InlineQueryResultPhoto: Pass image bytes instead of URL

[xk4rimx]

Hello,

I'd like to pass an image object instead of a URL to InlineQueryResultPhoto.
As I saw in the docs, InlineQueryResultPhoto takes photo_url and thumb_url. I'd like to know if there's a way I can pass bytes instead of URLs.

Thank you.

[xk4rimx]

I found a solution for photo_url by passing an InputMediaPhoto to input_message_content parameter.
However, I couldn't find anything for thumb_url.

[Badiboy]

It's the limitation of the Telegram.
https://core.telegram.org/bots/api#inlinequeryresultphoto
Thumb can be passed only by URL.

PS: I also do not thing input_message_content will help you to send Photo...
https://core.telegram.org/bots/api#inputmessagecontent

[xk4rimx]

Thank you, @Badiboy. I discovered that input_message_content requires a URL yesterday and forgot to update this question.
After hours of digging, I finally found a workaround:

1. Send the photo to a private channel made solely for caching.
2. Retrieve the photo to answer the inline query.
3. Delete the photo in the caching channel.

msg = bot.send_photo(chat_id=CACHE_CHANNEL_ID, photo=image)
photo_file_id = msg.photo[0].file_id

option = InlineQueryResultCachedPhoto(
                    id='0',
                    title=title,
                    description=description,
                    photo_file_id=photo_file_id,
                    caption=caption,
                    parse_mode='MARKDOWN'
       )

bot.answer_inline_query(
            query.id,
            [option],
            cache_time=60*15
)

bot.delete_message(
            chat_id=CACHE_CHANNEL_ID,
            message_id=msg.message_id,
)

Reference