Write directly to storage

Replace the code in EchoBot.cs with the following code:

using System;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Microsoft.Bot.Builder;
using Microsoft.Bot.Schema;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Threading;

// Represents a bot saves and echoes back user input.
public class EchoBot : ActivityHandler
{
   // Create local Memory Storage.
   private static readonly MemoryStorage _myStorage = new MemoryStorage();

   // Create cancellation token (used by Async Write operation).
   public CancellationToken cancellationToken { get; private set; }

   // Class for storing a log of utterances (text of messages) as a list.
   public class UtteranceLog : IStoreItem
   {
      // A list of things that users have said to the bot
      public List<string> UtteranceList { get; } = new List<string>();

      // The number of conversational turns that have occurred
      public int TurnNumber { get; set; } = 0;

      // Create concurrency control where this is used.
      public string ETag { get; set; } = "*";
   }

   // Echo back user input.
   protected override async Task OnMessageActivityAsync(ITurnContext<IMessageActivity> turnContext, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
   {
      // preserve user input.
      var utterance = turnContext.Activity.Text;

      // Make empty local log-items list.
      UtteranceLog logItems = null;

      // See if there are previous messages saved in storage.
      try
      {
         string[] utteranceList = { "UtteranceLog" };
         logItems = _myStorage.ReadAsync<UtteranceLog>(utteranceList).Result?.FirstOrDefault().Value;
      }
      catch
      {
         // Inform the user an error occurred.
         await turnContext.SendActivityAsync("Sorry, something went wrong reading your stored messages!");
      }

      // If no stored messages were found, create and store a new entry.
      if (logItems is null)
      {
         // Add the current utterance to a new object.
         logItems = new UtteranceLog();
         logItems.UtteranceList.Add(utterance);

         // Set initial turn counter to 1.
         logItems.TurnNumber++;

         // Show user new user message.
         await turnContext.SendActivityAsync($"{logItems.TurnNumber}: The list is now: {string.Join(", ", logItems.UtteranceList)}");

         // Create dictionary object to hold received user messages.
         var changes = new Dictionary<string, object>();
         {
            changes.Add("UtteranceLog", logItems);
         }
         try
         {
            // Save the user message to your Storage.
            await _myStorage.WriteAsync(changes, cancellationToken);
         }
         catch
         {
            // Inform the user an error occurred.
            await turnContext.SendActivityAsync("Sorry, something went wrong storing your message!");
         }
      }
      // Else, our storage already contained saved user messages, add new one to the list.
      else
      {
         // add new message to list of messages to display.
         logItems.UtteranceList.Add(utterance);
         // increment turn counter.
         logItems.TurnNumber++;

         // show user new list of saved messages.
         await turnContext.SendActivityAsync($"{logItems.TurnNumber}: The list is now: {string.Join(", ", logItems.UtteranceList)}");

         // Create Dictionary object to hold new list of messages.
         var changes = new Dictionary<string, object>();
         {
            changes.Add("UtteranceLog", logItems);
         };

         try
         {
            // Save new list to your Storage.
            await _myStorage.WriteAsync(changes,cancellationToken);
         }
         catch
         {
            // Inform the user an error occurred.
            await turnContext.SendActivityAsync("Sorry, something went wrong storing your message!");
         }
      }
   }
}

To use the .env configuration file, your bot needs an extra package included. If not already installed, get the .NET package from npm:

npm install --save dotenv

Modify the code in index.js that creates the main dialog. The existing line of code to create the main dialog is const myBot = new EchoBot();, it needs updated to enable passing a storage object to the EchoBot constructor so you can store the user's input to the bot's internal memory:

First you'll need to add a reference to MemoryStorage in botbuilder:

const { MemoryStorage } = require('botbuilder');

Then create the memory storage object, and pass it to the EchoBot constructor:

const myStorage = new MemoryStorage();
const myBot = new EchoBot(myStorage);

This passes in a MemoryStorage object to the EchoBot constructor. You'll change that later to pass a Cosmos DB or Blob Storage object.

