80.skills-simple-bot-to-bot

simple-bot-to-bot Echo Skill

Bot Framework v4 Skills Echo sample.

This bot has been created using Bot Framework, it shows how to create a simple RootBot that sends message activities to a SkillBot that echoes it back.

Prerequisites

• Node.js version 10.14 or higher

  # determine node version
  node --version
  

Key concepts in this sample

The solution includes a parent bot (simple-root-bot) and a skill bot (echo-skill-bot) and shows how the parent bot can post activities to the skill bot.

• simple-root-bot: this project shows how to consume an echo skill and includes:
  • A RootBot that calls the echo skill and keeps the conversation active until the user says "end" or "stop". RootBot also keeps track of the conversation with the skill and handles the EndOfConversation activity received from the skill to terminate the conversation
  • A simple SkillConversationIdFactory based on an in memory dictionary that creates and maintains conversation IDs used to interact with a skill
  • A SkillsConfiguration class that can load skill definitions from .env
  • An AllowedSkillsClaimsValidator class that is used to authenticate that responses sent to the bot are coming from the configured skills
  • An index.js class that shows how to register the different skill components. This file also reigisters a skillEndpoint that is used to handle responses sent from the skills
• echo-skill-bot: this project shows a simple echo skill that receives message activities from the parent bot and echoes what the user said. This project includes:
  • A sample EchoBot that shows how to send EndOfConversation based on the message sent to the skill and yield control back to the parent bot
  • A sample AllowedCallersClaimsValidator that shows how validate that the skill is only invoked from a list of allowed callers
  • A sample skill manifest that describes what the skill can do

To try this sample

• Clone the repository

  git clone https://github.com/microsoft/botbuilder-samples.git

• (Optionally) Create a bot registration in the azure portal for the echo-skill-bot and update echo-skill-bot/.env with the MicrosoftAppId and MicrosoftAppPassword of the new bot registration

• (Optionally) Create a bot registration in the azure portal for the simple-root-bot and update simple-root-bot/.env with the MicrosoftAppId and MicrosoftAppPassword of the new bot registration

• (Optionally) Update the SkillAppId variable in simple-root-bot/.env with the AppId for the skill you created in the previous step

• (Optionally) Add the simple-root-bot MicrosoftAppId to the AllowedCallers comma separated list in echo-skill-bot/.env

• In a terminal, navigate to samples\javascript_nodejs\80.skills-simple-bot-to-bot\echo-skill-bot

  cd samples\javascript_nodejs\80.skills-simple-bot-to-bot\echo-skill-bot

• Install npm modules and start the bot

  npm install
  npm start

• Open a second terminal window and navigate to samples\javascript_nodejs\80.skills-simple-bot-to-bot\simple-root-bot

  cd samples\javascript_nodejs\80.skills-simple-bot-to-bot\simple-root-bot

• Install npm modules and start the bot

  npm install
  npm start

Testing the bot using Bot Framework Emulator

Bot Framework Emulator is a desktop application that allows bot developers to test and debug their bots on localhost or running remotely through a tunnel.

• Install the Bot Framework Emulator version 4.9.0 or greater from here

Connect to the bot using Bot Framework Emulator

• Launch Bot Framework Emulator
• File -> Open Bot
• Enter a Bot URL of http://localhost:3978/api/messages, the MicrosoftAppId and MicrosoftAppPassword for the simple-root-bot

Deploy the bots to Azure

To learn more about deploying a bot to Azure, see Deploy your bot to Azure for a complete list of deployment instructions.