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Resume Bot Framework dialog when triggered by external service

The Scenario
I have a bot built using the Bot Framework with a series of dialogs. One of these dialogs gives the user the option of inputting some complex data via a web page by presenting a button to them. Clicking the button they are then taken to the site, fill out the data, save and are then directed back to the bot.
I want my bot to pause the dialog until it receives an event from my web page telling me the user has saved the data and then continue asking the user questions.
Before
I had a version implemented whereby I would store a ConversationReference before the user clicked the button and then when the external event happened I would send the cards and next messages I wanted to show (not in a dialog) from a webhook, that was fine but it got quite complicated/messy - I'd rather keep the whole app in one continuous dialog.
Idea 1: Use DirectLine API
I did some research and many people were suggesting using the DirectLine API. So I implemented this:
public async Task SendEventAsync(InternalEventMessage message, ConversationReference reference) {
var client = new DirectLineClient(!String.IsNullOrEmpty(_settings.DirectLineSecret) ? _settings.DirectLineSecret : null);
if (_settings.SiteUrl.Contains("localhost")) {
client.BaseUri = new Uri(_settings.DirectLineServiceUrl);
}
var eventMessage = Activity.CreateEventActivity();
//Wrong way round?!?
eventMessage.From = reference.Bot;
eventMessage.Type = ActivityTypes.Event;
eventMessage.Value = message;
var conversation = await client.Conversations.PostActivityAsync(reference.Conversation.Id, eventMessage as Activity);
}
This uses the DirectLine client to send an event message to the serviceUrl using a stored ConversationReference, basically imitating a user (bot and user seem to be the wrong way round in the SDK). Checking for localhost was so that the DirectLine library pointed at the emulator server rather than https://directline.botframework.com.
In my dialog I call:
//method above shows input button and links to web page
context.Wait(WaitForAddressInput);
}
private async Task WaitForAddressInput(IDialogContext context, IAwaitable<IActivity> result) {
var message = await result;
switch (message.Type) {
case ActivityTypes.Message:
//TODO: Add response
break;
case ActivityTypes.Event:
var eventMessage = message as IEventActivity;
if (((JObject)eventMessage.Value).ToObject<InternalEventMessage>().Type == EventType.AddressInputComplete) {
_addressResult = (await _tableService.ReadOrderById(Order.OrderId)).Address;
await context.PostAsync($"Great}");
context.Done(_addressResult);
}
break;
}
}
This waits for any message from the user after the button has been shown and if our event matches then we proceed with the dialog.
This works locally using the emulator but, frustratingly, doesn't live. It fails to recognise channels created via webchat or Messenger. That is explained here: Microsoft Bot Framework DirectLine Can't Access Conversations
For security reasons, you can't use DirectLine to spy on messages from
another conversation.
So I can't access a channel that I haven't created using DirectLine.
Idea 2: BotConnector
So I thought I'd try the BotConnector using similar code:
public async Task SendEventAsync(InternalEventMessage message, Microsoft.Bot.Connector.DirectLine.ConversationReference reference) {
var botAccount = new ChannelAccount(reference.User.Id, reference.User.Name);
var userAccount = new ChannelAccount(reference.Bot.Id, reference.Bot.Name);
MicrosoftAppCredentials.TrustServiceUrl(reference.ServiceUrl);
var connector = new ConnectorClient(new Uri(reference.ServiceUrl), new MicrosoftAppCredentials("xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx", "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"));
connector.Credentials.InitializeServiceClient();
var eventMessage = Activity.CreateMessageActivity();
eventMessage.Recipient = botAccount;
eventMessage.From = userAccount;
eventMessage.Type = ActivityTypes.Event;
eventMessage.Conversation = new ConversationAccount(id: reference.Conversation.Id);
eventMessage.ServiceUrl = reference.ServiceUrl;
eventMessage.Timestamp = DateTimeOffset.UtcNow;
eventMessage.LocalTimestamp = DateTime.Now;
eventMessage.ChannelId = reference.ChannelId;
var result = await connector.Conversations.SendToConversationAsync(eventMessage as Microsoft.Bot.Connector.Activity);
}
This doesn't crash and I can see the event appear in the emulator request console but nothing happens, it seems to be ignored!
Idea 3: Try to imitate the bot service calling my bot
I haven't tried this yet because I think it might be the most time consuming but I was reading here about the service authentication and wondered if it would be possible to imitate the hosted bot service sending a message and send my event that way with the required data?
This seems like a fairly common scenario so I'm surprised I haven't come across a way to do this yet. If anyone has any other ideas on how I can send an event message to my bot from an external service then I'd love to hear it.
Update:
See my answer below Eric's to see what I did.