Next, replace the code in bot.js with the following code:

const { ActivityHandler, MemoryStorage } = require('botbuilder');
const restify = require('restify');

// Process incoming requests - adds storage for messages.
class EchoBot extends ActivityHandler {
    constructor(myStorage) {
        super();
        this.storage = myStorage;
        // See https://docs.azure.cn/bot-service/bot-builder-basics to learn more about the message and other activity types.
        this.onMessage(async turnContext => { console.log('this gets called (message)');
        await turnContext.sendActivity(`You said '${ turnContext.activity.text }'`);
        // Save updated utterance inputs.
        await logMessageText(this.storage, turnContext);
    });
        this.onConversationUpdate(async turnContext => { console.log('this gets called (conversation update)');
        await turnContext.sendActivity('Welcome, enter an item to save to your list.'); });
    }
}

// This function stores new user messages. Creates new utterance log if none exists.
async function logMessageText(storage, turnContext) {
    let utterance = turnContext.activity.text;
    // debugger;
    try {
        // Read from the storage.
        let storeItems = await storage.read(["UtteranceLogJS"])
        // Check the result.
        var UtteranceLogJS = storeItems["UtteranceLogJS"];
        if (typeof (UtteranceLogJS) != 'undefined') {
            // The log exists so we can write to it.
            storeItems["UtteranceLogJS"].turnNumber++;
            storeItems["UtteranceLogJS"].UtteranceList.push(utterance);
            // Gather info for user message.
            var storedString = storeItems.UtteranceLogJS.UtteranceList.toString();
            var numStored = storeItems.UtteranceLogJS.turnNumber;

            try {
                await storage.write(storeItems)
                await turnContext.sendActivity(`${numStored}: The list is now: ${storedString}`);
            } catch (err) {
                await turnContext.sendActivity(`Write failed of UtteranceLogJS: ${err}`);
            }
        }
        else{
            await turnContext.sendActivity(`Creating and saving new utterance log`);
            var turnNumber = 1;
            storeItems["UtteranceLogJS"] = { UtteranceList: [`${utterance}`], "eTag": "*", turnNumber }
            // Gather info for user message.
            var storedString = storeItems.UtteranceLogJS.UtteranceList.toString();
            var numStored = storeItems.UtteranceLogJS.turnNumber;

            try {
                await storage.write(storeItems)
                await turnContext.sendActivity(`${numStored}: The list is now: ${storedString}`);
            } catch (err) {
                await turnContext.sendActivity(`Write failed: ${err}`);
            }
        }
    }
    catch (err){
        await turnContext.sendActivity(`Read rejected. ${err}`);
    }
}

module.exports.EchoBot = EchoBot;

Replace the code in echo_bot.py with the following code:

from botbuilder.core import ActivityHandler, TurnContext, StoreItem, MemoryStorage

class UtteranceLog(StoreItem):
    """
    Class for storing a log of utterances (text of messages) as a list.
    """

    def __init__(self):
        super(UtteranceLog, self).__init__()
        self.utterance_list = []
        self.turn_number = 0
        self.e_tag = "*"

class EchoBot(ActivityHandler):
    """
    Represents a bot saves and echoes back user input.
    """

    def __init__(self):
        self.storage = MemoryStorage()

    async def on_message_activity(self, turn_context: TurnContext):
        utterance = turn_context.activity.text

        # read the state object
        store_items = await self.storage.read(["UtteranceLog"])

        if "UtteranceLog" not in store_items:
            # add the utterance to a new state object.
            utterance_log = UtteranceLog()
            utterance_log.utterance_list.append(utterance)
            utterance_log.turn_number = 1
        else:
            # add new message to list of messages existing state object.
            utterance_log: UtteranceLog = store_items["UtteranceLog"]
            utterance_log.utterance_list.append(utterance)
            utterance_log.turn_number = utterance_log.turn_number + 1

        # Show user list of utterances.
        await turn_context.send_activity(f"{utterance_log.turn_number}: "
                                         f"The list is now: {','.join(utterance_log.utterance_list)}")

        try:
            # Save the user message to your Storage.
            changes = {"UtteranceLog": utterance_log}
            await self.storage.write(changes)
        except Exception as exception:
            # Inform the user an error occurred.
            await turn_context.send_activity("Sorry, something went wrong storing your message!")

Add the following information to your configuration file.

appsettings.json

"CosmosDbEndpoint": "<your-CosmosDb-URI>",
"CosmosDbAuthKey": "<your-primary-key>",
"CosmosDbDatabaseId": "<your-database-id>",
"CosmosDbContainerId": "bot-storage"

Add the following information to your .env file.

