Every family member has a matrix.org-account and we share a chatroom to communicate. I would like to add a chatbot to that room.
That chatbot could take action via Node-Red if some 'commands' are given. But I don't know where to start. If I search for 'matrix' I get:
node-red-contrib-matrix, but that one was active 4 years ago and the documentation isn't that much.
node-red-contrib-matrix-chat is updated 5 months ago and seems to have better documentation with examples. As a description it mentions 'Matrix chat server client', but I think I only need a Matrix client as I don't want to run my own server. It seems like overkill for my purpose. Or do I misinterpret that?
node-red-contrib-matrixbot is updated 3 years ago and mentions 'Matrix bot nodes for Node-RED'. The documentation isn't very elaborate, but it seems to mention the things I need:
** Matrix sender: sends messages from your Node-RED flow to the chatroom
** Matrix receiver: listens to messages in a chatroom and sends them to your Node-RED flow
** Matrix command: listens only to messages starting with a specific command and sends them to your Node-RED flow
node-red-contrib-matrixbot-markdown is updated 3 years ago and is a fork of the previous.
What would offer me the easist way of doing things? I have Node-RED 3.0.2, node.JS v16.20.2 and npm v8.19.4.
The first thing I would like to do is my chatbot to ask every evening if I want 'domestic hot water' in the morning. Standard it would be 'no', but if one of the family members answers with yes the flow would set the desired temperature to 51 °C. The reason is that I would like to experiment with getting my 'self use' of PV power a bit higher.
There are payload examples and a flow screenshot too.
Also, the nodes have a little built in help:
matrix sender
An output Matrix node that sends a message to a chatroom. This can be text of an image.
Sends the msg.payload property as text to the chatroom.
msg.payload: Text to be sent
When sending an image, msg.payload needs the following values:
msg.payload["content"]: Binary data containing the image
msg.payload["raw"]: Empty sting "" works (TODO: Not sure what this value does)
msg.payload["imgType"]: mime type of the image eg. image/jpeg
msg.payload["type"]: String "image"
msg.payload["text"]: String for the filename
An example:
// This should be the picture in binary format
var binbuffer = msg.payload
var mimetype = "image/jpeg"
var filename = "test.jpg"
msg.payload = { content: binbuffer,
raw: "",
imgType: mimetype,
type: "image",
text: filename
};
In both cases, msg.roomId can be specified (which is filled by receiver nodes) or in the configuration node.
msg.roomId: ID of the room where it was sent
matrix receiver
An input Matrix node that outputs messages received in a chatroom.
Outputs a message with the properties:
msg.payload: text of the received message
msg.sender: ID of the sender
msg.roomId: ID of the room where it was sent
Note: When an image is sent to the room, msg.payload will only contain the filename, the image itself is not received. TODO??
matrix command
An input Matrix node that triggers the output when a command is received from the chatroom.
Outputs a message with the properties:
msg.payload: rest of the received text (excluding the command)
msg.sender: ID of the sender
msg.roomId: ID of the room where it was sent
msg.originalMessage: text sent in the chat (including the command)
@Steve-Mcl, thanks for pointing me to the docs in the repo of node-red-contrib-matrixbot. I managed to setup a quick test to send to a matrix room. I also tested 'matrix receiver' and although it seems to pick up most of the messages, it doesn't pick up every message.
. I'm still hoping somebody could provide some instructions...