Idea 1:
DirectLine is a channel, not a library to use in order to connect to channels. (For instance: you would not use Facebook Messenger to connect to Skype) DirectLineClient is useful for creating a client application that connects to the DirectLine channel through the Direct Line connector service.
Idea 2:
This method should work. In fact, the BotAuth library uses this method for the MagicNumber login flow within the CallbackController: https://github.com/MicrosoftDX/botauth/blob/9a0a9f1b665f4aa95b6d60d09346dda90d8b314e/CSharp/BotAuth/Controllers/CallbackController.cs
For your scenario, you should be able to construct a CardAction of type ActionTypes.OpenUrl that contains a value with the ConversationReference encoded in the url. Clicking the button will call an mvc controller that displays a page (saving the ConversationReference in a cookie or something) and when the user finishes adding the address on the page, use the ConversationReference to send an event to the bot (similar to how BotAuth resumes the conversation in the CallbackController).
Idea 3:
This would bypass the connector services, and is not a supported scenario. The link you shared explains the details of how authentication works in the Bot Framework, not how to bypass the connector services.

Eric's answer led me to solve the issue using the BotAuth example but, for completeness, here is what I did using Idea 2.
I created a CallbackController on my Bot Framework endpoint and then used the following code to send an event back to the awaiting dialog:
MicrosoftAppCredentials.TrustServiceUrl(reference.ServiceUrl);
var message = reference.GetPostToBotMessage();
message.Value = new InternalEventMessage(type);
message.Type = ActivityTypes.Event;
await Conversation.ResumeAsync(reference, message);
The dialog awaits with this code and continues:
context.Wait(WaitForAddressInput);
}
private async Task WaitForAddressInput(IDialogContext context,
IAwaitable<IActivity> result)
{
var message = await result;
switch (message.Type)
{
case ActivityTypes.Message:
//TODO: Add response
break;
case ActivityTypes.Event:
//Process event and continue!
break;
}
}
This is the most complicated issue I've had with the Bot Framework and I found the docs a little lacking. Hope this helps someone!

Want to prevent default signalR OnDisconnect only from a certain view

Right now, I have overridden SignalR's OnDisconnect Method as follows:
public override Task OnDisconnected()
{
if (this.Context.User != null)
{
string userName = this.Context.User.Identity.Name;
var repo = new LobbyRepository();
Clients.Group("Lobby").remove(userName);
repo.RemoveFromLobby(userName);
}
return base.OnDisconnected();
}
However, this code is reached every time the user navigates to any view, temporarily breaking the signalR connection. How can I prevent this from happening only when the user is requesting a certain view?

The connection can be maintained as long you are in the same page, if you navigate away, the connection ends.
You can use Ajax to replace the content of your page, using a technique named "click hijacking" https://web.archive.org/web/20160305021055/http://mislav.net/2011/03/click-hijack/
But remember, the connection is associated to your page.
Cheers.

Registering a new user overwrites current user session - why?

I've come across an issue when registering new users with my app. The behaviour looks to be by design, but I don't understand why.
My problem is as follows (and I know it's a bit of an edge case):
User browses to my site's login page in two separate tabs in the same browser.
In the first tab, the user logs in and is correctly redirected to my home page.
In the second tab, the user follows my signup logic (which doesn't require any kind of page refresh, it's all done with client side code that culminates in a jQuery AJAX POST to the built in ServiceStack RegistrationService's /register endpoint)
Instead of creating a new user, the second user's details overwrite that of the logged in user's UserAuth record, and the first user can no longer log in.
Looking at the code in ServiceStack.ServiceInterface.Auth.RegistrationService, this behaviour appears to be 100% intentional:
var session = this.GetSession();
var newUserAuth = ToUserAuth(request);
var existingUser = UserAuthRepo.GetUserAuth(session, null);
var registerNewUser = existingUser == null;
var user = registerNewUser
? this.UserAuthRepo.CreateUserAuth(newUserAuth, request.Password)
: this.UserAuthRepo.UpdateUserAuth(existingUser, newUserAuth, request.Password);
Once the first user is logged in, the session cookie for that user gets sent with the registration request, causing the existingUser variable in the code above to be populated with the UserAuth for that user, which is then updated with the registering user details.
Can anyone explain why the code's been written in this way? And is there any way around it without replacing the RegistrationService with my own implementation?

This is the feature that lets you to auto-merge different Auth Providers into the same account in ServiceStack.

Is this possible to clear the session whenever browser closed in asp.net?

In my asp.net application, i want to clear the session whenever my browser closed or my tab (if my browser containing multiple tabs)closed.
Please guide me to get out of this issue...

