beerRecommender

Recommend beers to try based on user preferences.

This bot has been created using Microsoft Bot Framework.

My additions to the BasicBot from the SDK:

• Uses custom LUIS choice prompt class that first looks for LUIS intents and if not found, prevents a list of valid options
• Uses Bing Maps API to provide location of beer stores near user
• Uses rich cards
• Built in under 3 Days

Things I'd like to improve:

• Add more dialogue, especially for the greeting
• Use an API for beer styles and for creating LUIS intents for those styles
• Test edge cases. This was built for speed and there's likely a lot of user input that doesn't match the correct intent

To run this bot

• In a terminal,

  cd beerRecommender

• Install modules

  npm install

• Create required services
• Run the bot

  tsc && node ./lib/index.js

Prerequisite

Install TypeScript

In order to run this sample, you must have TypeScript installed. To install TypeScript:

• Navigate to the TypeScript portal.
• Click the Download button.
• Follow the installation instructions for your development environment.

Testing the bot using Bot Framework Emulator

Microsoft Bot Framework Emulator is a desktop application that allows bot developers to test and debug their bots on running locally or or running remotely in Microsoft Azure.

• Install the Bot Framework Emulator from here

Connect to the bot using Bot Framework Emulator v4

• Launch Bot Framework Emulator
• File -> Open Bot Configuration and navigate to beerRecommender folder
• Select beerRecommender.bot file

Deploy this bot to Azure

See DEPLOYMENT.md to learn more about deploying this bot to Azure and using the CLI tools to build the LUIS models this bot depends on.

Further Reading

• Bot Framework Documentation
• Bot basics
• Activity processing
• LUIS
• Prompt Types
• Azure Bot Service Introduction
• Channels and Bot Connector Service
• QnA Maker

Additional Resources

Dependencies

• Restify Used to host the web service for the bot, and for making REST calls
• dotenv Used to manage environmental variables

Project Structure

index.ts references the bot and starts a Restify server. bot.ts loads the main dialog router and determines how activities are processed.

Configuring the bot

The generator created a .env file with the two necessary keys botFilePath and botFileSecret. The botFilePath key is set to beerRecommender.bot. All of the services and their respective configuration settings are stored in the .bot file.

• For Azure Bot Service bots, you can find the botFileSecret under application settings.
• It is recommended that you encrypt your bot file before you commit it to your souce control system and/or before you deploy your bot to Azure or similar hosting service. There are two ways to encrypt your beerRecommender.bot file. You can use MSBot CLI to encrypt your bot file or you can use Bot Framework Emulator V4 to encrypt your bot file. Both options will product a botFileSecret for you. You will need to remember this in order to decrypt your .bot file.

Running the bot

tsc && node ./lib/index.js

Developing the bot

tsc && node ./lib/index.js