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First prompt of proactive localised formflow in wrong language in bot framework

I've submitted this as a bug report but also filing it here in case I'm doing something wrong and this isn't really a bug.
Bot framework version
3.16.1.38846
Describe the issue
I'm trying to create a localised formflow that can be proactively triggered. I'm able to create the form and trigger it through an API call using the proactive dialog trigger. However, the first question is always in English, despite the locale not being English. Nonetheless, it expects an answer in the locale in play (Mandarin in this case, (zh-SG)).
If I were to not trigger it through my API, all my questions are localised based on whatever locale I send in through the bot framework emulator. I tested this by setting up a keyword check in the root dialog, and I'm able to get all my formflow questions asked in the language specified. I've attached screenshots of how this seems to play out too.
To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:
Create a simple form
Localise the form using the guide in the documentation
Call the form using the bot framework emulator using a simple keyword check in the root dialog. Use the default locale of en-US (Sample below)
Call the form using the bot framework emulator using a simple keyword check in the root dialog. Use the other language's locale (in this case, zh-SG)
Call the form using a proactive dialog trigger through a WebAPI. Method looks like this. Parameters such as the activity object have been previously seralised to a database. I've obscured certain parameters to protect some confidential information
Sample trigger
if (activity.Text.Equals("Trigger"))
{
var form = new FormDialog<Form1>(new Form1(), Form1.BuildForm, FormOptions.PromptInStart, null);
context.Call(form, formCompleteAsync);
}
WebAPI method
public IHttpActionResult Post([FromBody]Model Model)
{
if (ModelState.IsValid)
{
try
{
StartProactiveDialogAsync(model.someId, model.anotherId)
return Ok();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
return BadRequest(ex.Message);
}
}
else
{
return BadRequest(ModelState);
}
}
StartProactiveDialogAsync
public async Task StartProactiveDialogAsync(someId, anotherId )
{
try
{
// Recreate the message from the conversation reference that was saved previously.
Activity activity = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Activity>(BotUserData.ConversationReference);
MicrosoftAppCredentials.TrustServiceUrl(activity.ServiceUrl);
var client = new ConnectorClient(new Uri(activity.ServiceUrl));
// Create a scope that can be used to work with state from bot framework.
using (var scope = DialogModule.BeginLifetimeScope(Conversation.Container, activity))
{
var botData = scope.Resolve<IBotData>();
await botData.LoadAsync(CancellationToken.None);
// This is the dialog stack.
var stack = scope.Resolve<IDialogTask>();
// Create the new dialog and add it to the stack.
var dialog = new CallDialog(parameter1, parameter2);
stack.Call(dialog.Void<object, IMessageActivity>(), null);
await stack.PollAsync(CancellationToken.None);
// Flush the dialog stack back to its state store.
await botData.FlushAsync(CancellationToken.None);
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
await ProprietaryDiagnosticsTool.SendDiagnostic(e);
}
}
CallDialog
public class CallDialog : IDialog<object>
{
Parameter1 param1;
Parameter2 param2;
public CallDialog(Parameter1 param1, Parameter2 param2)
{
this.param1 = param1;
this.param2 = param2;
}
public async Task StartAsync(IDialogContext context)
{
switch (param1.Id)
{
case 1:
{
var form = new FormDialog<Form1>(new Form1(), Form1.BuildForm, FormOptions.PromptInStart, null);
context.Call(form, formComplete);
break;
}
case 2:
{
var form = new FormDialog<Form2>(new Form2(), Form2.BuildForm, FormOptions.PromptInStart, null);
context.Call(form, formComplete);
break;
}
case 3:
{
var form = new FormDialog<Form3>(new Form3(), Form3.BuildForm, FormOptions.PromptInStart, null);
context.Call(form, formComplete);
break;
}
}
}
private async Task formComplete(IDialogContext context, IAwaitable<FormParent> result)
{
var ans = await result;
await context.PostAsync("Result received");
context.Done(this);
}
}
Expected behavior
When calling the proactive dialog which calls the form in a different locale, the form should be presented in the locale specified
Screenshots
English formflow triggered through keyword - correct
English formflow triggered through API - correct
Mandarin formflow triggered through keyword - correct
Mandarin formflow triggered through API - incorrect
The error message says
"Yes" is not an option for question 1.
Additional information
I've traced the context.activity object through the various methods, from StartProactiveDialogAsync to CallDialog all the way till the formComplete method. The locale does tend to be correct, its simply the display of the first question of the proactive dialog calling the formflow that happens to be in the wrong language.

