title: Telegram timed response
body: <p>I am currently working on a Telegram Bot using the python api. I am using this example here <a href="https://github.com/python-telegram-bot/python-telegram-bot/blob/master/examples/conversationbot.py" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/python-telegram-bot/python-telegram-bot/blob/master/examples/conversationbot.py</a>. With that example I want the bot to have a timed response. </p>
  
  <p>For example if the user does not respond within 30 sec send a "Are you still there message" or something and after 1 min end the conversation. The reason I want to implement something like this is because the conversation does not close if there is no response. It is in that state until the I end the script. Therefore the user can not send /start command to start all over. I was able to find this <a href="https://github.com/python-telegram-bot/python-telegram-bot/blob/master/telegram/ext/conversationhandler.py" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/python-telegram-bot/python-telegram-bot/blob/master/telegram/ext/conversationhandler.py</a> where it states I can enable allow_reentry. I did and it sort of solves that issue where the user can start a new converation over and over using the command /start. But I would still like to have the conversation end after a set amount of time. To end a conversation I need to return ConversationHandler.END</p>
  
  <p>I have tried a while loop counting down from 9 with a time.sleep of 2 each time. with it reading the response update.message.text but it only reads the command /start which means I can never advance in the script, unless I return it using return GENDER but I am not able to find a method in which I can tell when the user has chosen the gender to then return GENDER.</p>
  
  <p>So how do I implement an timer based response? Thank You</p>
  
  <p><pre></p>
  
  <code>from telegram import (ReplyKeyboardMarkup)
  from telegram.ext import (Updater, CommandHandler, MessageHandler, Filters, RegexHandler,
                            ConversationHandler)
  
  import logging
  
  # Enable logging
  logging.basicConfig(format='%(asctime)s - %(name)s - %(levelname)s - %(message)s',
                      level=logging.INFO)
  
  logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
  
  GENDER, PHOTO, LOCATION, BIO = range(4)
  
  
  def start(bot, update):
      reply_keyboard = [['Boy', 'Girl', 'Other']]
  
      bot.sendMessage(update.message.chat_id,
                      text='Hi! My name is Professor Bot. I will hold a conversation with you. '
                           'Send /cancel to stop talking to me.\n\n'
                           'Are you a boy or a girl?',
                      reply_markup=ReplyKeyboardMarkup(reply_keyboard, one_time_keyboard=True))
  
      return GENDER
  
  
  def gender(bot, update):
      user = update.message.from_user
      logger.info("Gender of %s: %s" % (user.first_name, update.message.text))
      bot.sendMessage(update.message.chat_id,
                      text='I see! Please send me a photo of yourself, '
                           'so I know what you look like, or send /skip if you don\'t want to.')
  
      return PHOTO
  
  
  def photo(bot, update):
      user = update.message.from_user
      photo_file = bot.getFile(update.message.photo[-1].file_id)
      photo_file.download('user_photo.jpg')
      logger.info("Photo of %s: %s" % (user.first_name, 'user_photo.jpg'))
      bot.sendMessage(update.message.chat_id, text='Gorgeous! Now, send me your location please, '
                                                   'or send /skip if you don\'t want to.')
  
      return LOCATION
  
  
  def skip_photo(bot, update):
      user = update.message.from_user
      logger.info("User %s did not send a photo." % user.first_name)
      bot.sendMessage(update.message.chat_id, text='I bet you look great! Now, send me your '
                                                   'location please, or send /skip.')
  
      return LOCATION
  
  
  def location(bot, update):
      user = update.message.from_user
      user_location = update.message.location
      logger.info("Location of %s: %f / %f"
                  % (user.first_name, user_location.latitude, user_location.longitude))
      bot.sendMessage(update.message.chat_id, text='Maybe I can visit you sometime! '
                                                   'At last, tell me something about yourself.')
  
      return BIO
  
  
  def skip_location(bot, update):
      user = update.message.from_user
      logger.info("User %s did not send a location." % user.first_name)
      bot.sendMessage(update.message.chat_id, text='You seem a bit paranoid! '
                                                   'At last, tell me something about yourself.')
  
      return BIO
  
  
  def bio(bot, update):
      user = update.message.from_user
      logger.info("Bio of %s: %s" % (user.first_name, update.message.text))
      bot.sendMessage(update.message.chat_id,
                      text='Thank you! I hope we can talk again some day.')
  
      return ConversationHandler.END
  
  
  def cancel(bot, update):
      user = update.message.from_user
      logger.info("User %s canceled the conversation." % user.first_name)
      bot.sendMessage(update.message.chat_id,
                      text='Bye! I hope we can talk again some day.')
  
      return ConversationHandler.END
  
  
  def error(bot, update, error):
      logger.warn('Update "%s" caused error "%s"' % (update, error))
  
  
  def main():
      # Create the EventHandler and pass it your bot's token.
      updater = Updater("TOKEN")
  
      # Get the dispatcher to register handlers
      dp = updater.dispatcher
  
      # Add conversation handler with the states GENDER, PHOTO, LOCATION and BIO
      conv_handler = ConversationHandler(
          entry_points=[CommandHandler('start', start)],
  
          states={
              GENDER: [RegexHandler('^(Boy|Girl|Other)$', gender)],
  
              PHOTO: [MessageHandler([Filters.photo], photo),
                      CommandHandler('skip', skip_photo)],
  
              LOCATION: [MessageHandler([Filters.location], location),
                         CommandHandler('skip', skip_location)],
  
              BIO: [MessageHandler([Filters.text], bio)]
          },
  
          fallbacks=[CommandHandler('cancel', cancel)],
  
         allow_reentry=True
  
      )
  
      dp.add_handler(conv_handler)
  
      # log all errors
      dp.add_error_handler(error)
  
      # Start the Bot
      updater.start_polling()
  
      # Run the bot until the you presses Ctrl-C or the process receives SIGINT,
      # SIGTERM or SIGABRT. This should be used most of the time, since
      # start_polling() is non-blocking and will stop the bot gracefully.
      updater.idle()
  </code></pre>