Slack connector

The Slack connector is used to integrate with the Slack web API and REST time messaging API to create Slack channels and send messages to channels or users. The Slack connector is graphically represented by the Slack logo under the OOTB Connectors menu whilst modeling a process.

The following actions can be executed using the Slack connector:

• Send a message to a specific user or channel (public or private)
• Create a new channel (public or private)

Slack configuration

The Slack connector requires a Slack application and a Slack bot in order to function. The application and bot need to be configured correctly.

1. Use the Slack website to create an application.

   Note: You will need to be logged in as a workspace administrator to create an application.

2. Use the following URL to create a bot in the application you created:

   https://api.slack.com/apps/<app_id>/bots

3. Use the following URL to configure the scope and permissions of the application and bot:

   https://api.slack.com/apps/<app_id>/oauth

   The following are the required scope and permissions:

   • bot
   • channels:read
   • channels:write
   • groups:read
   • groups:write
   • mpim:read
   • mpim:write
   • users:read
   • users:read.email
   • chat:write:bot
   • chat:write:user
   • im:read
   • im:write

4. Use the following URL to obtain the Slack bot user and admin tokens:

   https://api.slack.com/apps/<app_id>/oauth

   The tokens will need to be set as configuration parameters for the connector.

Configuration parameters

Values for configuration parameters that are specific to a connector instance can be set in the modeling application or during application deployment.

The following are the configuration parameters that need to be set for the Slack connector:

Actions

The Slack connector contains two actions:

• SEND_MESSAGE that can send a message to a specific Slack channel.
• CREATE_CHANNEL that can create a Slack channel and invite members to join it.

Send message

The SEND_MESSAGE action is used to send messages to either a Slack channel or a specific user.

The implementation value of the send message action in a service task would be similar to the following:

<bpmn2:serviceTask id="ServiceTask_3xcd7zp" implementation="slackConnector.SEND_MESSAGE" />

Input parameters

The following are the parameters that can be passed to the Slack connector as input parameters using the SEND_MESSAGE action:

Output parameters

The following are the parameters that are returned to the process by the Slack connector as output parameters using the SEND_MESSAGE action:

Create channel

The CREATE_CHANNEL action is used to create a new Slack channel.

The implementation value of the create channel action in a service task would be similar to the following:

<bpmn2:serviceTask id="ServiceTask_7lhj7xq" implementation="slackConnector.CREATE_CHANNEL" />

Input parameters

The following are the parameters that can be passed to the Slack connector as input parameters using the CREATE_CHANNEL action:

Output parameters

The following are the parameters that are returned to the process by the Slack connector as output parameters using the CREATE_CHANNEL action:

An example of a successful slackResult is the following:

{
  "ok":true,
  "channel":{
    "id":"CFWSKMFR6",
    "name":"my_channel",
    "is_channel":true,
    "created":1549985348,
    "is_archived":false,
    "is_general":false,
    "unlinked":0,
    "creator":"UFX13DBJM",
    "name_normalized":"my_channel",
    "is_shared":false,
    "is_org_shared":false,
    "is_member":true,
    "is_private":false,
    "is_mpim":false,
    "last_read":"0000000000.000000",
    "latest":null,
    "unread_count":0,
    "unread_count_display":0,
    "members":[
      "UFX13DBJM",
      "DFWSKM0HH"
    ],
    "topic":{
      "value":"",
      "creator":"",
      "last_set":0
    },
    "purpose":{
      "value":"",
      "creator":"",
      "last_set":0
    },
    "previous_names":[],
    "priority":0
  }
}

Events

The Slack connector contains an event called MESSAGE_RECEIVED that can be used by a trigger to configure an action when a message meeting a specific pattern is found from a list of Slack channel types.

Input parameters

Note: Any groups created in a pattern can be referenced in echo and echoError using the syntax ${groupName}.

Output parameters

Note: Groups found in matchGroups can be used to map to process variables in a trigger by referencing the variable in a JSON field, for example using ${matchGroups.orderNumber}