Question about the package

[GabrieleMassafra]

Hi, I'm Gabriele, from Italy. I'm new to coding, because I just have used MATLAB and a bit of C++ during my studies. However for my thesis work, i have to realize a chatbot on WhatsApp that can understand (recognizing some words in the text message) what the user i saying and provide predefined answers. So it is a rule based chatbot, nothing to deal with AI. Since I'm new to coding I've struggled a lot in finding something easy to learn and do, but this python package seems perfect for what i have to do. I just didn't understand if there is the possibility to search words in the text message of the user so that I can provide my reply message (with if else and so on). Is there a function that does this operation?

[david-lev]

Hi @GabrieleMassafra

I'm glad you found the package suitable for your use
If it is a number of predefined options (and which are not going to change), you can simply create some callbacks with filters for the text you want to handle:

from pywa import WhatsApp
from pywa.types import Message
from pywa.filters import text

wa = WhatsApp(...)

@wa.on_message(text.matches('hi'))
def on_hi_message(client: WhatsApp, msg: Message):
    ...

@wa.on_message(text.matches('hello'))
def on_hello_callback(client: WhatsApp, msg: Message):
    ...

Unless you want to be more dynamic, then you can do something more generic:

@wa.on_message(text)
def on_message(client: WhatsApp, msg: Message):
     match msg.text:
         case 'hi':
             ...
         case 'hello':
             ...
         case 'bye':
             ...

or with dict the triggers as the keys and the answers as the values

We have a group on Telegram where they can probably go into more detail with you
Here is the link https://t.me/pywachat

Good luck :)

[GabrieleMassafra]

Hi david!
Yeah it is a number of predefined options which are not going to change, it just can happen that i will have to add more options in order to define more rules (It will be a customer support chatbot i didn't specify it before, sorry). I'm joined the group yesterday.
At the moment i'm struggling a bit to understand how to manage the flask app part, but that's okay i will figure it out!

Thank you for you answer :)

[david-lev]

At the moment i'm struggling a bit to understand how to manage the flask app part, but that's okay i will figure it out!

In fact, the Flask thing shouldn't bother you. You give pywa his instant and she takes care of him. All you have to do is run it on a specific port and point the webhook there