First you need to pull in the WeChat Driver.
composer require botman/driver-wechat
Then load the driver before creating the BotMan instance (only when you don't use BotMan Studio):
DriverManager::loadDriver(\BotMan\Drivers\WeChat\WeChatDriver::class);
// Create BotMan instance
BotManFactory::create($config);
Or if you use BotMan Studio:
php artisan botman:install-driver wechat
This driver requires a valid and secure URL in order to set up webhooks and receive events and information from the chat users. This means your application should be accessible through an HTTPS URL.
{callout-info} ngrok is a great tool to create such a public HTTPS URL for your local application. If you use Laravel Valet, you can create it with "valet share" as well.
Login to your developer sandbox account and take note of your appId and appSecret. This is your test bot.
There is a section called "API Config" where you need to provide a public accessible endpoint for your bot. Place the URL that points to your BotMan logic / controller in the URL field.
This URL needs to validate itself against WeChat. Choose a unique verify token, which you can check against in your verify controller and place it in the Token field.
Pass the WeChat App ID and App Key to the BotManFactory upon initialization. If you use BotMan Studio, you can find the configuration file located under config/botman/wechat.php.
[
'wechat' => [
'app_id' => 'YOUR-WECHAT-APP-ID',
'app_key' => 'YOUR-WECHAT-APP-KEY',
'verification' => 'YOUR-WECHAT-VERIFICATION-TOKEN',
]
]
Last you need to connect the test bot with your WeChat user account. Use the Test account QR Code from your sandbox page to add the bot to your contacts. And that's it - you can now use BotMan with WeChat to create interactive bots!
This is a list of features that the driver supports. If a driver does not support a specific action, it is in most cases a limitation from the messaging service - not BotMan.
| Feature | Supported? |
|---|---|
| Question-Buttons | ❌ |
| Image Attachment | ✅ |
| Video Attachment | ❌ |
| Audio Attachment | ❌ |
| Location Attachment | ❌ |