Zalo Bot

Overview

This node integrates with the Zalo Bot Platform, enabling users to interact programmatically with Zalo messaging services. It supports various operations such as sending messages, photos, stickers, chat actions (like typing indicators), managing webhooks, and retrieving bot or webhook information.

The Send Chat Action operation specifically allows the bot to send a chat action status (e.g., "typing") to a specified chat or user. This is useful for enhancing user experience by indicating that the bot is processing or preparing a response, similar to typing indicators in many chat applications.

Practical examples:

• Indicating to a user that the bot is "typing" before sending a message.
• Signaling activity in a chat to keep the user engaged during longer processing times.

Properties

Output

The node outputs JSON data representing the response from the Zalo Bot API for the executed operation. For the Send Chat Action operation, the output JSON typically contains an ok field indicating success and may include additional descriptive fields from the API response.

No binary data is produced by this operation.

Example output JSON structure:

{
  "ok": true,
  "result": {
    // details about the sent chat action
  }
}

Dependencies

• Requires an API authentication token (bot token) configured via credentials to authenticate requests to the Zalo Bot Platform.
• Uses the Zalo Bot API endpoint (https://bot-api.zapps.me by default).
• Requires network access to the Zalo Bot API service.

Troubleshooting

• Missing Bot Token: If the bot token credential is not provided, the node will throw an error indicating the missing token. Ensure the API key credential is properly set up.
• API Errors: If the Zalo API returns an error (e.g., invalid chat ID, invalid action), the node will throw an error including the description returned by the API. Verify input parameters and ensure the bot has permission to interact with the specified chat.
• Secret Token Requirement: For webhook-related operations (not relevant here), a secret token must be provided either in the node or credentials; otherwise, an error is thrown.
• Unsupported Operation: If an unsupported operation is selected, the node throws an error specifying the unsupported operation name.

Links and References

• Zalo Bot Platform Documentation
• Zalo Stickers Repository (for sticker codes)