Slack All (Feature) Breakdowns

Started: Aug 2020

Ended:

Description

Single repository for tester apps to breakdown Slack API features

Goals

• To have a way to quickly and easily test each of Slack's API features independently.

Install

1. Clone repository and run npm install
2. Create a Slack app see here for each specific feature configuration

Usage

• npm run [/feature] (each feature corrosponds to a folder name)

Requirements

• Node
• NPM
• Nodemon (automatically restarts the node application when a file changes. keep in mind to do a full restart when changing enviornment variables! etc)
• NGROK (creates a public URL and tunnels it to your local host see resources

Slack app configuration

Follow the appropriate configuration guide for the feature you want to test. A Slack app can be created from here: https://api.slack.com/apps?new_app=1

Note: creating a Slack app for each feature makes it easier to debug independently.

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/modals

Configuration

1. On your Slack App configuration page, head to the Interactivity & Shortcuts tab and toggle Interactivity. Add the public request URL of your server with an /slack/events end point: yourserver/slack/events
2. Underneath click Create New Shortcut choosing Global > Next > Fill out the details (the name and description will appear in Slack and the Callback ID isn't used within this app but is mandatory).
3. Head to the Install App tab and install the app.
4. In the project folder create a .env file within the /modals directory. Add a BOT_TOKEN variable and set it to the Bot User OAuth Acccess Token from the "Install App" tab.

Scopes

• https://api.slack.com/scopes/commands

Usage

1. In Slack head to any channel and click the lightning bolt next to the input
2. Search for the name (added step2 in the Configuration steps above) and trigger the modal view to open (which is found here /modals/modal_views/view1.json)

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/events

Configuration

1. Start the app by running npm run events
2. On your Slack App configuration page, head to the Event Subscriptions and toggle Enable Events. Add the public request URL of your server with an /slack/events end point: yourserver/slack/events (this will only verify if the app is running correctly)
3. Underneath click Subscribe to bot events and click Add Bot User Event choosing the app_mention and app_home_opened events
4. Head to the Install App tab and install the app.
5. In the project create a .env file within the /events directory and add a BOT_TOKEN variable setting it to the Bot User OAuth Acccess Token from the Install App tab in step4 above.
6. To add enviornment variables, the app needs to be restarted: ⌃c (control c), then npm run events

Scopes

• https://api.slack.com/scopes/app_mentions:read

Usage

1. In Slack invite the bot to a channel(enter /invite @[your-appname])
2. Mention the bot @[your-appname] - you should see the event hit your end point
3. Head to the bot direct message and go to the Home tab, you should see the view in: /events/views/home.json)

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/socketmode

Hosted here: https://glitch.com/edit/#!/false-peridot-band

Configuration

1. On your Slack App configuration page, head to the Socket Mode tab and toggle Enable Socket Mode
2. Give the app-level token a name of SOCKET_MODE (or anything you like) and click Generate
3. Note the token that is generated (you can find this later under the Basic Information tab > App-Level Tokens)
4. Click on the Event Subscriptions tab and toggle Enable Events, click Save Changes (down the bottom right)
5. Underneath click Subscribe to bot events and click Add Bot User Event choosing the app_mention event
6. Click on the Install App tab and click through the Install to Workspace options
7. In the project code, create a .env file and add the SOCKET_MODE variable: SOCKET_MODE=xapp-... from step 3.

Scopes

• https://api.slack.com/scopes/connections:write (automatically added when setting up Socket Mode)
• https://api.slack.com/scopes/app_mentions:read

Usage

1. Start the app by running npm run socketmode
2. In Slack invite the bot to a channel(enter /invite @[your-appname])
3. Mention the bot @[your-appname] - you should see the event come through on the socket displayed in your terminal.

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/unfurling

This tester app uploads a file and then unfurls it when someone enters the corrosponding unfurl URL (https://YOURUNFURLDOMAIN.com/image123)

Configuration

1. Head to unfurling/manifest.json
2. Change features.unfurl_domains to your domain that your app will unfurl for
3. Change settings.event_subscriptions.request_url to the public server URL hosting your app
4. Head to https://api.slack.com/apps/new and create an app entering the JSON from unfurling/manifest.json.
5. Install the app by clicking on the Install App tab on the left.
6. Back in the project code, create a .env file and add a BOT_TOKEN variable for the token from step 5.
7. Add UNFURL_DOMAIN variable for your domain name

The .env file should look like this with appropriate replacements:

#.env
BOT_TOKEN=xoxb-...
UNFURL_DOMAIN=https://YOURUNFURLDOMAIN.com

Scopes

• https://api.slack.com/scopes/links:read
• https://api.slack.com/scopes/links:write
• https://api.slack.com/scopes/remote_files:write

Usage

1. Run npm run unfurling
2. In Slack invite the bot to a channel(enter /invite @breakdown-unfurling)
3. Enter https://YOURUNFURLDOMAIN.com/image123

Note: image123 is hardcoded in unfurling/controllers/unfurling-controller.js)

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Resources

• https://api.slack.com/
• https://ngrok.com/