MessageBuilder

MessageBuilder is a utility that allows you to build up large Telegram messages which automatically are broken up as needed into several smaller messages to fit within Telegram's size limits. Using is it simple:

• Create a MessageBuilder
• Add text items
• Call Send when done

Telefrag will append as many text items as it can in a single message. If it nears the maximum message size, it will fit as many items as possible, send the message, and begin a new message. You can force Telefrag to send what it has and start a new message by calling Break().

Examples

Basic Example

var builder = context.Builder(SendMode.Reply);
builder.Add("<b>Search Results</b>\n" as HTML);

// This collection could safely contain thousands of items
// without worry of exceeding message size limits
foreach(var r in results) 
{
   builder.Add($"- {r.Text}\n" as HTML);
}

builder.Add("End of results");
await builder.Send();

Advanced Usage

var builder = context.Builder(SendMode.Message);

// Override the default destination chat
builder.Target = Settings.StaffChat;

builder.Add("<b>Security Alert</b>\n" as HTML);
string severity = null;
foreach(var a in alerts.OrderBy(a => a.Severity)) 
{
   if (severity != a.Severity)
   {
       // For each grouping of severity, start a new message
       await builder.Break();
       // Write a group header
       builder.Add($"Severity <b>{a.Severity.Safe()}</b> alerts:\n");
       severity = a.Severity;
   }
   
   // Write the alert
   builder.Add($"- {a.Text}");	// Type of a.Text will determine
							    // the ParseMode via FormattedString
}
// Send it
await builder.Send(SendOptions.DisableNotification);

Creating a MessageBuilder

You can obtain a MessageBuilder object from any Context by calling the Builder method on that Context, specifying a SendMode based on how you want your message to be sent to the chat associated with the Context:

Value	Description
Message	Sends the message as a standard message to Context.Chat
Reply	Sends the message as a reply to Context.Message

Overriding Default Settings

The Target property can be used to change the target of the sent messages; by default the value of Context.Chat is used.

The ReplyTo property can be changed to override the message being replied to, if using SendMode.Reply. By default the value of Context.Message is used.

Building the Message

Call Add to add text items to the MessageBuilder. Items should be atomic articles of text that should not be broken up. Do not write all of the text into the MessageBuilder using a single call to Add as there will be no places for the MessageBuilder to break the message.

To explicitly begin a new message, call Break.

Sending the Message

When finished building the message, await the call to the Send method. You can specify any SendOptions such as DisableNotifications.