How do I wait for user reply? (Telegram bot with python-telegram-bot)

Question

How do I have the bot wait for a reply to save it? My goal is to save the name in the database, which I have already accomplished. For example,

User: /name
Bot: What do you want to name this dog?
User: dog
Bot: Dog saved as dog.

def name(update, context):
    update.message.reply_text("What do you want to name this dog?")

to save reply to database.

I know that if I were to use return(update.message.text), it would return /name, instead of dog, as that is the most recent message when the user types /name.

Help would be appreciated!

Answer 1

You can use ConversationHandler to implement it.

Here is a working sample code:

from telegram.ext import (Updater, CommandHandler, MessageHandler, Filters,
                          ConversationHandler)

TOKEN = " ... "

NAME, DOG_SAVE = range(2)

def start(update, context):
    update.message.reply_text(
        'send /name to activate save a dog name'
    )
    return NAME

def name(update, context):
    update.message.reply_text('What do you want to name this dog?')

    return DOG_SAVE

def dog_save(update, context):
    name = update.message.text
    update.message.reply_text(f'Dog saved as {name}')

    return ConversationHandler.END

def main():
    updater = Updater(TOKEN, use_context=True)

    dp = updater.dispatcher

    conv_handler = ConversationHandler(
        entry_points=[CommandHandler('start', start)],
        fallbacks=[],

        states={
            NAME: [CommandHandler('name', name)],
            DOG_SAVE: [MessageHandler(Filters.text, dog_save)],
        },
    )

    dp.add_handler(conv_handler)

    updater.start_polling()
    updater.idle()


if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

You can find additional example here

Sample output: