Send Smart Action notifications to Slack

Please be sure of your agent type and version and pick the right documentation accordingly.

This is the documentation of the forest-express-sequelize and forest-express-mongoose Node.js agents that will soon reach end-of-support.

forest-express-sequelize v9 and forest-express-mongoose v9 are replaced by @forestadmin/agent v1.

Please check your agent type and version and read on or switch to the right documentation.

Send Smart Action notifications to Slack

This example shows you how to integrate Slack incoming webhooks to receive notifications in your workspace when a Smart Action e.g "Reject application" is triggered.

Create your Forest Admin slack app

Follow Slack's guide to create a new app in your workspace and start sending messages using Incoming Webhooks.

At the end of this guide, make sure your Slack app has the following features activated:

  • Incoming Webhooks

  • Interactive Components

  • Bots

  • Permissions

Once your Slack app has its shiny Incoming Webhook URL, you will be able to send your message in JSON as the body of an application/json POST request.

https://hooks.slack.com/services/T00000000/B00000000/XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Connect your app from a Slack channel of your choice

Set up the webhook from your admin backend

Install the node.js Slack SDK

From your project's directory, simply run

$ npm install --save @slack/webhook

Add the Incoming Webhook URL to your .env

SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL=https://hooks.slack.com/services/T00000000/B00000000/XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

This Incoming Webhook URL contains a secret key, please make sure it does not appear in your code.

Create the Smart Action and initialize the Incoming Webhook

Smart Action declaration

forest/companies.js
const { collection } = require('forest-express-sequelize');

// This file allows you to add to your Forest UI:
// - Smart actions: https://docs.forestadmin.com/documentation/reference-guide/actions/create-and-manage-smart-actions
// - Smart fields: https://docs.forestadmin.com/documentation/reference-guide/fields/create-and-manage-smart-fields
// - Smart relationships: https://docs.forestadmin.com/documentation/reference-guide/relationships/create-a-smart-relationship
// - Smart segments: https://docs.forestadmin.com/documentation/reference-guide/segments/smart-segments
collection('companies', {
  actions: [
    {
      name: 'Reject application',
      type: 'single',
      fields: [
        {
          field: 'Reason(s) for rejection',
          description: 'Please provide a reason for this decision',
          type: ['Enum'],
          enums: [
            'Certificate of Incorporation',
            'Proof of Address ID',
            'Bank Statement ID',
          ],
          required: true,
        },
        {
          field: 'Comment',
          description:
            'This comment will only be displayed in your slack workspace message',
          type: 'String',
          widget: 'text area',
        },
      ],
    },
  ],
  // ...
});

Smart Action logic

routes/companies.js
const express = require('express');
const {
  PermissionMiddlewareCreator,
  RecordsGetter,
} = require('forest-express-sequelize');
const { IncomingWebhook } = require('@slack/webhook');
const { companies } = require('../models');

const router = express.Router();
const permissionMiddlewareCreator = new PermissionMiddlewareCreator(
  'companies'
);
const url = process.env.SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL;

// This file contains the logic of every route in Forest Admin for the collection companies:
// - Native routes are already generated but can be extended/overridden - Learn how to extend a route here: https://docs.forestadmin.com/documentation/v/v6/reference-guide/routes/extend-a-route
// - Smart action routes will need to be added as you create new Smart Actions - Learn how to create a Smart Action here: https://docs.forestadmin.com/documentation/v/v6/reference-guide/actions/create-and-manage-smart-actions

// ...

// Initialize webhook
const webhook = new IncomingWebhook(url);

router.post(
  '/actions/reject-application',
  permissionMiddlewareCreator.smartAction(),
  async (request, response) => {
    // Get input form attributes
    const attributes = await request.body.data.attributes.values;
    const rejectionReason = attributes['Reason(s) for rejection'];
    const comment = attributes['Comment'];

    // Get selected company
    const [selectedCompanyId] = await new RecordsGetter(
      companies,
      request.user,
      request.query
    ).getIdsFromRequest(request);
    const selectedCompany = await companies.findByPk(selectedCompanyId);

    // Change company status to rejected
    await companies.update(
      { status: 'rejected' },
      { where: { id: selectedCompanyId } }
    );
    response.send({ success: "Company's request to go live rejected!" });

    // Trigger Slack webhook
    await webhook.send({
      text: 'An action has been triggered from Forest Admin',
      channel: 'C01CFGCADGF', // replace by your Slack channel ID
      blocks: [
        {
          type: 'header',
          text: {
            type: 'plain_text',
            text: 'Action triggered - Company application rejected :x:',
            emoji: true,
          },
        },
        {
          type: 'divider',
        },
        {
          type: 'section',
          text: {
            type: 'mrkdwn',
            text: `${request.user.firstName} ${request.user.lastName} just rejected <https://app.forestadmin.com/Live-demo/Production/Operations/data/companies/index/record/companies/${selectedCompanyId}/summary|${selectedCompany.name}>'s request to go live!\n\n • *Reason for rejection:* ${rejectionReason[0]}\n • *Comment:* ${comment}`,
          },
          accessory: {
            type: 'image',
            image_url: `${selectedCompany.logoUrl}`,
            alt_text: 'company logo',
          },
        },
        {
          type: 'section',
          text: {
            type: 'mrkdwn',
            text: 'For more details on the company',
          },
          accessory: {
            type: 'button',
            text: {
              type: 'plain_text',
              text: 'View Notes',
              emoji: true,
            },
            value: 'null',
            url: `https://app.forestadmin.com/Live-demo/Production/Operations/data/companies/index/record/companies/${selectedCompanyId}/collaboration`,
            action_id: 'button-action',
          },
        },
      ],
    });
  }
);

module.exports = router;

To learn more about composing messages using the Slack API, please visit the

To learn more about error handling of Slack Interactive Webhooks, please visit the Slack changelog.

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