Steem Bots - Auto Follower Bot [SteemJS & NodeJS] - Begginer Tutorial

Repository:

https://github.com/steemit/steem-js

---

Repository

• https://github.com/steemit/steem-js

What Will I Learn?

• You will learn how to make auto-follower bot
• You will learn how to work with getting content from steemit
• You will learn how to send follow function with steemjs
• You will learn how to use forEach function to make the same function or actions at the same time for a few tasks
• You will learn how to make a "spaces" between function to function with timers inside a loop

Requirements

• You will need NodeJS and the package steemJS

Difficulty

• Basic

Tutorial Contents

you're going to use nodejs and steemjs to make a bot that loops every 30 minutes to make an auto follow on the last posts that posted in the specific tag that you chose.

Curriculum

• SteemBots - Reward Claiming
• SteemJS #1
• NodeJS #1

The Tutorial

First things first, we need to set up the HTTP server, if you don't understand the code go to NodeJS #1 tutorial and check how it works!

const http = require('http');
const steem = require('steem');
const port = 80; //you can use any other port, like 3000 or something.
const hostIP = "localhost"; //or "127.0.0.1" which is better for you.

const server = http.createServer((req, res) => {
res.statusCode = 200;

res.setHeader('Content-type', 'text-plain');

res.end('Hello World! this is my first project at node.js!');

});

server.listen(port, hostIP, () => {

console.log("Listen to port " + port);

});

your server runs at localhost:80 now.

to run the server use node server or whatever your script name is.
if you have nodemon use nodemon server.

Auto Follow Function

so we need to make the function, call it AutoFollower

function AutoFollower(user, tag, key, limit){

}

user - your account name, the username that going to make the auto-follow.
tag - the tag of the category you're going to follow the other accounts.
key - your posting private key.
limit - limit of the number of posts.

now we need to get the newest posts from your tag.

  steem.api.getDiscussionsByCreated({tag: tag, limit: limit}, function(err, result){
  if(!!err)
  throw err;
  result.forEach(function(row){

  });

so firstly we have the function, this function gets the latest posts that posted with the tag and limit.
example: limit 1, tag: cryptocurrency, it will take the last post that posted on the cryptocurrency tag.
then we check if there is an error we send it to the console and close the app
if not we start a loop for the results.

inside of the loop create the variables

var follower = user;
  var following = row.author;
  var json = JSON.stringify(
  ['follow', {
  follower: follower,
  following: following,
  what: ['blog']
  }]);

follower - the follower username
following - the username that gets the follow
json - the array that gets all of the information for the follow function

now go for a second outside of the loop and create the variable

var count = 0;

and get back in the loop.

now we just need to send the following function

 count+=5;
setTimeout(function(){
steem.broadcast.customJson(key, [], [follower], 'follow', json, function(err, result) {
console.log(err, result);
});}, count*1000);

so it's really simple, first, we adding 5 to the count variable, then we start timeout (timer) with the follow function.
we use the JSON variable that we made, the wif key and the follower name (our account).
and we set the timer to count*1000, it means that the timer is count(=5) seconds.
for example, I have the limit on 5
first, follow - after 5 seconds
second follow - after 10 seconds (but 5 seconds after the first follow)
etc.

now you can do 2 things,
first, you can leave it like that and let it work.
second, you can make a timer for every 30 minutes it will follow 10 users or even more.

so if you want the second way go with me

you need to make a timer for 30 minutes (or hour / less if you want) and run the function in a loop.
go to the end of the function and add this line

setTimeout(function(){AutoFollower(user, tag, key, limit)}, 30*60*1000);

it will make the function "stuck" in a loop because every time it runs it's running the timer again.

example: I run the function once, it will start the timer, when the timer ends it starts the function again and the function starts the timer. so it's a Loop.

and here you've done, just make four variables with the account name, wif key, post limit, and tag and start the function.

var user = "lonelywolf", tag = "cryptocurrency", key = "5AS4D685SA98AW4D89SA165", limit = 3;

AutoFollower(user, tag, key, limit);

it's going to work "forever" until you close the program.

