Send a message with the RTM API

[gazpachu]

Sounds silly but I'm struggling with this! I have a connection, can see the channels, users, etc but I cannot send a message. What am I doing wrong?

this.bot.message({
    type: 'message',
    channel: this.state.currentChannel.id,
    text: text
});

When I do that, nothing happens :( I've also tried with a properly formatted JSON (using quotes)

[brianleroux]

np! there's no this nor message

something like this would work tho

var slack = require('slack')
var bot = slack.rtm.client()

var token = process.env.SLACK_BOT_TOKEN

// define a hello handler
bot.hello(msg=> {
     // NOTE you need to set text and channel here
    slack.chat.postMessage({text, channel, token}, console.log)
})

bot.listen({token})

[gazpachu]

Thanks Brian. The postMessage method is part of the Web API. I'm trying to send a message with the RTM API.

[brianleroux]

Ah! Yes you can do that too. (=

Fwiw: we only use the Web API for replies. Sockets can manifest tricky state issues especially when you double duty them for send and receipt logic (even though they are duplex in nature). Anyhow: still possible and totally appropriate for many cases!

To send a msg via the socket you can use bot.ws.send

var slack = require('slack')
var bot = slack.rtm.client()

var token = process.env.SLACK_BOT_TOKEN

// define a hello handler
bot.hello(msg=> {
     // NOTE you need to set text and channel here
    bot.ws.send({
      "id": 1,
      "type": "message",
      "channel": "C024BE91L",
      "text": "Hello world"
    })
})

bot.listen({token})

More info about the JSON payloads look for "Sending messages" on this page:

https://api.slack.com/rtm

[brianleroux]

Also! slack.rtm.client above really is a super simple thin wrapper around ws:

https://github.com/smallwins/slack/blob/master/src/rtm.client.js

[brianleroux]

LMK if this answers your questions / happy to help more if its still not working but closing this issue for now. Thx!