DEV Community: Benyamin Khalife

WebVTT Parser (PHP) Library

Benyamin Khalife — Mon, 26 May 2025 10:53:22 +0000

What is WebVTT?

For those unfamiliar, WebVTT (Web Video Text Tracks) is a standard format used for displaying subtitles, captions, or chapter markers in web videos. It’s widely supported by modern browsers like Chrome and Firefox and plays a crucial role in making video content accessible, especially for people with hearing impairments.

Why vtt-parser?

The vtt-parser library is a lightweight, dependency-free PHP tool designed to simplify working with WebVTT files.

Key Features

Load and parse WebVTT files
Extract timing information
Validate subtitle structure

Getting Started

To start using vtt-parser, install it via Composer:

composer require webrium/vtt-parser

How to Use It

Let’s walk through a simple example to see how vtt-parser works in action.

Step 1: Include the Library

First, include Composer’s autoloader and import the TextParser class:

require 'vendor/autoload.php';
use Webrium\VttParser\TextParser;

Step 2: Load a WebVTT File

Create an instance of TextParser and load your WebVTT file using the openFile method:

$parser = new TextParser();
$filePath = '/path/to/your/subtitles.vtt';
$fileName = 'subtitles.vtt';

if ($parser->openFile($filePath, $fileName)) {
    // File loaded successfully
} else {
    // Handle error
}

Step 3: Parse the File

Use the parse method to extract subtitle data:

$subtitles = $parser->parse();

This returns an array of subtitle blocks, like so:

[
    [
        'time' => [
            'start' => '00:00:01.000',
            'end'   => '00:00:04.000'
        ],
        'text' => 'Hello, world!'
    ],
    // Other blocks...
]

Step 4: Validate the Structure

To check if your WebVTT file is properly formatted, use the textValidation method:

$validation = $parser->textValidation();
if ($validation['ok']) {
    echo "Subtitles are valid.";
} else {
    echo "Errors: " . implode(', ', $validation['errors']);
}

Use Cases:

Developing subtitle editing tools
Analyzing subtitle data for research

SQL And PHP: People whose birthday is today

Benyamin Khalife — Fri, 23 May 2025 12:58:06 +0000

How do we find a list of people whose birthday is today from a database and perform an operation on them?

To start, we add the Foxdb library:

composer require webrium\foxdb

In this way, write the default configuration for using the library and change it according to your project.

use Foxdb\DB;
use Foxdb\Config;
use Foxdb\DB;

DB::addConnection('main', [
    'host'=>'localhost',
    'port'=>'3306',

    'database'=>'test',
    'username'=>'root',
    'password'=>'1234',

    'charset'=>Config::UTF8,
    'collation'=>Config::UTF8_GENERAL_CI,
    'fetch'=>Config::FETCH_CLASS
]);

Now, using a simple query, we can get the list of people whose birthday is today.

$list = DB::table('users')
        ->month('birth_date', date('m'))
        ->day('birth_date', date('d'))  
          ->get();

See the GitHub repository and documentation at the link below.

FoxDB Documentation

Download photo from Telegram Bot !

Benyamin Khalife — Fri, 23 May 2025 11:11:11 +0000

In the last Changes in 2.0.0.beta2 version, we can download photos sent in the Bot from Telegram servers and save them on our own server

Install the Botfire library using Composer:

composer require botfire/botfire:2.0.0.beta2

To download a photo:

// Where to store photos on the server
$dir = __DIR__.'/photos/';

Bot::message()->photo()->last()->download($dir);

By executing the download method as in the example above, the file is saved in the path we specified in $dir

With the forEach method, we can iterate through all the images of different sizes.

    Bot::message()->photo()->forEach(function(Photo $photo)use($dir){
        $name = $photo->getWidth().'_@name';
        $photo->download($dir, $name);
    });

In the line $name = $photo->getWidth().'_@name'; we customize the filename. We add the width value to the beginning of the filename.
The @name expression in the download function is replaced with the original file name, giving us more flexibility in renaming the image.

I think the same structure would be suitable for other file types as well. So audio, video, and other types should be implemented and appropriate comments and documentation should be created for them.

Send and receive photo from the Telegram bot

Benyamin Khalife — Mon, 19 May 2025 16:07:39 +0000

The next important feature that needed to be implemented was the ability to send photos.

Sending photos in a Telegram bot with BotFire

There are three ways to send a photo.

