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botframeworkchatbotazure-cognitive-servicesopenai-api

Does the BotFramework-WebChat require a bot service?

I would like to use this framework as the UI component for any API service. According to the documentation it seems the bot framework is a requirement (see screenshot).

Question: Is this indeed a requirement, or is it open to using any backend service (for the chat conversation)?

enter image description here

Solution

  • Yes, BotFramework-WebChat requires you to use the DirectLine service that is provided by Azure for communicating with a BotFramework bot. As such, WebChat is heavily dependent on the BotFramework-DirectLineJS library, with extensive integrations throughout its code, in order to facilitate this happening.

    It would be, by far, easier to design and build your own solution rather than to try and strip WebChat of its Directline integrations.

    That being said, WebChat is a sophisticated application that does its job well. If you're capable enough to understand and follow the developer's code, you could use it as a reference to build your own client.

    In the end, WebChat simply houses an adapter that connects to DirectLine to send and receive activities with a bot. Its sophistication comes in what it does with the activities.