Paysera Chat Bot Workshop

Requirements

• PHP >=5.5
• composer
• ngrok
• Facebook Account

Setup instructions

PHP server

For simplicity of this task, we will use built-in PHP server.

• install dependencies with composer install
• from project's directory run in console php -S localhost:{random_port} please use any number between 1024 and 65535 for {random_port}.
• check local PHP server is running - in browser go to http://localhost:{random_port}/ - you should see a blank page.

ngrok

Ngrok is local proxy allowing your PC to be accessible from Internet.

• download ngrok from https://ngrok.com/download and extract it in project directory.
• make sure it is executable - run in console: ./ngrok.
• start ngrok to have public proxy - ./ngrok http {random_port} - here {random_port} is from step above.
• make sure everything is OK with ngrok by going to http://127.0.0.1:4040/inspect/http

Facebook App Setup

1. Go to Messenger API platform and click Try It now

2. Launch Test Drive:

3. Fill required steps:

   1. Check the checkbox
   2. Skip Node.JS installation
   3. Enter chat bot name - must start with capital letter
   4. Skip package download - we do not need it
   5. Fill url you got from ngrok setup - do not press Next, you will get an error
   6. In another browser tab go to Facebook Apps
   7. Click on App with your chat bot name (You filled it in Step 3)
   8. Save the App ID and App Secret - in configuration file
   9. Go to Messenger in Products sidebar
   10. Under Token Generation select Page with same name as your chat bot name, save the Page Access Token in configuration
   11. Go to previous browser tab and click Next in Step 5

4. If everything was according to plan, you can open Messenger, search for chat bot and he should reply to you.

Changed ngrok hostname?

In case you restarted ngrok, you will receive a new public hostname, you need to change it in App Webhooks