.env

CosmosDbEndpoint="<your-CosmosDb-URI>"
CosmosDbAuthKey="<your-primary-key>"
CosmosDbDatabaseId="<your-database-id>"
CosmosDbContainerId="bot-storage"

Add the following information to your configuration file.

config.py

COSMOS_DB_URI="<your-CosmosDb-URI>"
COSMOS_DB_PRIMARY_KEY="your-primary-key"
COSMOS_DB_DATABASE_ID="<your-database-id>"
COSMOS_DB_CONTAINER_ID="bot-storage"

Install the Microsoft.Bot.Builder.Azure NuGet package. For more information on using NuGet, see Install and manage packages in Visual Studio using the NuGet Package Manager.

Add a reference to botbuilder-azure using npm.

npm install --save botbuilder-azure

If not already installed, get the .NET package from npm in order to access your .env file settings.

npm install --save dotenv

You can add a reference to botbuilder-azure in your project via pip.

pip install botbuilder-azure

The following sample code runs using the same bot code as the memory storage sample provided above, with the exceptions listed here. The code snippets below show an implementation of Cosmos DB storage for 'myStorage' that replaces local Memory storage.

You first need to update Startup.cs to reference the bot builder Azure library:

using Microsoft.Bot.Builder.Azure;

Next, in the ConfigureServices method in Startup.cs, create the CosmosDbPartitionedStorage object. This will be passed into the EchoBot constructor through dependency injection.

// Use partitioned CosmosDB for storage, instead of in-memory storage.
services.AddSingleton<IStorage>(
    new CosmosDbPartitionedStorage(
        new CosmosDbPartitionedStorageOptions
        {
            CosmosDbEndpoint = Configuration.GetValue<string>("CosmosDbEndpoint"),
            AuthKey = Configuration.GetValue<string>("CosmosDbAuthKey"),
            DatabaseId = Configuration.GetValue<string>("CosmosDbDatabaseId"),
            ContainerId = Configuration.GetValue<string>("CosmosDbContainerId"),
            CompatibilityMode = false,
        }));

In EchoBot.cs change the _myStorage variable declaration private static readonly MemoryStorage _myStorage = new MemoryStorage(); to the following:

// variable used to save user input to CosmosDb Storage.
private readonly IStorage _myStorage;

Then pass in the IStorage object to the EchoBot constructor:

public EchoBot(IStorage storage)
{
    if (storage is null) throw new ArgumentNullException();
    _myStorage = storage;
}

First, add code to your index.js file to enable you to access the values from your .env file that you entered previously:

// initialized to access values in .env file.
const ENV_FILE = path.join(__dirname, '.env');
require('dotenv').config({ path: ENV_FILE });

Next, you'll need to make changes to index.js to use Cosmos DB partitioned storage instead of the Bot Frameworks internal storage. All the code changes in this section are made in index.js.

First, add a reference to botbuilder-azure in index.js. This will give you access to the CosmosDbPartitionedStorage class.

const { CosmosDbPartitionedStorage } = require('botbuilder-azure');

Next, create a new CosmosDbPartitionedStorage object.

const myStorage = new CosmosDbPartitionedStorage({
    cosmosDbEndpoint: process.env.CosmosDbEndpoint,
    authKey: process.env.CosmosDbAuthKey,
    databaseId: process.env.CosmosDbDatabaseId,
    containerId: process.env.CosmosDbContainerId,
    compatibilityMode: false
});

You can now comment out or remove the myStorage const declaration that you previously added, since you no longer are saving user input to the Bot Frameworks internal storage, but instead to Cosmos DB:

//const myStorage = new MemoryStorage();
const myBot = new EchoBot(myStorage);

The following sample code runs using the same bot code as the memory storage sample provided above, with the exceptions listed here.

Both CosmosDbPartitionedStorage and CosmosDbPartitionedConfig from botbuilder-azure are required to create the CosmosDBStorage object.

echo_bot.py

from botbuilder.azure import CosmosDbPartitionedStorage, CosmosDbPartitionedConfig

In order to access the settings in config.py, you'll import DefaultConfig as shown below:

from config import DefaultConfig
CONFIG = DefaultConfig()

Comment out Memory Storage in __init__ and replace with reference to Cosmos DB. Use the URI (endpoint), Primary key (authorization key), database ID, and container ID used above.

Next, remove or comment out the Memory Storage code in __init__ and add a reference to your Cosmos DB information from config.py.