Eric from Microsoft helped to resolve this.
His full answer can be found here: https://github.com/Microsoft/BotBuilder-V3/issues/82
Simply put the locale needs to be pulled out of context.activity.privateconversationdata and sent to the form itself as it does not pick up the locale on its own when resuming a conversation.

How to create a Kafka Topic using Confluent.Kafka .Net Client

It seems like most popular .net client for Kafka (https://github.com/confluentinc/confluent-kafka-dotnet) is missing methods to setup and create Topics.
When calling Producer.ProduceAsync() the topic is created automatically but I can't find a way to setup partitions, retention policy and other settings.
I tried to find any examples online but all I found just use defaults.
Maybe there is another .net client that I can use instead?

It is now available in latest release of Confluent.Kafka .Net client library.
See: https://github.com/confluentinc/confluent-kafka-dotnet/blob/b7b04fed82762c67c2841d7481eae59dee3e4e20/examples/AdminClient/Program.cs
using (var adminClient = new AdminClientBuilder(new AdminClientConfig { BootstrapServers = bootstrapServers }).Build())
{
try
{
await adminClient.CreateTopicsAsync(new TopicSpecification[] {
new TopicSpecification { Name = topicName, ReplicationFactor = 1, NumPartitions = 1 } });
}
catch (CreateTopicsException e)
{
Console.WriteLine($"An error occured creating topic {e.Results[0].Topic}: {e.Results[0].Error.Reason}");
}
}

Confluent yet not provide any APIs to create topic from dot net client, however there is a workaround for the same.
Set auto.create.topics.enable = true in kafka configuration
use var brokerMetadata = producer.GetMetadata(false, topicName); to query available topics in existing brokers, if specified topic is
not available then kafka will create a topic with specified name.
private static bool CreateTopicIfNotExist(Producer producer, string topicName)
{
bool isTopicExist = producer.GetMetadata().Topics.Any(t => t.Topic == topicName);
if (!isTopicExist)
{
//Creates topic if it is not exist; Only in case of auto.create.topics.enable = true is set into kafka configuration
var topicMetadata = producer.GetMetadata(false, topicName).Topics.FirstOrDefault();
if (topicMetadata != null && (topicMetadata.Error.Code != ErrorCode.UnknownTopicOrPart || topicMetadata.Error.Code == ErrorCode.Local_UnknownTopic))
isTopicExist = true;
}
return isTopicExist;
}
Thus you can use this work around, I know this is dirty solution but it seems there is no other way as of now.

Confluent.Kafka.AdminClient is available in version 1.0.0-experimental-2 but doesn't allow creating topics etc.
Its built on librdkafka which doesn't have APIs for this yet.
So for now you have to configure this on the broker using e.g. bin\windows\kafka-topics.sh --create ...

