v0.6-preview8

Changes:

• 47643ef fix parse number exception (#2381)
• 37e0091 [calendar] Add support for utterance like "my manager" or "his boss" (#2197)
• 35f5cd4 Using country and region in code and comment (#2385)
• 1e21a1d Update deployment scripts
• 4987209 Updated package versions to 4.5.4 (#2379)
• d3756df Skill project updates (#2371)
• 1d2cefa Skill doc updates for 0.6 (#2360)
• 36448b4 calendar merge fix
• cf1a54d merged in calendar changes
• 3ffe738 [Calendar] fix merge issue (#2370)

See More

• 956861b updated phone skill to latest packages
• 5760202 updated skills with whitelist changes
• e10f3a1 updated calendar skill to latest from next
• 8d9a4ef updated skill template with whitelist lib
• 34877f7 Added whitelist auth provider to lib
• 322229b merged master into next
• d72fc0d Make whitelist optional (#2363)
• bbf8ff9 Update README.md
• 931ea3e Update README.md
• 3503839 Updated sample code to reflect current templates (#2362)
• b84d415 Merge branch 'next' of https://github.com/microsoft/botframework-solutions into next
• 2e079c3 [VA] Removed skill switch by default
• 7238826 doc update (#2347)
• aec3ad2 [Skills] fixes for teams (#2340)
• 5618317 [Botskills] Use botWebAppName and resourceGroupName from the appsettings file (#2346)
• 2588dc5 [Samples/Templates] Add an informative message with the summary of deployed resources (#2317)
• 6fe5419 [POI] update lu files (#2266)
• 11671c1 [ITSM] update lu, show ticket flow (#2300)
• e55cc94 Latest Android Updates (#2313) [ #2198, #2251, #2261 ]
• 8351965 Rename TelUri to TelephoneUri (#2304)
• 7451c79 Updated error handling in publish.ps1 (#2354)
• 6b5b640 VA and Skill Template updates and synchronization (#2353)
• 3e0f74f [Calendar] Fix digest time entity logic (#2327)
• fb1b50b Phone: New skill to make phone calls (#1659)
• 4bb9291 Fix vulnerabilities of generator-botbuilder-assistant (#2335)
• 4e8e75d [Samples/Templates] Add resourceGroupName attribute in the appsettings after deployment (#2307)
• cb80eec bug fix for single turn dialogs in routerDialog (#2344)
• 6d44f8f Various docs issues (#2310) [ #2288, #2274, #2309 ]
• 6b45d72 Improve German wording for skills for new user greeting (#2323)
• cadc709 [Hospitality] typo fix (#2326)
• ae26767 Update index.md
• 6d89caf Add missing properties for the manifestTemplate (#2278)
• d3e16e3 Update Encoding to UTF8 (#2289)
• 40e163e Execution of the install and build during publish script (#2245)
• f481176 add whitelist to template (#2319)
• ab9f0ca Fix ContentModerator Middleware (#2277)
• fd3317f Change default value to false of useDispatch parameter for Skills (#2252)
• c2d48f3 Update README.md
• 000881e fix find contact issue (#2286)
• 2d2967f Refactor solutions directory to samples (#2248) [ #2141, #2168, #2226, #2210, #2253, #2258, #2019, #2015, #1948, #2038, #2039, #2043, #2066, #1943, #2033, #2048, #2100, #2085, #2000, #1982, #2071, #2126, #2130, #2146, #2111, #2150, #2156, #2257, #2185, #2256, #2250, #2283, #2078, #2291 ]
• 9122102 Remove callerId in Auth flow as callerId shouldn't be transferred over the wire (#2291)
• b85077d Add IT Service Management skill (#2078)
• 5a95222 update lib (#2283)
