Locking Telegram Custom Keyboard Buttons for Multiple Inputs

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.