How to properly format attachment data for Slack chat.postMessage












1















I am trying to incorporate a slack notification using a Slack bot app API into my C# application. The code below is working fine but the format used for the attachments field makes it very difficult to edit and maintain... There must be an easier way to populate that json array?



I've tried multiple ways to write it but I can't get it to work properly other than with this unwieldy syntax.



var data = new NameValueCollection
{
["token"] = "token", // Removed my actual token from here obviously
["channel"] = "channel", // Same with the channel
["as_user"] = "true",
["text"] = "test message 2",
["attachments"] = "[{"fallback":"dummy", "text":"this is an attachment", "color":"#F35A00", "title" : "Title", "title_link": "http://www.google.com"}]"
};

var client = new WebClient();
var response = client.UploadValues("https://slack.com/api/chat.postMessage", "POST", data);









share|improve this question





























    1















    I am trying to incorporate a slack notification using a Slack bot app API into my C# application. The code below is working fine but the format used for the attachments field makes it very difficult to edit and maintain... There must be an easier way to populate that json array?



    I've tried multiple ways to write it but I can't get it to work properly other than with this unwieldy syntax.



    var data = new NameValueCollection
    {
    ["token"] = "token", // Removed my actual token from here obviously
    ["channel"] = "channel", // Same with the channel
    ["as_user"] = "true",
    ["text"] = "test message 2",
    ["attachments"] = "[{"fallback":"dummy", "text":"this is an attachment", "color":"#F35A00", "title" : "Title", "title_link": "http://www.google.com"}]"
    };

    var client = new WebClient();
    var response = client.UploadValues("https://slack.com/api/chat.postMessage", "POST", data);









    share|improve this question



























      1












      1








      1








      I am trying to incorporate a slack notification using a Slack bot app API into my C# application. The code below is working fine but the format used for the attachments field makes it very difficult to edit and maintain... There must be an easier way to populate that json array?



      I've tried multiple ways to write it but I can't get it to work properly other than with this unwieldy syntax.



      var data = new NameValueCollection
      {
      ["token"] = "token", // Removed my actual token from here obviously
      ["channel"] = "channel", // Same with the channel
      ["as_user"] = "true",
      ["text"] = "test message 2",
      ["attachments"] = "[{"fallback":"dummy", "text":"this is an attachment", "color":"#F35A00", "title" : "Title", "title_link": "http://www.google.com"}]"
      };

      var client = new WebClient();
      var response = client.UploadValues("https://slack.com/api/chat.postMessage", "POST", data);









      share|improve this question
















      I am trying to incorporate a slack notification using a Slack bot app API into my C# application. The code below is working fine but the format used for the attachments field makes it very difficult to edit and maintain... There must be an easier way to populate that json array?



      I've tried multiple ways to write it but I can't get it to work properly other than with this unwieldy syntax.



      var data = new NameValueCollection
      {
      ["token"] = "token", // Removed my actual token from here obviously
      ["channel"] = "channel", // Same with the channel
      ["as_user"] = "true",
      ["text"] = "test message 2",
      ["attachments"] = "[{"fallback":"dummy", "text":"this is an attachment", "color":"#F35A00", "title" : "Title", "title_link": "http://www.google.com"}]"
      };

      var client = new WebClient();
      var response = client.UploadValues("https://slack.com/api/chat.postMessage", "POST", data);






      c# slack slack-api






      share|improve this question















      share|improve this question













      share|improve this question




      share|improve this question








      edited Nov 15 '18 at 21:56









      Gibolt

      5,84425344




      5,84425344










      asked Nov 15 '18 at 21:48









      MegasoumMegasoum

      82




      82
























          1 Answer
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          0














          The "unwieldy" syntax is hand-crafted JSON and a much better approach would be to construct the attachments as C# objects and then convert them into JSON as the API requires.



          My example is using the external library Json.NET for the JSON conversion.



          Example for C# object:



          // a slack message attachment
          public class SlackAttachment
          {
          public string fallback { get; set; }
          public string text { get; set; }
          public string image_url { get; set; }
          public string color { get; set; }
          }


          Example for creating a new attachments array:



          var attachments = new SlackAttachment 
          {
          new SlackAttachment
          {
          fallback = "this did not work",
          text = "This is attachment 1",
          color = "good"
          },

          new SlackAttachment
          {
          fallback = "this did not work",
          text = "This is attachment 2",
          color = "danger"
          }
          };


          Finally, converting the attachments array to JSON for the API:



          var attachmentsJson = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(attachments);


          See also this answer for a complete example.






          share|improve this answer





















          • 1





            That did it! Thanks for the help

            – Megasoum
            Nov 15 '18 at 22:56











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          0














          The "unwieldy" syntax is hand-crafted JSON and a much better approach would be to construct the attachments as C# objects and then convert them into JSON as the API requires.



