Files

Receiving files

To work with received files like Photos, you need to request the file from the Bot API server. This is done by calling the getFile method of the Bot class. This method returns a File object which contains the file_id and the file_path.

$photo = $update->message->photo[0]; // Use the PhotoSize instance that fits your needs regarding file dimensions/size
$file = $bot->getFile($photo->file_id); // Request file from Bot API server

$file->saveTo('path/to/save/file.jpg'); // Save file to disk
// or
$data = $file->getContents(); // Get file contents

Sending files

To send files you can use the InputFile class. This class is a wrapper for files that should be uploaded to the Bot API server.

If the file is already on Telegram servers and you have the file_id or if the file is already accessible via an HTTP(S) URI, simply pass the file_id or the URI directly to the corresponding parameter as seen in the commented-out line.

$this->bot->sendPhoto(
    chat_id: $chat->id,
    photo: InputFile::fromFile(__DIR__.'/photos/vacation.jpeg'),
    // photo: 'https://example.com/path/to/photo.jpg',
    // photo: 'vPPYSJTxFxwCY3xLsH4-7MdzDprf7quRR7Tcg2doPTdQTH3ih2EdHebXCn3Ja8YzgkMZGMoXzwMW8WrJhK',
    caption: 'Awesome vacation photo!'
);

Additionally to the fromFile method, you can also use the fromResource() or fromStream() methods if you already have a file resource or a Psr\Http\Message\StreamInterface.