• 227b2f8 [POI] add details card with actions, remove cancel & events, redsign flows (#2250)
• adc6411 [Docs] Update hospitality related docs (#2256)
• c2193b9 Fix casing of the name property in responses files (#2275)
• 6425200 [TypeScript][Samples] Generate samples with the latest version of the generator (#2231)
• 3df242f [Calendar] calendar refactoring part 2 (#2185)
• 9aeef95 [TypeScript][Samples/Templates] Update the SDK dependencies (#2203)
• 193e641 use Handoff instead of EndOfConversation for SkillTemplate (#2257)
• 76b7204 [Docs] Enterprise Notifications & Virtual Assistant Client (Android) (#2258) [ #2019, #2015, #1948, #2038, #2039, #2043, #2066, #1943, #2033, #2048, #2100, #2085, #2000, #1982, #2071, #2126, #2130, #2146, #2111, #2150, #2156 ]
• 853a7cc [TypeScript][BotBuilder-Skills] Use Handoff Activity to manage the signal completion of skill dialog (#2253)
• 90c6fd7 [C#][DevOps] Spike for CD in Virtual Assistant Sample (#2210)
• 6a17602 Add FeedbackMiddleware to Solutions lib (#2226)
• 9d5ae31 [Calendar] fix calendar timezone issue (#2201)
• 4d391d6 update template for naming and DialogState (#2168)
• e50244d [Script] cognitive model args should be camelCased (#2141)
• 1468a09 Solve conflicts in deploy.ps1 script (#2188)
• 3a32384 Update cognitivemodels.json (#2247)
• 0bf73a3 Update cognitivemodels.json (#2246)
• 499c273 use Handoff instead of EndOfConversation to signal completion of skill dialog (#2244)
• ad473bb [hospitality] remove skills from skills.json file (#2241)
• 92f2822 Fix authKey property casing (#2176)
• 8b15cf2 [Botskills] Add msaAppId property to skillManifest model (#2187) [ #1983 ]
• dd78bde Hospitality sample and skill changes (#2236)
• 8ace622 [Weather Skill] Localization issues for zh-cn (#2184)
• 7748f9d [POI] Replace the carousel of results with a single card (#2223)
• 0d71c97 [Botskills] Update the output format for az commands (#2186)
• 82b43bb [Maintenance] Pulling master into next (#2229) [ #2019, #2015, #1948, #2038, #2039, #2043, #2066, #1943, #2033, #2048, #2100, #2085, #2000, #1982, #2071, #2126, #2130, #2146, #2111, #2150, #2156 ]
• e7db208 [Docs] Remove extra word (#2227) [ #2214 ]
• 421ae9c Experimental Event Skill (#2178)
• ad4cc82 add experimental feed to test proj (#2204)
• 450662c Work in progress (#2179) [ #1847, #2041, #1973, #2002, #1850, #1974, #2102, #2112, #1584, #2005, #2190, #2191 ]
• ea03dc1 use hashset for whitelist (#2164)
• f2f51a7 fix localization issue (#2170)
• e0678f1 Update footer.html
• 4f4224f Update footer.html
• 4aa450e Update footer.html
• 39d2ea4 Update issue templates
• 387de7a Add files via upload
• 826c8bc Create managemodels.md
• 510eab8 Update 4_provision_your_azure_resources.md
• a5b8e84 Update 4_provision_your_azure_resources.md
• 0e9a16b Update 4_provision_your_azure_resources.md
• 951b8a2 Update 4_provision_your_azure_resources.md
• 790b258 Update productivity-todo.md
• 7b826f6 Update skillenablingav4bot.md
• eae74ed Update 1_intro.md
• 208b394 Update 1_intro.md
• bd7c005 Update automotive.md
• d4df47c Update testing.md
• a2d2657 Update 1_intro.md
• d16f6a3 Update 1_intro.md
• 1e67eae Update 1_intro.md
• 631664e Update 1_intro.md
• e6facc9 Update addingskills.md
• e9c643b Update productivity-email.md
• 672e5c3...

