Todo bot with LUIS and QnA Maker

This sample demonstrates using Adaptive dialog, Language Generation features with LUIS and QnA Maker to demonstrate an end-to-end ToDo bot in action.

Prerequisites

• .NET Core SDK version 3.1

  # determine dotnet version
  dotnet --version

• Configure the necessary LUIS and QnA maker applications required to run this sample

To try this sample

• Clone the repository

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

• Run the bot from a terminal or from Visual Studio:

  A) From a terminal, navigate to samples/csharp_dotnetcore/adaptive-dialog/08.todo-bot-luis-qnamaker

  # run the bot
  dotnet run

  B) Or from Visual Studio

  • Launch Visual Studio
  • File -> Open -> Project/Solution
  • Navigate to samples/csharp_dotnetcore/adaptive-dialog/08.todo-bot-luis-qnamaker folder
  • Select ToDoBotWithLUISAndQnAMaker.csproj file
  • Press F5 to run the project

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

Setup

Using CLI

• Install nodejs version 10.14 or higher
• Install required CLI tools

> npm i -g @microsoft/botframework-cli

• In a command prompt, navigate to samples/csharp_dotnetcore/adaptive-dialog/08.todo-bot-luis-qnamaker
• In order for interruption to work effectively, you need to generate LU models that are cross-trained.
  • Cross training requires a definition of your dialog hierarchy. See Dialogs/DialogLuHierarchy.config.json as an example.

> cd Dialogs
> bf luis:cross-train --in . --out ../generated --config DialogLuHierarchy.config.json --force

• Get your LUIS authoring key
• To create, train and pubish LUIS applications for this bot

> bf luis:build --in ../generated --out ../generated --log --force --botName TodoBotWithLuisAndQnA --authoringKey <Your LUIS Authoring key>

• This command writes out a bunch of .dialog files (which are useful if you are using declarative form of adaptive dialogs) as well as luis.settings.<youralias>.<region>.json file.
• Add the application IDs for the created applications from luis.settings.<youralias>.<region>.json to appsettings.
• Note: You can just re-run bf luis:build command as you make changes to your .lu content. The command will smartly update only those applications that have changes.
• Get your QnA Maker subscription key
• Run qnamaker:build to create/ update, train and publish QnA Maker KBs required to run this bot. The content for the KB comes from .qna files under dialogs.

> bf qnamaker:build --in ../generated --out ../generated --botName TodoBotWithLuisAndQnA --log --force --subscriptionKey <Your QnA subscription key>

• This command writes out a bunch of .dialog files (which are useful if you are using declarative form of adaptive dialogs) as well as qnamaker.settings.<youralias>.<region>.json file.
• Add the KB IDs for the created applications from qnamaker.settings.<youralias>.<region>.json to appsettings.json.

Further reading

• Adaptive dialogs
• Language generation
• Adaptive Expressions
• .lu file format
• .lg file format
• .qna file format
• Bot Framework Documentation
• Bot Basics
• Activity processing
• Azure Bot Service Introduction
• Azure Bot Service Documentation
• .NET Core CLI tools
• Azure CLI
• Azure Portal
• Language Understanding using LUIS
• Channels and Bot Connector Service