How to create a Telegram bot?

In this article, I will tell you how to easily create a Telegram bot using Symfony and EvMVTelegramBundle and implement IoC.

To begin, you need to install the package with the command:

composer require evmv/telegram-bundle

Next, register the bundle in config/bundles.php:

return [
    Evmv\TelegramBot\TelegramBundle::class => ['all' => true]
];

Add bot key to .env:

BOT_KEY=your_telegram_bot_key

And the last thing that is needed on our side to finish configuring the package is to register an endpoint in config/routes.yaml that will receive data via a web hook from Telegram:

telegram:
   path: /handle
   controller: Evmv\TelegramBot\Controller\Handle::__invoke

Telegram sends data only via an https connection, so for local development you need to install ngrok and expose our endpoint to the world:

ngrok http 8000

And register via telegram api, using this endpoint:

https://api.telegram.org/botTELEGRAM_BOT_KEY_HERE/setWebhook?url=ENDPOINT_THAT_RETURN_NGROK_FOR_HTTPS

That’s it, now we’re ready to accept and process commands!

Let’s process the “start” command, for this we need to create a command class, implement CommandInterface and add the #[Command] annotation:

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

namespace App\Controller;

use Evmv\TelegramBot\Handle\Command\Command;
use Evmv\TelegramBot\Handle\Command\CommandInterface;
use Evmv\TelegramBot\Helper\Process\TelegramProcessHelper;
use TelegramBot\Api\BotApi;
use TelegramBot\Api\Types\Update;

#[Command(command: '/start')]
class StartCommand implements CommandInterface
{
    public function __construct(
        private readonly BotApi $client,
        private readonly TelegramProcessHelper $processHelper,
    ) {
    }
    
    public function __invoke(Update $update): void
    {
        $chatId = $this->processHelper->extractChatId($update);
        
        $this->client->sendMessage($chatId, 'Hello. How can I help you?');
    }
}

Also we can generate keyboard, using InlineKeyboardGenerator:

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

namespace App\Controller;

use Evmv\TelegramBot\Handle\Command\Command;
use Evmv\TelegramBot\Handle\Command\CommandInterface;
use Evmv\TelegramBot\Service\Keyboard\Inline\InlineKeyboardGenerator;
use TelegramBot\Api\BotApi;
use TelegramBot\Api\Types\Update;

#[Command(command: '/start')]
class StartCommand implements CommandInterface
{
    public function __construct(
        private readonly InlineKeyboardGenerator $generator,
        private readonly BotApi $client
    ) {
    }

    public function __invoke(Update $update): void
    {
        $chat = $update->getMessage()->getChat();

        $keyboard = $this->generator
            ->button('First row first button', ButtonClick::class, ['item' => 1])
            ->button('Second row second button', ButtonClick::class, ['item' => 2])
            ->br()
            ->button('Second row first button', ButtonClick::class, ['item' => 3])
            ->generateKeyboard();

        $this->client->sendMessage($chat->getId(), 'Hello. Click to button', replyMarkup: $keyboard);
    }
}

To handle the button click, create a class that implements the interface ActionInterface:

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

namespace App\Controller;

use Evmv\TelegramBot\Handle\Action\Action;
use Evmv\TelegramBot\Handle\Action\ActionInterface;
use Evmv\TelegramBot\Helper\Process\TelegramProcessHelper;
use TelegramBot\Api\Types\Update;

#[Action(action: 'customHandleClick')]
class ButtonClick implements ActionInterface
{
    public function __construct(private readonly TelegramProcessHelper $processHelper)
    {
    }

    public function __invoke(Update $update): void
    {
        $data = $this->processHelper->callbackQueryPayload($update);
        // Do something
    }
}

Also you can create Text handler, Middleware, Reply keyboard and event handler. For more information read bundle documentation:

GitHub - EvMV/EvmvTelegramBundle: Bundle for creating telegram bots

That’s it, enjoy =)