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What's new (Ignite November 2019)
Bot Framework Composer (Preview)
Bot Framework Composer | docs :: is an integrated development tool for developers and multi-disciplinary team of professional conversation designers for building bots and other types of conversational software with the Microsoft Bot Framework technology stack. Within this web-based tool, you'll find everything you need to build a modern, state-of-the-art conversational experience.
Bot Framework SDK v4
The Bot Framework SDK v4 is an open source SDK that enable developers to model and build sophisticated conversation using their favorite programming language.
| C# | JS | Python | Java | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Release | 4.6 GA | 4.6 GA | Beta 4 | Preview 3 |
| Docs | docs | docs | ||
| Samples | .NET Core, WebAPI | Node.js, TypeScript, es6 |
Microsoft Teams support (GA)
Microsoft Teams support | docs | C# sample | JS sample :: Build and connect intelligent bots to interact with Microsoft Teams users naturally through chat. The Bot Framework SDK v4.6 release adds native support for building Teams bots allowing users to bring bots into their channel or group chat conversations. By adding a bot to a team or chat, all users of the conversation can take advantage of the bot functionality right in the conversation.
Dynamics 365 Virtual Agent for Customer Service (??)
Virtual Agent for Customer Service, built on the Microsoft Bot Framework, makes it easy to create bots that address common support issues. It removes the complexity of exposing teams to the nuances of conversational AI and the need to write complex code. It provides exceptional customer service with intelligent, adaptable virtual agents.
Adaptive Dialog (Preview)
- Adaptive Dialog | docs | C# samples :: Adaptive Dialogs enable developers to build conversations that can be dynamically changed as the conversation progresses.
- Adaptive dialog now includes trigger to action pairs, recognizer, and generator. This makes every adaptive dialog self-contained and easy to compose.
- Events have been cleaned up to correspond to activity level events and dialog level events.
- Regex recognizer now supports 10+ prebuilt entity types
- Triggers, actions have been refined based on feedback
- Stability improvements and bug fixes.
Language Generation (Preview)
- Language Generation | docs | C# samples :: Language Generation enable developers to separate logic used to generate bot's respones including ability to define multiple variations on a phrase, execute simple expressions based on context, refer to conversational memory.
- Structured template support - with this you can now use Langauge Generation for multi-modal responses including spoken response, displayed response as well as UI cards etc.
- Ability to import and refer to .lg files. This helps streamline organization of templates, its composability and re-usability.
- Stability improvements and bug fixes.
Common Expression Language (Preview)
- Common Expression Language | api :: Both Adaptive dialogs and Language Generation rely on and use a common expression language to power bot conversations.
- New prebuilt functions (jpath, eval)
- Stability improvements and bug fixes.
Azure Bot Service
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Direct Line Speech (GA) | docs: Bot Framework and Microsoft's Speech Services provide a channel that enables streamed speech and text bi-directionally from the client to the bot application using WebSockets.
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A Private Direct Line: Direct Line App Serive Extension (Preview) | docs: A version of Direct Line that isolates your bot from other traffic on the Bot Service by running Direct Line on its Azure App Service. This both improves latency, and allows bots to participate in Azure VNET configuraitons. A VNET lets developers create your own private space in Azure and is crucial to your cloud network as it offers isolation, segmentation, and other key benefits.
Bot Framework Web Chat (GA)
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React was upgraded to 16.8.6 to support React Hooks and stateful function components.
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Uploaded image attachments can now include a thumbnail. Additional UI improvements and customizability include:
- Bubble nub styling options were added.
- Timestamp format were modified to allow absolute and relative time.
- Stylable avatar background colors were added.
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Following demos were released:
- Single Sign-On for Microsoft Teams using OAuth shows user authorization through a bot.
- Select Voice for Speech Synthesis shows how to select DNN-based voices.
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The accessibility experience was improved for customers utilizing Assistive Technology across different browsers.
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To see the rest of Web Chat's updates for 4.6, take a look at the changelog.
Bot Framework CLI Tools (GA)
The new BF CLI tool replaces legacy standalone tools used to manage Bot Framework bots and related services. We have ported most tools and are in process of porting the rest. BF CLI aggregates the collection of cross-platform tools into one cohesive and consistent interface.
For the 4.6 release, the following commands were ported over:
| BF [New Command] | Old Tool |
|---|---|
| Chatdown | Chatdown |
| QnAMaker | QnAMaker |
| luis:convert, luis:translate | LuDown |
| luis:convert | LuisGen |
The old tools will be deprecated in subsequent releases. All new investments, bug fixes, and new features will be implemented in the new consolided BF CLI alone. Click here for more information.
Bot Framework Solutions
Virtual Assistan Solution Accelerator for Enterprise (??)
