Developing a Telegram channel for notifications about 1C-Bitrix orders

Developing a Telegram Order Notification Channel for 1C-Bitrix

A Telegram order notification channel is not the same as a bot with private messages. The channel is designed for the team: managers, warehouse operators, and couriers all receive notifications about new orders, status changes, and critical events in a shared stream. This is faster than email and does not require each employee to connect a personal bot. Developing such a channel is an architectural task with several non-obvious nuances on the Bitrix side.

Telegram Channel vs Telegram Bot: Implementation Differences

Personal bot — messages go to the chat_id of a specific user. Opt-in is required, and the chat_id of each employee must be stored.

Channel — messages are published to the channel, all subscribers see them simultaneously. The bot must be added to the channel as an administrator with publish rights. The channel's chat_id is static and never changes.

Group/supergroup — a hybrid: employees can reply, discuss orders, and the bot publishes events. For a team, this is preferable to a channel.

For order notifications, a supergroup is more commonly chosen: a manager can reply to a message with "accepted" or add a comment directly in the chat.

How It Works

[Event in Bitrix] → [Event Handler] → [Message Formatter]
       ↓
[Telegram Bot API: sendMessage / sendPhoto]
       ↓
[Team Channel / Group]

The bot is a technical account with a token. The channel/group is the destination. The bot is added to the channel/group via @telegram → Add Member → @your_bot.

Formatting Order Messages

Telegram supports HTML and Markdown. For orders — a structured HTML message:

class OrderNotificationFormatter
{
    public static function newOrder(\Bitrix\Sale\Order $order): string
    {
        $basket = $order->getBasket();
        $props = $order->getPropertyCollection();

        $name  = $props->getPayerName()?->getValue() ?? 'Not specified';
        $phone = $props->getPhone()?->getValue() ?? '—';
        $email = $props->getUserEmail()?->getValue() ?? '—';

        $itemLines = [];
        foreach ($basket as $item) {
            $itemLines[] = sprintf(
                '  • %s × %d = %s',
                htmlspecialchars($item->getField('NAME')),
                (int)$item->getQuantity(),
                number_format($item->getFinalPrice(), 0, '.', ' ')
            );
        }

        $deliveryName = $order->getDeliverySystemName() ?? 'Not selected';
        $paySystemName = $order->getPaySystemName() ?? 'Not selected';

        return sprintf(
            "🛒 <b>New Order #%d</b>\n\n" .
            "👤 %s\n" .
            "📞 %s\n" .
            "✉️ %s\n\n" .
            "<b>Items:</b>\n%s\n\n" .
            "💰 <b>Total: %s</b>\n" .
            "🚚 %s\n" .
            "💳 %s\n\n" .
            "<a href=\"https://%s/bitrix/admin/sale_order_detail.php?ID=%d\">Open in admin panel</a>",
            $order->getId(),
            htmlspecialchars($name),
            htmlspecialchars($phone),
            htmlspecialchars($email),
            implode("\n", $itemLines),
            number_format($order->getPrice(), 0, '.', ' '),
            htmlspecialchars($deliveryName),
            htmlspecialchars($paySystemName),
            $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'],
            $order->getId()
        );
    }

    public static function statusChange(\Bitrix\Sale\Order $order, string $oldStatus): string
    {
        $statusList = \CSaleStatus::GetListArray();
        $oldName = $statusList[$oldStatus]['NAME'] ?? $oldStatus;
        $newName = $statusList[$order->getField('STATUS_ID')]['NAME'] ?? $order->getField('STATUS_ID');

        return sprintf(
            "🔄 <b>Order #%d</b>: %s → <b>%s</b>",
            $order->getId(),
            htmlspecialchars($oldName),
            htmlspecialchars($newName)
        );
    }

    public static function lowStock(int $productId, string $productName, float $quantity): string
    {
        return sprintf(
            "⚠️ <b>Low stock:</b> %s\nRemaining: %s pcs.\nID: %d",
            htmlspecialchars($productName),
            number_format($quantity, 0),
            $productId
        );
    }
}

