The DARL Bot

This bot interfaces with the DARL Bot framework to create a bot hosted on Azure. The functionality of the bot is determined by the bot model hosted on Darl.dev and any rulesets (skills) you attach.

Prerequisites

• .NET Core SDK version 2.1

  # determine dotnet version
  dotnet --version

To try this bot

• Set up the AppSettings.json. Create a free account at darl.dev and retrieve your API key as described here. You will automatically be given a sample bot model called "thousandquestions.model" which you can insert below.

  {
    "MicrosoftAppId": "The app id or empty for local testing",
    "MicrosoftAppPassword": "The app password or empty for local testing",
    "DarlAPIAddress": "https://darl.dev/graphql/",
    "DarlAPIKey": "The DARL API key for your account",
    "DarlBotModel": "The name of the bot model you are using",
    "initialText":  "Hello from DarlBot"
  }

• In a terminal, navigate to DarlCoreBot2

  # change into project folder
  cd # DarlCoreBot2

• Run the bot from a terminal or from Visual Studio, choose option A or B.

  A) From a terminal

  # run the bot
  dotnet run

  B) Or from Visual Studio

  • Launch Visual Studio
  • File -> Open -> Project/Solution
  • Navigate to DarlCoreBot2 folder
  • Select DarlCoreBot2.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 Bot Framework Emulator version 4.3.0 or greater 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

Deploy the bot to Azure

To learn more about deploying a bot to Azure, see Deploy your bot to Azure for a complete list of deployment instructions.

Further reading

• DARL Bot Framework
• Bot Framework Documentation
• Azure CLI
• Azure Portal
• Channels and Bot Connector Service