# Webhook walkthrough

Below explains each part of a simple webhook integration, called **Hello
World**. This webhook sends a "hello" message to the `test` stream and includes
a link to the Wikipedia article of the day, which it formats from json data it
receives in the http request.

Use this walkthrough to learn how to write your first webhook
integration.

## Step 0: Create fixtures

The first step in creating a webhook is to examine the data that the
service you want to integrate will be sending to Zulip.

You can use <http://requestb.in> or a similar tool to capture
webhook payload(s) from the service you are integrating. Examining this
data allows you to do two things:

1. Determine how you will need to structure your webhook code, including what
   message types your integration should support and how; and,
2. Create fixtures for your webhook tests.

A test fixture is a small file containing test data, one for each test.
Fixtures enable the testing of webhook integration code without the need to
actually contact the service being integrated.

Because `Hello World` is a very simple webhook that does one thing, it requires
only one fixture, `zerver/webhooks/helloworld/fixtures/hello.json`:

```
{
  "featured_title":"Marilyn Monroe",
  "featured_url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Monroe",
}
```

When writing your own webhook integration, you'll want to write a test function
for each distinct message condition your webhook supports. You'll also need a
corresponding fixture for each of these tests. Depending on the type of data
the 3rd party service sends, your fixture may contain JSON, URL encoded text, or
some other kind of data. See [Step 4: Create tests](#step-4-create-tests) or
[Testing](testing.html) for further details.

## Step 1: Initialize your webhook python package

In the `zerver/webhooks/` directory, create new subdirectory that will
contain all of corresponding code.  In our example it will be
`helloworld`. The new directory will be a python package, so you have
to create an empty `__init__.py` file in that directory via e.g. `touch
zerver/webhooks/helloworld/__init__.py`.

## Step 2: Create main webhook code

The majority of the code for your webhook integration will be in a single
python file, `zerver/webhooks/mywebhook/view.py`.

The Hello World integration is in `zerver/webhooks/helloworld/view.py`:

```
from django.utils.translation import ugettext as _
from zerver.lib.actions import check_send_stream_message
from zerver.lib.response import json_success, json_error
from zerver.decorator import REQ, has_request_variables, api_key_only_webhook_view
from zerver.lib.validator import check_dict, check_string

from zerver.models import Client, UserProfile

from django.http import HttpRequest, HttpResponse
from typing import Dict, Any, Iterable, Optional, Text

@api_key_only_webhook_view('HelloWorld')
@has_request_variables
def api_helloworld_webhook(request, user_profile,
                           payload=REQ(argument_type='body'),
                           stream=REQ(default='test'),
                           topic=REQ(default='Hello World')):
    # type: (HttpRequest, UserProfile, Dict[str, Iterable[Dict[str, Any]]], Text, Optional[Text]) -> HttpResponse

    # construct the body of the message
    body = 'Hello! I am happy to be here! :smile:'

    # try to add the Wikipedia article of the day
    body_template = '\nThe Wikipedia featured article for today is **[{featured_title}]({featured_url})**'
    body += body_template.format(**payload)

    # send the message
    check_send_stream_message(user_profile, request.client,
                              stream, topic, body)

    # return json result
    return json_success()
```

The above code imports the required functions and defines the main webhook
function `api_helloworld_webhook`, decorating it with `api_key_only_webhook_view` and
`has_request_variables`. The `has_request_variables` decorator allows you to
access request variables with `REQ()`. You can find more about `REQ` and request
variables in [Writing views](writing-views.html#request-variables).

You must pass the name of your webhook to the `api_key_only_webhook_view`
decorator so your webhook can access the `user_profile` and `request.client`
(Zulip's analogue of UserAgent) fields from the request. Here we have used
`HelloWorld`. To be consistent with Zulip code style, use the name of the
product you are integrating in camel case, spelled as the product spells
its own name (except always first letter upper-case).

The `api_key_only_webhook_view` decorator indicates that the 3rd party service will
send the authorization as an API key in the query parameters. If your service uses
HTTP Basic authentication, you would instead use the `authenticated_rest_api_view`
decorator.

You should name your webhook function as such `api_webhookname_webhook` where
`webhookname` is the name of your webhook and is always lower-case.

At minimum, the webhook function must accept `request` (Django
[HttpRequest](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.8/ref/request-response/#django.http.HttpRequest)
object), and `user_profile` (Zulip's user object). You may also want to
define additional parameters using the `REQ` object.

In the example above, we have defined `payload` which is populated
from the body of the http request, `stream` with a default of `test`
(available by default in the Zulip development environment), and
`topic` with a default of `Hello World`. If your webhook uses a custom stream,
it must exist before a message can be created in it. (See
[Step 4: Create tests](#step-4-create-tests) for how to handle this in tests.)

