SUSI Slack Bot

To make SUSI slack bot we will use real time messaging api of slack which will allow users to receive messages from bot in real time. To make SUSI slack bot you have to follow following steps:

Steps:

1. First of all you have to create a team on slack in where your bot will be running. To create a team go to https://slack.com/ and create a new team.
2. After creating sign in to your team and got to apps and integration option by clicking on left corner.
3. Click manage on top right corner and go to custom integrations to add configuration to Bots.
   
4. After adding configuration data,bot username and copying API Token now we have to write code for setting bot in slack. To set up code see below steps: 
5. Install Node.js from the link below on your computer if you haven’t installed it already. https://nodejs.org/en/
   
6. Create a folder with any name and open shell and change your current directory to the new folder you created.
7. Type npm init in command line and enter details like name, version and entry point.
8. Create a file with the same name that you wrote in entry point in above given step. i.e index.js and it should be in same folder you created.
9. Type following commands in command line  npm install –save @slack/client. After slack/client is installed type npm install –save express after express is installed type npm install –save request and then npm install –save http when all the modules are installed check your package.json modules will be included within dependencies portion.
10. Your package.json file should look like this.

    {
    "name": "slack-bot",
    "version": "1.0.0",
    "description": "SUSI Slack Bot",
    "main": "index.js",
    "dependencies": {
           "express": "^4.15.3",
           "http": "0.0.0",
           "request": "^2.81.0"
    },
    "scripts": {
           "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1",
           "start": "node index.js"
    }
    }
    

11. Copy following code into file you created i.e index.js.

    var Slack = require('@slack/client');
    var request = require('request');
    var express = require('express');
    var http = require('http');
    var app = express();
    var RtmClient = Slack.RtmClient; 
    var RTM_EVENTS = Slack.RTM_EVENTS;
    var token = process.env.APIToken;
    
    var rtm = new RtmClient(token, { logLevel: 'info' }); 
    rtm.start();
    
    //to ping heorku app after 20 minutes to keep it active
    
    setInterval(function() {
            http.get(process.env.HerokuUrl);
        }, 1200000);
    
    rtm.on(RTM_EVENTS.MESSAGE, function(message) { 
    var channel = message.channel;
    
    var options = {
           method: 'GET',
           url: 'http://api.asksusi.com/susi/chat.json',
           qs: {
               timezoneOffset: '-330',
               q: message.text
           }
       };
    
    //sending request to SUSI API for response
       request(options, function(error, response, body) {
           if (error) throw new Error(error);
           var ans = (JSON.parse(body)).answers[0].actions[0].expression;
           rtm.sendMessage(ans, channel);
       })
    });
    
    const port = process.env.PORT || 3000;
    app.listen(port, () => {
       console.log(`listening on ${port}`);
    });
     
    
    

    
    

12. Now we have to deploy this code to heroku.
13. Before deploying we have to make a github repository for chatbot to make github repository follow these steps:

    In command line change current directory to folder we created above and write

    git init
    git add .
    git commit -m”initial”
    git remote add origin <URL for remote repository>
    git remote -v
    git push -u origin master
    
    You will get URL for remote repository by making repository on your github and copying this link of your repository.
    

14. To deploy your bot to heroku you need an account on Heroku and after making an account make an app.
15. Deploy app using github deployment method.
16. Select Automatic deployment method.
17. Add APIToken and HerokuUrl variable to heroku app in settings options.
18. Your SUSI Slack bot is ready enjoy chatting with it.If you want to learn more about slack API refer to https://api.slack.com