Beta Release 0.6

What’s Changed

Documentation

We've moved our docs to GitHub Pages, where you can find overviews, tutorials, how-to's and reference points. If you find any issues, scroll to the bottom of a page to submit feedback!

Explore more

Virtual Assistant Client (Android)

Using Direct Line Speech, you can connect to your Virtual Assistant with a sample Android app. This is used to demonstrate speech scenarios on a native OS with multiple views (chat bubbles, native widgets). Using events you can integrate a Virtual Assistant and Skills with the default apps on a user's device, like the dialer, maps, music, etc. Going one step further with integration, companion apps can connect to the service through an AIDL interface to make requests back to a Virtual Assistant. In conjunction with an Event Companion app, you can create custom widgets on the home screen to quickly light up IOT scenarios.

Learn more

Hospitality Assistant

A sample Virtual Assistant based on hospitality scenarios is available to help conceptualize and demonstrate how one might be integrated in this industry. This assistant would be integrated in a hotel room device that can provide guests with resources they would typically reach out to a concierge for.

Learn more

Experimental Skills

• The Event Skill sample demonstrates demonstrates local event knowledge using Eventbrite.
• The Hospitality Skill sample demonstrates experiences that would be common in a hospitality-focused scenario, like ordering room service and requesting amenities.
• The IT Service Management Skill sample demonstrates basic IT ticket and knowledge base capabilities using ServiceNow.
• The Music Skill sample demonstrates basic music search functionality using Spotify.

Learn more

Libraries

Whitelist authentication

Since Skills can be added onto multiple Virtual Assistants, a Skill bot needs to verify that incoming requests come from a valid caller. Developers need to implement a whitelist mechanism that provides Skills with knowledge of their callers and give permissions to that bot explicitly.
Learn more

Skill switching in a Virtual Assistant

The Skills library is updated with a mechanism to allow for Virtual Assistants to switch between Skills as a user utterances require it so.
Learn more

Collect feedback from users

A middleware sample is available to demonstrate one method of capturing a user's feedback during a conversation with their Virtual Assistant.
Learn more

For a comprehensive list of changes, refer to the weekly preview releases prior

v0.6-preview5

Changes:

• 4d391d6 update template for naming and DialogState (#2168)
• e50244d [Script] cognitive model args should be camelCased (#2141)
• 3a32384 Update cognitivemodels.json (#2247)
• 0bf73a3 Update cognitivemodels.json (#2246)
• 499c273 use Handoff instead of EndOfConversation to signal completion of skill dialog (#2244)
• ad473bb [hospitality] remove skills from skills.json file (#2241)
• dd78bde Hospitality sample and skill changes (#2236)
• 8ace622 [Weather Skill] Localization issues for zh-cn (#2184)
• 7748f9d [POI] Replace the carousel of results with a single card (#2223)
• 82b43bb [Maintenance] Pulling master into next (#2229) [ #2019, #2015, #1948, #2038, #2039, #2043, #2066, #1943, #2033, #2048, #2100, #2085, #2000, #1982, #2071, #2126, #2130, #2146, #2111, #2150, #2156 ]