The line that begins `# type` is a mypy type annotation. See [this
page](mypy.html) for details about how to properly annotate your webhook
functions.

In the body of the function we define the body of the message as `Hello! I am
happy to be here! :smile:`. The `:smile:` indicates an emoji. Then we append a
link to the Wikipedia article of the day as provided by the json payload.

* Sometimes, it might occur that a json payload does not contain all required keys your
  integration checks for. In such a case, any `KeyError` thrown is handled by the server
  backend and will create an appropriate response.

Then we send a public (stream) message with `check_send_stream_message` which will
validate the message and then send it.

Finally, we return a 200 http status with a JSON format success message via
`json_success()`.

## Step 3: Create an api endpoint for the webhook

In order for a webhook to be externally available, it must be mapped to a url.
This is done in `zerver/lib/integrations.py`.

Look for the lines beginning with:

```
WEBHOOK_INTEGRATIONS = [
```

And you'll find the entry for Hello World:

```
  WebhookIntegration('helloworld', ['misc'], display_name='Hello World'),
```

This tells the Zulip api to call the `api_helloworld_webhook` function in
`zerver/webhooks/helloworld/view.py` when it receives a request at
`/api/v1/external/helloworld`.

This line also tells Zulip to generate an entry for Hello World on the Zulip
integrations page using `static/images/integrations/logos/helloworld.png` as its
icon. The second positional argument defines a list of categories for the
integration.

At this point, if you're following along and/or writing your own Hello World
webhook, you have written enough code to test your integration.

First, get an API key from the Your bots section of your Zulip user's Settings
page. If you haven't created a bot already, you can do that there. Then copy
its API key and replace the placeholder "<api_key>" in the examples with
your real key. This is how Zulip knows the request is from an authorized user.

Now you can test using Zulip itself, or curl on the command line.

Using `manage.py` from within the Zulip development environment:

```
(zulip-venv)vagrant@vagrant-ubuntu-trusty-64:/srv/zulip$
./manage.py send_webhook_fixture_message \
> --fixture=zerver/webhooks/helloworld/fixtures/hello.json \
> '--url=http://localhost:9991/api/v1/external/helloworld?api_key=<api_key>'
```
After which you should see something similar to:

```
2016-07-07 15:06:59,187 INFO     127.0.0.1       POST    200 143ms (mem: 6ms/13) (md: 43ms/1) (db: 20ms/9q) (+start: 147ms) /api/v1/external/helloworld (helloworld-bot@zulip.com via ZulipHelloWorldWebhook)
```

Using curl:

```
curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{ "featured_title":"Marilyn Monroe", "featured_url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Monroe" }' http://localhost:9991/api/v1/external/helloworld\?api_key\=<api_key>
```

After which you should see:
```
{"msg":"","result":"success"}
```

Using either method will create a message in Zulip:

![Image of Hello World webhook message](images/helloworld-webhook.png)

## Step 4: Create tests

Every webhook integration should have a corresponding test file:
`zerver/webhooks/mywebhook/tests.py`.

The Hello World integration's tests are in `zerver/webhooks/helloworld/tests.py`

You should name the class `<WebhookName>HookTests` and have it inherit from
the base class `WebhookTestCase`. For our HelloWorld webhook, we name the test
class `HelloWorldHookTests`:

```
class HelloWorldHookTests(WebhookTestCase):
    STREAM_NAME = 'test'
    URL_TEMPLATE = "/api/v1/external/helloworld?&api_key={api_key}"
    FIXTURE_DIR_NAME = 'helloworld'

    # Note: Include a test function per each distinct message condition your integration supports
    def test_hello_message(self):
        # type: () -> None
        expected_subject = u"Hello World";
        expected_message = u"Hello! I am happy to be here! :smile: \nThe Wikipedia featured article for today is **[Marilyn Monroe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Monroe)**";

        # use fixture named helloworld_hello
        self.send_and_test_stream_message('hello', expected_subject, expected_message,
                                          content_type="application/x-www-form-urlencoded")

    def get_body(self, fixture_name):
        # type: (Text) -> Text
        return self.fixture_data("helloworld", fixture_name, file_type="json")

```

In the above example, `STREAM_NAME`, `URL_TEMPLATE`, and `FIXTURE_DIR_NAME` refer
to class attributes from the base class, `WebhookTestCase`. These are needed by
the helper function `send_and_test_stream_message` to determine how to execute
your test. `STREAM_NAME` should be set to your default stream. If it doesn't exist,
`send_and_test_stream_message` will create it while executing your test.