• Full Code

const http = require('http');
const steem = require('steem');
const port = 80; //you can use any other port, like 3000 or something.
const hostIP = "localhost"; //or "127.0.0.1" which is better for you.

const server = http.createServer((req, res) => {
res.statusCode = 200;

res.setHeader('Content-type', 'text-plain');

res.end('Hello World! this is my first project at node.js!');

});

server.listen(port, hostIP, () => {

console.log("Listen to port " + port);

});

var user = "lonelywolf", tag = "cryptocurrency", key = "****", limit = 3;

AutoFollower(user, tag, key, limit);

function AutoFollower(user, tag, key, limit){
  var count = 0;
  steem.api.getDiscussionsByCreated({tag: tag, limit: limit}, function(err, result){
  if(!!err)
  throw err;
  result.forEach(function(row){
  var follower = user;
  var following = row.author;
  var json = JSON.stringify(
  ['follow', {
  follower: follower,
  following: following,
  what: ['blog']
  }]);
  count+=5;
  setTimeout(function(){
  steem.broadcast.customJson(key, [], [follower], 'follow', json, function(err, result) {
  console.log(err, result);
  });}, count*1000);
  });
  });
  setTimeout(function(){AutoFollower(user, tag, key, limit)}, 30*60*1000);
}

• Results

Listen to port 80
{ RPCError: plugin exception: Account lonelywolf already submitted a custom JSON operation this block.
  at new RPCError (E:\web sites\Tutorial 1 - STEEM\node_modules\steem\lib\api\transports\http.js:39:106)
  at E:\web sites\Tutorial 1 - STEEM\node_modules\steem\lib\api\transports\http.js:74:13
  at <anonymous>
  at process._tickCallback (internal/process/next_tick.js:188:7)
  cause:
  { RPCError: plugin exception:Account lonelywolf already submitted a custom json operation this block.
  at new RPCError (E:\web sites\Tutorial 1 - STEEM\node_modules\steem\lib\api\transports\http.js:39:106)
  at E:\web sites\Tutorial 1 - STEEM\node_modules\steem\lib\api\transports\http.js:74:13
  at <anonymous>
  at process._tickCallback (internal/process/next_tick.js:188:7)
  name: 'RPCError',
  code: -32000,
  data:
  { code: 4100000,
  name: 'plugin_exception',
  message: 'plugin exception',
  stack: [Array] } },
  isOperational: true,
  code: -32000,
  data:
  { code: 4100000,
  name: 'plugin_exception',
  message: 'plugin exception',
  stack: [ [Object], [Object], [Object], [Object] ] } } undefined
{ RPCError: plugin exception:Account lonelywolf already submitted a custom json operation this block.
  at new RPCError (E:\web sites\Tutorial 1 - STEEM\node_modules\steem\lib\api\transports\http.js:39:106)
  at E:\web sites\Tutorial 1 - STEEM\node_modules\steem\lib\api\transports\http.js:74:13
  at <anonymous>
  at process._tickCallback (internal/process/next_tick.js:188:7)
  cause:
  { RPCError: plugin exception:Account lonelywolf already submitted a custom json operation this block.
  at new RPCError (E:\web sites\Tutorial 1 - STEEM\node_modules\steem\lib\api\transports\http.js:39:106)
  at E:\web sites\Tutorial 1 - STEEM\node_modules\steem\lib\api\transports\http.js:74:13
  at <anonymous>
  at process._tickCallback (internal/process/next_tick.js:188:7)
  name: 'RPCError',
  code: -32000,
  data:
  { code: 4100000,
  name: 'plugin_exception',
  message: 'plugin exception',
  stack: [Array] } },
  isOperational: true,
  code: -32000,
  data:
  { code: 4100000,
  name: 'plugin_exception',
  message: 'plugin exception',
  stack: [ [Object], [Object], [Object], [Object] ] } } undefined