See more

• 421ae9c Experimental Event Skill (#2178)
• ad4cc82 add experimental feed to test proj (#2204)
• 450662c Work in progress (#2179) [ #1847, #2041, #1973, #2002, #1850, #1974, #2102, #2112, #1584, #2005, #2190, #2191 ]
• ea03dc1 use hashset for whitelist (#2164)
• f2f51a7 fix localization issue (#2170)
• fb5fa1f [Weather Skill] Localization issues for zh-cn (#2159)
• f3b4312 cancel remote skill dialog when auth dialog returns with cancellation (#2154)
• 4a8e198 Experimental skill fixes (#2149)
• d569fd1 unify name of DialogState (#2136)
• b1dd097 set CallerId in SkillWebSocketTransport (#2138)
• 5db7a9c [HospitalitySkill] Add dialog for room service and update request item dialog (#2132)
• 249beb7 fix test project (#2134)
• 5b66d69 Add experimental Music Skill (#2133)
• 747fec4 [POI] fix localization issue (#2115)
• 496b139 [Calendar] calendar skill refactor part 1 (#2143)
• 23a536b add perf on SkillWebSocketTransport side (#2147)
• 556f5d9 [Point of Interest] Update OpenDefaultApp event value with MapsUri property (#2121)
• 788ac4b fix score issue (#2124)
• b33a0aa fix localization issue (#2097)
• 21bd80e Latest Android updates (#2088) [ #1847, #2041, #1973, #2002 ]
• 286ebd8 BingSearchSkill uses thumbnail in Teams (#2091)
• 54b6351 [Future to Next] Fallback skill & va change (#2076) [ #1875, #1976 ]
• 29e8dfd add health check to SkillController (#2086)
• 7aac6c5 add OAuthProvider.GenericOauth2 (#2063)
• e124c2d POI improve language model (#1987) (#1991)
• 448ae25 update skill template (#2065)
• 45a870b [HospitalitySample] Add KB for hotel FAQs and connect other skills (#2055)
• c5e4319 [HospitalitySkill] Fix reservation data issue and clean up files (#2053)
• e64bb9b Added note in Android doc on host config (#2049)
• 550ad3a Add 'msaAppId' to skillManifest model (#1983)
• ac50cd9 Rename property msAppId to msaAppId (#2000)
• da8ee4c add whitelist authentication (#2072)
• 1492f53 Weather skill and Restaurant Booking skill fixes (#2070)
• 66e4a39 return semantic response as dialog result (#2069)
• a50268c [Automotive Skill] Replace event name with settings name (#2050)
• 6f900c2 fix passing header with StreamingExtensions (#2056)
• d103baa add response into manifest schema (#2052)
• f7ceefd enable JWTToken auth by default (#2022)
• aaf91cc Power BI: Fix App Insights timespan query that limited all additional timerange parameters (#2034)
• e9592e3 [HospitalitySkill] Adding RequestItems dialog (#2028)
• 7a42930 make sure semantic action is well maintained in every turn (#2032)
• 6c4bb37 Add files for Hospitality Sample VA (#2030)
• 846b822 add POI_TYPE nearest to provide nearest result (#1986) (#2024)
• 6d40eee Prevent ludown 'update available' message to break Botskills (#2021)
• bc68f15 Hospitality skill (#1797)
• d43b0d7 [Future to Next] Fallback Lib change (#2012) [ #1875, #1976 ]
• 6dae291 POI returns no route for not covered areas (#1960) (#1993)
• 66277aa use azure map for GetPointOfInterestListByAddressAsync (#1988) (#1994)
• 0c3aa86 update GeographyV2 (#1995) (#1996)
• 0c723d0 Merge branch 'next' of https://github.com/microsoft/botframework-solutions into next
• 11efb39 consolidated deployment docs (#2018)
• 04ecbe5 Updated diagram [ #1905 ]
• e7f44fa updated deployment scripts doc (#2003)
• 51f0546 Delete addauthentication.md
• be8c030 [Lib]Support Action specific skill call (#1984)
• 4bb3c7e Update release-drafter.yml
• 6f18513 Updated knownissues.md (#1997)
• 7b4c4b8 Update readme.md (#1975)
• 3405cea [TypeScript][BotBuilder Libs] Update functionality of BotBuilder-Skills and BotBuilder-Solutions (#1933)
• 29c3b36 [Botskills] Fix line endings for test temporal files (#1945)
• 86889ef [Botskills] Handle the version of Azure CLI during the execution of the tool (#1965)
• 4253ffd Use of pathToResource property for authenticationResponses (#1939)
• bf53c3b Various release fixes (update script, capitalization) (#1967)
• 23776f7 revert skills lib to not use a customized nuspec file to make its dependencies streamlined (#1966)
• 5c62537 VSIX template bug fixes (#1958)
• 425dcfa enterprise notification sample (#1954)
• 6cded0f Revert "[VA Template] Fix LUIS and QnA names in DispatchLuis (#1953)" (#1957)
• f6de608 update skills lib version 4.5.2 (#1955)
• ab0b5d4 [VA Template] Fix LUIS and QnA names in DispatchLuis (#1953)
• 9afe1f7 Tedlee/update streaming lib (#1951)
• e236036 latest Android updates (#1950) [ #11, #1667, #1665, #1661, #1669, #1660, #1668, #1673, #1676, #1681, #8, #1683, #1685, #1666, #1686, #1690, #1693, #1688, #1695, #1696, #1698, #1647, #1703, #1694, #1702, #1708, #1711, #1712, #1706, #1707, #1709, #1678, #1771, #14, #15, #1662, #1587, #1713, #1635, #1332, #1733, #1791, #1792, #1743, #1800, #1744, #1810, #1811, #1755, #16, #1801, #1816, #18, #1825, #1823, #1813, #1834, #1840, #1841, #1842, #1710, #1729, #1817, #1843, #1828, #20 ]
• 02e8492 updates to lib (#1934)
• 60b70b3 Add Skill-Sample YAML file (#1938)
• 38faf40 use OpenDefaultApp instead of ActiveRoute.Directions (#1443) (#1864) (#1897)
• 1f606af Set '--output json' on az cli commands across projects + publish.ps1 prompts (#1940)
• 8e2c09e Template updates + luis_functions fix (#1930)
• e17b13b Fixed utterance source for automotive skill to reflect new naming scheme from settings_dispatch to SettingsDispatch (match LU file) (#1926)
• 7c18eb1 [Botskills] Implement utils tests (#1901)
• 90afe2b [Botskills] Implement logger tests (#1915)
• e718581 Remove autosave state middleware (#1929)
• dc82a59 Fix test for Virtual Assistant on non-Windows machines (#1881)
• 6fc44a9 Updated to IBot Implementation across projects (#1927)
• c296b82 add helper to wrap paths with quotes and update tests (#1889)
• b4d7d7a remove obsolete event from doc (#1902)
• d85c73d Latest Android Updates (#1896) [ #11, #1667, #1665, #1661, #1669, #1660, #1668, #1673, #1676, #1681, #8, #1683, #1685, #1666, #1686, #1690, #1693, #1688, #1695, #1696, #1698, #1647, #1703, #1694, #1702, #1708, #1711, #1712, #1706, #1707, #1709, #1678, #1771, #14, #15, #1662, #1587, #...

