Skip to content

Keyboard Bot

In this example, we will create a bot that uses a custom reply keyboard to interact with users. The bot will present buttons for the user to press, and respond with information based on their selection.

Import necessary classes

package io.github.natanimn;

import io.github.natanimn.telebof.BotClient;
import io.github.natanimn.telebof.types.keyboard.ReplyKeyboardMarkup;
import io.github.natanimn.telebof.enums.ParseMode;

package io.github.natanimn;

import io.github.natanimn.telebof.BotClient;
import io.github.natanimn.telebof.BotContext;
import io.github.natanimn.telebof.types.updates.Message;
import io.github.natanimn.telebof.types.keyboard.ReplyKeyboardMarkup;
import io.github.natanimn.telebof.enums.ParseMode;
import io.github.natanimn.telebof.annotations.MesageHandler;

Create KeyboardBot class and initialize BotClient with a token

public class KeyboardBot {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        final String TOKEN = "BOT_TOKEN"; // Replace with your actual bot token
        var bot = new BotClient(TOKEN);

        // Add handlers here

        // Start the bot
        bot.startPolling();
    }
}

Our bot will present a keyboard with three buttons and respond appropriately when they are pressed:

  • ID - Shows the user's Telegram ID
  • Username - Shows the user's username (if available)
  • Language - Shows the user's language code

Add /start handler with reply keyboard

The /start command initializes the conversation and displays the custom keyboard to the user.

bot.onMessage(filter -> filter.commands("start"), (context, message) -> {
    // Create a reply keyboard with resize option for better mobile appearance
    var keyboard = new ReplyKeyboardMarkup().resizeKeyboard(true);

    // Add buttons to the keyboard (in a single row by default)
    keyboard.add("ID", "Username", "Language");

    // Send welcome message with the keyboard attached
    context.sendMessage(message.chat.id, "Welcome! Please choose an option:")
           .replyMarkup(keyboard) // Attach the keyboard to the message
           .exec();
});

@MessageHandler(commands = "start")
void start(BotContext context, Message message){

    // Create a reply keyboard with resize option for better mobile appearance
    var keyboard = new ReplyKeyboardMarkup().resizeKeyboard(true);

    // Add buttons to the keyboard (in a single row by default)
    keyboard.add("ID", "Username", "Language");

    // Send welcome message with the keyboard attached
    context.sendMessage(message.chat.id, "Welcome! Please choose an option:")
            .replyMarkup(keyboard) // Attach the keyboard to the message
            .exec();
}

Explanation:

  • ReplyKeyboardMarkup() creates a custom keyboard.
  • resizeKeyboard(true) makes the buttons compact and small sized.
  • keyboard.add() adds buttons to the keyboard. Multiple buttons in one add() call will appear on the same row.
  • replyMarkup(keyboard) attaches the custom keyboard to the message.

Result without replyMarkup:

Result with replyMarkup but without resizeKeyboard:

Final result with both replyMarkup and resizeKeyboard(true):

Add handler to respond to keyboard button presses

When a user presses any of the custom keyboard buttons, Telegram sends the button text as a regular message. We use the filter.texts() method to capture these specific messages.

bot.onMessage(filter -> filter.texts("ID", "Username", "Language"), (context, message) -> {
    var user = message.from;
    String response;

    switch (message.text) {
        case "ID":
            response = String.format("<b>Your ID is:</b> <code>%d</code>", user.id);
            break;

        case "Username":
            if (user.username == null) {
                response = "<i>You don't have a username set in your Telegram profile.</i>";
            } else {
                response = String.format("<b>Your username is:</b> @%s", user.username);
            }
            break;

        case "Language":
            String language = (user.language_code != null) ? user.language_code : "not specified";
            response = String.format("<b>Your language code is:</b> %s", language);
            break;

        default:
            response = "Unknown option selected.";
    }

    context.sendMessage(message.chat.id, response)
           .parseMode(ParseMode.HTML)
           .exec();
});

Explanation:

  • filter.texts("ID", "Username", "Language") captures messages that exactly match these button texts.
  • We use a switch statement for cleaner control flow when handling multiple button options.
  • The response is formatted using HTML for better presentation (bold text, code formatting for ID).
  • We handle edge cases like missing username or language code gracefully.

