Facebook messenger platform: generic template with quick replies - bots

Question

I was looking at some pretty popular bots like "The Guardian" and i noticed that whenever you get a generic template reply from it it also displays some quick reply buttons (see the photo attached). How did "The Guardian Bot" achieve this? How he combined quick replies and a generic template? It must be two messages involved.

Answer 1

This worked for me in Dialogflow, return similar Json Object in backend to achieve the result:
{
"facebook": {
"attachment":{
"type":"template",
"payload":{
"template_type":"generic",
"elements":[
{
"title":"Welcome!",
"image_url":"https://petersfancybrownhats.com/company_image.png",
"subtitle":"We have the right hat for everyone.",
"default_action": {
"type": "web_url",
"url": "https://petersfancybrownhats.com/view?item=103",
"webview_height_ratio": "tall"
},
"buttons":[
{
"type":"web_url",
"url":"https://petersfancybrownhats.com",
"title":"View Website"
},{
"type":"postback",
"title":"Start Chatting",
"payload":"DEVELOPER_DEFINED_PAYLOAD"
}
]
}
]
}
},
"quick_replies":[
{
"content_type":"text",
"title":"Search",
"payload":"<POSTBACK_PAYLOAD>",
"image_url":"http://example.com/img/red.png"
},
{
"content_type":"location"
}
]
}
}

Answer 2

Quick replies are usually accompanied by a 'text' property that sends a text message before the quick reply. It appears you can substitute any template for that. For example, here is the request body for a generic template carousel with quick replies:
{
"recipient":{
"id":"{{PSID}}"
},
"messaging_type": "response",
"message":{
"quick_replies": [
{
"content_type":"text",
"title":"Quick Reply 1",
"image_url":"https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fbsamples/messenger-platform-samples/master/images/Messenger_Icon.png",
"payload":"payload1"
},
{
"content_type":"text",
"title":"Quick Reply 2",
"payload":"payload2"
}
],
"attachment":{
"type":"template",
"payload":{
"template_type":"generic",
"elements":[
{
"title":"This is a generic template",
"subtitle":"Plus a subtitle!",
"image_url":"https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fbsamples/messenger-platform-samples/master/images/Messenger_Icon.png",
"buttons":[
{
"type":"postback",
"title":"Postback Button",
"payload":"<POSTBACK_PAYLOAD>"
}
]
},
{
"title":"Another generic template",
"subtitle":"Plus a subtitle!",
"image_url":"https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fbsamples/messenger-platform-samples/master/images/Messenger_Icon.png",
"buttons":[
{
"type":"postback",
"title":"Postback Button",
"payload":"<POSTBACK_PAYLOAD>"
}
]
},
{
"title":"And another!",
"subtitle":"Plus a subtitle!",
"image_url":"https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fbsamples/messenger-platform-samples/master/images/Messenger_Icon.png",
"buttons":[
{
"type":"postback",
"title":"Postback Button",
"payload":"<POSTBACK_PAYLOAD>"
}
]
}
]
}
}
}
}

Answer 3

I have implemented the bot in nodejs and I am using a node module called messenger-bot which makes it easier to call the messenger bot API. Here's my customized code for you
const http = require('http')
const https = require('https')
const Bot = require('messenger-bot')
var bot = new Bot({
token: 'your FB app token',
verify: 'VERIFY_TOKEN'
})
bot.on('postback', (payload, reply) => {
var postback = payload.postback.payload;
if (postback == "yes") {
function getQuickReplies() {
console.log("in next function");
var quick_list = {
"text": "Check the next article?",
"quick_replies": [{
"content_type": "text",
"title": "More stories",
"payload": "more stories"
},
{
"content_type": "text",
"title": "Sport",
"payload": "sport"
},
{
"content_type": "text",
"title": "Business",
"payload": "business"
}
]
};
bot.getProfile(payload.sender.id, (err, profile) => {
if (err) throw err
text = quick_list;
bot.sendMessage(payload.sender.id, text) {//this prints quick replies
console.log("sending message");
}
});
}
//calling generic template
var generic_temp = "message": {
"attachment": {
-- - your code-- -
}
}; //generic template refer - https://developers.facebook.com/docs/messenger-platform/send-api-reference/generic-template
bot.getProfile(payload.sender.id, (err, profile) => {
if (err) throw err
bot.sendMessage(payload.sender.id, generic_temp) {//this prints generic template
console.log("sending message");
}
});
//calling the quick replies once the generic template is sent
getQuickReplies(); //to avoid async execution issue, we will have to put this in a function.
}
});
references - Generic template, Quick replies, messenger-bot npm
Hope this helps! Happy coding ;)

Answer 4

NEW UPDATE
{
"facebook": {
"attachment":{
"type":"template",
"payload":{
"template_type":"generic",
"elements":[
{
"title":"Welcome!",
"image_url":"https://petersfancybrownhats.com/company_image.png",
"subtitle":"We have the right hat for everyone.",
"default_action": {
"type": "web_url",
"url": "https://petersfancybrownhats.com/view?item=103",
"webview_height_ratio": "tall"
},
"buttons":[
{
"type":"web_url",
"url":"https://petersfancybrownhats.com",
"title":"View Website"
},{
"type":"postback",
"title":"Start Chatting",
"payload":"DEVELOPER_DEFINED_PAYLOAD"
}
]
}
]
}
},
"quick_replies":[
{
"content_type":"text",
"title":"Red",
"payload":"<POSTBACK_PAYLOAD>",
"image_url":"http://example.com/img/red.png"
},{
"content_type":"text",
"title":"Green",
"payload":"<POSTBACK_PAYLOAD>",
"image_url":"http://example.com/img/green.png"
}
]
}
}