v0.6-preview1

Changes:

• bc68f15 Hospitality skill (#1797)
• d43b0d7 [Future to Next] Fallback Lib change (#2012) [ #1875, #1976 ]
• 6dae291 POI returns no route for not covered areas (#1960) (#1993)
• 66277aa use azure map for GetPointOfInterestListByAddressAsync (#1988) (#1994)
• 0c3aa86 update GeographyV2 (#1995) (#1996)
• 0c723d0 Merge branch 'next' of https://github.com/microsoft/botframework-solutions into next
• 11efb39 consolidated deployment docs (#2018)
• 04ecbe5 Updated diagram [ #1905 ]
• e7f44fa updated deployment scripts doc (#2003)
• 51f0546 Delete addauthentication.md

See more

• be8c030 [Lib]Support Action specific skill call (#1984)
• 4bb3c7e Update release-drafter.yml
• 6f18513 Updated knownissues.md (#1997)
• 7b4c4b8 Update readme.md (#1975)
• 3405cea [TypeScript][BotBuilder Libs] Update functionality of BotBuilder-Skills and BotBuilder-Solutions (#1933)
• 29c3b36 [Botskills] Fix line endings for test temporal files (#1945)
• 86889ef [Botskills] Handle the version of Azure CLI during the execution of the tool (#1965)
• 4253ffd Use of pathToResource property for authenticationResponses (#1939)
• bf53c3b Various release fixes (update script, capitalization) (#1967)
• 23776f7 revert skills lib to not use a customized nuspec file to make its dependencies streamlined (#1966)
• 5c62537 VSIX template bug fixes (#1958)
• 425dcfa enterprise notification sample (#1954)
• 6cded0f Revert "[VA Template] Fix LUIS and QnA names in DispatchLuis (#1953)" (#1957)
• f6de608 update skills lib version 4.5.2 (#1955)
• ab0b5d4 [VA Template] Fix LUIS and QnA names in DispatchLuis (#1953)
• 9afe1f7 Tedlee/update streaming lib (#1951)
• e236036 latest Android updates (#1950) [ #11, #1667, #1665, #1661, #1669, #1660, #1668, #1673, #1676, #1681, #8, #1683, #1685, #1666, #1686, #1690, #1693, #1688, #1695, #1696, #1698, #1647, #1703, #1694, #1702, #1708, #1711, #1712, #1706, #1707, #1709, #1678, #1771, #14, #15, #1662, #1587, #1713, #1635, #1332, #1733, #1791, #1792, #1743, #1800, #1744, #1810, #1811, #1755, #16, #1801, #1816, #18, #1825, #1823, #1813, #1834, #1840, #1841, #1842, #1710, #1729, #1817, #1843, #1828, #20 ]
• 02e8492 updates to lib (#1934)
• 60b70b3 Add Skill-Sample YAML file (#1938)
• 38faf40 use OpenDefaultApp instead of ActiveRoute.Directions (#1443) (#1864) (#1897)
• 1f606af Set '--output json' on az cli commands across projects + publish.ps1 prompts (#1940)
• 8e2c09e Template updates + luis_functions fix (#1930)
• e17b13b Fixed utterance source for automotive skill to reflect new naming scheme from settings_dispatch to SettingsDispatch (match LU file) (#1926)
• 7c18eb1 [Botskills] Implement utils tests (#1901)
• 90afe2b [Botskills] Implement logger tests (#1915)
• e718581 Remove autosave state middleware (#1929)
• dc82a59 Fix test for Virtual Assistant on non-Windows machines (#1881)
• 6fc44a9 Updated to IBot Implementation across projects (#1927)
• c296b82 add helper to wrap paths with quotes and update tests (#1889)
• b4d7d7a remove obsolete event from doc (#1902)
• d85c73d Latest Android Updates (#1896) [ #11, #1667, #1665, #1661, #1669, #1660, #1668, #1673, #1676, #1681, #8, #1683, #1685, #1666, #1686, #1690, #1693, #1688, #1695, #1696, #1698, #1647, #1703, #1694, #1702, #1708, #1711, #1712, #1706, #1707, #1709, #1678, #1771, #14, #15, #1662, #1587, #1713, #1635, #1332, #1733, #1791, #1792, #1743, #1800, #1744, #1810, #1811, #1755, #16, #1801, #1816, #1825, #1823, #1813, #1834, #1840, #1841, #1842, #1710, #1729, #1817, #1843, #19, #1828, #20 ]
