Using force reply/creating step by step flows about botgram HOT 4 CLOSED

ForceReply is intended for groups. Bots that have privacy mode enabled won't be able to see simple text messages (i.e. «Option1») unless those messages are a reply for the bot. By forcing a reply, you ensure the bot will get the message.

That's probably why ForceReply only works on groups. If you're in a direct chat, forcing a reply is pointless since you'll get the text, whether you use it or not.

So, your initial snippet works as expected on a group (screenshot of Telegram Desktop):

Note: The const { id } = msg.user; line crashes on a group, you should use msg.chat or msg.from unless you're sure it's a user.

Note: Remember to remove the keyboard when it's no longer needed by doing .keyboard(), i.e.:

reply.keyboard().text(`Bot replying to a forced reply...`);

See the hasher.js example for more info.

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But all of this is irrelevant for mantaining flow; you don't need ForceReply or anything for that.

For info about maintaining flow, see the end of this section and the hasher.js example. (Note that in a real application, you'd use a DB instead.)

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Ok so, reading the docs, I came across: https://core.telegram.org/bots/api#sendmessage where it mentions the keyboard and force reply clash.

Then tried some adjusted code where the keyboard is removed beforehand...

bot.callback((query, next)=>{
	if (query.data === 'Matched string') {
		const { id } = query.message.user;
		const reply = bot.reply(id);
		reply.keyboard(); //Removing this line still doesn't work, see update below
		reply.text('What is the reply to this message?').forceReply();
	} else {
		return next()
	}
});

Still no luck. I suspect it may be because you can only send a single 'reply' via the bot callback (because sending a query.answer after a reply also throws an error). Hmmm...

Update - just tried removing the custom keyboard from all the code entirely, still no-go...

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Ah got it, that explains that.

Read and forgot about the whole context object when going through the docs. Poor effort on my part.

It will work perfectly in conjunction with a database.

Cheers @jmendeth !!

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