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I'd like to use html/js from MS BotFramework WebChat and BotFramework Emulator without subscribe on https://dev.botframework.com/

Is it possible? Thank you

Premier
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  • No, (one of the reasons is because you need to authenticate your app to use the bot connector to use the channels). Why is registration a problem? BTW: same question asked this morning... https://stackoverflow.com/questions/48073097/how-to-embed-webchat-control-in-website-to-connect-to-microsoft-bot-service-with – Nicolas R Jan 03 '18 at 14:21
  • Maybe it would be enought to implement the interface IBotConnection as explained here https://github.com/Microsoft/BotFramework-WebChat#replacing-directlinejs I'm investingating on it. Thank you – Premier Jan 05 '18 at 11:42
  • If you were able to fix it, it would be nice if you could share your solution. – MrDave1999 May 22 '22 at 17:10

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You basically have to implement your own Direct Line. It looks more complicated then it really is, but you still have to debug quite a while to understand the whole workflow. You have to implement a message stack for each conversation and the bot state functions (and maybe authentication).

The source code can be taken from the emulator without too much trouble. Though you should come up a better solution for storing conversations / messages in conversations / bot states and not just use ever-increasing arrays, to prevent running out of memory. Do some clean-up when a conversation ends (or have them only be alive a certain time when the user is idle) and cap the message history per conversation to something reasonable.

Almost everything you need to implement can be found in those files:

Conversation class and methods: https://github.com/Microsoft/BotFramework-Emulator/blob/e1ab20bde19a46325f0033f05b99d5182bfa1fed/src/server/conversationManager.ts

The part where the client talks to your direct line: https://github.com/Microsoft/BotFramework-Emulator/blob/master/src/server/controllers/directLine/conversationsControllerV3.ts

The part where the bot talks to your direct line: https://github.com/Microsoft/BotFramework-Emulator/blob/c014d0494cd4eaefa5e1b7d1fd6e745c1c2ad504/src/server/controllers/connector/conversationsController.ts

State management: https://github.com/Microsoft/BotFramework-Emulator/blob/d78992624a56b954fa3b1f097320220bf1b59e75/src/server/controllers/connector/botStateController.ts

Matti-Koopa
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The emulator can be used without registration; the intro samples will walk you through that.

As for WebChat... WebChat is simply a DirectLine client and out of the box requires registration. However, you could implement an offline version of DirectLine or use another one. There's one that's been put out there that's completely unofficial, but may meet your needs: https://github.com/ryanvolum/offline_dl. It has instructions on how to set this up with WebChat and no registration.

geektrainer
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You can develop a bot on your local machine and test it using the Bot Framework Emulator without a Bot Channels Registration.

If you want to connect your bot to a internet-deployed WebChat instance, you will need to create a Bot Channels Registration in Azure using either the free tier, or the premium tier (with enhanced SLA) in order to connect to Bot Framework channels including WebChat.

For more information on creating a Bot Channels Registration in Azure, see:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/bot-framework/bot-service-quickstart-registration

nwxdev
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  • I think that i've to implement a custom IBotConnection to use Botframework-WebChat with my backend, see https://github.com/Microsoft/BotFramework-WebChat#replacing-directlinejs I'm investrigating on it. If you have more suggestions please share, thank you. – Premier Jan 05 '18 at 11:40