Method Prerequisites

The Situation
I'm working on a OAuth2 Api Wrapper. Some api routes are for logged people and some for anonymous and logged.
Here is an example of one method in my wrapper :
public async Task<UploadListResponse> List(bool pagination = false, int page = 1, int limit = 10)
{
var request = UploadRequests.List(pagination, page, limit);
var cancellationTokenSource = new CancellationTokenSource();
var restResponse = await Context.Client.ExecuteTaskAsync(request, cancellationTokenSource.Token);
return restResponse.Handle<UploadListResponse>();
}
I build a request with all parameter set up then execute the request and then handle the answer in case I have an api error and then output an object containing all the data that request gave me.
The problem
With OAuth2, when you log to the API you'll receive an access token and a refresh token. If your access token is expired you have to contact the api with your refresh token to get a fresh new access token.
As I said earlier some of my method needs you to be logged but if your access token is expired I want to try to refresh token before throwing an exception like with this method :
public async Task<bool> NeedRelog()
{
try
{
var validAuth = await ValidAuth();
}
catch
{
try
{
var refresh = await Refresh(Context.Client.Config.RefreshToken);
}
catch
{
return true;
}
}
return false;
}
ValidAuth check with the API if you are logged and if I have an exception then I'll try to refreshToken.
I want to tag method that need logged to call NeedRelog() and those who aren't tag to not call it.
I may just do it in every method but it wouldn't be clean.
What I've done so far
I've found a great tool : PostSharp that seems to fit my needs.
I've started to do a checkLog aspect like this :
[Serializable]
public class CheckLog : OnMethodBoundaryAspect, IOnStateMachineBoundaryAspect
{
public CheckLog()
{
ApplyToStateMachine = false;
}
public override void OnEntry(MethodExecutionArgs args)
{
var instance = (ApiService)args.Instance;
var res = instance.Parent.OAuth.NeedRelog().Result;
if (!res)
{
args.Exception = new Exception("Need to relog");
args.FlowBehavior = FlowBehavior.Return;
}
}
}
Where I'm stuck
The Main problem is with the call to my NeedRelog() Method. Due to the fact this is an async method I'm struggling to make my aspect await for it.
If my OnEntry method is async then It won't block the call if you are not logged.
If my OnEntry method is not async and I wait for needLog it freeze and nothing happen.
I really want to know to use this kind of "conditional method call" with postsharp, it looks awesome but the fact is after looking for hours in the documentation I didn't find a way to do what I want.
I'm starting to ask myself if it is even possible to achieve what I'm aiming to do.

Did you try using a way to make the call synchronous maybe with something like this stackoverflow.com/a/25097498/3131696 ? – M22an 5 hours ago
As I can't mark a comment as answering a question I quote your comment to make this question answered as it is said here : link
Thanks you for this M22an.

SignalR server --> client call not working

I'm currently using SignalR to communicate between a server and multiple separate processes spawned by the server itself.
Both Server & Client are coded in C#. I'm using SignalR 2.2.0.0
On the server side, I use OWIN to run the server.
I am also using LightInject as an IoC container.
Here is my code:
public class AgentManagementStartup
{
public void ConfigurationOwin(IAppBuilder app, IAgentManagerDataStore dataStore)
{
var serializer = new JsonSerializer
{
PreserveReferencesHandling = PreserveReferencesHandling.Objects,
TypeNameHandling = TypeNameHandling.Auto,
TypeNameAssemblyFormat = FormatterAssemblyStyle.Simple
};
var container = new ServiceContainer();
container.RegisterInstance(dataStore);
container.RegisterInstance(serializer);
container.Register<EventHub>();
container.Register<ManagementHub>();
var config = container.EnableSignalR();
app.MapSignalR("", config);
}
}
On the client side, I register this way:
public async Task Connect()
{
try
{
m_hubConnection = new HubConnection(m_serverUrl, false);
m_hubConnection.Closed += OnConnectionClosed;
m_hubConnection.TraceLevel = TraceLevels.All;
m_hubConnection.TraceWriter = Console.Out;
var serializer = m_hubConnection.JsonSerializer;
serializer.TypeNameHandling = TypeNameHandling.Auto;
serializer.PreserveReferencesHandling = PreserveReferencesHandling.Objects;
m_managementHubProxy = m_hubConnection.CreateHubProxy(AgentConstants.ManagementHub.Name);
m_managementHubProxy.On("closeRequested", CloseRequestedCallback);
await m_hubConnection.Start();
}
catch (Exception e)
{
m_logger.Error("Exception encountered in Connect method", e);
}
}
On the server side I send a close request the following way:
var managementHub = GlobalHost.ConnectionManager.GetHubContext<ManagementHub>();
managementHub.Clients.All.closeRequested();
I never receive any callback in CloseRequestedCallback. Neither on the Client side nor on the server side I get any errors in the logs.
What did I do wrong here ?
EDIT 09/10/15
After some research and modifications, I found out it was linked with the replacement of the IoC container. When I removed everything linked to LightInject and used SignalR as is, everything worked. I was surprised about this since LightInject documented their integration with SignalR.
After I found this, I realised that the GlobalHost.DependencyResolver was not the same as the one I was supplying to the HubConfiguration. Once I added
GlobalHost.DependencyResolver = config.Resolver;
before
app.MapSignalR("", config);
I am now receiving callbacks within CloseRequestedCallback. Unfortunately, I get the following error as soon as I call a method from the Client to the Server:
Microsoft.AspNet.SignalR.Client.Infrastructure.SlowCallbackException
Possible deadlock detected. A callback registered with "HubProxy.On"
or "Connection.Received" has been executing for at least 10 seconds.
I am not sure about the fix I found and what impact it could have on the system. Is it OK to replace the GlobalHost.DependencyResolver with my own without registering all of its default content ?
EDIT 2 09/10/15
According to this, changing the GlobalHost.DependencyResolver is the right thing to do. Still left with no explanation for the SlowCallbackException since I do nothing in all my callbacks (yet).

