False
``- Checking whether the chat id is negative or positive. If the chat id is negative, the chat is a GroupChat, if it is positive, it is a User. Example:``\ python
def is\_user(chat): return chat.id > 0

print is\_user(message.chat) # True or False \`\`\`

The Telegram Chat Group
=======================

Get help. Discuss. Chat.

Join the `pyTelegramBotAPI Telegram Chat
Group <https://telegram.me/joinchat/067e22c60035523fda8f6025ee87e30b>`__.

More examples
=============

-  `Echo
   Bot <https://github.com/eternnoir/pyTelegramBotAPI/blob/master/examples/echo_bot.py>`__
-  `Deep
   Linking <https://github.com/eternnoir/pyTelegramBotAPI/blob/master/examples/deep_linking.py>`__
-  `next\_step\_handler
   Example <https://github.com/eternnoir/pyTelegramBotAPI/blob/master/examples/step_example.py>`__

.. |Build Status| image:: https://travis-ci.org/eternnoir/pyTelegramBotAPI.svg?branch=master
   :target: https://travis-ci.org/eternnoir/pyTelegramBotAPI