Japanese Car Match

From a list of Japanese cars, find out which one you desire.

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Inspiration

I thought it would be cool to have a messenger bot that can help you find out what kind of car you're looking for. I wanted something that would allow users to easily and quickly parse through a list of cars.

What it does

Users interact with the chatbot and respond using quick replies that the bot remembers and uses to find a list of matching cars. Users then interact with postbacks to accept the current car or see another.

How I built it

I built it using javascript and used nodejs to create a webhook that would allow it to send http requests to messenger. I used vscode for the text editor, and a free heroku app as the server.

Challenges I ran into

The most difficult part of the development process was the setup. The tutorial provided by facebook did not explain how to set up a server so I had to look up how to do so. After I finished that, I had to figure out how to use the Facebook template system to send different kinds of replies.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

I am proud of finishing the coding and debugging. I started a week ago without too much knowledge on node.js and messenger for developers and I learned a lot this past week. Seeing the project come together and become operational on other devices and accounts was truly amazing.

What I learned

I gained a better understanding of javascript. I learned how to set up a server and deploy a project on a heroku app and link it to a facebook app.

What's next for Japanese Car Match

After submission I will plan on making a class diagram to place in the github repo so I can easily understand the function of the application in the future. I plan on working on my web design skills to create a sample car website that can link with my car match app so users can "in theory" purchase the cars that they are matched to. I also hope to expand the database and make the bot interface more accessible to users.

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