• d23bfde speechenablement.md: Update text related to Azure regions (#1904)
• 04f7c67 Fixed Links in Overview Documentation (#1908)
• 9cdb9d7 use ShortTimePattern of related CultureInfo instead of hardcoded ones (#1728) (#1898)
• d0ef1ef Update skilldialog test data (#1899)
• 28c083e Skills - Updated to sdk 4.5.1 (#1859)
• b36d956 Skill template - Updated to SDK 4.5.1 (#1858)
• 1ead95a VA Template - Updated to 4.5.1 and new streaming extensions (#1857)
• 1d0a7fb Update release-drafter.yml
• 0f203c5 Update release-drafter.yml
• 981d92c Fix dispatchName argument (#1886)
• c89cd0f [Botskills] Support of path with spaces in the execution of external commands (#1885)
• 3d1fb3d Update release-drafter.yml
• 9a8f4d7 Update release-drafter.yml
• 6da6dc2 Update release-drafter.yml
• 5b26ebb Update release-drafter.yml
• 9b1716f updated lib to sdk 4.5.1 (#1887)
• 535b644 Update release-drafter.yml
• d664527 Update release-drafter.yml
• f3f8b6b Update release-drafter.yml
• 3bfe33e Update release-drafter.yml
• 8279980 Update release-drafter.yml
• 4a20b2a Fix To-Do Skill input hints
• 5d6275c Update release-drafter.yml
• bc2d344 Update release-drafter.yml
• a285f8b Update release-drafter.yml
• 83d94b4 Update release-drafter.yml
• 9686138 remove old android app (#1871)
• 42df5e9 Update release-drafter.yml
• 3c80ee2 [Docs]Update bing search skill and power bi doc (#1874)
• f0f2ab8 Update YAML files (#1851)
• 3498ec9 Remove typescript version of Enterprise Template (#1868)
• a96cf20 Skills - LU File Name Capitalization Fix (#1869)
• 5a57165 Fix Skill app settings from refactor (#1870)
• d794d2c Skill template bug fixes (#1855)
• b7825d0 updated lib to 4.5.0 sdk (#1854)
• 7d576ea Latest Android Updates (#1828) [ #11, #1667, #1665, #1661, #1669, #1660, #1668, #1673, #1676, #1681, #8, #1683, #1685, #1666, #1686, #1690, #1693, #1688, #1695, #1696, #1698, #1647, #1703, #1694, #1702, #1708, #1711, #1712, #1706, #1707, #1709, #1678, #1771, #14, #15, #1662, #1587, #1713, #1635, #1332, #1733, #1791, #1792, #1743, #1800, #1744, #1810, #1811, #1755, #16, #1801, #1816, #1825, #1823, #1813, #1834, #1840, #1841, #1842, #1710, #1729, #1817, #1843, #19 ]
• 29375fb MultiProviderAuthDialog uses ListStyle.Auto (#1830) (#1831)
• 58da49f Skill Template - New Deployment Features (#1844)
• 9b81e1f Skills - New deployment features (#1845)
• 5a04cce VA Template - New Deployment Features (#1843)
• 48af97a Update deployment message (#1817)
• 5fbab42 Update README.md
• b80f78c inject all body items in GetCardResponse (#1710) (#1729)
• dabed29 [TypeScript][BotBuilder Libs] Migrate latest functionalities (#1842)
• fa340ad Replace the path of the pipeline with the root (#1841)
• f4f44a7 [Virtual Assistant] Remove Linked Accounts action in IntroCards (#1840)
• ba41438 Reduce QnA KB items across all templates (#1834)
• 3084461 Remove hardcoded values in ARM template (#1813)
• 5a02a4b Deployment Cleanup for templates (#1823)
• 1a0fd41 Add files via upload
• 3f5b1dc Add skills folder (#1825)
• 9beb3a9 Delete _config.yml
• 0a7d732 Create auto_assign.yml (#1822)
• 036a21e Update search skill deployment scripts (#1819)
• ff70b96 poi starts directly for single route (#1663) (#1794)
• 543a7dc Updated News deployment scripts (#1815)
• ddf2d64...

