Use Telegram for notifications

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For my system i use Telegram messenger for notifications.

It’s not so hard to setup so here’s a quick how-to:
First go to here and use it to install Telepot.

Follow the tutorial to get a token and your Telegram ID.

Now create a python script somewhere using this code:
#!/usr/bin/python import sys import re import telepot message=(sys.argv)[1] print message #print "argumentlist: ",str(sys.argv) bot=telepot.Bot('YOURBOTTOKEN') bot.sendMessage(YOURID,str(message))

Make sure to edit the YOURBOTTOKEN and YOURID.

Next in pimatic you can create a rule like
when it is 30 minutes before sunset then turn Lights on and execute "python PATHTOYOURSCRIPT/SCRIPTNAME.py \"I turned the lights on\" "

Now every time the lights are turned on it will notify you of it’s action. You can also use this for other rules like website scrapers (i use it to get the ambulance/fire department/ police notifications for my village), CPU overload, etcetc…

Now i would like to make this a two way communication so Telegram could ask you if you would want to turn on the lights and by a press of the buttom (inside Telegram) it would do so.But it would need some help from someone who is mote into the telepot module…and has more time

very nice!!
thx for sharing !

I have also integrated telegram to my raspberry and trigger some messages out of pimatic via rules (light is on, bell rings etc.). To realize the way back for a raspberry remote control I am using a lua file. You will find some description under the following link (sorry only in German):
http://tutorials-raspberrypi.de/ueber-telegram-messenger-raspberry-pi-steuern/

It is not a full pimatic integration but you can trigger scripts and actions via telegram commands.

Cool! This works perfectly after some fiddling with the user id
This will be a good alternative to pushbullet.

short reply: I use telegram as well for several tasks within and outside pimatic, also measuring my cooler/freezer.

long reply: I have a cooler/freezer with vertical doors, so if you leave it open the temperature rises fast. The freezer also has a “turbo freeze” button when putting fresh stuff in it. It once went to -41 after one night of forgetting to switch it off.
So I have a ds18b20 in both the cooler and freezer connected to an esp8266 running Espeasy (not espimatic as that doesn’t allow 2 of the same sensors). I simply removed the last meter or so of the cable sheath of a Cat 5 network cable, giving me 8 very thin wires where I need 6 for my two ds18b20 sensors.
I simply monitor the temperatures every minute and for the freezer I have something like “if longer than 5 minutes > -11 => telegram” “if < -23 => telegram”, "if temps not updated for 10 minutes => telegram"
And I use telegram as well for other sensors and esps that do not update in a certain period of time and that could be 5 minutes to 30 minutes depending on the interval.

Now create a python script somewhere using this code:
#!/usr/bin/python
import sys
import re
import telepot
message=(sys.argv)[1]
print message
#print "argumentlist: ",str(sys.argv)
bot=telepot.Bot(‘YOURBOTTOKEN’)
bot.sendMessage(YOURID,str(message))`

Make sure to edit the YOURBOTTOKEN and YOURID.

telepot installed and I filled out the Token and the ID

Is that right, BotFather tells you the YOURID:YOURBOTTOKEN (like 543211234:AAGFzMGmGC0Ho4jgxxxxxxxxJbEoWnkiPg)?

I get that error Message:

python telegram.py test
test
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “telegram.py”, line 9, in <module>
bot.sendMessage(543211234,str(message))
File “/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/telepot/init.py”, line 409, in sendMessage
return self._api_request(‘sendMessage’, _rectify§)
File “/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/telepot/init.py”, line 398, in _api_request
return api.request((self._token, method, params, files), **kwargs)
File “/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/telepot/api.py”, line 131, in request
return _parse®
File “/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/telepot/api.py”, line 112, in _parse
raise exception.BadHTTPResponse(response.status, text, response)
telepot.exception.BadHTTPResponse: Status 200 - First 500 characters are shown below:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset=“utf-8”>
<title>Bots: An introduction for developers</title>
<meta name=“viewport” content=“width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0”>
<meta property=“og:title” content=“Bots: An introduction for developers”>
<meta property=“og:image” content=“https://core.telegram.org/file/811140663/1/uHVzwsRJz3Y/a499733c59840694ca”>
<meta property=“og:description” content="Bots are third-party applications that run inside Telegram. Users can in

try:
python telegram.py “test”

(see the “” are there to holster the message!)

Ok.

Same error.

are you using commandline or have you created a rule in pimatic??
For commandline my previous post should work, if tokens are correct.
If you have created a rule you should escape the “” like so:
execute "python /pathtoscript/script.py \"Notification!!!!!\" "

At the moment I try at first the command line.
In Pimatic I have the same error.

But I give up with telegram and use Pushbullet for the message.

Do you run the telegram bot as normal user or root?

As normal “pi” user, without sudo.

I just moved from an RPI B+ to an RPi 3 and forgot some backups to make.
So from the top of my head: If you installed the telegram bot as root, you also need to execute the commands as root.

OK, now I found the mistake from me.

#!/usr/bin/python
import sys
import re
import telepot
message=(sys.argv)[1]
print message
#print "argumentlist: ",str(sys.argv)
bot=telepot.Bot(‘YOURBOTTOKEN’)
bot.sendMessage(YOURID,str(message))`
Make sure to edit the YOURBOTTOKEN and YOURID.

Is that right, BotFather tells you the YOURID:YOURBOTTOKEN (like 543211234:AAGFzMGmGC0Ho4jgxxxxxxxxJbEoWnkiPg)?

NO!!! This is wrong!

YOURBOTTOKEN is the complete Token, like:
543211234:AAGFzMGmGC0Ho4jgxxxxxxxxJbEoWnkiPg

YOURID is your chatroom ID!!!
That was my mistake.

btw, ist works without sudo or root.

python telegram.py test12234

I’m going to try this another way. I’m currently experimenting with Node-Red. The are telegram nodes for node-red available that make it possible to send and receive messages and act upon them. Communication from Node-Red to pimatic can be set up with mqqt (Mosquito).

Hi there,

i do it like you say and tested already to send me a messages it works, but if i use script i get a error:

pi@Leetwerkberry:~ $ python telepot_bot.py "test"
test
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “telepot_bot.py”, line 4, in <module>
import telepot
File “/home/pi/telepot.py”, line 8, in <module>
AttributeError: ‘module’ object has no attribute ‘Bot’

my Script (i anonymized my IDs):

#!/usr/bin/python
import sys
import re
import telepot
message=(sys.argv)[1]
print message
#print "argumentlist: ",str(sys.argv)
bot = telepot.Bot(‘MYBOT:ID’)
bot.sendMessage(MYID,str(message))

@tehmilcho did you install telepot?
sudo pip install telepot

Also interesting to know if the script runs from commandline?

@Stokstaart said in Use Telegram for notifications:

@tehmilcho did you install telepot?
sudo pip install telepot

Also interesting to know if the script runs from commandline?

oh i found the Problem from a frist test there wars a “telepot.pyc” in my folder “/home/pi” so he used this … i deleted now and now it works…

@tehmilcho Good to hear you got it working!

@Stokstaart :
Just as a remark: This is about the telegram bot system/api using the python telepot program on your system.
It does not require telegram itself at all on your raspberry pi. Of course you need telegram on your phone, pc or as webclient to inform all subscribed users.

Maybe it is good to mention this in the first topic as that starts with "For my system I use Telegram messenger for notifications."
Actually that is not correct. You use it to receive messages and you use a bot to send messages.