Get started with the Bot Framework Composer
Using the Bot Framework Composer presents some advantages when compared to creating a bot with the SDK and coding.
- Visual design surface in Composer eliminates the need for boilerplate code and makes bot development more accessible.
- Save time with fewer steps to set up your environment.
- Visualize Dialogs, allow for building portions of the bot's functionality and how to guide the conversation.
- Triggers are easily created to invoke a specific dialog, and enabling interruptions is handled by switching a value within a prompt.
- Composer enables saving of pieces of data to various scopes to remember things between dialogs or sessions.
- Test your bot directly inside Composer via embedded Web Chat.
You can download and install the Bot Framework Composer from Install Bot Framework Composer. The tool is under active development, and updates are available frequently.
Note
The Bot Framework Composer is pre-installed in the lab environment provided for the exercise later in this module - you will update it to the latest available version in the exercise.