Issue 1: IoC Container + Dependency Injection
If you want to change the IoC for you HubConfiguration, you also need to change the one from the GlobalHost so that returns the same hub when requesting it ouside of context.
Issue 2: Unexpected SlowCallbackException
This exception was caused by the fact that I was using SignalR within a Console Application. The entry point of the app cannot be an async method so to be able to call my initial configuration asynchronously I did as follow:
private static int Main()
{
var t = InitAsync();
t.Wait();
return t.Result;
}
Unfortunately for me, this causes a lot of issues as described here & more in details here.
By starting my InitAsync as follow:
private static int Main()
{
Task.Factory.StartNew(async ()=> await InitAsync());
m_waitInitCompletedRequest.WaitOne(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(30));
return (int)EndpointErrorCode.Ended;
}
Everything now runs fine and I don't get any deadlocks.
For more details on the issues & answers, you may also refer to the edits in my question.

Portable Class Library HttpClient

For one of my projects I want to develop a library that can be used in different platforms (Desktop, Mobile, Surface, etc). Hence have opted Porable Class Library.
I am developing a class for calling different API calls' using HttpClient. I am stuck with how to call the method, response and work around. This is my code :-
public static async Task<JObject> ExecuteGet(string uri)
{
using (HttpClient client = new HttpClient())
{
// TODO - Send HTTP requests
HttpRequestMessage reqMsg = new HttpRequestMessage(HttpMethod.Get, uri);
reqMsg.Headers.Add(apiIdTag, apiIdKey);
reqMsg.Headers.Add(apiSecretTag, ApiSecret);
reqMsg.Headers.Add("Content-Type", "text/json");
reqMsg.Headers.Add("Accept", "application/json");
//response = await client.SendAsync(reqMsg);
//return response;
//if (response.IsSuccessStatusCode)
//{
string content = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
return (JObject.Parse(content));
//}
}
}
// Perform AGENT LOGIN Process
public static bool agentStatus() {
bool loginSuccess = false;
try
{
API_Utility.ExecuteGet("http://api.mintchat.com/agent/autoonline").Wait();
// ACCESS Response, JObject ???
}
catch
{
}
finally
{
}
Like ExecuteGet, I will also create for ExecutePost. My query is from ExecuteGet, if (1) I pass JObject on parsing when IsSuccessStatusCode only, then how can I know about any other errors or messages to inform the user. (2) If I pass response, then how do I assign it here
response = API_Utility.ExecuteGet("http://api.mintchat.com/agent/autoonline").Wait();
that is giving error.
What would be the best approach to handle this situation ? And I got to call multiple API's, so different API will have different result sets.
Also, can you confirm that designing this way and adding PCL reference I will be able to access in multiple projects.
UPDATE :-
As mentioned in below 2 answers I have updated my code. As mentioned in the provided link I am calling the from the other project. This is my code :-
Portable Class Library :-
private static HttpRequestMessage getGetRequest(string url)
{
HttpRequestMessage reqMsg = new HttpRequestMessage(HttpMethod.Get, url);
reqMsg.Headers.Add(apiIdTag, apiIdKey);
reqMsg.Headers.Add(apiSecretTag, ApiSecret);
reqMsg.Headers.Add("Content-Type", "text/json");
reqMsg.Headers.Add("Accept", "application/json");
return reqMsg;
}
// Perform AGENT LOGIN Process
public static async Task<bool> agentStatus() {
bool loginSuccess = false;
HttpClient client = null;
HttpRequestMessage request = null;
try
{
client = new HttpClient();
request = getGetRequest("http://api.mintchat.com/agent/autoonline");
response = await client.SendAsync(request).ConfigureAwait(false);
if (response.IsSuccessStatusCode)
{