Beta Release 0.5

What’s Changed

Templates

C#

• [VA Template] Updated to 4.5.1 and new streaming extensions (#1857)
• [VA Template] New Deployment Features (#1843)
• [VA Template] Assign luis subscription key automatically (#1693)
• [VA Template] Fix tests on non-Windows machines (#1881)
• [VA Template] change to enable speech by default (#1548)
• [VA Template] Remove hard-coded values in ARM template (#1897
• [Skill Template] Updated to SDK 4.5.1 (#1858)
• [Skill Template] New Deployment Features (#1844)
• [VA Template / Skill Template] dotnet new templates (VSCode) for Virtual Assistant and Skills (#1580)
• [VA Template / Skill Template] Updated to IBot Implementation across projects (#1792

TypeScript

• [Generator] Add eslintignore file (#1732)
• [Generator] Remove unused dependencies (#1707)
• [Generator] Update tests execution (#1451)
• [Generator] Fix the variable cases (#1651)
• [Generator] Fix ESLint Issues (#1607)
• [Generator] Implement Code Coverage (#1363)
• [Skill Template] Add manifestTemplate file (#1478)
• [Skill Template] Refactor test structure, run build after installation (#1450)
• [Virtual Assistant Template] Add Skill folder (#1825)
• [Virtual Assistant Template] Refactor test structure, run build after installation (#1446)
• [Virtual Assistant Template] Take first two letter from locales (#1424)
• [Virtual Assistant Template] Add new tests in Virtual-Assistant-Sample (#1417)
• [Virtual Assistant Template] Add tests & code-coverage for the template (#1371)
• [Virtual Assistant Template] Fix issue with the deployment script (#1359)
• [Skill Sample] Add manifest endpoint (#1511)
• [Virtual Assistant / Skill samples] Migrate from TSLint to ESLint (#1673)
• [Virtual Assistant / Skill samples] Remove unused dependencies (#1642)

Skills

• [Calendar Skill] Handle more actions after show meetings (#1635)
• [Calendar Skill] Updated Calendar deployment scripts (#1756)
• [Calendar Skill] Update LUIS model to v1.4.2 (#1601)
• [Email Skill] Update Email deployment scripts (#1744)
• [Email Skill] Update LUIS model to latest prebuild model (#1574)
• [To Do Skill] Fix To Do Skill input hints (#1876)
• [POI Skill] Use image with route (#1332) (#1733
• [POI Skill] Improve speech for POI (#1608)
• [POI Skill] Update POI deployment scripts (#1726)
• [POI Skill] Update with client-agnostic Adaptive Cards (#1557)
• [Automotive] Fix LU file reference in manifest (#1926)
• [Automotive Skill] Updated Automotive deployment scripts (#1792)
• [News Skill] Updated News deployment scripts (#1815)
• [News Skill] adding trending articles, favorite topics, searching by market, searching by website (#1660)
• [Bing Search Skill] Update search skill deployment scripts (#1819)
• [Bing Search Skill] Update with client-agnostic Adaptive Cards (#1544)
• [Bing Search Skill] Add skill to master (#1380)
• [Reservation Skill] Update reservation skill deployment scripts (#1818)
• [Weather Skill] Updated weather deployment scripts (#1820)
• [Skills] Update App Insights Telemetry usage in all Skills (#1611)
• [Skills] Updated to SDK 4.5.1 (#1859)
• [Skills] LU File Name Capitalization Fix (#1869)
• [Skills] New deployment features (#1845)
• [Skills] Updated to IBot Implementation across projects (#1927)

