Locking Telegram Custom Keyboard Buttons for Multiple Inputs - telegram

Question

I am trying to lock the keys in the custom keyboard so the user can tap multiple buttons in the custom keyboard before sending the message. The default is you tap a custom keyboard button and message is sent, like with trivia bot. Any ideas on how to do this or if it is even possible?

Answer 1

If I understood right, what you want to do is multiselect (checkbox); there is no such function in telegram, but you can implement it a bit differently.
First, you send message with inline buttons and empty checkboxes with some text:
switch ($callback_query){
case 'choose':
$inline_keyboard = [
[
['text'=>'☐ 1', 'callback_data'=>"n1"],
['text'=>'☐ 2', 'callback_data'=>"n2"],
['text'=>'☐ 3', 'callback_data'=>"n3"]
],
[
['text'=>'☐ 4', 'callback_data'=>"n4"],
['text'=>'☐ 5', 'callback_data'=>"n5"]
],
[
['text'=>'Next', 'callback_data'=>"$someData"]
]
];
$keyboard=["inline_keyboard"=>$inline_keyboard];
$replyMarkup = json_encode($keyboard);
sendMessage($chat_id_callback, "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.", $replyMarkup);
break;
// When user is clicking on the buttons You process it with another case with all possible buttons in it and using telegram api to editMessageReplyMarkup
case "n1":
case "1":
case "n2":
case "2":
case "n3":
case "3":
case "n4":
case "4":
case "n5":
case "5":
$empty_checkbox = "☐";
$galochka = "✔";
if (substr($data,0,1)== "n"){
$is_checked = TRUE;
} else {
$is_checked = FALSE;
}
if ($is_checked){
$what_is_checked = substr($data, 1);;
} else {
$what_is_checked = $data;
}
// $output is variable, in wich telegram data is stored, which came through webhook
$text1 = $output['callback_query']['message']['reply_markup']['inline_keyboard'][0][0]['text'];
$text2 = $output['callback_query']['message']['reply_markup']['inline_keyboard'][0][1]['text'];
$text3 = $output['callback_query']['message']['reply_markup']['inline_keyboard'][0][2]['text'];
$text4 = $output['callback_query']['message']['reply_markup']['inline_keyboard'][1][0]['text'];
$text5 = $output['callback_query']['message']['reply_markup']['inline_keyboard'][1][1]['text'];
$room_callback_data1 = $output['callback_query']['message']['reply_markup']['inline_keyboard'][0][0]['callback_data'];
$room_callback_data2 = $output['callback_query']['message']['reply_markup']['inline_keyboard'][0][1]['callback_data'];
$room_callback_data3 = $output['callback_query']['message']['reply_markup']['inline_keyboard'][0][2]['callback_data'];
$room_callback_data4 = $output['callback_query']['message']['reply_markup']['inline_keyboard'][1][0]['callback_data'];
$room_callback_data5 = $output['callback_query']['message']['reply_markup']['inline_keyboard'][1][1]['callback_data'];
if ($what_is_checked == "1"){
if ($is_checked == TRUE) {
$text1 = $galochka . " 1";
$room_callback_data1 = "1";
} else {
$text1 = $empty_checkbox . " 1";
$room_callback_data1 = 'n2';
}
} elseif ($what_is_checked == "2"){
if ($is_checked == TRUE) {
$text2 = $galochka . " 2";
$room_callback_data2 = "2";
} else {
$text2 = $empty_checkbox . " 2";
$room_callback_data2 = 'n2';
}
} elseif ($what_is_checked == "3"){
if ($is_checked == TRUE) {
$text3 = $galochka . " 3";
$room_callback_data3 = "3";
} else {
$text3 = $empty_checkbox . " 3";
$room_callback_data3 = 'n3';
}
} elseif ($what_is_checked == "4"){
if ($is_checked == TRUE) {
$text4 = $galochka . " 4";
$room_callback_data4 = "4";
} else {
$text4 = $empty_checkbox . " 4";
$room_callback_data4 = 'n4';
}
} elseif ($what_is_checked == "5"){
if ($is_checked == TRUE){
$text5 = $galochka . " 5";
$room_callback_data5 = "5";
} else {
$text5 = $empty_checkbox . " 5";
$room_callback_data5 = 'n5';
}
}
$inline_keyboard = [
[
['text'=>$text1, 'callback_data'=>$room_callback_data1],
['text'=>$text2, 'callback_data'=>$room_callback_data2],
['text'=>$text3, 'callback_data'=>$room_callback_data3]
],
[
['text'=>$text4, 'callback_data'=>$room_callback_data4],
['text'=>$text5, 'callback_data'=>$room_callback_data5]
],
[
['text'=>'Next', 'callback_data'=>"remont"]
]
];
$keyboard=["inline_keyboard"=>$inline_keyboard];
$replyMarkup = json_encode($keyboard);
editMessageReplyMarkup($chat_id_callback, $message_id, $replyMarkup);
break;
}
In the second case, you are just checking which button was pressed and simply change empty box on check mark.
Also, you need to use answerCallbackQuery, to work properly:
function send_answerCallbackQuery($callback_query_id, $text ='', $alert = 0){
file_get_contents($GLOBALS['api']."/answerCallbackQuery?callback_query_id=".$callback_query_id . '&text=' . $text . '&show_alert=' . $alert);
}
if (isset($output['callback_query'])) {
send_answerCallbackQuery($output['callback_query']['id']);
}

Answer 2

It's a default behavior to preserve custom keyboard unless you set one_time_keyboard = True or return a ReplyKeyboardHide to a user.
See docs: https://core.telegram.org/bots/api#replykeyboardmarkup
Also you can send the same keyboard in a reply message every time you want to make sure the keyboard is displayed.