microsoft-chat-bot-server-nodejs

serves a chat bot which accepts text or a button click from a Microsoft UI (like Teams), sends that text or button click through a chat bot client (like interact-chat-bot-client-nodejs), gets the response from the chat bot client in the form of texts and buttons, and displays those texts and buttons in the Microsoft UI

Bot Framework v4 using adaptive cards

This bot has been created using Bot Framework, it shows how to use suggested actions. Suggested actions enable your bot to present buttons that the user can tap to provide input.

Prerequisites

• Node.js version 10.14 or higher

  # determine node version
  node --version

To try this sample

• Clone the repository

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

• In a terminal, navigate to samples/javascript_nodejs/08.suggested-actions

  cd samples/javascript_nodejs/08.suggested-actions

• Install modules

  npm install

• Start the bot

  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 latest Bot Framework Emulator 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

Interacting with the bot

Suggested actions enable your bot to present buttons that the user can tap to provide input. Suggested actions appear close to the composer and enhance user experience. They enable the user to answer a question or make a selection with a simple tap of a button, rather than having to type a response with a keyboard.

Unlike buttons that appear within rich cards (which remain visible and accessible to the user even after being tapped), buttons that appear within the suggested actions pane will disappear after the user makes a selection. This prevents the user from tapping stale buttons within a conversation and simplifies bot development (since you will not need to account for that scenario).

Deploy the bot to Azure

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

Further reading

• Bot Framework Documentation
• Bot Basics
• Suggested Actions
• Bot State
• Activity processing
• Azure Bot Service Introduction
• Azure Bot Service Documentation
• Azure CLI
• Azure Portal
• Language Understanding using LUIS
• Channels and Bot Connector Service
• Restify
• dotenv