@MessageHandler(texts = {"ID", "Username", "Language"})
void text(BotContext context, Message message){
    var user = message.from;
    String response;

    switch (message.text) {
        case "ID":
            response = String.format("<b>Your ID is:</b> <code>%d</code>", user.id);
            break;

        case "Username":
            if (user.username == null) {
                response = "<i>You don't have a username set in your Telegram profile.</i>";
            } else {
                response = String.format("<b>Your username is:</b> @%s", user.username);
            }
            break;

        case "Language":
            String language = (user.language_code != null) ? user.language_code : "not specified";
            response = String.format("<b>Your language code is:</b> %s", language);
            break;

        default:
            response = "Unknown option selected.";
    }

    context.sendMessage(message.chat.id, response)
            .parseMode(ParseMode.HTML)
            .exec();
    }
Explanation:

  • texts = {"ID", "Username", "Language"} captures messages that exactly match these button texts.
  • We use a switch statement for cleaner control flow when handling multiple button options.
  • The response is formatted using HTML for better presentation (bold text, code formatting for ID).
  • We handle edge cases like missing username or language code gracefully.

Finally, add the class ```java bot.addHandler(new KeyboardBot());

Final Complete Code

package io.github.natanimn;

import io.github.natanimn.telebof.BotClient;
import io.github.natanimn.telebof.types.keyboard.ReplyKeyboardMarkup;
import io.github.natanimn.telebof.enums.ParseMode;

public class KeyboardBot {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        final String TOKEN = "BOT_TOKEN"; // Replace with your actual bot token
        var bot = new BotClient(TOKEN);

        // Handle /start command with keyboard
        bot.onMessage(filter -> filter.commands("start"), (context, message) -> {
            var keyboard = new ReplyKeyboardMarkup().resizeKeyboard(true);
            keyboard.add("ID", "Username", "Language");

            context.sendMessage(message.chat.id, "Welcome! Please choose an option:")
                   .replyMarkup(keyboard)
                   .exec();
        });

        // Handle keyboard button presses
        bot.onMessage(filter -> filter.texts("ID", "Username", "Language"), (context, message) -> {
            var user = message.from;
            String response;

            switch (message.text) {
                case "ID":
                    response = String.format("<b>Your ID is:</b> <code>%d</code>", user.id);
                    break;
                case "Username":
                    if (user.username == null) {
                        response = "<i>You don't have a username set.</i>";
                    } else {
                        response = String.format("<b>Your username is:</b> @%s", user.username);
                    }
                    break;
                case "Language":
                    String language = (user.language_code != null) ? user.language_code : "not specified";
                    response = String.format("<b>Your language code is:</b> %s", language);
                    break;
                default:
                    response = "Unknown option.";
            }

            context.sendMessage(message.chat.id, response)
                   .parseMode(ParseMode.HTML)
                   .exec();
        });

        // Start the bot
        bot.startPolling();
    }
}

package io.github.natanimn;

import io.github.natanimn.telebof.BotClient;
import io.github.natanimn.telebof.BotContext;
import io.github.natanimn.telebof.types.updates.Message;
import io.github.natanimn.telebof.types.keyboard.ReplyKeyboardMarkup;
import io.github.natanimn.telebof.enums.ParseMode;
import io.github.natanimn.telebof.annotations.MesageHandler;

public class KeyboardBot {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        final String TOKEN = "BOT_TOKEN"; // Replace with your actual bot token
        var bot = new BotClient(TOKEN);

        // Add the class    
        bot.addHandler(this);

        // Start the bot
        bot.startPolling();
    }

    @MessageHandler(commands = "start")
    void start(BotContext context, Message message){

        // Create a reply keyboard with resize option for better mobile appearance
        var keyboard = new ReplyKeyboardMarkup().resizeKeyboard(true);

        // Add buttons to the keyboard (in a single row by default)
        keyboard.add("ID", "Username", "Language");

        // Send welcome message with the keyboard attached
        context.sendMessage(message.chat.id, "Welcome! Please choose an option:")
                .replyMarkup(keyboard) // Attach the keyboard to the message
                .exec();
    }

    @MessageHandler(texts = {"ID", "Username", "Language"})
    void text(BotContext context, Message message){
        var user = message.from;
        String response;

        switch (message.text) {
            case "ID":
                response = String.format("<b>Your ID is:</b> <code>%d</code>", user.id);
                break;

            case "Username":
                if (user.username == null) {
                    response = "<i>You don't have a username set in your Telegram profile.</i>";
                } else {
                    response = String.format("<b>Your username is:</b> @%s", user.username);
                }
                break;

            case "Language":
                String language = (user.language_code != null) ? user.language_code : "not specified";
                response = String.format("<b>Your language code is:</b> %s", language);
                break;

            default:
                response = "Unknown option selected.";
        }

        context.sendMessage(message.chat.id, response)
                .parseMode(ParseMode.HTML)
                .exec();
    }
}

Summary

This bot demonstrates how to:

  • Create and display a custom reply keyboard with ReplyKeyboardMarkup
  • Use resizeKeyboard(true) for better appearance
  • Handle button presses by filtering specific message texts
  • Respond with user information in formatted HTML messages
  • Gracefully handle edge cases like missing user data

The full source code can be found on examples/keyboard_bot

Final result showing the interaction flow: