/ComosDb-State-Bot

A Microsoft Bot Framework Bot that uses CosmosDB to store Custom State Data.

Primary LanguageC#

ComosDb State Bot

A fully working sample of a Microsoft Bot Framework Bot that uses CosmosDB to store Custom State Data.

This sample builds on the blog post "Manage custom state data with Azure Cosmos DB for .NET" and is a fully implemented sample of the default Visual Studio Bot Project Template Sample.

Prerequisites

Set up the Azure Cosmos DB database

  1. After you’ve logged into the Azure portal, create a new Azure Cosmos DB database by clicking New.
  2. Click Databases.
  3. Find Azure Cosmos DB and click Create.
  4. Fill in the fields. For the API field, select SQL (DocumentDB). When done filling in all the fields, click the Create button at the bottom of the screen to deploy the new database.
  5. After the new database is deployed, navigate to your new database. Click Access keys to find keys and connection strings. Your bot will use this information to call the storage service to save state data.

Install NuGet packages

  1. Open an existing C# bot project, or create a new one using the Bot template in Visual Studio.
  2. Install the following NuGet packages:
  • Microsoft.Bot.Builder.Azure
  • Autofac.WebApi2

Make sure to update all NuGet Packages! The project may not compile without the latest versions!

Replace the CosmosDB URI and CosmosDB Key in the Web.config file with the values displayed in the Azure Portal.

Run your bot app

Run your bot in Visual Studio, the code you added will create the custom botdata table in Azure CosmosDB.

Connect your bot to the emulator

At this point, your bot is running locally. Next, start the emulator and then connect to your bot in the emulator:

  1. Type http://localhost:port-number/api/messages into the address bar, where port-number matches the port number shown in the browser where your application is running. You can leave Microsoft App ID and Microsoft App Password fields blank for local testing.
  2. Click Connect.
  3. Test your bot by typing a few messages in the emulator.

View state data on Azure Portal

To view the state data, sign into your Azure portal and navigate to your database. Click Data Explorer to verify that the state information from your bot is being saved.