@slack/interactive-messages

Slack Interactive Messages for Node

Build your Slack Apps with rich and engaging user interactions using buttons, menus, and dialogs. The package will help you start with sensible and secure defaults.

The adapter gives you a meaningful API to handle actions from all of Slack's interactive message components (buttons, menus, and dialogs). Use it as an independent HTTP server or plug it into an existing server as Express middleware.

This package does not help you compose messages with buttons, menus and dialogs to trigger the actions. We recommend using the Message Builder to design interactive messages. You can send these messages to Slack using the Web API, Incoming Webhooks, and other parts of the platform.

• Installation
• Configuration
• Usage
• Examples
• Reference Documentation
• Support

---

Installation

$ npm install --save @slack/interactive-messages express body-parser

Configuration

Get started by creating a Slack App if you haven't already. On the Basic Information page, in the section for App Credentials, note the Verification Token. You will need it to initialize the adapter.

Select the Interactive Components feature, and enable it. Input a Request URL. If your app will use dynamic message menus, you also need to input a Options Load URL.

What's a request URL? How can I get one for development?

Slack will send requests to your app server each time a button is clicked, a menu item is selected, a dialog is submitted, and more. In order to reach your server, you have to tell Slack where your app is listening for those requests. This location is the request URL.

If you're just getting started with development, you may not have a publicly accessible URL for your app. We recommend using a development proxy, such as ngrok or localtunnel, to generate a URL that can forward requests to your local machine. Once you've installed the development proxy of your choice, run it to begin forwarding requests to a specific port (for example, 3000).

ngrok: ngrok http 3000

localtunnel: lt --port 3000

The output should show you a newly generated URL that you can use (ngrok will actually show you two and we recommend the one that begins with "https"). Let's call this the base URL (for example, https://e0e88971.ngrok.io)

To create the request URL, we add the path where our app listens for message actions onto the end of the base URL. If you are using the built-in HTTP server it is set to /slack/actions. In this example the request URL would be https://e0e88971.ngrok.io/slack/actions. If you are using the Express middlware, you can set whichever path you like, just remember to make the path you mount the middleware into the application the same as the one you configure in Slack.

Usage

Starting a server

The adapter needs to be attached to an HTTP server. Either use the built-in HTTP server or attach the adapter to an existing Express application as a middleware.

Built-in HTTP server

// Import dependencies
const { createMessageAdapter } = require('@slack/interactive-messages');

// Create the adapter using the app's verification token, read from environment variable
const slackInteractions = createMessageAdapter(process.env.SLACK_VERIFICATION_TOKEN);

// Select a port for the server to listen on.
// NOTE: When using ngrok or localtunnel locally, choose the same port it was started with.
const port = process.env.PORT || 3000;

// Start the built-in HTTP server
slackInteractions.start(port).then(() => {
  console.log(`server listening on port ${port}`);
});

Express application server

// Import dependencies
const { createMessageAdapter } = require('@slack/interactive-messages');
const http = require('http');
const express = require('express');
const bodyParser = require('body-parser');

// Create the adapter using the app's verification token, read from environment variable
const slackInteractions = createMessageAdapter(process.env.SLACK_VERIFICATION_TOKEN);

// Initialize an Express application
// NOTE: You must use a body parser for the urlencoded format before attaching the adapter
const app = express();
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: false }));

// Attach the adapter to the Express application as a middleware
// NOTE: The path must match the Request URL and/or Options URL configured in Slack
app.use('/slack/actions', slackInteractions.expressMiddleware());

// Select a port for the server to listen on.
// NOTE: When using ngrok or localtunnel locally, choose the same port it was started with.
const port = process.env.PORT || 3000;

// Start the express application server
http.createServer(app).listen(port, () => {
  console.log(`server listening on port ${port}`);
});

Pro-Tip: You can combine this package and @slack/events-api by attaching each to the same Express application.

Creating handlers

When a user interacts with one of the interactive components, this adapter will run a handler function in response. Your app should create a handler for each type of interaction it expects. There are two categories of interactions: actions and options requests. With either kind, your app can describe which handler to run using one or many constraints.