The code snippet below show an implementation of Cosmos DB for 'Storage' that replaces local Memory storage.

echo_bot.py

def __init__(self):
    cosmos_config = CosmosDbPartitionedConfig(
        cosmos_db_endpoint=CONFIG.COSMOS_DB_URI,
        auth_key=CONFIG.COSMOS_DB_PRIMARY_KEY,
        database_id=CONFIG.COSMOS_DB_DATABASE_ID,
        container_id=CONFIG.COSMOS_DB_CONTAINER_ID,
        compatibility_mode = False
    )
    self.storage = CosmosDbPartitionedStorage(cosmos_config)

Add the following information to your configuration file.

appsettings.json

"BlobConnectionString": "<your-blob-connection-string>",
"BlobContainerName": "<your-blob-container-name>",

Add the following information to your .env file.

.env

BlobConnectionString="<your-blob-connection-string>"
BlobContainerName="<your-blob-container-name>"

Add the following information to your configuration file. Use the same container name and connection string used when creating your blob storage container.

config.py

BLOB_CONNECTION_STRING="<your-blob-connection-string>"
BLOB_CONTAINER_NAME="<your-blob-container-name>"

Install the Microsoft.Bot.Builder.Azure.Blobs NuGet package. For more information on using NuGet, see Install and manage packages in Visual Studio using the NuGet Package Manager.

Add references to botbuilder-azure-blobs in your project via npm.

npm install --save botbuilder-azure-blobs

If not already installed, get the .NET package from npm in order to access your .env file settings.

npm install --save dotenv

you can add a reference to botbuilder-azure in your project via pip.

pip install botbuilder-azure

The following sample code runs using the same bot code as the memory storage sample provided above, with the exceptions listed here.

The code snippets below show an implementation of Blob storage for 'myStorage' that replaces local Memory storage.

You first need to update Startup.cs to reference the bot builder Azure blobs library:

Startup.cs

using Microsoft.Bot.Builder.Azure.Blobs;

Next, in the ConfigureServices method in Startup.cs, create the BlobsStorage object, passing in the values from appsettings.json. This will be passed into the EchoBot constructor through dependency injection.

//Use Azure Blob storage, instead of in-memory storage.
services.AddSingleton<IStorage>(
    new BlobsStorage(
        Configuration.GetValue<string>("BlobConnectionString"),
        Configuration.GetValue<string>("BlobContainerName")
        ));

Now you first need to update EchoBot.cs to reference the bot builder Azure blobs library:

EchoBot.cs

using Microsoft.Bot.Builder.Azure.Blobs;

Next, remove or comment out the line of code that creates the MemoryStorage variable 'private static readonly MemoryStorage _myStorage = new MemoryStorage();', and create a new variable that will be used to save user input to the Blob Storage.

EchoBot.cs

// variable used to save user input to CosmosDb Storage.
private readonly IStorage _myStorage;

Then pass in the IStorage object to the EchoBot constructor:

public EchoBot(IStorage storage)
{
    if (storage is null) throw new ArgumentNullException();
    _myStorage = storage;
}

Once your storage is set to point to your Blob Storage account, your bot code will now store and retrieve data from Blob storage.

All the code changes in this section are made in index.js.

First, add code to enable you to access the values from your .env file that you entered previously:

// initialized to access values in .env file.
const ENV_FILE = path.join(__dirname, '.env');
require('dotenv').config({ path: ENV_FILE });

Next, you'll need to make changes use Blob storage instead of the Bot Frameworks internal storage.

Next, add a reference to botbuilder-azure-blobs. This will give you access to the Blob Storage API:

const { BlobsStorage } = require("botbuilder-azure-blobs");

To modify your code to use the BlobsStorage class, modify your myStorage declaration as follows:

const myStorage = new BlobsStorage(
    process.env.BlobConnectionString,
    process.env.BlobContainerName
);

Once your storage is set to point to your Blob Storage account, your bot code will now store and retrieve data from Blob storage.

The following sample code runs using the same bot code as the memory storage sample provided above, with the exceptions listed here.

This will require BlobStorage and BlobStorageSettings from botbuilder-azure.

echo_bot.py

from botbuilder.azure import BlobStorage, BlobStorageSettings

In order to access the settings in config.py, you'll import DefaultConfig as shown below:

from config import DefaultConfig
CONFIG = DefaultConfig()

Next, remove or comment out the Memory Storage code in __init__ and add a reference to your blob storage information from config.py.

The code snippet below shows an implementation of Blob Storage that replaces the local Memory storage.

echo_bot.py

def __init__(self):
    blob_settings = BlobStorageSettings(
        connection_string=CONFIG.BLOB_CONNECTION_STRING,
        container_name=CONFIG.BLOB_CONTAINER_NAME
    )
    self.storage = BlobStorage(blob_settings)

First, create a class that implements IStoreItem.