          My example is using the external library Json.NET for the JSON conversion.



          Example for C# object:



          // a slack message attachment
          public class SlackAttachment
          {
          public string fallback { get; set; }
          public string text { get; set; }
          public string image_url { get; set; }
          public string color { get; set; }
          }


          Example for creating a new attachments array:



          var attachments = new SlackAttachment 
          {
          new SlackAttachment
          {
          fallback = "this did not work",
          text = "This is attachment 1",
          color = "good"
          },

          new SlackAttachment
          {
          fallback = "this did not work",
          text = "This is attachment 2",
          color = "danger"
          }
          };


          Finally, converting the attachments array to JSON for the API:



          var attachmentsJson = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(attachments);


          See also this answer for a complete example.






          share|improve this answer





















          • 1





            That did it! Thanks for the help

            – Megasoum
            Nov 15 '18 at 22:56
















          0














          The "unwieldy" syntax is hand-crafted JSON and a much better approach would be to construct the attachments as C# objects and then convert them into JSON as the API requires.



          My example is using the external library Json.NET for the JSON conversion.



          Example for C# object:



          // a slack message attachment
          public class SlackAttachment
          {
          public string fallback { get; set; }
          public string text { get; set; }
          public string image_url { get; set; }
          public string color { get; set; }
          }


          Example for creating a new attachments array:



          var attachments = new SlackAttachment 
          {
          new SlackAttachment
          {
          fallback = "this did not work",
          text = "This is attachment 1",
          color = "good"
          },

          new SlackAttachment
          {
          fallback = "this did not work",
          text = "This is attachment 2",
          color = "danger"
          }
          };


          Finally, converting the attachments array to JSON for the API:



          var attachmentsJson = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(attachments);


          See also this answer for a complete example.






          share|improve this answer





















          • 1





            That did it! Thanks for the help

            – Megasoum
            Nov 15 '18 at 22:56














          0












          0








          0







          The "unwieldy" syntax is hand-crafted JSON and a much better approach would be to construct the attachments as C# objects and then convert them into JSON as the API requires.



          My example is using the external library Json.NET for the JSON conversion.



          Example for C# object:



          // a slack message attachment
          public class SlackAttachment
          {
          public string fallback { get; set; }
          public string text { get; set; }
          public string image_url { get; set; }
          public string color { get; set; }
          }


          Example for creating a new attachments array:



          var attachments = new SlackAttachment 
          {
          new SlackAttachment
          {
          fallback = "this did not work",
          text = "This is attachment 1",
          color = "good"
          },

          new SlackAttachment
          {
          fallback = "this did not work",
          text = "This is attachment 2",
          color = "danger"
          }
          };


          Finally, converting the attachments array to JSON for the API:



          var attachmentsJson = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(attachments);


          See also this answer for a complete example.






          share|improve this answer















          The "unwieldy" syntax is hand-crafted JSON and a much better approach would be to construct the attachments as C# objects and then convert them into JSON as the API requires.



          My example is using the external library Json.NET for the JSON conversion.



          Example for C# object:



          // a slack message attachment
          public class SlackAttachment
          {
          public string fallback { get; set; }
          public string text { get; set; }
          public string image_url { get; set; }
          public string color { get; set; }
          }


          Example for creating a new attachments array:



          var attachments = new SlackAttachment 
          {
          new SlackAttachment
          {
          fallback = "this did not work",
          text = "This is attachment 1",
          color = "good"
          },

          new SlackAttachment
          {
          fallback = "this did not work",
          text = "This is attachment 2",
          color = "danger"
          }
          };


          Finally, converting the attachments array to JSON for the API:



          var attachmentsJson = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(attachments);


          See also this answer for a complete example.







          share|improve this answer














          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer








          edited Nov 15 '18 at 22:32

























          answered Nov 15 '18 at 22:25









          Erik KalkokenErik Kalkoken

          13.3k32552




          13.3k32552








          • 1





            That did it! Thanks for the help

            – Megasoum
            Nov 15 '18 at 22:56














          • 1





            That did it! Thanks for the help

            – Megasoum
            Nov 15 '18 at 22:56








          1




          1





          That did it! Thanks for the help

          – Megasoum
          Nov 15 '18 at 22:56





          That did it! Thanks for the help

          – Megasoum
          Nov 15 '18 at 22:56




















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