If your test expects a stream name from a test fixture, the value in the fixture
and the value you set for `STREAM_NAME` must match. The test helpers use `STREAM_NAME`
to create the destination stream, and then create the message to send using the
value from the fixture. If these don't match, the test will fail.

`URL_TEMPLATE` defines how the test runner will call your webhook, in the same way
 you would provide a webhook URL to the 3rd party service. `api_key={api_key}` says
that an API key is expected.

In `get_body`, the first argument in the call to `self.fixture_data` specifies the
prefix of your fixture file names, and `file_type` their type. Common types are
`json` and `txt`.

When writing tests for your webhook, you'll want to include one test function
(and corresponding fixture) per each distinct message condition that your
integration supports.

If, for example, we added support for sending a goodbye message to our `Hello
World` webhook, we would add another test function to `HelloWorldHookTests`
class called something like `test_goodbye_message`:

```
    def test_goodbye_message(self):
        # type: () -> None
        expected_subject = u"Hello World";
        expected_message = u"Hello! I am happy to be here! :smile:\nThe Wikipedia featured article for today is **[Goodbye](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodbye)**";

        # use fixture named helloworld_goodbye
        self.send_and_test_stream_message('goodbye', expected_subject, expected_message,
                                          content_type="application/x-www-form-urlencoded")
```

As well as a new fixture `goodbye.json` in
`zerver/webhooks/helloworld/fixtures/`:

```
{
  "featured_title":"Goodbye",
  "featured_url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodbye",
}
```

Also consider if your integration should have negative tests, a test where the
data from the test fixture should result in an error. For details see
[Negative tests](#negative-tests), below.

Once you have written some tests, you can run just these new tests from within
the Zulip development environment with this command:

```
(zulip-venv)vagrant@vagrant-ubuntu-trusty-64:/srv/zulip$
./tools/test-backend zerver/webhooks/helloworld
```

(Note: You must run the tests from the top level of your development directory.
The standard location in a Vagrant environment is `/srv/zulip`. If you are not
using Vagrant, use the directory where you have your development environment.)

You will see some script output and if all the tests have passed, you will see:

```
Running zerver.webhooks.helloworld.tests.HelloWorldHookTests.test_goodbye_message
Running zerver.webhooks.helloworld.tests.HelloWorldHookTests.test_hello_message
DONE!
```

## Step 5: Create documentation

Next, we add end-user documentation for our webhook integration.  You
can see the existing examples at <https://zulipchat.com/integrations>
or by accessing `/integrations` in your Zulip development environment.

There are two parts to the end-user documentation on this page.

The first is the lozenge in the grid of integrations, showing your
integration logo and name, which links to the full documentation.
This is generated automatically once you've registered the integration
in `WEBHOOK_INTEGRATIONS` in `zerver/lib/integrations.py`, and supports
some customization via options to the `WebhookIntegration` class.

Second, you need to write the actual documentation content in
`zerver/webhooks/mywebhook/doc.md`.

```
Learn how Zulip integrations work with this simple Hello World example!

The Hello World webhook will use the `test` stream, which is
created by default in the Zulip dev environment. If you are running
Zulip in production, you should make sure that this stream exists.

Next, on your {{ settings_html|safe }}, create a Hello World bot.
Construct the URL for the Hello World bot using the API key and
stream name:

`{{ external_api_uri_subdomain }}/v1/external/helloworld?api_key=abcdefgh&stream=test`


To trigger a notification using this webhook, use
`send_webhook_fixture_message` from the Zulip command line:

    (zulip-venv)vagrant@vagrant-ubuntu-trusty-64:/srv/zulip$
    ./manage.py send_webhook_fixture_message \
    > --fixture=zerver/fixtures/helloworld/hello.json \
    > '--url=http://localhost:9991/api/v1/external/helloworld?api_key=&lt;api_key&gt;'

Or, use curl:

    curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{ "featured_title":"Marilyn Monroe", "featured_url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Monroe" }' http://localhost:9991/api/v1/external/helloworld\?api_key\=&lt;api_key&gt;

{!congrats.md!}

![](/static/images/integrations/helloworld/001.png)

```

`{!congrats.md!}` is an example of a Markdown macro. Zulip has a macro-based
Markdown/Jinja2 framework that includes macros for common instructions in
Zulip's webhooks/integrations documentation.

See [Documenting your integration](integration-guide.html#documenting-your-integration)
for further details, including how to easily create the message screenshot.