Action matching

Use a string or RegExp as the first argument to the .action() method to use a callback_id constraint for the handler.

// Run handlerFunction for any interactions from messages with a callback_id of welcome_button
slackInteractions.action('welcome_button', handlerFunction);

// Run handlerFunction for any interactions from messages with a callback_id that match the RegExp
slackInteractions.action(/welcome_(\w+)/, handlerFunction);

// This function is discussed in "Responding to actions" below
function handlerFunction() {
}

Use an object to describe other constraints, even combine multiple constraints to create more specific handlers. The full set of constraint options are described in the reference documentation.

// Run handlerFunction for all button presses
slackInteractions.action({ type: 'button' }, handlerFunction)

// Run handlerFunction for the dialog submission with callback_id of 'welcome'
slackInteractions.action({ callbackId: 'welcome', type: 'dialog_submission' }, handlerFunction);

// Run handlerFunction for all menu selections inside an unfurl attachment
slackInteractions.action({ unfurl: true, type: 'select' }, handlerFunction);

// This function is discussed in "Responding to actions" below
function handlerFunction() {
}

Responding to actions

Slack requires your app to respond to actions in a timely manner so that the user isn't blocked. The adapter helps your app respond correctly and on time.

For most actions (button presses and menu selections), a response is simply an updated message to replace the one where the interaction occurred. Your app can return a message (or a Promise for a message) from the handler. We recommend that apps at least remove the interactive elements from the message in the response so that users don't get confused (for example, click the same button twice). Find details about the format for a message in the docs for message.

The handler will receive a payload which describes the interaction a user had with a message. Find more details about the structure of payload in the docs for buttons and menus.

If your app defers some work asynchronously (like querying another API or using a database), you can continue to update the message using the respond() function that is provided to your handler.

Example button handler:

slackInteractions.action('welcome_agree_button', (payload, respond) => {
  // `payload` is an object that describes the interaction
  console.log(`The user ${payload.user.name} in team ${payload.team.domain} pressed a button`);

  // Your app does some work using information in the payload
  users.findBySlackId(payload.user.id)
    .then(user => user.acceptPolicyAndSave())
    .then(() => {
      // After the asynchronous work is done, call `respond()` with a message object to update the
      // message.
      const message = {
        text: 'Thank you for agreeing to the team\'s policy.',
      };
      respond(message);
    })
    .catch((error) => {
      // Handle errors
      console.error(error);
      respond({
        text: 'An error occurred while recording your agreement. Please contact an admin.'
      });
    });

  // Before the work completes, return a message object that is the same as the original but with
  // the interactive elements removed.
  const reply = payload.original_message;
  delete reply.attachments[0].actions;
  return reply;
});

NOTE: If you don't return any value, the adapter will respond with an OK response on your app's behalf, which results in the message staying the same. If you return a Promise, and it resolves after the timeout (2.5 seconds), then the adapter will also respond with an OK response and later call respond() with the eventual value. If you choose to use a Promise, remember to add a .catch() to handle rejections.

Dialog submission action handlers respond slightly differently from button presses and menu selections.

The handler will receive a payload which describes all the elements in the dialog. Find more details about the structure of payload in the docs for dialogs.

Unlike with buttons and menus, the response does not replace the message (a dialog is not a message) but rather the response tells Slack whether the inputs are valid and the dialog can be closed on the user's screen. Your app returns a list of errors (or a Promise for a list of errors) from the handler. If there are no errors, your app should return nothing from the handler. Find more details on the structure of the list of errors in the docs for input validation.

The handler will also receive a respond() function, which can be used to send a message to the conversation where the dialog was triggered. We recommend that apps use respond() to notify the user that the dialog submission was recieved and use it again to communicate updates such as success or failure.

