how can i make this telegram bot calculator work

Question

i am trying to make this calculator work but it automatically sends a message please provide a valid number when i run the command /multiply any help would be muchly appreciated

type here
import telebot

bot = telebot.TeleBot('my token ')

first_number = None
second_number = None

@bot.message_handler(commands=['multiply'])
def multiply(message):
    global first_number
    global second_number
    if first_number is None:
        try:
            first_number = int(message.text)
            bot.send_message(message.chat.id, 'Please provide the second number')
        except ValueError:
            bot.send_message(message.chat.id, 'Please provide a valid number')
    elif second_number is None:
        try:
            second_number = int(message.text)
            result = first_number * second_number
            bot.send_message(message.chat.id, 'Result: {}'.format(result))
            first_number = None
            second_number = None
        except ValueError:
            bot.send_message(message.chat.id, 'Please provide a valid number')

bot.polling()

i am trying to make it work

Answer 1

The problem with your code was:

1. You were trying to convert the command message itself to integer.

2. Your bot did only handle /multiply command but you also want to handle the further input messages too.

Based on what you said in comments, you wanted the bot to interact in this way

User types /multiply
bot asks for first number
user enter valid first number, if not prompt again to enter a valid number
bot asks for second number, if not prompt again to enter a valid number
first number * second number is displayed

You can use another global variable to denote in which state your bot is. Whether it's in ready state to receive number inputs or not. Also this state is activated when user uses /multiply command and should be deactivated when a calculation is done.

So you can do something like this:

import telebot

bot = telebot.TeleBot('my token')
first_number = None
second_number = None
ready_to_recieve = False

@bot.message_handler(commands=['multiply'])
def multiply_command_handler(message):
    global ready_to_recieve
    if not ready_to_recieve:
        ready_to_recieve = True
        bot.send_message(message.chat.id, 'Please provide the first number')
    else:
        bot.send_message(message.chat.id, 'You have already requested for a calculation')

@bot.message_handler(func=lambda m: ready_to_recieve)
def multiply(message):
    global ready_to_recieve
    global first_number
    global second_number

    if first_number is None:
        try:
            first_number = int(message.text)
            bot.send_message(message.chat.id, 'Please provide the second number')
        except ValueError:
            bot.send_message(message.chat.id, 'Please provide a valid number')
    elif second_number is None:
        try:
            second_number = int(message.text)
            result = first_number * second_number
            bot.send_message(message.chat.id, 'Result: {}'.format(result))
            first_number = None
            second_number = None
            ready_to_recieve = False
        except ValueError:
            bot.send_message(message.chat.id, 'Please provide a valid number')
bot.polling()

@bot.message_handler(func=lambda m: ready_to_recieve) this will only get handled when ready_to_recieve is True.