Generates a new Alice handler.

This is the easiest way to set up a new Alice handler.

Install alice.new

mix archive.install hex alice_new

Build a Handler

First, navigate the command-line to the directory where you want to create your new Alice handler. Then run the following commands: (change my_handler to the name of your handler)

mix alice.new.handler my_handler
cd alice_my_handler
mix deps.get

Writing Route Handlers

In lib/alice/handlers/my_handler.ex:

defmodule Alice.Handlers.MyHandler do
  use Alice.Router

  command ~r/repeat after me: (?<term>.+)/i, :repeat
  route ~r/repeat after me: (?<term>.+)/i, :repeat

  @doc "`repeat after me: thing` - replies you said, 'thing'"
  def repeat(conn) do
    term = Alice.Conn.last_capture(conn)
    response_text = "you said, '#{term}'"

    reply(conn, response_text)
  end
end

Testing Handlers

Alice provides several helpers to make it easy to test your handlers. First you'll need to invoke to add use Alice.HandlerCase, handlers: [YourHandler] passing it the handler you're trying to test. Then you can use message_received() within your test, which will simulate a message coming in from the chat backend and route it through to the handlers appropriately. If you're wanting to invoke a command, you'll need to make sure your message includes <@alice> within the string. From there you can use either first_reply() to get the first reply sent out or all_replies() which will return a List of replies that have been received during your test. You can use either to use normal assertions on to ensure your handler behaves in the manner you expect.

In test/alice/handlers/my_handler_test.exs:

defmodule Alice.Handlers.MyHandlerTest do
  use Alice.HandlerCase, handlers: Alice.Handlers.MyHandler

  test "the repeat command repeats a term" do
    send_message("<@alice> repeat after me: this is a boring handler")
    assert first_reply() == "you said, 'this is a boring handler'"
  end

  test "the repeat route repeats a term" do
    send_message("repeat after me: this is a boring handler")
    assert first_reply() == "you said, 'this is a boring handler'"
  end
end

Registering Handlers

In the mix.exs file of your bot, add your handler to the list of handlers to register on start

def application do
  [ applications: [:alice],
    mod: {Alice, [Alice.Handlers.MyHandler] } ]
end