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I have been trying to set up a Telegram Bot that sends me reminder message at specific time, but it seems that the time-based trigger is not working: the reminder messages are all send to me immediately upon I send the first message to the bot.

I expected sending a message to the bot to be the external trigger that results in building the time-based triggers, and that I would get the reminders after the specified time.

What in my code has lead to my faulty assumption? 

var delay_ms = [1000, 80000000, 170000000];
var message_list = ["text_correct_1", "text_correct_2", "text_correct_3"]; 
var initial_state = 0;

function doPost(e) {
  var estringa = JSON.parse(e.postData.contents);
  if (initial_state == 0) {
    createTimeDrivenTriggers();
    initial_state = 1;
  }
}
 
function createTimeDrivenTriggers() {
  for (var i = 0; i < delay_ms.length; i++){ 
    ScriptApp.newTrigger(delay_reply(i))
      .timeBased()
      .after(delay_ms[i]) 
      .create();
  }
}

function delay_reply(i) {
  var notification = {
    "method": "sendMessage",
    "chat_id": CHATID,
    "text": message_list[i],
  }
  var data = {
    "method": "post",
    "payload": notification
  }
  UrlFetchApp.fetch("https://api.telegram.org/botKEY/", data);
}

----UPDATE------ Main issues now fixed.

//Reference: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/51723459/google-scripts-trigger-and-function-in-different-sheets as suggested by tehhowch

var delay_ms = [100000,200000];//temporal sepeartion need to be large since time trigger in Google App Script is not precise
var message_list = ["text_correct_1", "text_correct_2"]; 

PropertiesService.getScriptProperties().setProperty("initial_state_prop", 0);

function doPost(e) {
  var initial_state= PropertiesService.getScriptProperties().getProperty("initial_state_prop");
  var initial_state_int=parseInt(initial_state);
  if (initial_state_int == 0) {
    createTimeDrivenTriggers();
    PropertiesService.getScriptProperties().setProperty("initial_state_prop", 1);
  }
}
 
function createTimeDrivenTriggers() {
  for (var i = delay_ms.length-1; i >=0; i++){ //reverse loop in order to get the current trigger right
    var TriggerID= ScriptApp.newTrigger("reply") //call string of function
      .timeBased()
      .after(delay_ms[i]) 
      .create()
      .getUniqueId();
    PropertiesService.getScriptProperties().setProperty(TriggerID, delay_ms.length-i-1);//
  }
}

function reply(){
  var e = arguments[0];//call current event
  var temp = PropertiesService.getScriptProperties().getProperty(e.triggerUid);
  var temp_int = parseInt(temp); //change string to int
  var notification = {
    "method": "sendMessage",
    "chat_id": CHATID,
    "text": message_list[temp_int],
  }
  var data = {
    "method": "post",
    "payload": notification
  }
  UrlFetchApp.fetch("https://api.telegram.org/botKEY/", data);
}
felix
  • 1
  • 1
  • You assumed that there is state in Google Apps Script. All globals -- such as your statement `var initial_state = 0;` -- are initialized each time the `doPost` trigger fires. – tehhowch Aug 14 '18 at 02:05
  • See the comments and the OP's solution [here](https://stackoverflow.com/q/51723459/9337071) for what you need to do. You get your current behavior because [`newTrigger`](https://developers.google.com/apps-script/reference/script/script-app#newTrigger(String)) expects a **`String`** that indicates the function name to be executed, but you pass it the return value of calling your `delay_reply` function (which is `undefined`) – tehhowch Aug 14 '18 at 02:18
  • Thx @tehhowch. I guess I mess up with 2 things: global state and datatype. Thank you again for your helpful input :) – felix Aug 14 '18 at 05:00
  • post your solution as a [good answer](https://stackoverflow.com/help/how-to-answer), so people know the issue is solved – tehhowch Aug 14 '18 at 12:15
  • @felix I know it's a while since you raised and resolved this issue, but I want to second tehhowch's suggestion to post your solution as an answer. In addition to getting the satisfaction of creating a [good answer](https://stackoverflow.com/help/how-to-answer), it's also part of the paying forward so that future users can benefit from your experience. – Tedinoz Jan 09 '19 at 00:46

0 Answers0