Send a Quick Reply Button

In this code snippet you learn how to send a quick reply style button on WhatsApp. This uses Vonage's custom object facility. You can reference the WhatsApp developer docs for the specifics of the message format.

When the message recipient clicks on the quick reply button, Vonage will POST relevant data to your inbound message webhook URL.

Example

Ensure the following variables are set to your required values using any convenient method:

Key	Description
`BASE_URL`	For production use the base URL is `https://api.nexmo.com/`. For sandbox testing the base URL is `https://messages-sandbox.nexmo.com/`.
`MESSAGES_API_URL`	There are two versions of the API, each with their own endpoints. For production the previous Messages API endpoint was `https://api.nexmo.com/v0.1/messages`, the new one is `https://api.nexmo.com/v1/messages`. For sandbox testing the Messages API endpoint is `https://messages-sandbox.nexmo.com/v0.1/messages` or `https://messages-sandbox.nexmo.com/v1/messages`, depending on which version you have set in the sandbox dashboard.
`WHATSAPP_NUMBER`	The WhatsApp number that has been allocated to you by Vonage. For sandbox testing the number is 14157386102.
`TO_NUMBER`	Replace with the number you are sending to. E.g. `447700900001`
`WHATSAPP_TEMPLATE_NAMESPACE`	The namespace ID found in your WhatsApp Business Account. Only templates created in your own namespace will work. Using an template with a namespace outside of your own results in an error code 1022 being returned. For sandbox testing the supported namespace is `9b6b4fcb_da19_4a26_8fe8_78074a91b584`.
`WHATSAPP_TEMPLATE_NAME`	The name of the template created in your WhatsApp Business Account. For sandbox testing the `verify` template is currently available. Refer to this table for new templates as they become available.

NOTE: Don't use a leading + or 00 when entering a phone number, start with the country code, for example, 447700900000.

Prerequisites

If you do not have an application you can create one. Make sure you also configure your webhooks.

Write the code

Add the following to send-button-quick-reply.sh:

curl -X POST $MESSAGES_API_URL \
     -H 'Authorization: Bearer' $JWT  \
     -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
     -d '{
  "message_type": "custom",
  "to": "$TO_NUMBER",
  "from": "$WHATSAPP_NUMBER",
  "channel": "whatsapp",
  "custom": {
    "type": "template",
    "template": {
      "namespace": "$WHATSAPP_TEMPLATE_NAMESPACE",
      "name": "$WHATSAPP_TEMPLATE_NAME",
      "language": {
        "code": "en",
        "policy": "deterministic"
      },
      "components": [
        {
          "type": "header",
          "parameters": [
            {
              "type": "text",
              "text": "12/26"
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "type": "body",
          "parameters": [
            {
              "type": "text",
              "text": "*Ski Trip*"
            },
            {
              "type": "text",
              "text": "2019-12-26"
            },
            {
              "type": "text",
              "text": "*Squaw Valley Ski Resort, Tahoe*"
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "type": "button",
          "sub_type": "quick_reply",
          "index": 0,
          "parameters": [
            {
              "type": "payload",
              "payload": "Yes-Button-Payload"
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "type": "button",
          "sub_type": "quick_reply",
          "index": 1,
          "parameters": [
            {
              "type": "payload",
              "payload": "No-Button-Payload"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}'

View full source

Run your code

Save this file to your machine and run it:

bash send-button-quick-reply.sh

Prerequisites

If you do not have an application you can create one. Make sure you also configure your webhooks.

npm install @vonage/server-sdk@beta

Write the code

Add the following to send-quick-reply-button.js:

const Vonage = require('@vonage/server-sdk');

const vonage = new Vonage(
    {
        apiKey: VONAGE_API_KEY,
        apiSecret: VONAGE_API_SECRET,
        applicationId: VONAGE_APPLICATION_ID,
        privateKey: VONAGE_APPLICATION_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH,
    },
    {
        apiHost: BASE_URL,
    }
);

vonage.channel.send(
    { type: 'whatsapp', number: TO_NUMBER },
    { type: 'whatsapp', number: WHATSAPP_NUMBER },
    {
        content: {
            type: 'custom',
            custom: {
                type: 'template',
                template: {
                    namespace: WHATSAPP_TEMPLATE_NAMESPACE,
                    name: WHATSAPP_TEMPLATE_NAME,
                    language: {
                        code: 'en',
                        policy: 'deterministic',
                    },
                    components: [
                        {
                            type: 'header',
                            parameters: [
                                {
                                    type: 'text',
                                    text: '12/26',
                                },
                            ],
                        },
                        {
                            type: 'body',
                            parameters: [
                                {
                                    type: 'text',
                                    text: '*Ski Trip*',
                                },
                                {
                                    type: 'text',
                                    text: '2019-12-26',
                                },
                                {
                                    type: 'text',
                                    text: '*Squaw Valley Ski Resort, Tahoe*',
                                },
                            ],
                        },
                        {
                            type: 'button',
                            sub_type: 'quick_reply',
                            index: 0,
                            parameters: [
                                {
                                    type: 'payload',
                                    payload: 'Yes-Button-Payload',
                                },
                            ],
                        },
                        {
                            type: 'button',
                            sub_type: 'quick_reply',
                            index: 1,
                            parameters: [
                                {
                                    type: 'payload',
                                    payload: 'No-Button-Payload',
                                },
                            ],
                        },
                    ],
                },
            },
        },
    },
    (err, data) => {
        if (err) {
            console.error(err);
        } else {
            console.log(data.message_uuid);
        }
    }
);

View full source

Run your code

Save this file to your machine and run it:

node send-quick-reply-button.js

Try it out

When you run the code a WhatsApp reminder message is sent to the destination number. The message has two quick reply buttons which you can use to select whether you are going to the event or not. When a button is pressed data similar to the following is posted to your inbound webhook URL:

{
    "message_uuid": "28ee5a1c-c4cc-48ec-922c-01520d4d396b",
    "to": {
        "number": "447700000000",
        "type": "whatsapp"
    },
    "from": {
        "number": "447700000001",
        "type": "whatsapp"
    },
    "timestamp": "2019-12-03T12:45:57.929Z",
    "direction": "inbound",
    "message": {
        "content": {
            "type": "button",
            "button": {
                "payload": "Yes-Button-Payload",
                "text": "Yes"
            }
        }
    }
}

In this example the recipient clicked the yes button.

Further information

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