Short version, No.
There's no solid way of a server detecting if the client has closed their browser. It's just the nature of web development's asynchronous pattern.
Long version, if it's really, really important to you;
Put a bit of javascript in the page that sends a regular post to your website in the background and set up a serverside agent or service that disposes of the sessions if it doesnt receive these regular "heartbeat" signals.
You can put a javascript postback onto the page's unload() event but dont rely on it, it doesnt always fire.

This happens by default whenever you close your browser, and that's not just for ASP.NET. It's for most server-side programming languages that have a session state. Basically, any cookie that is added that doesn't specify an expiration date, will be deleted when the browser is closed.
Where this doesn't apply, is when you close a tab, which is something you will not have any control over because the tab close event will not get sent back to the Web server.

You can try to do that with javascript. Check it at:
http://www.codeproject.com/Tips/154801/How-to-end-user-session-when-browser-closed

Alternatively you can check you previous session state on every new browser opening and can Session.clear() or Session.abandon() the previous session.
this will make sure that every time you start application you will get new session.
use BasePage in your .net application.
Check the session.sessionid on basepage load.
More Inforamtion how to detect new session in basepage. BasePage.Session.Link
Hope this helps
regards
Shaz
public class BasePage : Page
{
protected string mySessionId;
private CurrentUser _currentUser;
public CurrentUser _CurrentUser
{
get { return ((CurrentUser)HttpContext.Current.Session["myCurrentUser"]); }
set { _currentUser = value; }
}
protected override void OnLoad(EventArgs e)
{
if (Session["myCurrentUser"] != null)
{
if (_CurrentUser.ProUser)
{
mySessionId = Session.SessionID; // it means New Session
}
if (!mySessionId.IsNullOrDefault() && mySessionId != Session.SessionID)
{
Session.Abandon(); //Abandon current session and start new one
}
}
}
}

I think cookies can better meet your requirement here for session management.
it means that session data should not be stored on the server and
should be with your call, so that you don't have to worry about
clearing the data on server.

Yes.First of all Browser automatically clear session when browser is closed. you can try to capture browser close or tab close event in browser using javascript function like on before unload and on unload. Mostly onbefore unload event captures browser close event in chrome, Firefox, IE 11.

You can use Session_End event of Global.aspx
//For Specific Session
Session.Remove("SessionName");
//All the Session
Session.Abandon();

ASP.NET MVC 2 caching problem

I'm writing an app and have come across caching problem which I cannot work out.
I have a default Home controller for the site which checks whether the user is authenticated or not.
If is not then LogOn View is displayed otherwise the client is redirected to another page.
Along with the LogOn view, also a Check cookie is being sent to user to check on response if his browser supports cookies or not.
When I delete the cookie before sending the form with credentials, Home (Post method) in Home controller displays message that cookies must be enabled with a button which
should refresh the page with Logon boxes(http://localhost:1234/)
This button is linked to js refresh function:
var sURL = unescape("/");
function refresh()
{
window.location.href = sURL;
}
I have implemented CacheFilter which is set on the base controller.
public class NoCache : ActionFilterAttribute, IActionFilter
{
public override void OnResultExecuting(ResultExecutingContext filterContext)
{
filterContext.HttpContext.Response.Cache.SetExpires(DateTime.UtcNow.AddDays(-1));
filterContext.HttpContext.Response.Cache.SetValidUntilExpires(false);
filterContext.HttpContext.Response.Cache.SetRevalidation(HttpCacheRevalidation.AllCaches);
filterContext.HttpContext.Response.Cache.SetCacheability(HttpCacheability.NoCache);
filterContext.HttpContext.Response.Cache.SetNoStore();
base.OnResultExecuting(filterContext);
}
public override void OnResultExecuted(ResultExecutedContext filterContext)
{
base.OnResultExecuted(filterContext);
}
}
and the problem is that if I Immediately click the button to refresh LogOn page, browser read it using its cache. But when I do it after a few seconds then the query is sent to the server.
This is wrong, because LogOn page should also create again a Check cookie.
It seems to me that the cache policy is set to 1-2 seconds, and after this time pages are reloaded from the server.
What is wrong? Thanks for help.

I have seen some similar behaviour, related to the javascript in IE7. The browser 'helpfully' realizes that you've recently requested that URL and therefore serves up the cached version. If this is the case, the solution is to make sure the URL is unique every time by adding a pseudo random number. I use something like:
function refresh()
{
window.location.href = sURL + "?rnd="+ Math.random();
}

Am I right in saying you're testing this by running this in Visual Studio?
As far as I know you can't enable things like caching in the Visual Studio Development Server. This is something you will enable on your webserver, which I guess will be IIS in your case.