Send a Facebook message

You can then use the Messages API to respond to the inbound message received from the Facebook User.

Replace the following variables in the example below with actual values:

Key	Description
`FB_SENDER_ID`	Your Page ID. The `FB_SENDER_ID` is the same as the `to.id` value you received in the inbound messenger event on your Inbound Message Webhook URL.
`FB_RECIPIENT_ID`	The PSID of the user you want to reply to. The `FB_RECIPIENT_ID` is the PSID of the Facebook User you are messaging. This value is the `from.id` value you received in the inbound messenger event on your Inbound Message Webhook URL.

Example

Write the code

Add the following to send-text.sh:

curl -X POST "${MESSAGES_API_URL}" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer "$JWT\
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H 'Accept: application/json' \
  -d $'{
    "to": "'${MESSENGER_RECIPIENT_ID}'",
    "from": "'${MESSENGER_SENDER_ID}'",
    "channel": "messenger",
    "message_type": "text",
    "text": "This is a Facebook Messenger text message sent using the Vonage Messages API."
  }'

View full source

Run your code

Save this file to your machine and run it:

bash send-text.sh

Prerequisites

npm install @vonage/server-sdk @vonage/messages

Create a file named send-text.js and add the following code:

const { Vonage } = require('@vonage/server-sdk');
const { Channels } = require('@vonage/messages');

/**
 * It is best to send messages using JWT instead of basic auth. If you leave out
 * apiKey and apiSecret, the messages SDK will send requests using JWT tokens
 *
 * @link https://developer.vonage.com/en/messages/technical-details#authentication
 */
const vonage = new Vonage(
  {
    applicationId: VONAGE_APPLICATION_ID,
    privateKey: VONAGE_PRIVATE_KEY,
  },
  {
    ...(MESSAGES_API_URL ? {apiHost: MESSAGES_API_URL} : {}),
  },
);

View full source

Write the code

Add the following to send-text.js:

vonage.messages.send({
  messageType: 'text',
  channel: Channels.MESSENGER,
  text: 'This is a Facebook Messenger text message sent using the Messages API',
  to: MESSENGER_RECIPIENT_ID,
  from: MESSENGER_SENDER_ID,
})
  .then(({ messageUUID }) => console.log(messageUUID))
  .catch((error) => console.error(error));

View full source

Run your code

Save this file to your machine and run it:

node send-text.js

Prerequisites

Add the following to build.gradle:

implementation 'com.vonage:server-sdk-kotlin:2.1.1'

Create a file named SendMessengerText and add the following code to the main method:

val client = Vonage {
    applicationId(VONAGE_APPLICATION_ID)
    privateKeyPath(VONAGE_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH)
}

View full source

Write the code

Add the following to the main method of the SendMessengerText file:

val messageId = client.messages.send(
    messengerText {
        to(MESSENGER_SENDER_ID)
        from(MESSENGER_RECIPIENT_ID)
        text("This is a Facebook Messenger text message sent using the Messages API")
    }
)

View full source

Run your code

We can use the application plugin for Gradle to simplify the running of our application. Update your build.gradle with the following:

apply plugin: 'application'
mainClassName = project.hasProperty('main') ? project.getProperty('main') : ''

Run the following gradle command to execute your application, replacing com.vonage.quickstart.kt.messages.messenger with the package containing SendMessengerText:

gradle run -Pmain=com.vonage.quickstart.kt.messages.messenger.SendMessengerText

Prerequisites

Add the following to build.gradle:

implementation 'com.vonage:server-sdk:9.3.1'

Create a file named SendMessengerText and add the following code to the main method:

VonageClient client = VonageClient.builder()
		.applicationId(VONAGE_APPLICATION_ID)
		.privateKeyPath(VONAGE_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH)
		.build();

View full source

Write the code

Add the following to the main method of the SendMessengerText file:

var response = client.getMessagesClient().sendMessage(
		MessengerTextRequest.builder()
			.from(MESSENGER_SENDER_ID)
			.to(MESSENGER_RECIPIENT_ID)
			.text("This is a Facebook Messenger Message sent from the Messages API")
			.build()
);
System.out.println("Message sent successfully. ID: "+response.getMessageUuid());

View full source

Run your code

We can use the application plugin for Gradle to simplify the running of our application. Update your build.gradle with the following:

apply plugin: 'application'
mainClassName = project.hasProperty('main') ? project.getProperty('main') : ''

Run the following gradle command to execute your application, replacing com.vonage.quickstart.messages.messenger with the package containing SendMessengerText:

gradle run -Pmain=com.vonage.quickstart.messages.messenger.SendMessengerText

Prerequisites

Install-Package Vonage

Write the code

Add the following to SendMessengerText.cs:

var credentials = Credentials.FromAppIdAndPrivateKeyPath(VONAGE_APPLICATION_ID, VONAGE_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH);
var vonageClient = new VonageClient(credentials);
var request = new MessengerTextRequest
{
    To = MESSENGER_RECIPIENT_ID,
    From = MESSENGER_SENDER_ID,
    Text = "This is a Facebook Messenger Message sent from the Messages API"
};
var response = await vonageClient.MessagesClient.SendAsync(request);

View full source

Prerequisites

composer require vonage/client

Create a file named send-text.php and add the following code:

$keypair = new \Vonage\Client\Credentials\Keypair(
    file_get_contents(VONAGE_APPLICATION_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH),
    VONAGE_APPLICATION_ID
);

$client = new \Vonage\Client($keypair);

View full source

Write the code

Add the following to send-text.php:

$message = new \Vonage\Messages\Channel\Messenger\MessengerText(
    TO_NUMBER,
    FROM_NUMBER,
    'This is a text message sent using the Vonage PHP SDK'
);

$client->messages()->send($message);

View full source

Run your code

Save this file to your machine and run it:

php send-text.php

Prerequisites

pip install vonage python-dotenv

Write the code

Add the following to send-text.py:

from vonage import Auth, Vonage
from vonage_messages import MessengerText

client = Vonage(
    Auth(
        application_id=VONAGE_APPLICATION_ID,
        private_key=VONAGE_PRIVATE_KEY,
    )
)

message = MessengerText(
    to=MESSENGER_RECIPIENT_ID,
    from_=MESSENGER_SENDER_ID,
    text='Hello from the Vonage Messages API.',
)
try:
    response = client.messages.send(message)
    print(response)
except Exception as e:
    print(e)
    print(client.http_client.last_request.url)

View full source

Run your code

Save this file to your machine and run it:

python messages/messenger/send-text.py

Prerequisites

gem install vonage

Create a file named send-text.rb and add the following code:

client = Vonage::Client.new(
  application_id: VONAGE_APPLICATION_ID,
  private_key: VONAGE_PRIVATE_KEY
)

View full source

Write the code

Add the following to send-text.rb:

message = client.messaging.messenger(
  type: 'text',
  message: "This is a Facebook Messenger text message sent using the Vonage Messages API"
)

client.messaging.send(
  from: MESSENGER_SENDER_ID,
  to: MESSENGER_RECIPIENT_ID,
  **message
)

View full source

Run your code

Save this file to your machine and run it:

ruby send-text.rb

TIP: If testing using Curl you will need a JWT. You can see how to create one in the documentation on creating a JWT.

Sending a Facebook Messenger message

The Messages API provides the ability to send messages to various channels, including Facebook Messenger, SMS, WhatsApp and Viber. This task looks at using the Messages API to send a Facebook Messenger message.

Steps

Introduction to this tutorial

Prerequisites

Link your Facebook Page to your Vonage account

Receive a Facebook message

Send a Facebook message

What's next?