[New Command]: xkcd Command for XKCD Comics

[lcox74]

Summary

We propose adding an /xkcd [id] command to the bot. This command displays an XKCD comic in Discord. If an id is provided, it fetches that specific comic from https://xkcd.com/<id>. If not, it retrieves a random comic from https://c.xkcd.com/random/comic. The HTTP response is parsed using regex to extract the comic’s number, title, description, and img URL.

Problem / Motivation

• Developer Culture:
  As developers, integrating XKCD into our Discord bots isn’t just a feature—it’s a way of life. XKCD has been a staple in our communities on other servers and it represents a shared joke, tradition, and inspiration among us.

• Enhanced Engagement:
  Bringing this feature to our bot reinforces our community's identity and adds a fun, light-hearted element to our interactions.

• Future-Proofing:
  While our current Lua bindings (Driftwood) do not support embedded messages, the design is planned for future support. We like the embed style for its clean and attractive display; implementing this command now lays the groundwork for a smoother transition when embeds become available.

Command/Application Details

• Name:
  /xkcd

• Invocation / Trigger:

  • /xkcd — Fetches a random XKCD comic.
  • /xkcd 123 — Fetches the specific XKCD comic with the ID 123.

Purpose & Functionality:

• Data Retrieval:
  Based on the presence of an id, the command makes an HTTP GET request to either https://xkcd.com/<id> or https://c.xkcd.com/random/comic.

• Parsing Logic:
  The response is regex-parsed to extract the comic's details:

  • Number: The comic’s ID.
  • Title: The title of the comic.
  • Description: The alt-text or description.
  • Image URL: The URL for the comic image.

  Refer to our prior Python implementation for this logic.

• Display:
  The final output will be formatted as an embedded message. The embed design includes:

  • Title: Combined comic number and title.
  • Description: The comic’s alt-text/description.
  • Image: The comic image.
  • URL: A link to the comic on XKCD.

Note: Although Driftwood currently doesn’t support embedded messages, this layout is planned and will be implemented once embedded support is available.

• Parameters & Options:

  • id (optional, type: number): Specifies the comic to fetch. If omitted, the command returns a random XKCD comic.

• Permissions & Role Restrictions:

  • Available to all users—no additional permissions required.

Testing & Validation

Use busted and build some logical unit tests.

• Comic Parsing: Ensure that the comics are parsed correctly, have some dummy HTML responses and ensure that it can get the number, title, description and image_url.
• Invalid IDs: Validate error messaging when an invalid ID is provided by the user.
• HTTP Failures: Simulate network or HTTP errors to check robust error handling.