Walkthrough: Add Commands to a Workflow

This topic demonstrates the basic operations for adding command activities to a speech and an instant messaging Microsoft Unified Communications Managed API (UCMA) application:

  • Creating a UCMA application.

  • Adding a command activity to the commands designer.

  • Creating a secondary workflow in the commands designer.

Use command activities in a UCMA application to handle user commands that are not part of the current question and answer dialog. Command activities are summarized in the following table. This walkthrough demonstrates how to add a SpeechHelpCommandActivity to a voice response application. The following steps can also be used to add additional command activities to a UCMA application.

Activity

Description

SpeechHelpCommandActivity

Defines a specialized type of CommandActivity that is used to initiate a more explanatory prompt for the next turn.

InstantMessagingHelpCommandActivity

Defines a specialized type of CommandActivity that is used to initiate a more explanatory prompt for the next turn.

SpeechRepeatCommandActivity

Activates the playing of the repeat prompt during the next turn.

SpeechCommandActivity

Represents a digression in the dialog flow caused by a request from the user.

InstantMessagingCommandActivity

Represents a digression in the dialog flow caused by a request from the user.

The following exchange is an example of using a command:

System: What type of pizza would you like?

User: What sizes do you have?

User's response is a valid response but is not a direct answer to the question. Essentially, user is asking for some "help" so this is an example of a help command. In this case the help command grammar is set to recognize the phrase "What sizes do you have?"

Prerequisites

See the prerequisites list in Walkthrough: Debugging a Communications Workflow Application.

Beginning the Walkthrough

The procedures for creating the walkthrough build sequentially. The sequence in which you perform the procedures is important. The following steps list the suggested order.

See Also

Other Resources

Unified Communications Managed API 3.0 Workflow SDK Documentation

Unified Communications Workflow Sample Applications