string content = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync().ConfigureAwait(false);
JObject o = JObject.Parse(content);
bool stat = bool.Parse(o["status"].ToString());
///[MainAppDataObject sharedAppDataObject].authLogin.chatStatus = str;
o = null;
}
loginSuccess = true;
}
catch
{
}
finally
{
request = null;
client = null;
response = null;
}
return loginSuccess;
}
From the other WPF project, in a btn click event I am calling this as follows :-
private async void btnSignin_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
/// Other code goes here
// ..........
agent = doLogin(emailid, encPswd);
if (agent != null)
{
//agent.OnlineStatus = getAgentStatus();
// Compile Error at this line
bool stat = await MintWinLib.Helpers.API_Utility.agentStatus();
...
I get these 4 errors :-
Error 1 Predefined type 'System.Runtime.CompilerServices.IAsyncStateMachine' is not defined or imported D:\...\MiveChat\CSC
Error 2 The type 'System.Threading.Tasks.Task`1<T0>' is defined in an assembly that is not referenced. You must add a reference to assembly 'System.Threading.Tasks, Version=1.5.11.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f89d50a3a'. D:\...\Login Form.xaml.cs 97 21
Error 3 Cannot find all types required by the 'async' modifier. Are you targeting the wrong framework version, or missing a reference to an assembly? D:\...\Login Form.xaml.cs 97 33
Error 4 Cannot find all types required by the 'async' modifier. Are you targeting the wrong framework version, or missing a reference to an assembly? D:\...\Login Form.xaml.cs 47 28
I tried adding System.Threading.Tasks from the PCL library only, that gave 7 different errors. Where am I going wrong ? What to do to make this working ?
Please guide me on this. Have spend lots of hours figuring the best to develop a library accessible to desktop app & Win Phone app.
Any help is highly appreciative. Thanks.

If you call an async api when making the http calls, you should also expose that async endpoint to the user, and not block the request using Task.Wait.
Also, when creating a third party library, it is recommanded to use ConfigureAwait(false) to avoid deadlocks when the calling code tries to access the Result property or the Wait method. You should also follow guidelines and mark any async method with Async, so the method should be called ExecuteStatusAsync
public static Task<bool> AgentStatusAsync()
{
bool loginSuccess = false;
try
{
// awaiting the task will unwrap it and return the JObject
var jObject = await API_Utility.ExecuteGet("http://api.mintchat.com/agent/autoonline").ConfigureAwait(false);
}
catch
{
}
}
And inside ExecuteGet:
response = await client.SendAsync(reqMsg).ConfigureAwait(false);
string content = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync().ConfigureAwait(false);
In case IsSuccessStatusCode is false, you may throw an exception to the calling code to show something went wrong. To do that, you can use the HttpResponseMessage.EnsureSuccessStatusCode which throws an exception if the status code != 200 OK.
Personally, if ExecuteGet is a public API method i would definitely not expose it as a JObject but a strongly typed type.

If you want the result of the task, you need to use the Result property:
var obj = API_Utility.ExecuteGet("http://api.mintchat.com/agent/autoonline").Result;
However, it's usually not a good idea to wait synchronously for an async method to complete, because it can cause deadlocks. The better approach is to await the method:
var obj = await API_Utility.ExecuteGet("http://api.mintchat.com/agent/autoonline");
Note that you need to make the calling method async as well:
public static async Task<bool> agentStatus()
Sync and async code don't play together very well, so async tends to propagate across the whole code base.