Dialog class

Base class for all dialogs. Dialogs are the core component of the BotBuilder framework. Bots use Dialogs to manage arbitrarily complex conversations with a user.

Extends

Methods

addDialogTrigger(ActionSet, string)

Called once for each dialog within a library to give the dialog a chance to add its triggerAction() to the libraries global action set. These triggers get mapped to a beginDialogAction() that starts the dialog when the trigger condition is met.

begin<T>(Session, T)

Called when a new dialog session is being started.

beginDialogAction(string, string, IBeginDialogActionOptions)

Binds an action to the dialog that will start another dialog anytime it's triggered. The new dialog will be pushed onto the stack so it does not automatically end the current task. The current task will be continued once the new dialog ends. The built-in prompts will automatically re-prompt the user once this happens but that behaviour can be disabled by setting the promptAfterAction flag when calling a built-in prompt.

cancelAction(string, TextOrMessageType, ICancelActionOptions)

Binds an action to the dialog that will cancel the dialog anytime it's triggered. When canceled, the dialogs parent will be resumed with a resumed code indicating that it was canceled.

clone(ActionSet)

Returns a clone of an existing ActionSet.

customAction(IDialogActionOptions)

Binds a custom action to the dialog that will call the passed in onSelectAction handler when triggered.

dialogInterrupted(Session, string, any)

Called when a root dialog is being interrupted by another dialog. This gives the dialog that's being interrupted a chance to run custom logic before it's removed from the stack. The dialog itself is responsible for clearing the dialog stack and starting the new dialog.

dialogResumed<T>(Session, IDialogResult<T>)

A child dialog has ended and the current one is being resumed.

endConversationAction(string, TextOrMessageType, ICancelActionOptions)

Binds an action that will end the conversation with the user when triggered.

findActionRoutes(IRecognizeDialogContext, (err: Error, results: IRouteResult[]) => void)

Called during the Library.findRoutes() call for each dialog on the stack to determine if any of the dialogs actions are triggered by the users utterance.

recognize(IRecognizeDialogContext, (err: Error, result: IRecognizeResult) => void)

Parses the users utterance and assigns a score from 0.0 - 1.0 indicating how confident the dialog is that it understood the users utterance. This method is always called for the active dialog on the stack. A score of 1.0 will indicate a perfect match and terminate any further recognition. When the score is less than 1.0, every dialog on the stack will have its recognizeAction() method called as well to see if there are any named actions bound to the dialog that better matches the users utterance. Global actions registered at the bot level will also be evaluated. If the dialog has a score higher then any bound actions, the dialogs replyReceived() method will be called with the result object returned from the recognize() call. This lets the dialog pass additional data collected during the recognize phase to the replyReceived() method for handling.

Should there be an action with a higher score then the dialog the action will be invoked instead of the dialogs replyReceived() method. The dialog will stay on the stack and may be resumed at some point should the action invoke a new dialog so dialogs should prepare for unexpected calls to dialogResumed().

reloadAction(string, TextOrMessageType, IBeginDialogActionOptions)

Binds an action to the dialog that will cause the dialog to be reloaded anytime it's triggered. This is useful to implement logic that handle user utterances like "start over".

replyReceived(Session, IRecognizeResult)

Called when a new reply message has been received from a user. Derived classes should implement this to process the message received from the user.

selectActionRoute(Session, IRouteResult)

Selects the route that had the highest confidence score for the utterance.

triggerAction(ITriggerActionOptions)

Binds an action to the dialog that will make it the active dialog anytime it's triggered. The default behaviour is to interupt any existing dialog by clearing the stack and starting the dialog at the root of the stack. The dialog being interrupted can intercept this interruption by adding a custom onInterrupted handler to their trigger action options. Additionally, you can customize the way the triggered dialog is started by providing a custom onSelectAction handler to your trigger action options.