Example dialog submission handler:

slackInteractions.action('create_order_dialog', (payload, respond) => {
  // `payload` is an object that describes the interaction
  console.log(`The user ${payload.user.name} in team ${payload.team.domain} submitted a dialog`);

  // Check the values in `payload.submission` and report any possible errors
  const errors = validateOrderSubmission(payload.submission);
  if (errors) {
    return errors;
  } else {
    setTimeout(() => {
      // When there are no errors, after this function returns, send an acknowledgement to the user
      respond({
        text: `Thank you for completing an order, <@${payload.user.id}>. ` +
              'Your order number will appear here shortly.',
      });

      // Your app does some work using information in the submission
      orders.create(payload.submission)
        .then((order) => {
          // After the asynchronous work is done, call `respond()` with a message object to update the
          // message.
          const message = {
            text: `Thank you for completing an order, <@${payload.user.id}>. ` +
                  `Your order number is ${order.number}`,
          };
          respond(message);
        })
        .catch((error) => {
          // Handle errors
          console.error(error);
          respond({ text: 'An error occurred while creating your order.' });
        });
    });
  }
});

NOTE: If you return a Promise which takes longer than the timeout (2.5 seconds) to complete, the adapter will continue to wait and the user will see an error.

Options request matching

Use a string or RegExp as the first argument to the .options() method to use a callback_id constraint for the handler.

// Run handlerFunction for any options requests from messages with a callback_id of project_menu
slackInteractions.options('project_menu', handlerFunction);

// Run handlerFunction for any options requests from messages with a callback_id that match the RegExp
slackInteractions.options(/(\w+)_menu/, handlerFunction);

// This function is discussed in "Responding to options requests" below
function handlerFunction() {
}

Use an object to describe other constraints, even combine multiple constraints to create more specific handlers. The full set of constraint options are described in the reference documentation.

// Run handlerFunction for all options requests from inside a dialog
slackInteractions.options({ within: 'dialog' }, handlerFunction)

// Run handlerFunction for all options requests from inside a message with callback_id of 'project_menu'
slackInteractions.options({ callbackId: 'project_menu', within: 'interactive_message' }, handlerFunction)

// This function is discussed in "Responding to options requests" below
function handlerFunction() {
}

Responding to options requests

Slack requires your app to respond to options requests in a timely manner so that the user isn't blocked. The adapter helps your app respond correctly and on time.

A response is a list of options or option groups that your app wants to populate into the menu. Your app will return the list (or a Promise for the list) from the handler. However, if you use a Promise which takes longer than the timeout (2.5 seconds) to resolve, the adapter will continue to wait and the user will see an error. Find details on formatting the list in the docs for options fields and options groups.

The handler will receive a payload which describes the current state of the menu. If the user is typing into the field, the payload.value property contains the value they have typed so far. Find more details about the structure of payload in the docs for dynamic menus.

Example options request handler:

slackInteractions.options('project_menu', (payload) => {
  // `payload` is an object that describes the interaction
  console.log(`The user ${payload.user.name} in team ${payload.team.domain} is typing in a menu`);

  // Your app gathers possible completions using the user's input
  return projects.fuzzyFind(payload.value)
    // Format the data as a list of options (or options groups)
    .then(formatProjectsAsOptions)
    .catch(error => {
      // Handle errors
      console.error(error)
      return { options: [] };
    });
});

NOTE: Options request responses vary slightly depending on whether the menu is within a message or within a dialog. When the options request is from within a menu, the fields for each option are text and value. When the options request is from within a dialog, the fields for each option are label and value.

Chaining

The .action() and .options() methods return the adapter object, which means the API supports chaining.

slackInteractions
  .action('make_order_1', orderStepOne)
  .action('make_order_2', orderStepTwo)
  .action('make_order_3', orderStepThree)
  .options('make_order_3', orderStepThreeOptions);

Examples

• Express All Interactions - A ready to run sample app that creates and responds to buttons, menus, and dialogs. It also demonstrates a menu with dynamic options. It is built on top of the Express web framework.

Reference Documentation

See the reference documentation a more formal description of this pacakge's objects and functions.

Support

Need help? Join the Bot Developer Hangout team and talk to us in #slack-api.

You can also create an Issue right here on GitHub.