Post message to a channel using a simple one-line command!

Post message to a channel using a simple one-line command!

Hi Everybody!

This post is all about posting a message in a Channel using cURL, Wget and PowerShell. cURL is a light-weight, command interface used to transfer data to a server. The steps are pretty easy! 

The three most important points here are 
  • Generating an Auth token
  • Get your Channel Unique Name
  • Form your message as a JSON structure
Generating an Auth token

To use the 'Messaging API' you'll need Cliq's authentication token from Zoho Accounts. Generate an auth token by hitting the below-given URL in your browser.

Send message to a channel by using  the Channel Unique Name 

 How to get a Channel's Unique Name?

  • Hover over any channel name from Cliq's left pane. 
  • This'll open the channel's preview. Select the 'More info' icon in the channel preview.
  • Navigate to 'Connectors'
  • You'll find the Channel Unique Name highlighted in the API Endpoint URL of the channel. 

Your message structure in JSON 

A simple message needs to be defined as a key-value pair in JSON. The 'text' will contain the message, which you'd like to post. 

For example :

  1. {
  2. "text": "How to post a simple message to a Cliq channel? "
  3. }

Now, to send this JSON by making a standard POST request 

  1. curl -X POST -H "Content-type: application/json" -H "Authorization:Zoho-authtoken <authtoken>" https://cliq.zoho.com/api/v2/channelsbyname/<channel_unique_name>/message -d '{"text":"How to post a simple message to a Cliq Channel?"}'

Sample POST request using cURL:

If the channel uniquename is 'market-stats' and the authtoken is 'abaijd9ie3n9udnuxc92' then your curl command will be

  1. curl -X POST -H "Content-type: application/json" -H "Authorization:Zoho-authtoken abaijd9ie3n9udnuxc92" https://cliq.zoho.com/api/v2/channelsbyname/market-stats/message -d '{"text":"How to post a simple message to a Cliq Channel?"}'

Similarly using wget :

  1. wget --post-data="{'text':'How to post a simple message to a Cliq Channel?'}" --header="Content-type:application/json" --header="Authorization:Zoho-authtoken abaijd9ie3n9udnuxc92" https://cliq.zoho.com/api/v2/channelsbyname/market-stats/message
And finally using Powershell :
  1. Invoke-RestMethod -Uri https://cliq.zoho.com/api/v2/channelsbyname/market-stats/message -Method Post -Headers @{"Authorization" = "Zoho-authtoken abaijd9ie3n9udnuxc92"} -ContentType 'application/json' -Body '{"text" : "How to post a simple message to a Cliq Channel?'"}'
Go on and try posting a message in a channel! After all, its simple. 

Suggestions and discussions are welcome!

Best,
Manasa
Cliq