null { id: '060a2b40e64a06929fccebba18996f31626895fc',
  block_num: 26773113,
  trx_num: 13,
  expired: false,
  ref_block_num: 34407,
  ref_block_prefix: 961633877,
  expiration: '2018-10-13T13:54:30',
  operations: [ [ 'custom_json', [Object] ] ],
  extensions: [],
  signatures:
  [ '2078744fa2df0bce7541e1a0e23ec754166a33449b8c456f9c41b893fc7e1f5505449064eedfd40d2c250aa34bec886710c3baff03c7716602e4939e052fc3a828' ] }
[nodemon] restarting due to changes...
[nodemon] starting `node server server.js`
Listen to port 80
null { id: '53527546cb8351724474120b1962e0f1d325b0a3',
  block_num: 26773128,
  trx_num: 9,
  expired: false,
  ref_block_num: 34422,
  ref_block_prefix: 3768848869,
  expiration: '2018-10-13T13:55:15',
  operations: [ [ 'custom_json', [Object] ] ],
  extensions: [],
  signatures:
  [ '203fa180faa1c5efea17f1f9df0411dadb678f33068d291bdfaf05289ac0f671e7199311015f2d38b6889966bcf82030a42b1db7494996d4a055c6ce77f04587ab' ] }
null { id: '3bc7090516c402c8ed561e74efdf964f827f4a89',
  block_num: 26773130,
  trx_num: 7,
  expired: false,
  ref_block_num: 34424,
  ref_block_prefix: 2991298112,
  expiration: '2018-10-13T13:55:21',
  operations: [ [ 'custom_json', [Object] ] ],
  extensions: [],
  signatures:
  [ '1f0c878317a7c878444da41254ee8d5d88cb68d84bbfe28bfb8e53ebc094e46c983297ddcf050d04e30b2dfa7a0c9bdaacd3bf75629fd1848708063c52e614afdd' ] }
null { id: '5bfd069f20d572a8f19b86a269ef4ea29b61cbc2',
  block_num: 26773132,
  trx_num: 0,
  expired: false,
  ref_block_num: 34426,
  ref_block_prefix: 4171029757,
  expiration: '2018-10-13T13:55:27',
  operations: [ [ 'custom_json', [Object] ] ],
  extensions: [],
  signatures:
  [ '1f0ef1c0b56e85a9cdadfcded2f25305f29a8b35b629084566ee276293ae2583d134b0736ad63892c2bfdc2b62749f329bfe20bf2db33cfaf82e9df7136615b5e8' ] }
[nodemon] restarting due to changes...
[nodemon] starting `node server server.js`
Listen to port 80
null { id: '4007bd875ca1794aead4cfe3bfba5175702e6ef5',
  block_num: 26773351,
  trx_num: 10,
  expired: false,
  ref_block_num: 34639,
  ref_block_prefix: 2477891887,
  expiration: '2018-10-13T14:06:24',
  operations: [ [ 'custom_json', [Object] ] ],
  extensions: [],
  signatures:
  [ '200cada2c83eb688a2ac8421ec2dd51f58ac7f3bd89aea1b432ac44a586aec352c5ba398c343c5ddda973502db901ce1cfb50ea044e1d819398f8f788da0fd964c' ] }
null { id: '2aa5ca636d62e4838da1577dcb765bdcbbfa9ba1',
  block_num: 26773353,
  trx_num: 4,
  expired: false,
  ref_block_num: 34642,
  ref_block_prefix: 967637030,
  expiration: '2018-10-13T14:06:30',
  operations: [ [ 'custom_json', [Object] ] ],
  extensions: [],
  signatures:
  [ '205dfd7082d7653c55fde4bdb16f094be9f6cea1af36b0ce9f8fd183673ad98b257a2be76b7aa784855d2867625be05c02508706987c88162821d6bf8862cf6c75' ] }
null { id: 'c040ed08a57ae2c818ba3f15073281d02fc4a605',
  block_num: 26773354,
  trx_num: 31,
  expired: false,
  ref_block_num: 34643,
  ref_block_prefix: 3131168984,
  expiration: '2018-10-13T14:06:33',
  operations: [ [ 'custom_json', [Object] ] ],
  extensions: [],
  signatures:
  [ '1f0142ca00c3bb1e88998987d786b80e4b8e0dc694194a81a12abc8b8ae3d1e73c22339420bb185c1990caeb5868b30ee6e2c706a1445042a28b203d8c700d7331' ] }

everything after null is the change in the block, that means it's the follow function works successfully.

Proof of Work Done

• GitHub: https://github.com/lonelywolf1

have a good day, we're done for this tutorial!
this series will continue at the next week with more tutorials and with more content!