Viber

Viber is a messenger app that allows you to send and receive messages, calls, and video calls.

To use Viber as an inbound channel, you need to:

1. Create a script.
2. Set up the Viber service.
3. Publish your bot to the Viber channel.
4. Test the bot.

Create a script

tip

Learn more on how to create a bot and write a script

Dialog start

In Viber, only clients can begin the conversation with the bot. To make the dialog start on any first client phrase, add a global $TEXT intent.

1. Click Add screen → Create your own intent.
2. Add $TEXT as an example phrase.
3. Activate Make the block available from any script point.
4. Connect this intent with the welcome screen in your script.

tip

Do not connect the Other intents option with any other blocks.

From now on, the bot will start the dialog as soon as the client writes the first message.

Handling unpredictable client messages

To make the bot able to respond to client messages that are not intended in the script, add another intent and enter $TEXT.

Connect the Other intents option with a block that will contain a response in case the client writes something unpredictable.

caution

This time, do not activate Make the block available from any script point.
In this case, the global $TEXT intent configured to start the dialog won’t catch phrases from other screens and won’t transfer the dialog to the welcome screen.

Set up the Viber service

First, you have to prepare your Viber account:

1. Using your Viber credentials, log in to Viber Admin Panel.
   • You’ll get a confirmation code right in the Viber app.
2. In the Viber Admin Panel, click Create Bot Account.
3. Load Account Image, the image that will be used in the bot profile and in the Dialogs section.
4. Fill in the required fields.
5. You can also fill in the fields that are not required.
6. Accept the user agreement.
7. Click Create.
8. Receive and copy the token.
   • It’s a letter-number combination that looks like this: 4a9a532197a7d267-1e8e559263524c09-d229ab2cb137d16b.
   • You’ll need it to send and receive messages via the Viber server.

Publish the script

In your chatbot Channels settings, pick Viber from the list.

Fill in the fields:

• Channel name — you can change it or use the default one.
• Token — the token you copied earlier.
• Sender name — the name displayed as the bot’s name.
• Welcome message in the chat window — enable the toggle and write the greeting message that will show up right after the client opens the chat. The session will start after the client has sent their first message.

Click Connect.

Test your bot

Now test the bot by writing to it in Viber.

Connect Viber via Bitrix24

You can also publish your bot to Viber via Bitrix24.

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Learn more about connecting Viber to Bitrix24