Skip to content

Latest commit

 

History

History
156 lines (79 loc) · 11 KB

README.md

File metadata and controls

156 lines (79 loc) · 11 KB
Raw

Deploying a Facebook Messenger app

You can use either of two methods to deploy your workspace to a Facebook Messenger app:

  • Use automated deployment if you want to quickly deploy your app by filling out a form with the required information. The deployment process is automated using a IBM Cloud DevOps toolchain.

  • Use manual deployment if you want to deploy your app by modifying configuration files and running scripts. You might want to use this method if you are customizing the Conversation connector, or if you need to repair or update components of an existing deployment.

Note: This process is intended to connect an existing Watson Conversation workspace to a Facebook app. If you have not yet built a workspace, you must do so first. For more information, see the Conversation documentation.

Automated deployment

  1. If you are not already logged in to IBM Cloud, log in before continuing.

  2. Click this button to launch the deployment. (Open the link in a new tab or window, so you can leave this page open.)

    Deploy to IBM Cloud

  3. Under Tool Integrations, click the GitHub tile, and then click Authorize to grant IBM Cloud access to your GitHub account. Log in with your GitHub credentials and complete the authorization process.

    Note: If you do not see an Authorize button, IBM Cloud might already be authorized. In this case, you can skip this step.

  4. Verify the values in the GitHub fields. In most cases, you can accept the default values. However, if you already have a GitHub repository called conversation-connector, you must edit the value in the Repository Name field to specify a different name for the new repository that will be created.

  5. Under Tool Integrations, click the Delivery Pipeline tile.

  6. Make sure the IBM Cloud US South region is selected. Other regions are not currently supported.

  7. Select the IBM Cloud organization and space where you want to deploy. This space will be used to deploy the IBM Cloud Functions artifacts, as well as a Cloudant Lite service instance.

    Note: Make sure your IBM Cloud account has an open slot for the new Cloudant Lite service instance (if it does not already exist from a previous deployment).

  8. In the Deployment name field, type a name for your deployment. This name will help you find your Cloud Functions assets later. You can type any string, but only alphanumeric characters (A-Z and 0-9) are kept.

  9. Go to https://developers.facebook.com/apps/. Log in with your Facebook credentials if necessary.

  10. Click Add a New App. Specify a display name for your app and your contact email address, and then click Create App ID.

    Note: If you have already created the app you want to use, select it from the My Apps menu.

  11. In the navigation pane, click Dashboard.

  12. Click Show and then copy the displayed app secret to the clipboard.

  13. In the deployment form, paste the app secret into the Facebook App Secret field.

  14. In the Facebook app page, click + Add Product. Under Select a product, hover over Messenger and click Set Up.

  15. In the Messenger settings, scroll down to Token Generation. Click Select a Page and choose the Facebook page you want to use for your app.

    Note: If you don't already have a page for your app, click Create a new page. After you finish creating the page, return to the Facebook apps page and navigate back to the Messenger settings for your app. You can then select the page you created.

  16. Copy the page access token and paste it into the Facebook Page Access Token field of the deployment form.

  17. In the Facebook Verification Token field, type any string you want to use as a verification token. Make a record of this value, which you will need later. (Facebook will use this verification token to verify your webhook URL.)

  18. Open the Conversation tool, and then open the Conversation workspace you want to deploy.

  19. Select Deploy from the menu and then go to the Credentials tab. Copy your Conversation username, password, and workspace ID, and paste them into the corresponding fields in the deployment form.

  20. Click Create to start the deployment.

  21. On the deployment page, click the Delivery Pipeline tile so you can monitor the deployment. You should see a Build Stage tile, followed by a Deploy Stage tile. Wait until the deploy stage finishes, indicated by a STAGE PASSED message (this might take several minutes).

  22. In the Deploy Stage tile, click View logs and history. Scroll to the bottom of the log and look for a line that begins Your Request URL is:. Copy the specified URL to the clipboard.

  23. In the Facebook app settings, go to the Messenger settings and scroll to the Webhooks section. Click Setup Webhooks.

  24. In the New Page Subscription window, paste the request URL from the clipboard into the Callback URL field. In the Verify Token field, specify the same Facebook verification token that you specified earlier in the Facebook Verification Token field. Under Subscription Fields, select messages and messaging_postbacks. Then click Verify and Save.