Method Details

addDialogTrigger(ActionSet, string)

Called once for each dialog within a library to give the dialog a chance to add its triggerAction() to the libraries global action set. These triggers get mapped to a beginDialogAction() that starts the dialog when the trigger condition is met.

function addDialogTrigger(actions: ActionSet, dialogId: string)

Parameters

actions
ActionSet

Libraries global action set.

dialogId

string

The fully qualified ID of the dialog to trigger.

begin<T>(Session, T)

Called when a new dialog session is being started.

function begin<T>(session: Session, args?: T)

Parameters

session
Session

Session object for the current conversation.

args

T

(Optional) arguments passed to the dialog by its parent.

beginDialogAction(string, string, IBeginDialogActionOptions)

Binds an action to the dialog that will start another dialog anytime it's triggered. The new dialog will be pushed onto the stack so it does not automatically end the current task. The current task will be continued once the new dialog ends. The built-in prompts will automatically re-prompt the user once this happens but that behaviour can be disabled by setting the promptAfterAction flag when calling a built-in prompt.

function beginDialogAction(name: string, id: string, options?: IBeginDialogActionOptions)

Parameters

name

string

Unique name to assign the action.

id

string

ID of the dialog to start.

options
IBeginDialogActionOptions

(Optional) options used to configure the action. If matches is specified the action will listen for the user to say a word or phrase that triggers the action, otherwise the action needs to be bound to a button using CardAction.dialogAction() to trigger the action. You can also use dialogArgs to pass additional params to the dialog being started.

Returns

cancelAction(string, TextOrMessageType, ICancelActionOptions)

Binds an action to the dialog that will cancel the dialog anytime it's triggered. When canceled, the dialogs parent will be resumed with a resumed code indicating that it was canceled.

function cancelAction(name: string, msg?: TextOrMessageType, options?: ICancelActionOptions)

Parameters

name

string

Unique name to assign the action.

msg
TextOrMessageType

(Optional) message to send the user prior to canceling the dialog.

options
ICancelActionOptions

(Optional) options used to configure the action. If matches is specified the action will listen for the user to say a word or phrase that triggers the action, otherwise the action needs to be bound to a button using CardAction.dialogAction() to trigger the action.

Returns

clone(ActionSet)

Returns a clone of an existing ActionSet.

function clone(copyTo?: ActionSet)

Parameters

copyTo
ActionSet

(Optional) instance to copy the current object to. If missing a new instance will be created.

Returns

customAction(IDialogActionOptions)

Binds a custom action to the dialog that will call the passed in onSelectAction handler when triggered.

function customAction(options: IDialogActionOptions)

Parameters

options
IDialogActionOptions

The options used to configure the action. If matches is specified the action will listen for the user to say a word or phrase that triggers the action. Custom matching logic can be provided using onFindAction.

Returns

dialogInterrupted(Session, string, any)

Called when a root dialog is being interrupted by another dialog. This gives the dialog that's being interrupted a chance to run custom logic before it's removed from the stack. The dialog itself is responsible for clearing the dialog stack and starting the new dialog.

function dialogInterrupted(session: Session, dialogId: string, dialogArgs: any)

Parameters

session
Session

Session object for the current conversation.

dialogId

string

ID of the dialog that should be started.

dialogArgs

any

Arguments that should be passed to the new dialog.

dialogResumed<T>(Session, IDialogResult<T>)

A child dialog has ended and the current one is being resumed.

function dialogResumed<T>(session: Session, result: IDialogResult<T>)

Parameters

session
Session

Session object for the current conversation.

result

IDialogResult<T>

Result returned by the child dialog.

endConversationAction(string, TextOrMessageType, ICancelActionOptions)

Binds an action that will end the conversation with the user when triggered.

function endConversationAction(name: string, msg?: TextOrMessageType, options?: ICancelActionOptions)

Parameters

name

string

Unique name to assign the action.

msg
TextOrMessageType

(Optional) message to send the user prior to ending the conversation.

options
ICancelActionOptions

(Optional) options used to configure the action. If matches is specified the action will listen for the user to say a word or phrase that triggers the action, otherwise the action needs to be bound to a button using CardAction.dialogAction() to trigger the action.