## Step 5: Preparing a pull request to zulip/zulip

When you have finished your webhook integration and are ready for it to be
available in the Zulip product, follow these steps to prepare your pull
request:

1. Run tests including linters and ensure you have addressed any issues they
   report. See [Testing](testing.html) and [Linters](linters.html) for details.
2. Read through [Code styles and conventions](code-style.html) and take a look
   through your code to double-check that you've followed Zulip's guidelines.
3. Take a look at your git history to ensure your commits have been clear and
   logical (see [Version Control](version-control.html) for tips). If not,
   consider revising them with `git rebase --interactive`. For most webhooks,
   you'll want to squash your changes into a single commit and include a good,
   clear commit message.
4. Push code to your fork.
5. Submit a pull request to zulip/zulip.

If you would like feedback on your integration as you go, feel free to post a
message on the [public Zulip instance](https://chat.zulip.org/#narrow/stream/bots).
You can also create a [`[WIP]` pull request](readme-symlink.html#ways-to-contribute)
while you are still working on your integration. See the
[Git guide](git-guide.html#create-a-pull-request) for more on Zulip's pull
request process.

## Advanced topics

More complex implementation or testing needs may require additional code, beyond
what the standard helper functions provide. This section discusses some of
these situations.

### Negative tests

A negative test is one that should result in an error, such as incorrect data.
The helper functions may interpret this as a test failure, when it should instead
be a successful test of an error condition. To correctly test these cases, you
must explicitly code your test's execution (using other helpers, as needed)
rather than call the usual helper function.

Here is an example from the WordPress webhook:

```
def test_unknown_action_no_data(self):
    # type: () -> None

    # Mimic send_and_test_stream_message() to manually execute a negative test.
    # Otherwise its call to send_json_payload() would assert on the non-success
    # we are testing. The value of result is the error message the webhook should
    # return if no params are sent. The fixture for this test is an empty file.

    # subscribe to the target stream
    self.subscribe(self.test_user, self.STREAM_NAME)

    # post to the webhook url
    post_params = {'stream_name': self.STREAM_NAME,
                   'content_type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'}
    result = self.client_post(self.url, 'unknown_action', **post_params)

    # check that we got the expected error message
    self.assert_json_error(result, "Unknown WordPress webhook action: WordPress Action")
```

In a normal test, `send_and_test_stream_message` would handle all the setup
and then check that the webhook's response matches the expected result. If
the webhook returns an error, the test fails. Instead, explicitly do the
setup it would have done, and check the result yourself.

Here, `subscribe_to_stream` is a test helper that uses `TEST_USER_EMAIL` and
`STREAM_NAME` (attributes from the base class) to register the user to receive
messages in the given stream. If the stream doesn't exist, it creates it.

`client_post`, another helper, performs the HTTP POST that calls the webhook.
As long as `self.url` is correct, you don't need to construct the webhook
URL yourself. (In most cases, it is.)

`assert_json_error` then checks if the result matches the expected error.
If you had used `send_and_test_stream_message`, it would have called
`send_json_payload`, which checks the result with `assert_json_success`.

### Custom query parameters

Custom arguments passed in URL query parameters work as expected in the webhook
code, but require special handling in tests.

For example, here is the definition of a webhook function that gets both `stream`
and `topic` from the query parameters:

```
def api_querytest_webhook(request, user_profile, client,
                          payload=REQ(argument_type='body'), stream=REQ(default='test'),
                          topic=REQ(default='Default Alert')):
```

In actual use, you might configure the 3rd party service to call your Zulip
integration with a URL like this:

```
http://myhost/api/v1/external/querytest?api_key=abcdefgh&stream=alerts&topic=queries
```

It provides values for `stream` and `topic`, and the webhook can get those
using `REQ` without any special handling. How does this work in a test?

The new attribute `TOPIC` exists only in our class so far. In order to
construct a URL with a query parameter for `topic`, you can pass the
attribute `TOPIC` as a keyword argument to `build_webhook_url`, like so:

```
class QuerytestHookTests(WebhookTestCase):

    STREAM_NAME = 'querytest'
    TOPIC = "Default Topic"
    URL_TEMPLATE = "/api/v1/external/querytest?api_key={api_key}&stream={stream}"
    FIXTURE_DIR_NAME = 'querytest'

    def test_querytest_test_one(self):
        # type: () -> None

        # construct the URL used for this test
        self.TOPIC = u"Query Test"
        self.url = self.build_webhook_url(topic=self.TOPIC)

        # define the expected message contents
        expected_subject = u"Query Test"
        expected_message = u"This is a test of custom query parameters."

        self.send_and_test_stream_message('test_one', expected_subject, expected_message,
                                          content_type="application/x-www-form-urlencoded")

    def get_body(self, fixture_name):
        # type: (Text) -> Text
        return self.fixture_data("querytest", fixture_name, file_type="json")
```

You can also override `get_body` if your test data needs to be constructed in
an unusual way. For more, see the definition for the base class, `WebhookTestCase`
in `zerver/lib/test_classes.py.`