Add a file= parameter to client.send_message()

readthedocs/extra/basic/working-with-updates.rst

@@ -99,6 +99,10 @@ done! The event that will be passed always is of type ``XYZ.Event`` (for
 instance, ``NewMessage.Event``), except for the ``Raw`` event which just
 passes the ``Update`` object.
 
+Note that ``.reply()`` and ``.respond()`` are just wrappers around the
+``client.send_message()`` method which supports the ``file=`` parameter.
+This means you can reply with a photo if you do ``client.reply(file=photo)``.
+
 You can put the same event on many handlers, and even different events on
 the same handler. You can also have a handler work on only specific chats,
 for example:

telethon/telegram_client.py

@@ -667,8 +667,8 @@ class TelegramClient(TelegramBareClient):
 
         return message, msg_entities
 
-    def send_message(self, entity, message, reply_to=None, parse_mode='md',
-                     link_preview=True):
+    def send_message(self, entity, message='', reply_to=None, parse_mode='md',
+                     link_preview=True, file=None, force_document=False):
         """
         Sends the given message to the specified entity (user/chat/channel).
 
@@ -692,9 +692,26 @@ class TelegramClient(TelegramBareClient):
             link_preview (:obj:`bool`, optional):
                 Should the link preview be shown?
 
+            file (:obj:`file`, optional):
+                Sends a message with a file attached (e.g. a photo,
+                video, audio or document). The ``message`` may be empty.
+
+            force_document (:obj:`bool`, optional):
+                Whether to send the given file as a document or not.
+
         Returns:
             the sent message
         """
+        if file is not None:
+            return self.send_file(
+                entity, file, caption=message, reply_to=reply_to,
+                parse_mode=parse_mode, force_document=force_document
+            )
+        elif not message:
+            raise ValueError(
+                'The message cannot be empty unless a file is provided'
+            )
+
         entity = self.get_input_entity(entity)
         if isinstance(message, Message):
             if (message.media