Pretty-Print JSON message

[SuchithArodi]

What happened

I have a slack bot that outputs/sends a JSON message back to the user. JSON message is not pretty-printed to the user. JSON message is printed like a text message.

Using the PostMessage method for sending the message. I tried various MsgOption like Blocks (section, context, input, fileand others), Text, Attachments, but still not able to pretty-print the JSON message.

Looking at the Slack API documentation, I see https://api.slack.com/methods/chat.postMessage

When POSTing with application/x-www-form-urlencoded data, the optional attachments argument should contain a JSON-encoded array of attachments. Make it easy on yourself and send your entire messages as application/json instead.

But, I see in the Slack Go Content-Type in the header is being set to application/json only for "chat.responseURL" https://github.com/slack-go/slack/blob/93fe17cfad827ebb34316c683f29377c9be910e3/misc.go#L121 For all others, Content-Type in the header is being set to application/x-www-form-urlencoded
https://github.com/slack-go/slack/blob/93fe17cfad827ebb34316c683f29377c9be910e3/misc.go#L107

Is there an easy way to send over JSON messages with any other APIs? or set the header Content-Type to application/json so as to pretty-print the JSON message.

Any help or suggestions will be really helpful - @kanata2 @nlopes

Expected behavior

JSON message being printed as of now: {"uuid":"123","namespace":"abc","pool":"abcd"}

expected pretty-print JSON format:

{
   "uuid":"123",
   "namespace":"abc",
   "pool":"abcd"
}

Steps to reproduce

Versions

• Go: go version go1.14.3 darwin/amd64
• slack-go/slack: https://github.com/slack-go/slack v0.8.2

[kanata2]

Thanks for reporting! I think whether we should use pretty print or not is one thing, whether we should use application/json or not is another. What problem do you resolve? (do you want more debuggability in development?)

[SuchithArodi]

Thanks for getting back.

I think for pretty printing the JSON we do need to provide an option for client users to set the header with application/json so that the text message can be interpreted as JSON (Pretty print in Slack). Please do correct me if I am wrong.

I am looking for an easy way to pretty-print the JSON message for the users of our bot to read JSON more easily. Having JSON printed as a text doesn't help in reading the JSON message.

[SuchithArodi]

Can we pretty-print the JSON by message formatting? like Blocks or Attachments or others? Or do we have any APIs or settings in here to do this already?

[kanata2]

I'm sorry. I'm not sure about your use case. Which JSON do you want to have prettty-printed output?(Is it the body of an HTTP request sent to Slack?)

[SuchithArodi]

sorry for the confusion. Yes, it's the body (actual message displayed to the user on slack) of the HTTP request I want to pretty print.

[kanata2]

Yes, it's the body (actual message displayed to the user on slack) of the HTTP request I want to pretty print.

I understood! Thanks.

[SuchithArodi]

@kanata2 if you can let me know how I can handle this, I can make the changes and raise a PR. Please let me know.

[krtschmr]

How does it work with ruby hashes? I rather have JSON not formatted and my ruby code stays as it was.