How can Hubot run function regularly, without any command?

Question

I'm trying to make a function for hubot send a message every 5 minutes to a room without any command, just by himself.

module.exports = (robot, scripts) ->
  setTimeout () ->
    setInterval () ->
      msg.send "foo"
    , 5 * 60 * 1000
  , 5 * 60 * 1000

What do I need to change?

Answer 1

Use node-cron.

$ npm install --save cron time

And your script should look like this:

# Description:
#   Defines periodic executions

module.exports = (robot) ->
  cronJob = require('cron').CronJob
  tz = 'America/Los_Angeles'
  new cronJob('0 0 9 * * 1-5', workdaysNineAm, null, true, tz)
  new cronJob('0 */5 * * * *', everyFiveMinutes, null, true, tz)

  room = 12345678

  workdaysNineAm = ->
    robot.emit 'slave:command', 'wake everyone up', room

  everyFiveMinutes = ->
    robot.messageRoom room, 'I will nag you every 5 minutes'

More details: https://leanpub.com/automation-and-monitoring-with-hubot/read#leanpub-auto-periodic-task-execution

Answer 2

Actually the hubot documentation shows the usage of setInterval() and setTimeout() without the use of extra modules.

You could even do it inline by binding onto the msg object. For example this:

module.exports = (robot) ->
  updateId = null

  robot.respond /start/i, (msg) ->
      msg.update = () ->                        # this is your update
          console.log "updating"                # function

      if not this.updateId                      # and here it
          this.updateId = setInterval () ->     # gets
             msg.update()                       # periodically
          , 60*1000                             # triggered minutely
          msg.send("starting")

Answer 3

The real issue is that you are trying to use msg.send without a message object. You should instead replace that line with a robot.messageRoom command (or some equivalent command if you want to send a private message).