botkit-middleware-typing

BotKit middleware to enable the typing indicator on Facebook for all messages. This will include those sent via Botkit conversations.

Install

Add the module to your package.json using either npm or yarn.

npm install botkit-middleware-typing

OR

yarn add botkit-middleware-typing

Use

Include the middleware in your Botkit application.

const botkitTypingMiddleware = require('botkit-middleware-typing');

Add this as a Botkit send middleware:

const controller = Botkit.facebookbot(botConfig);

const typingMiddleware = botkitTypingMiddleware();

controller.middleware.send.use(typingMiddleware);

Configuration

You can configure the typing delay for the middleware with the following optional parameters. This will allow you to set a maximum delay or allows you to set a delay for all typing.

Property	Description
maximumTypingDelayMs	Sets the maximum typing delay in milliseconds
typingDelayMs	Sets a specified typing delay in milliseconds

Examples

Set the maximum typing delay to 1 second.

const typingMiddleware = botkitTypingMiddleware({
    maximumTypingDelayMs: 1000
});

controller.middleware.send.use(typingMiddleware);

Set all typing delays to 4.5 seconds.

const typingMiddleware = botkitTypingMiddleware({
    typingDelayMs: 4500
});

controller.middleware.send.use(typingMiddleware);

Issues

With the current implementation of Botkit, there's no easy way to tell which platform the bot is running on. This middleware makes an assumption that the bot supports typing if it has a bot.startTyping method. This is currently avaible on Facebook and Slack. Currently only Facebook is supported but I'll look to add Slack shortly.