Event Handler with Channel Posting

// /local/php_interface/init.php
use Local\Telegram\ChannelBot;
use Local\Telegram\OrderNotificationFormatter;

$em = \Bitrix\Main\EventManager::getInstance();

// New order
$em->addEventHandler('sale', 'OnSaleOrderSaved', function (\Bitrix\Main\Event $event) {
    $order = $event->getParameter('ENTITY');
    if (!$order->isNew()) {
        return;
    }

    $message = OrderNotificationFormatter::newOrder($order);
    ChannelBot::post($message);
});

// Status change
$em->addEventHandler('sale', 'OnSaleOrderStatusChange', function (\Bitrix\Main\Event $event) {
    $order = $event->getParameter('ENTITY');
    $oldStatus = $event->getParameter('OLD_STATUS');

    $message = OrderNotificationFormatter::statusChange($order, $oldStatus);
    ChannelBot::post($message);
});

Channel Posting Class

// /local/lib/Telegram/ChannelBot.php
namespace Local\Telegram;

use Bitrix\Main\Config\Configuration;

class ChannelBot
{
    private static function getConfig(): array
    {
        return Configuration::getValue('telegram_channel') ?? [];
    }

    public static function post(string $text, array $options = []): ?array
    {
        $config = self::getConfig();
        $token  = $config['bot_token'] ?? '';
        $chatId = $config['channel_id'] ?? ''; // e.g.: -1001234567890

        if (!$token || !$chatId) {
            return null;
        }

        $payload = array_merge([
            'chat_id'                  => $chatId,
            'text'                     => $text,
            'parse_mode'               => 'HTML',
            'disable_web_page_preview' => true,
        ], $options);

        $ch = curl_init('https://api.telegram.org/bot' . $token . '/sendMessage');
        curl_setopt_array($ch, [
            CURLOPT_POST           => true,
            CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS     => json_encode($payload),
            CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER     => ['Content-Type: application/json'],
            CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
            CURLOPT_TIMEOUT        => 5,
        ]);

        $raw      = curl_exec($ch);
        $httpCode = curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);
        curl_close($ch);

        if ($httpCode !== 200) {
            \Bitrix\Main\Diag\Debug::writeToFile(
                "Telegram channel error {$httpCode}: {$raw}",
                '', '/local/logs/telegram.log'
            );
            return null;
        }

        return json_decode($raw, true);
    }

    public static function postPhoto(string $photoUrl, string $caption = ''): ?array
    {
        $config = self::getConfig();
        return self::callApi('sendPhoto', [
            'chat_id'   => $config['channel_id'],
            'photo'     => $photoUrl,
            'caption'   => $caption,
            'parse_mode' => 'HTML',
        ]);
    }

    private static function callApi(string $method, array $payload): ?array
    {
        $config = self::getConfig();
        $ch = curl_init('https://api.telegram.org/bot' . $config['bot_token'] . '/' . $method);
        curl_setopt_array($ch, [
            CURLOPT_POST           => true,
            CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS     => json_encode($payload),
            CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER     => ['Content-Type: application/json'],
            CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
            CURLOPT_TIMEOUT        => 5,
        ]);
        $raw = curl_exec($ch);
        curl_close($ch);
        return json_decode($raw, true);
    }
}

Configuration in /bitrix/.settings.php:

'telegram_channel' => [
    'value' => [
        'bot_token'  => '7654321:AAbcdef...',
        'channel_id' => '-1001234567890',
    ],
],

The channel_id for a channel starts with -100. You can find it by forwarding a message from the channel to @userinfobot.

Additional Events for the Operations Team Channel

Beyond orders, the following are useful to broadcast to the operations channel:

• Low stock — triggered via a Bitrix agent that checks b_catalog_store_product WHERE AMOUNT < THRESHOLD every hour
• Export errors to 1C — b_event_log with type SALE_EXCHANGE_ERROR
• Large order — if b_sale_order.PRICE > N, a separate message with a flag
• Abandoned cart for more than 3 hours — via a query to b_sale_basket filtered by date

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