  25. After the verification finishes, go back to the Webhooks section in the Messenger settings and click Select a Page. Select the same page you selected during token generation, and then click Subscribe.

    Note: Subscribe to only one page. Multiple-page subscriptions are not currently supported.

That's it. You're all set. You can now go to Facebook Messenger, search for your Facebook bot (or the Facebook page you subscribed to), and talk to it!

Manual deployment

Note: The manual deployment process is supported only on Linux/UNIX and macOS systems.

  1. Clone or download this GitHub repository to your local file system.

  2. If you have not done so already, install the following prerequisite software:

  3. Log in using the following command:

    cf login -a https://api.ng.bluemix.net/

    Select the IBM Cloud organization and space where you want to deploy.

    Note: Currently, only the US South region is supported.

  4. Go to https://console.ng.bluemix.net/openwhisk/learn/cli and then do the following:

    1. Click the account information in the upper right corner, and confirm that the organization and space shown are correct.

    2. Scroll down and click on Looking for the wsk CLI??

    3. If you have not done so already, follow the instructions to install the wsk CLI.

    4. Copy the command in step 2 ("Target a Region and Namespace"), and run it in your CLI.

  5. Go to https://developers.facebook.com/apps/. Log in with your Facebook credentials if necessary.

  6. Click Add a New App. Specify a display name for your app and your contact email address, and then click Create App ID.

    Note: If you have already created the app you want to use, select it from the My Apps menu.

  7. In the navigation pane, click Dashboard.

  8. Click Show and then copy the displayed app secret to the clipboard.

  9. In the root directory of your local copy of the repository, edit the providers.json file. Paste the app secret value into the app_secret field of the facebook object.

  10. In the Facebook app page, click + Add Product. Under Select a product, hover over Messenger and click Set Up.

  11. In the Messenger settings, scroll down to Token Generation. Click Select a Page and choose the Facebook page you want to use for your app.

    Note: If you don't already have a page for your app, click Create a new page. After you finish creating the page, return to the Facebook apps page and navigate back to the Messenger settings for your app. You can then select the page you created.

  12. Copy the page access token. In providers.json, paste the value into the corresponding field of the facebook object.

  13. In providers.json, add a value for verfication_token. This can be any string you want to use as a verification token. Make a record of this value, which you will need later. (Facebook will use this verification token to verify your webhook URL.)

  14. In providers.json, make sure the channel name is set to facebook.

  15. In providers.json, edit the pipeline name to specify a name for your deployment. This name will help you find your Cloud Functions assets later. Only alphanumeric characters (A-Z and 0-9) are kept.

  16. In providers.json, edit the conversation object to specify the username, password, and workspace ID of the workspace you are deploying.

  17. Run npm install.

  18. cd to the root of the repository and run ./setup.sh -s. This creates the Facebook Cloud Functions package, as well as all the other packages in your namespace.

  19. Copy the generated request URL. You can copy this directly from the terminal window after the script completes (look for a message that begins Your Request URL is:). If you need to find the endpoint URL later, follow these steps:

    1. Go to https://console.ng.bluemix.net/openwhisk/editor.

    2. Under My Actions, click <pipeline_name>_facebook/receive>.

    3. Click View Action Details.

    4. Confirm that Enable as Web Action is selected. Copy the URL from the Web Action URL You will need to replace .json with .text when you paste this value into the Facebook webhook settings.

  20. In the Facebook app settings, go to the Messenger settings and scroll to the Webhooks section. Click Setup Webhooks.

  21. In the New Page Subscription window, paste the request URL from the clipboard into the Callback URL field. (If the URL you pasted ends with .json, change this to .text.) In the Verify Token field, specify the same Facebook verification token that you created earlier. Under Subscription Fields, select messages and messaging_postbacks. Then click Verify and Save.

  22. After the verification finishes, go back to the Webhooks section in the Messenger settings and click Select a Page. Select the same page you selected during token generation, and then click Subscribe.

    Note: Subscribe to only one page. Multiple-page subscriptions are not currently supported.

That's it. You're all set. You can now go to Facebook Messenger, search for your Facebook bot (or the Facebook page you subscribed to), and talk to it!