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Using python script, send a message to CISCO spark user when a certain event happens


CISCO spark has exposed few APIs that enable us to send a message to a certain email ID.
Another good part is that, instead of sending the message from a certain user, you can create a Spark Bot and then send a message to the required user from the bot's ID.

If you have a spark account, you can access the tutorials here and have fun.

Creating a bot instructions are available here:

I have tested these APIs and sent messages to myself from the bot's ID using Postman and a simple python script. You can download postman from the following link: https://www.getpostman.com/ and run the apis or run them directly from the interactive Rest API terminal that is present in one of the submenus in the above-mentioned link. You should try various other options as well. 

The Python script to send spark message:

import json
import requests

if __name__=="__main__":
    sparkUrl="https://api.ciscospark.com/v1/messages"
    data = {
        "toPersonEmail": "<username>@<domainname>",
        "text": "Hello World from my-bot python script. "
    }
    headers = {
        "Content-type": "application/json; charset=utf-8",
        "Authorization": "Bearer NDM0MmVjOTItZTM2MS00MmEyLWJiMmEtNDk0MTE1ZjE1NzQzMTE2NDVmZjYtZTdm"
    }
    r = requests.post(sparkUrl, data=json.dumps(data), headers=headers)

    print(r.content)
    print(r.status_code, r.reason)



Put the above block inside a method and call it when a certain event occurs and messages are sent. 
The next step would be on how to add the bot to a spark room and make it respond to messages that are sent mentioning the bot. This will require you run your bot interactive script to run on a server, create webhooks in spark room for the bot, and code responses that you intend to send in the script.

One example would be like sending a message in a room where the bot is added.
Let the bot name be my-new-bot
@my-new-bot /sayhelloworld
The response from the bot would be:
"Hi <username>@<domainname>, Hello World!!"

If possible, will write about the interactive bot implementation in the future. Until then, 
have fun. Happy coding! :) 


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