Help center support eXpress
We've collected answers to popular questions to make eXpress easy and convenient to use. Didn't find the answer to your question? Contact our support team.
- Welcome to eXpress
- eXpress Support
- Introducing eXpress & Glossary
- Installation & Updates & Requirements
- Registering & Logging In
- User Profile
- Chats, Channels & Threads
- Contacts
- Tags & Tabs
- Files
- Calls & Conferences
- Push Notifications & Counters
- Fixing Background Work on Mobile
- Bots & SmartApps
- Diagnostics, Logs, and Cache
- Admin Panel
- Admin Panel: General Information
- Users
- Chats
- Open Chats
- Calls
- Conferences
- Profile Change Request List
- Logout List
- Administrators
- Servers
- Bots
- Internal Bots
- External Clients Users
- UI Alerts
- Containers
- Audit
- Stickers
- Call Backgrounds
- Catalog
- Statistics
- Role Model
- Role Model Rules
- User Groups
- Call Reports
- Call Recordings
- Transcribings
- SMS Statuses
- Administrators Authentication
- Audit Settings
- Global Chat
- Global Bots
- Links to Chats/Calls
- Push Service
- File Service
- User Session
- Registration Settings
- Active Directory
- E-mail: self-registration
- OpenID
- Personal Data Visibility
- E-mail: sending emails
- Getting Started Instruction
- Blocked Users
- VoEx
- Server
- Support Info
- Security (CTS)
- Registration Instruction
- SmartApps
- Mobile Menu Configuration
- Activations
- SMS
- Adapters
- Masks
- Security
- CAPTCHA
- Reserved Phone Numbers
- Suggests
- Kerberos Settings & Kerberos Suggests
Bots
In this section, you configure and connect chat bots and SmartApps for the corporate server. Bots and SmartApps already added to the server can be disabled or enabled here. You can change their properties, avatar, visibility in the corporate chat directory, access settings, and other parameters. Starting with server software version 3.21, you can also configure visibility for role model user groups.
You can find a bot or SmartApp by name or part of its name. Enter a query in the Enter bot name field and click the Search button to the right of the Create button. Search is available starting from server software version 3.72.
What Are the Requirements for Bot Avatars?
Image dimensions 512 by 512 pixels, PNG/JPG format. For SmartApps bots, use PNG with transparency: this way the avatar is displayed correctly in both the dark and light themes of the application.
Network Access to the Bot for Front and Back CTS: From Which Server?
From Back CTS. BotX sends requests to the bot, and in a split deployment, it runs on Back CTS. Access between Back CTS and the bot server is opened in both directions over TCP 443 and 8000–8100: BotX sends commands to the bot, and the bot calls the BotX API.
If the bot server is in another location and does not have direct access to Back CTS, the bot accesses the BotX API through Front CTS (Proxy).
Bot Card Settings
In addition to the address, protocol, and access rights, the bot card has settings that are needed less often.
| Setting | What It Does |
|---|---|
| Contour | Users from which network can work with the bot: Internal — only from the CDTN perimeter; External — users of the public and trusted servers and users outside the CDTN; External and internal (default) — everyone. |
| Show the bot contact in bots catalog | When the check box is cleared, the bot disappears from the bot catalog. Users can still find it by searching contacts. |
| Enable legacy token | Allows the bot to authenticate to the BotX API using the old method. For bots created before version 3.46, the check box is selected automatically; for new bots, it is cleared. If the bot receives a 401 error and its library supports only the old method, select the check box. |
| Toolbar visible | When the check box is cleared, the close button and the three-dot menu are shown on a floating panel right above the SmartApp. If the panel covers the SmartApp content, select the check box: the SmartApp gets a fixed header with the close button, the menu and the icon. The check box is cleared by default. |
| Proxy resource TLS certificates (PEM) | For Proxy SmartApp: insert the root and intermediate certificates of the resource that SmartApp opens. Without them, the mobile app will not open the resource. |
| Available to everyone / Available to groups | In the second option, only users of the selected role model groups see the SmartApp. The others will also be able to find the bot using contact search. |
Public Network Requests from SmartApp
The bot card includes the Allow public network requests checkbox. By default, it is selected: the SmartApp can access any external addresses, like a regular web page. If you clear the checkbox, the SmartApp in mobile apps loses access to the external network. It retains access only to the corporate server and its subdomains, addresses from the HTTP(s) proxy hosts list in the same bot card, and local device resources.
This setting is intended for organizations whose security policy prohibits direct outgoing requests from SmartApps. It is configured separately for each bot.
SmartApp Stopped Opening an External Website. What Should I Check?
Check the Allow public network requests checkbox in the bot card. If it is cleared, external addresses are blocked by this setting; this is not a malfunction. To keep a specific address available, add it to the HTTP(s) proxy hosts list in the same bot card. There are no other granular exceptions.
When the checkbox is cleared, the SmartApp also loses access to its own host. Preloaded and minimized SmartApps also remain without network access. Role model restrictions on attachments are configured separately — see rules for SmartApps.
SmartApp Logs
The bot card includes a Logs section. With the Persistent log recording checkbox, the user does not need to enable log recording manually: SmartApp logs are always recorded and can be exported directly from its menu — learn more. Next to it, you can configure Take a screenshot along with the logs and Extended logs collection for all users or selected ones. Available starting from server software version 3.72.