Related Services
Language Understanding
A machine learning-based service to build natural language experiences. Quickly create enterprise-ready, custom models that continuously improve. Language Understanding Service(LUIS) allows your application to understand what a person wants in their own words.
Advanced language understanding capabilities - build sophisticated language models with less effort
- Define machine learning features at the model level and enable models to be used as signals to other model, like using entities as features to intents and to other entities.
- Extract information from text in the format of deep hierarchical structure, making conversation applications more powerful.
Improved developer productivity - General availability of prediction endpoint V3. Ability to import and export .lu files paves the way for an effective CI/CD process.
Enhanced user experience - labeling experience enables building and debugging complex models
Language expansion - basic support for Arabic and Hindi (public preview)
Check the documentation to learn more.
QnA Maker
QnA Maker is a cloud-based API service that creates a conversational, question-and-answer layer over your data. With QnA Maker, you can build, train and publish a simple question and answer bot based on FAQ URLs, structured documents, product manuals or editorial content in minutes.
Multi-turn Q&A Conversations: Multi-turn feature is available to build guided conversational flows. With the latest release, multi-turn moves out of preview, and you can build multi-turn Q&A conversations with no code.
Chit-Chat: QnA Maker now provides support to add personality to your bots in 8 new languages in addition to English. The new set of languages supported for chit-chat dataset are Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Italian, Korean, Portugese, Spanish. The new languages have chit-chat available for only 1 personality today - the professional personality.
US Government Cloud Support: QnA Maker is now available (GA) for US Government cloud.
Enhanced KB Management Experience: The new KB language settings option lets you explicitly set the KB language for your service. Excel file format support has been added to the import and export actions for easy editing and replacment of the content. Batch Testing allows you to batch test your KB or KBs to analyse the quality and training of your KB data.
Speech Services
Speech Services convert audio to text, perform speech translation and text-to-speech with the unified Speech services. With the speech services, you can integrate speech into your bot, create custom wake words, and author in multiple languages.
Adaptive Cards
Adaptive Cards are an open standard for developers to exchange card content in a common and consistent way, and are used by Bot Framework developers to create great cross-channel conversatational experiences.
- Open framework, native performance - A simple open card format enables an ecosystem of shared tooling, seamless integration between apps, and native cross-platform performance on any device.
- Speech enabled from day one - We live in an exciting era where users can talk to their devices. Adaptive Cards embrace this new world and were designed from the ground up to support these new experiences.
Bot Framework SDK v3
Note: While we actively maintain the v3 SDK, we are focusing out attention on the v4 of the SDK. Read more on SDK v3 long-term support.
The Bot Framework SDK v3 includes SDKs that enable developers to model and build sophisticated conversation using their favorite programing language.
| C# | JS | |
|---|---|---|
| Stable Release | 3.20.1 | 3.16.0 |
| Docs | docs | docs |
| Samples | C# | Node.js |
July 2019
The Bot Framework SDK v4 is an Open Source SDK that enable developers to model and build sophisticated conversation using their favorite programming language. Click here to learn more about Microsoft Bot Framework.
This page summarizes key new features and improvements in Bot Framework and Azure Bot Service.
| C# | JS | Python | |
|---|---|---|---|
| SDK | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.4.0b2 (preview) |
| Docs | docs | docs | |
| Samples | .NET Core, WebAPI | Node.js , TypeScript, es6 | Python |
Bot Framework Channels
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Direct Line Speech (public preview) | docs: Bot Framework and Microsoft's Speech Services provide a channel that enables streamed speech and text bi-directionally from the client to the bot application using WebSockets.
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Better isolation for your bot: Direct Line VNet (public preview) | docs: A version of Direct Line that allows bots to participate in Azure VNet. A VNet lets you create your own private space in Azure and is crucial to your cloud network as it offers isolation, segmentation, and other key benefits.
Bot Framework SDK
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Adaptive Dialog (SDK v4.6 preview) | docs | C# samples: Adaptive Dialog now allow developers to dynamically update conversation flow based on context and events. This is especially useful when dealing with conversation context switches and interruptions in the middle of a conversation.
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Bot Framework Python SDK (preview 2) | samples: The Python SDK now supports OAuth, Prompts, CosmosDB, and includes all major functionality in SDK 4.5. Plus, samples to help you learn about the new features in the SDK.
Bot Framework Testing
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Unit Testing | docs | C# sample | JS sample: Addressing customers’ and developers’ ask for better testing tools, the July version of the SDK introduces a new unit testing capability. The Microsoft.Bot.Builder.testing package simplifies the process of unit testing dialogs in your bot.