EchoBot.cs

public class Note : IStoreItem
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public string Contents { get; set; }
    public string ETag { get; set; }
}

Next, create an initial note by creating a storage object, and add the object to your store.

EchoBot.cs

// create a note for the first time, with a non-null, non-* ETag.
var note = new Note { Name = "Shopping List", Contents = "eggs", ETag = "x" };

var changes = Dictionary<string, object>();
{
    changes.Add("Note", note);
};
await NoteStore.WriteAsync(changes, cancellationToken);

Then, access and update the note later, keeping its eTag that you read from the store.

EchoBot.cs

var note = NoteStore.ReadAsync<Note>("Note").Result?.FirstOrDefault().Value;

if (note != null)
{
    note.Contents += ", bread";
    var changes = new Dictionary<string, object>();
    {
         changes.Add("Note1", note);
    };
    await NoteStore.WriteAsync(changes, cancellationToken);
}

If the note was updated in the store before you write your changes, the call to Write will throw an exception.

Add a helper function to the end of your bot that will write a sample note to a data store. First create myNoteData object.

bot.js

// Helper function for writing a sample note to a data store
async function createSampleNote(storage, context) {
    var myNoteData = {
        name: "Shopping List",
        contents: "eggs",
        // If any Note file is already stored, the eTag field
        // must be set to "*" in order to allow writing without first reading the stored eTag
        // otherwise you'll likely get an exception indicating an eTag conflict.
        eTag: "*"
    }
}

Within the createSampleNote helper function, initialize a changes object and add your notes to it, then write it to storage.

bot.js

// Write the note data to the "Note" key
var changes = {};
changes["Note"] = myNoteData;
// Creates a file named Note, if it doesn't already exist.
// specifying eTag= "*" will overwrite any existing contents.
// The act of writing to the file automatically updates the eTag property
// The first time you write to Note, the eTag is changed from *, and file contents will become:
//    {"name":"Shopping List","contents":"eggs","eTag":"1"}
try {
     await storage.write(changes);
     var list = changes["Note"].contents;
     await context.sendActivity(`Successful created a note: ${list}`);
} catch (err) {
     await context.sendActivity(`Could not create note: ${err}`);
}

The helper function is accessed from within your bot's logic by adding the following call:

bot.js

// Save a note with etag.
await createSampleNote(storage, turnContext);

Once created, to later retrieve and update the note we create another helper function that can be accessed when the user types in "update note".

bot.js

async function updateSampleNote(storage, context) {
    try {
        // Read in a note
        var note = await storage.read(["Note"]);
        console.log(`note.eTag=${note["Note"].eTag}\n note=${JSON.stringify(note)}`);
        // update the note that we just read
        note["Note"].contents += ", bread";
        console.log(`Updated note=${JSON.stringify(note)}`);

        try {
             await storage.write(note); // Write the changes back to storage
             var list = note["Note"].contents;
             await context.sendActivity(`Successfully updated note: ${list}`);
        } catch (err) {
             console.log(`Write failed: ${err}`);
        }
    }
    catch (err) {
        await context.sendActivity(`Unable to read the Note: ${err}`);
    }
}

This helper function is accessed from within your bot's logic by adding the following call:

bot.js

// Update a note with etag.
await updateSampleNote(storage, turnContext);

If the note was updated in the store by another user before you attempted to write back your changes, the eTag value will no longer match and the call to write will throw an exception.

First, create a class that implements StoreItem.

echo_bot.py

class Note(StoreItem):
    def __init__(self, name: str, contents: str, e_tag="*"):
        super(Note, self).__init__()
        self.name = name
        self.contents = contents
        self.e_tag = e_tag

Next, create an initial note by creating a storage object, and add the object to your store.

echo_bot.py

# create a note for the first time, with a non-null, non-* ETag.
changes = {"Note": Note(name="Shopping List", contents="eggs", e_tag="x")}

await self.storage.write(changes)

Then, access and update the note later, keeping its eTag that you read from the store.

echo_bot.py

store_items = await self.storage.read(["Note"])
    note = store_items["Note"]
    note.contents = note.contents + ", bread"

    changes = {"Note": note}
    await self.storage.write(changes)

If the note was updated in the store before you write your changes, the call to write will throw an exception.