Returns

findActionRoutes(IRecognizeDialogContext, (err: Error, results: IRouteResult[]) => void)

Called during the Library.findRoutes() call for each dialog on the stack to determine if any of the dialogs actions are triggered by the users utterance.

function findActionRoutes(context: IRecognizeDialogContext, callback: (err: Error, results: IRouteResult[]) => void)

Parameters

context
IRecognizeDialogContext

The context of the incoming message as well as the dialogData for the evaluated dialog.

callback

(err: Error, results: IRouteResult[]) => void

Function to invoke with the top candidate route(s).

recognize(IRecognizeDialogContext, (err: Error, result: IRecognizeResult) => void)

Parses the users utterance and assigns a score from 0.0 - 1.0 indicating how confident the dialog is that it understood the users utterance. This method is always called for the active dialog on the stack. A score of 1.0 will indicate a perfect match and terminate any further recognition. When the score is less than 1.0, every dialog on the stack will have its recognizeAction() method called as well to see if there are any named actions bound to the dialog that better matches the users utterance. Global actions registered at the bot level will also be evaluated. If the dialog has a score higher then any bound actions, the dialogs replyReceived() method will be called with the result object returned from the recognize() call. This lets the dialog pass additional data collected during the recognize phase to the replyReceived() method for handling.

Should there be an action with a higher score then the dialog the action will be invoked instead of the dialogs replyReceived() method. The dialog will stay on the stack and may be resumed at some point should the action invoke a new dialog so dialogs should prepare for unexpected calls to dialogResumed().

function recognize(context: IRecognizeDialogContext, callback: (err: Error, result: IRecognizeResult) => void)

Parameters

context
IRecognizeDialogContext

The context of the request.

callback

(err: Error, result: IRecognizeResult) => void

Function to invoke with the recognition results.

reloadAction(string, TextOrMessageType, IBeginDialogActionOptions)

Binds an action to the dialog that will cause the dialog to be reloaded anytime it's triggered. This is useful to implement logic that handle user utterances like "start over".

function reloadAction(name: string, msg?: TextOrMessageType, options?: IBeginDialogActionOptions)

Parameters

name

string

Unique name to assign the action.

msg
TextOrMessageType

(Optional) message to send the user prior to reloading the dialog.

options
IBeginDialogActionOptions

(Optional) options used to configure the action. If matches is specified the action will listen for the user to say a word or phrase that triggers the action, otherwise the action needs to be bound to a button using CardAction.dialogAction() to trigger the action. You can also use dialogArgs to pass additional params to the dialog when reloaded.

Returns

replyReceived(Session, IRecognizeResult)

Called when a new reply message has been received from a user. Derived classes should implement this to process the message received from the user.

function replyReceived(session: Session, recognizeResult: IRecognizeResult)

Parameters

session
Session

Session object for the current conversation.

recognizeResult
IRecognizeResult

Results returned from a prior call to the dialogs recognize() method.

selectActionRoute(Session, IRouteResult)

Selects the route that had the highest confidence score for the utterance.

function selectActionRoute(session: Session, route: IRouteResult)

Parameters

session
Session

Session object for the current conversation.

route
IRouteResult

Results returned from the call to findActionRoutes().

triggerAction(ITriggerActionOptions)

Binds an action to the dialog that will make it the active dialog anytime it's triggered. The default behaviour is to interupt any existing dialog by clearing the stack and starting the dialog at the root of the stack. The dialog being interrupted can intercept this interruption by adding a custom onInterrupted handler to their trigger action options. Additionally, you can customize the way the triggered dialog is started by providing a custom onSelectAction handler to your trigger action options.

function triggerAction(options: ITriggerActionOptions)

Parameters

options
ITriggerActionOptions

Options used to configure the action.

Returns