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Channel Testing: Introduced at Microsoft Build 2019, the Bot Inspector is a new feature in the Bot Framework Emulator which lets you debug and test bots on channels like Microsoft Teams, Slack, Cortana, and more. As you use the bot on specific channels, messages will be mirrored to the Bot Framework Emulator where you can inspect the message data that the bot received. Additionally, a snapshot of the bot memory state for any given turn between the channel and the bot is rendered as well.
Web Chat
Based on enterprise customers asks, we've added a web chat sample that shows how to authorize a user to access resources on an enterprise app with a bot. Two types of resources are used to demonstrate the interoperability of OAuth with Microsoft Graph and GitHub API.
Solutions
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Virtual Assistant Solution Acclerator : Provides a set of templates, solution accelerators and skills to help build sophisticated conversational experiences. New Android app client for Virtual Assistant that integrates with Direct-Line Speech and Virtual Assistant demonstrating how a device client can interact with your Virtual Assistant and render Adaptive Cards. Updates also include support for Direct-Line Speech and Microsoft Teams.
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Dynamics 365 Virtual Agent for Customer Service (public preview): With the public preview, you can provide exceptional customer service with intelligent, adaptable virtual agents. Customer service experts can easily create and enhance bots with AI-driven insights.
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Chat for Dynamics 365: Chat for Dynamics 365 offers several capabilities to ensure the support agents and end users can interact effectively and remain highly productive. Live chat and track conversations from visitors on your website within Microsoft Dynamics 365.
May 2019
Sessions
- Vision Keynote by Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO.
- Microsoft Azure by Scott Guthrie, EVP, CLOUD & ENTERPRISE
- The Microsoft Office 365 Platform by Rajesh Jha, EVP, EXPERIENCES + DEVICES
- How to use Azure Conversational AI to scale your business for the next generation - A deep dive into La Liga’s story by Tulasi Menon, Nayer Wanas, Jesus Serrano Castro
- Your App, Your Device, Your Assistant - How to build a branded, voice-first Virtual Assistant by Darren Jefford, Travis Wilson, Khuram Shahid.
- Microsoft Research APIs – Project Personality Chat in action, by Tulasi Menon
- Designing for Speech by Jessica Engström
What's new
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Adaptive Dialog | docs | C# samples :: Simplify the development of sophisticated dialogs by dynamically updating as the conversation unfolds. This is especially useful when the context of conversation is switched or if there are interruptions in the middle of a conversation.
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Language Generation | docs | C# samples :: Streamlines the creation of smart and dynamic bot responses by constructing meaningful, variable and grammatically correct responses that a bot can send back to the user.
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Common Expression Language | api :: Both Adaptive dialogs and Language Generation rely on and use a common expression language to power bot conversations.
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Botkit :: Major version update with support for Bot Framework Emulator, Azure Bot Service. New model for handling interruptions and composable dialogs.
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Enhanced Speech capabilities, Direct Line Speech Channel – (private preview) Streamlined integration of the Bot Framework and Microsoft's Speech Services in Azure Bot Service as a new channel, with support for custom wake words and bi-directional speech and text. To sign up, add the Direct Line Speech channel to your Azure Bot Service.
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SDK Channel adapters available here - New platform adapters for Web chat, Slack, Webex, Facebook, Google Hangouts and Twilio SMS. Work with Bot Framework V4 SDK (JS only). Additional new adapters put together by the BotBuilderCommunity
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- Skills include language models, dialogs, and cards that can be reusable across bots. Examples include productivity (calendar, email and task productivity- powered by Microsoft Graph), industry (point of interest, and automotive), and custom.
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- This template incorporates the previous Enterprise Template and brings together all of the best practices and supporting components identified through building advanced assistant-like conversational experiences. It greatly simplifies the creation of a new bot project including: basic conversational intents, Dispatch integration, QnA Maker, Application Insights and an automated deployment.
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- Bot Inspector, a new ability to debug live conversations in your bots on any channel or adapter - Microsoft Teams, Slack, Cortana, Facebook Messenger, Skype, etc.
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- Roles, External Entities and Dynamic Entities :: Extract more detailed information from text and build more intelligent solutions with less effort.
- Entity Roles are now available for all entity types which enables you to identify subtypes based on context, such as from and to which are both types of location.
- External entities gives you the ability to use external context for more accurate understanding of user intent.
- Dynamic lists help append synonyms to list entities, at prediction time enabling dynamic, user-specific information to get matched exactly.
- Analytics dashboard :: Provides insight into your models’ quality and potential data problems. Gives guidance to help solve issues and adopt best practices.
- Roles, External Entities and Dynamic Entities :: Extract more detailed information from text and build more intelligent solutions with less effort.
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QnA Maker Multi-turn Conversations (Public Preview): Extract information from URL or .pdf, .docx files to create multi-turn conversational flows. You can edit and author your own multi-turn flows and test them using the new contextual ranker. See this sample to create a multi-turn QnA Maker bot.