Requesting a bot integration with the Facebook channel

Learn how to integrate an IBM RPA chatbot with Facebook™ channel if you use the IBM RPA SaaS offering. This procedure includes a bot creation on Facebook™, and the request of a chatbot instance.

Before you begin

This topic assumes that you have a chatbot script ready to deploy on the Facebook channel. For more information on how to request a chatbot instance to integrate it with other communication channels, see Integrating the chatbot with channels in IBM RPA SaaS.

Requirements

Table 1. Licenses required to deploy a chatbot script.

License Minimum required
Bot Runtime 1¹

¹ You need at least one Bot Runtime license for each chatbot script. Go to the License page (https://localhost:8099/web/en-US/license) on the machine where IBM RPA was installed to view license data.

Important:Starting from version 23.0.3, the License page (https://localhost:8099/web/en-US/license) isn't available anymore because of the removal of License ID and License password and implementation of installation keys. For details on proxy, region, or status, go to the IBM RPA Client page (https://localhost:8099/web/en-US/ibmrpaclient) instead.

Procedure

Follow the steps to create a Facebook bot and request a chatbot instance:

  1. Create a bot in the Facebook
  2. Open a case with the IBM support
  3. Enable the webhooks

Create a bot in the Facebook

  1. Collect and save the Page ID data. See Copy the Page ID 🡥 for instructions.
  2. Create a Facebook™ app and save the App ID and App Secret data. See Create your app 🡥 for instructions.
  3. Enable the Facebook™ Messenger. See Enable Messenger 🡥 for instructions.
  4. Generate and save the Page Access Token data. See Add pages and generate tokens 🡥 for instructions.

Open a case with the IBM support

  1. Navigate to IBM Support 🡥.
  2. Open a case with support.
  3. Attach the following data on the case:
    • Chatbot name (or bot handle). The chatbot name must be unique, provide at least three options of names.
    • Communication channel name.
    • IBM RPA Control Center tenant name.
    • IBM RPA tenant's region, for example, AP1.
  4. Wait for support to contact you about scheduling a meeting.

The meeting schedule depends on the availability of the support, infrastructure, and you.

At the meeting, you must share the required data generated by Facebook™ channel:

  1. Share the following data on the meeting:
    • Page ID
    • Page Access Token
    • Facebook App ID
    • Facebook App Secret
  2. Wait until the configuration is complete. You receive the Callback URL and Verify token data to complete the Facebook™ settings.

Enable the webhooks

Finishes the bot creation in the Facebook™ channel by enabling the webhooks. For more information, see Enable webhooks 🡥 for instructions.

What to do next

  1. Create a chat mapping for your IBM RPA chatbot script. See Creating a chat mapping for instructions.
  2. Test your bot with the Facebook™ Messenger.