I have built an app that needs to connect to a Bot DirectLine - websockets channel to interact in conversations via LUIS and sms with Twilio.
To make the bot talk to the app I wrote a mvc controller that relays messages.
I am not sure this approach is correct, I made it up from some samples.
It works, but the main problem is that my code seems to always start a new conversation when a message is received from the client, so the context is not maintained.
How can I keep the conversation flowing and not restarting at every message?
I mean, the steps should be, for example:
Bot: Hello, what's your name?
User: Carl
Bot: Pleased to meet you Carl!
instead I get:
Bot: Hello, what's your name?
User: Carl
Bot: Sorry, I can't help you with that.
like the conversation is restarted from scratch.
Here is my controller code (the Twilio webhook is set to https://mySmsMVCapp.azurewebsites.net/smsapp/):
public class smsappController : TwilioController
{
private static string directLineSecret = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["DirectLineSecret"];
private static string botId = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["BotId"];
const string accountSid = "obfuscated";
const string authToken = "obfuscated";
private static string fromUser = "DirectLineSampleClientUser";
private string SMSreply = "";
public async Task<TwiMLResult> Index(SmsRequest incomingMessage)
{
// Obtain a token using the Direct Line secret
var tokenResponse = await new DirectLineClient(directLineSecret).Tokens.GenerateTokenForNewConversationAsync();
// Use token to create conversation
var directLineClient = new DirectLineClient(tokenResponse.Token);
var conversation = await directLineClient.Conversations.StartConversationAsync();
using (var webSocketClient = new WebSocket(conversation.StreamUrl))
{
webSocketClient.OnMessage += WebSocketClient_OnMessage;
// You have to specify TLS version to 1.2 or connection will be failed in handshake.
webSocketClient.SslConfiguration.EnabledSslProtocols = System.Security.Authentication.SslProtocols.Tls12;
webSocketClient.Connect();
while (true)
{
string input = incomingMessage.Body;
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(input))
{
if (input.ToLower() == "exit")
{
break;
}
else
{
if (input.Length > 0)
{
Activity userMessage = new Activity
{
From = new ChannelAccount(fromUser),
Text = input,
Type = ActivityTypes.Message
};
await directLineClient.Conversations.PostActivityAsync(conversation.ConversationId, userMessage);
//break;
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(SMSreply))
{
var messagingResponse = new MessagingResponse();
var message = messagingResponse.AddChild("Message");
message.AddText(SMSreply); //send text
SMSreply = string.Empty;
return TwiML(messagingResponse);
}
}
}
}
}
}
return null;
}
private void WebSocketClient_OnMessage(object sender, MessageEventArgs e)
{
// Occasionally, the Direct Line service sends an empty message as a liveness ping. Ignore these messages.
if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(e.Data))
{
var activitySet = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<ActivitySet>(e.Data);
var activities = from x in activitySet.Activities
where x.From.Id == botId
select x;
foreach (Activity activity in activities)
{
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(activity.Text))
{
SMSreply = activity.Text;
}
}
}
}
}