Send via link

For example, we have a picture that can be downloaded from the address https://download.samplelib.com/png/sample-bumblebee-400x300.png. Using the link, the file can be sent to the bot.
Example:

$link = 'https://download.samplelib.com/png/sample-bumblebee-400x300.png';

Bot::new()->photo($link)->send();

Send photo contents

In this method, our file does not need to be accessible via a link. Our file exists somewhere on the server and can be sent using Bot::inputFile.

Example:

$file = Bot::inputFile(__DIR__.'/assets/test.png');
Bot::new()->photo($file)->send();

How to add a caption to a photo?

Bot::new()->photo($file)->caption('Hello caption 😃')->send();

Receive a photo from the client in the bot

To find out whether the type of message the client sent to the bot is a photo or not, we can do the following:

if(Bot::message()->type() == Message::TYPE_PHOTO){
 // ...
}

If the client has sent a photo, we can access its information through the photo method.

Telegram sends us a file_id which contains a unuque identifier and if you save this identifier you can send the photo later without having to upload it again (more information)

if(Bot::message()->type() == Message::TYPE_PHOTO){

  $file_id = Bot::message()->photo()->first()->fileId();

}

Telegram sends us an array of images of different sizes, the first one being the lowest and the last one being the highest resolution and size.
In the example above, we received the first one. Other methods are also available.

Method	Description
first	Returns the first value
last	Reterns the last value
count	Number of arrays
indexOf	Returns the value based on its index.
asArray	Returns the entire array in its entirety.

If the photo has a caption, you can get it like this:

$caption = Bot::message()->caption();

If there is no caption, it returns null.

Now, if you have access to the file_id, you can resend that image in the same way as explained:


$file_id = $file_id = Bot::message()->photo()->last()->fileId();

bot::new()->photo($file_id)->caption('New Caption ...')->send();

Managing CallbackQuery and message types in Telegram bots

Benyamin Khalife — Sat, 17 May 2025 18:29:37 +0000

Continuing from the previous article, this time I will describe the changes I made to the library.

The user in the Telegram bot can send different types of messages, such as text messages, photos, videos, etc. In some cases, we need to know what type of message the client has sent so that we can respond to it accordingly, or perhaps we need to limit the type of message for the client

So, a method had to be created to detect the type of message sent by the client, and as a result, the message type could be received using the following method:

$type =  Bot::message()->type();

I think this is a clean and simple syntax, don't you?

The values it returns are one of these:
'text', 'photo', 'video', 'audio', 'document', 'sticker', 'animation', 'location', 'contact', 'poll'

I also put the consts of these types in the message method, which are:

const TYPE_TEXT = 'text';
const TYPE_PHOTO = 'photo';
const TYPE_VIDEO = 'video';
const TYPE_AUDIO = 'audio';
const TYPE_DOCUMENT = 'document';
const TYPE_STICKER = 'sticker';
const TYPE_ANIMATION = 'animation';
const TYPE_LOCATION = 'location';
const TYPE_CONTACT = 'contact';
const TYPE_POLL = 'poll';
const TYPE_MESSAGE = 'message';

These constants are accessible from the Message class, so creating a condition to check the type of user message could look something like this:

if(Bot::message()->type() == Message::TYPE_TEXT){
    // Do something.
}
else{
    Bot::new()->text('Please send your message as text.')->send();
}

What is your opinion about this structure? I would be happy if you share it with me.

Detecting a query callback in a Telegram bot

There is another type of message. When the client clicks on an inline button In this case, Telegram sends us a Callback that also contains the data object of that message.

I created the isCallbackQuery method for this purpose, which can be used as follows:

if ( Bot::isCallbackQuery() ) {

    $data = Bot::callback()->data();

    Bot::new()->text("🛜 Get Callback Query:\nData : $data")->send();
}

So if the value of Bot::isCallbackQuery() is true, we know that the client has clicked a button. In this case, we have access to the callback method and we can get the data of the button that the client clicked using Bot::callback()->data()

View on GitHub: BotFire

This library is under development and is not yet ready for use.

Telegram Bot Library Development with PHP

Benyamin Khalife — Fri, 16 May 2025 15:02:26 +0000

What suggestions or criticisms do you have for me?

I previously developed a version of the library, although it was not popular, but it was great for me and helped me build various commercial projects using it.

Probably the lack of writing strong documentation and not creating content to introduce and teach its use caused it to be unknown

This time I am rewriting it. The goal of this rewriting is to create a more modern, simpler and cleaner syntax. Also, new features and methods should be added to it

For example, sending a simple message will be as easy as this:

Message::create('Hello world')->send();

Its basic structure is being implemented
I don't know if there is interest in contributing to it or not, if you are interested, now is the time 😁

https://github.com/botfire/botfire