Bot Starter Template for v4.5.0

This can be used as a starter template for a .net bot with the latest patterns and practices.

At this time, there is no NodeJS equivalent (but that would make a great pull request).

There is an official template for Bot Framework v4.5.0 which you can see here: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=BotBuilder.botbuilderv4

The official template provides three starter options which may or may not be useful. The Core bot is the most comprehensive and complete.

This sample is complimentary to the official template and Bot Framework Samples. Many of the patterns used in this sample are taken from common patterns seen in these official samples.

This sample includes the following:

• Bot project with v4.5.0 Microsoft.Bot.Builder.* NuGet packages
• Up-to-date patterns around StartUp.cs, Program.cs, BotController.cs, the main ActivityHandler architecture and dialog constrctors
• Basic dialog system with a root dialog and multiple child dialogs
• Global state being updated and used accross ActivityHandler and Dialogs
• Passing objects to dialogs on construction
• Strings using RESX files
• A placeholder (commented out) example of using Dispatch, Luis and QNAMaker

To use

There are multiple ways you can use this project.

Install the Visual Studio 2019 template

There is a Visual Studio 2019 template based on the contents of the src folder in this repository.

To use the VSIX, follow these steps (steps optimized for Visual Studio 2019)

1. Download StarterBot.vsix from here
2. Install StarterBot.vsix
3. Launch Visual Studio 2019
4. Create new project
5. Search for "starterbot"
6. Select the StarterBot template
7. Set a Project name, Location and Solution name as required and Create

This is only compatible with Visual Studio 2019. If you have Visual Studio 2017, see the 'Clone and rename' section.

This is the simplest way to use this template, but may not always be up-to-date because the VSIX needs to be manually built and is not automated on every commit. If you want to be sure to have the latest version, please see the 'Clone and rename' section.

You can see the VSIX project itself at /vsix/src.

Clone and rename

You can clone this repository and adapt to suit your needs.

This approach is appropriate if you want the very latest version of the template or simply want to explore the code without creating a new project.

Follow these steps:

1. Clone this repository
2. Rename the /src/StarterBot.sln solution in Visual Studio
3. Rename the /src/StarterBot.csproj project in Visual Studio
4. Set your new namespace in the project settings
5. Find and replace all instances of namespace StarterBot with your new namespace
6. Replace all instances of StarterBot in the resource files (SharedStrings.resx, CountryStrings.resx, NameAgeStrings.resx and RootStrings.resx ) with your new namespace by simple re-saving the resource files

Credits

This was a collaborative effort between these main contributors:

• Martin Kearn, Microsoft
• Ibrahim Kivanc, Microsoft
• Martin Simecek, Microsoft
• Jamie Dalton, Microsoft