C(E)TA

Introduction

Slack API to facilitate using Slash Commands for interacting with the Chicago Transportation Authority (CTA) Train Tracker API.

View Deployment

Slack Usage

This API currently supports three parameters received from the slash command: station, line (optional), and direction (optional). Where direction is an enum (N, W, S, E). Each parameter must be separate by two forward slashes //. For example,

/ceta fullerton // red // N

or

/ceta fullerton // brown

or

/ceta fullerton

The resulting output is a JSON response that is formatted via Slack's newly introduced Block Kit. For example,

/ceta fullerton // brown

would return something like

{
    "response_type": "ephemeral",
    "text": "C(E)TA Arrival Estimates",
    "blocks": [
        {
            "type": "section",
            "text": {
                "type": "mrkdwn",
                "text": "Arrival Estimates for: \"*fullerton*\""
            }
        },
        {
            "type": "divider"
        },
        {
            "type": "section",
            "text": {
                "type": "mrkdwn",
                "text": ":red_circle: *Service toward Howard*"
            }
        },
        {
            "type": "section",
            "text": {
                "type": "mrkdwn",
                "text": "DUE (Red)\n5 minutes (Red)\n15 minutes (Red)"
            }
        },
        {
            "type": "divider"
        },
        {
            "type": "section",
            "text": {
                "type": "mrkdwn",
                "text": ":red_circle: *Service toward 95th/Dan Ryan*"
            }
        },
        {
            "type": "section",
            "text": {
                "type": "mrkdwn",
                "text": "8 minutes (Red)\n17 minutes (Red)"
            }
        },
        {
            "type": "divider"
        },
        {
            "type": "section",
            "text": {
                "type": "mrkdwn",
                "text": ":bear: *Service toward Kimball or Linden*"
            }
        },
        {
            "type": "section",
            "text": {
                "type": "mrkdwn",
                "text": "4 minutes (Brown)\n15 minutes (Brown)"
            }
        },
        {
            "type": "divider"
        },
        {
            "type": "section",
            "text": {
                "type": "mrkdwn",
                "text": ":bear: *Service toward Loop*"
            }
        },
        {
            "type": "section",
            "text": {
                "type": "mrkdwn",
                "text": "6 minutes (Brown)\n13 minutes (Brown)"
            }
        },
        {
            "type": "divider"
        },
        {
            "type": "context",
            "elements": [
                {
                    "type": "mrkdwn",
                    "text": ":stopwatch: Estimates generated at 08:21:26"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "type": "divider"
        }
    ]
}

which in Slack looks something like

Local Development

To run this project locally, create a secrets.js file in the root directory with the following environment variables:

process.env.CTA_TRAIN_TRACKER_API_URL = 'http://lapi.transitchicago.com/api/1.0/ttarrivals.aspx'
process.env.CTA_TRAIN_TRACKER_API_KEY = 'your key' // must be requested online @ https://www.transitchicago.com/developers/traintrackerapply/
process.env.SLACK_SIGNING_SECRET = 'your slack signing secret' // must create a Slack App first
process.env.CTA_TRAIN_STOP_API_URL = 'https://data.cityofchicago.org/resource/8mj8-j3c4.json'
process.env.CTA_TRAIN_STOP_API_TOKEN = 'your token' // must create an account and apply online @ https://data.cityofchicago.org/login

Then, run:

yarn start-dev