Azure Bot template - BotApplication

Question

I downloaded Azure bot template. right now my bot is working and replying an echo of what i said and how many characters it had when I run it with the bot framework emulator. but i want my bot to start a conversation. how do i do that? i want the bot to say hello first regardless to a user input. the method "post async" only prints the message to the chat after input was received from the user.

code:

namespace BotApplication1.Dialogs
{
    [Serializable]
    public class RootDialog : IDialog<object>
    {
        public Task StartAsync(IDialogContext context)
        {
            Microsoft.Bot.Builder.Dialogs.Internals.IBotToUser($"Hi! Please type in a name of a public figure!");//compile time error
            context.PostAsync($"Hello user");//prints the "hello user" only after user input
            context.Wait(MessageReceivedAsync);

            return Task.CompletedTask;
        }

        private async Task MessageReceivedAsync(IDialogContext context, IAwaitable<object> result)
        {
            var activity = await result as Activity;

            // Calculate something for us to return
            int length = (activity.Text ?? string.Empty).Length;

            // Return our reply to the user
            await context.PostAsync($"You sent {activity.Text} which was {length} characters");

            context.Wait(MessageReceivedAsync);
        }
    }
}

any help? if not here then where to ask???? please!

thank you

Hadas

Answer 1

You should add the welcome message in the conversationUpdate in the MessagesController not in the RootDialog.

If your bot receives a conversationUpdate activity indicating that a user has joined the conversation, you may choose to have it respond by sending a welcome message to that user.

Demo code.

if (message.Type == ActivityTypes.ConversationUpdate)
    {
        // Handle conversation state changes, like members being added and removed
        // Use Activity.MembersAdded and Activity.MembersRemoved and Activity.Action for info
        // Not available in all channels

        // Note: Add introduction here:
        IConversationUpdateActivity update = message;
        var client = new ConnectorClient(new Uri(message.ServiceUrl), new MicrosoftAppCredentials());
        if (update.MembersAdded != null && update.MembersAdded.Any())
        {
            foreach (var newMember in update.MembersAdded)
            {
                if (newMember.Id != message.Recipient.Id)
                {
                    var reply = message.CreateReply();
                    reply.Text = $"Welcome {newMember.Name}!";
                    client.Conversations.ReplyToActivityAsync(reply);
                }
            }
        }
    }