How to show a list of applications and asking user to select one to show more details in Microsoft Bot Framework

Question

I am working on Chatbot development using Microsoft Bot Framework. The requirement is that when user provides her details like account number and date of birth, the chat bot should show her a list of application under her account. From that list, she should be able to pick one of the application and the chat bot should fetch it's details like date of application, status etc.

My API for the product has been setup and it fetches list like:

[
{
"id":"123",
"applicaitonID":"AA123",
"Status":"InProgress"
},
{
"id":"456",
"applicaitonID":"AA456",
"Status":"Completed"
},
]

From above response, Chatbot should create a table that shows applicationId as hyperlinks.

Upon clicking on that link, chatbot should fetch details of the specific application.

I do understand very basics of MBF (Microsoft Bot Framework). Any example/suggestion will be very helpful.

Answer 1

Hi Rupen A

you'll need to handle user input, call your API to fetch the list of applications, present the list to the user, and then respond to the user's selection by fetching details for the selected application, find the code below change it as per ur need.

// Import necessary namespaces
using System.Collections.Generic;
using Microsoft.Bot.Builder;
using Microsoft.Bot.Builder.Dialogs;
using Microsoft.Bot.Schema;

// Define your main dialog class
public class MainDialog : ComponentDialog
{
    // Define a constant for the waterfalls steps
    private const string InitialStep = "initialStep";

    // Constructor
    public MainDialog() : base(nameof(MainDialog))
    {
        // Define the waterfall steps
        var waterfallSteps = new WaterfallStep[]
        {
            InitialStepAsync,
            DisplayApplicationsAsync,
            DisplayApplicationDetailsAsync,
        };

        // Add the waterfall dialog to the main dialog
        AddDialog(new WaterfallDialog(nameof(WaterfallDialog), waterfallSteps));
        AddDialog(new TextPrompt(nameof(TextPrompt)));

        // Set the initial dialog
        InitialDialogId = nameof(WaterfallDialog);
    }

    // Initial step - collect account number and date of birth
    private async Task<DialogTurnResult> InitialStepAsync(WaterfallStepContext stepContext, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
    {
        // Your code to collect account number and date of birth from the user
        // ...

        // Save the collected information in the dialog state
        return await stepContext.NextAsync(null, cancellationToken);
    }

    // Display the list of applications
    private async Task<DialogTurnResult> DisplayApplicationsAsync(WaterfallStepContext stepContext, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
    {
        // Your code to call the API and get the list of applications
        List<Application> applications = YourApiCallToGetApplications();

        // Create a message to display the list of applications
        var reply = MessageFactory.Text("Here is the list of applications:");
        reply.SuggestedActions = new SuggestedActions();

        foreach (var application in applications)
        {
            // Add each application as a suggested action
            reply.SuggestedActions.Actions.Add(new CardAction
            {
                Title = application.ApplicationID,
                Type = ActionTypes.ImBack,
                Value = application.ApplicationID,
            });
        }

        // Send the message with the list of applications
        await stepContext.Context.SendActivityAsync(reply, cancellationToken);

        return await stepContext.PromptAsync(nameof(TextPrompt), new PromptOptions { Prompt = MessageFactory.Text("Please select an application.") }, cancellationToken);
    }

    // Display the details of the selected application
    private async Task<DialogTurnResult> DisplayApplicationDetailsAsync(WaterfallStepContext stepContext, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
    {
        // Retrieve the selected application ID
        string selectedApplicationID = stepContext.Result.ToString();

        // Your code to call the API and get the details of the selected application
        ApplicationDetails details = YourApiCallToGetApplicationDetails(selectedApplicationID);

        // Your code to display the details to the user
        // ...

        // End the dialog
        return await stepContext.EndDialogAsync(null, cancellationToken);
    }

    // Your methods for API calls to get applications and application details
    private List<Application> YourApiCallToGetApplications()
    {
        // Implement your logic to call the API and get the list of applications
        // ...

        // Sample data for illustration
        return new List<Application>
        {
            new Application { Id = "123", ApplicationID = "AA123", Status = "InProgress" },
            new Application { Id = "456", ApplicationID = "AA456", Status = "Completed" },
        };
    }

    private ApplicationDetails YourApiCallToGetApplicationDetails(string applicationID)
    {
        // Implement your logic to call the API and get the details of the selected application
        // ...

        // Sample data for illustration
        return new ApplicationDetails { /* Populate details */ };
    }
}

If this helps kindly accept the answer thanks much.