basictwitterbot.rb

## crontab
## * * * * * cd /opt/basictwitterbot; /usr/bin/ruby basictwitterbot.rb
## this is a fragment

def check_timeline_once(last_seen_id, client, channels, me, ls_full_path, dry_run)

    opts = {}
    opts[:include_entities] = true

    puts "checking timeline with last seen id #{last_seen_id}"

    if(last_seen_id)
      opts[:since_id] = last_seen_id
    end

    statuses = nil

    begin
      statuses = client.mentions(opts)
    rescue Exception => e
      puts "Cannot get mentions - giving up #{e}"
    end

    count = 0

    if(statuses && statuses.length > 0)
      puts "got new statuses"
      pp statuses
      statuses.each do |s|

         if(count==0)
           # they come newest first; we want the most recent one so we don't ask for duplicates
           last_seen_id = s.id
           # save it for next time
           File.open(ls_full_path, 'w') {|f| f.write(last_seen_id) }
         end
         count = count+1

         # process_tweet figures out if a channel is mentioned, and if so, which one
         results = process_tweet(s,channels,me)

         puts results

         if(results)
           # build_tweet_text builds the response
           new_text = build_tweet_text(results)
           text = s.full_text

           if(new_text)

             puts "attempting update with #{new_text} length #{new_text.length}"

             # since this is a cron job, these sleeps may mean 2 instances running
             if(!dry_run)
               begin
                 client.update(new_text,{:in_reply_to_status_id=>s.id})
                 puts "tweeted"
                 sleep 30 # it can tweet too much and hit rate limits
               rescue Twitter::Error::TooManyRequests => error
                 puts "hit rate limit in tweeting #{error}"
                 sleep 60
                 retry
               rescue Exception=>e
                 puts "error #{e}"
               end
             end # end dry run
           end

         else
           puts "nothing to tweet - no results"
         end

      end #end statuses loop
    else
      puts "no new tweets"
    end
end


client = Twitter::REST::Client.new do |config|
      config.consumer_key = twitter_config[:basictwitterbot][:consumer_key]
      config.consumer_secret = twitter_config[:basictwitterbot][:consumer_secret]
      config.access_token =  twitter_config[:basictwitterbot][:oauth_token]
      config.access_token_secret = twitter_config[:basictwitterbot][:oauth_token_secret]
end

last_seen_id = "1030765828650807297"
me = "basictwitterbot"
channels = get_channels_list

ls_full_path = File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), "last_seen_id_#{me}")

begin
  file = File.open(ls_full_path, "r")
  last_seen_id = file.read
  last_seen_id = last_seen_id.strip
rescue Exception=> e
  puts "no last_seen file #{e}, that's ok"
end

dry_run = false
check_timeline_once(last_seen_id, client, channels, me, ls_full_path, dry_run)