See more

Libraries

CSharp

• [Solutions Lib] Update RouterDialog to pass through Invoke Events (#1568)
• [Solutions Lib] Add SetSpeakMiddleware to apply an SSML-formatted voice font to bots Activity.Speak properties (#1462)
• [Solutions Lib] Support for silent retrieval of tokens from Token Store in Direct Line Speech scenarios (#1459)
• [Solutions Lib] Add support for AAD v1 (#1387)
• [Solutions Lib] Set SSML to neural (#1606)
• [Solutions Lib] Inject all body items in GetCardResponse (#1710) (#1729)
• [Skills Lib] Fix for SkillDialog is ending on every turn (#1526)

TypeScript

• [BotBuilder-Libs] Update functionality of BotBuilder-Skills and BotBuilder-Solutions (#1933)
• [BotBuilder-Libs] Implement test main structure (#1377)
• [BotBuilder-Libs] Migrate changes for AADv1 and skillContext (#1398)
• [BotBuilder-Libs] Fix issue with test and code coverage tasks in YAML files (#1851)
• [BotBuilder Libs] Migrate latest functionalities (#1842)
• [BotBuilder-Libs] Migrate from TSLint to ESLint (#1696)
• [BotBuilder-Libs] Remove unused dependencies (#1643)
• [BotBuilder-Libs] Test structure refactor (#1535)
• [BotBuilder-Skills] Allow ITriggers with nullable properties (#1685)
• [BotBuilder-Skills] Add SkillManifestGenerator (#1483)
• [BotBuilder-Skills] Fix skillContext issue in tests (#1407)
• [BotBuilder-Skills] Implement tests (#1403)
• [BotBuilder-Solutions] Implement tests (#1436)
• [BotBuilder-Solutions] Fix 'import-name' rule issue (#1638)
• [BotBuilder-Solutions] Implement call to getTokenStatus (#1559)

Solutions

• [Samples] Enterprise notification sample (#1954)
• [Linked Accounts] Fix sign-in/sign-out flow (#1723)
• [Linked Accounts] Enable companion app scenario for Linked Accounts web app (#1529)
• [Linked Accounts] Enable Linked Accounts to work with Azure AD and personal Microsoft accounts (#1490)

Virtual Assistant Chat Client (Android)

• [Android Client] Added Android App
• [Android Client] Added sound effects feature and open apps via message (#1687)
• [Android Client] Android app update: Ability to change view between Full Conversation and Conversation (#1681)

Botskills CLI

• [Botskills] Fix dispatchName argument (#1886)
• [Botskills] Implement sanitization path (#1731)
• [Botskills] Refactor in Mocks folder (#1706)
• [Botskills] Replace 'require' for reading JSON files (#1641)
• [Botskills] Test structure refactor (#1534)
• [Botskills] Implement update command (#1524)
• [Botskills] Implement refresh command (#1480)
• [Botskills] Implement tests for connect functionality (#1488)
• [Botskills] Add --noTrain flag for connect/disconnect commands (#1469)
• [Botskills] Implement tests for disconnect functionality (#1409)
• [Botskills] Improve error handling in async functions (#1351)

Packages

.NET

Name	Released Package
Microsoft.Bot.Builder.Solutions
Microsoft.Bot.Builder.Skills

TypeScript

Name	Released Package
botbuilder-solutions
botbuilder-skills
generator-botbuilder-assistant
botskills

Thanks to our contributors

@Annika-deGroot, @Batta32, @BeigeBadger, @Dan-Albrecht, @Dewain27, @DiegoCardozo94, @DingmaomaoBJTU, @KayMKM, @NathanNZ, @VKAlwaysWin, @abiemann, @bobokids, @dargilco, @darrenj, @dfavretto, @enzocanoo, @flash2048, @lauren-mills, @litofish, @lzc850612, @mattklup, @mitch-b, @pvmraghunandan, @ryanlengel, @sachabruttin, @seank-com, @ssss141414, @veluhariharan, @xieofxie and @yochay

Beta Release 0.4

Beta Release 0.4

The templates and solution accelerators provided by Bot Framework Solutions provide a mechanism to identify high growth opportunities for Microsoft's Conversational AI, Speech, and Azure platform. These enable customers and partners to accelerate the delivery of advanced conversational experiences (typically viewed as not possible or requiring too much effort to get it right).

Virtual Assistant and the Enterprise Template

The Enterprise Template, released last year, brought together the necessary capabilities to provide a solid foundation of the best practices and services necessary to create a high-quality conversational experience. The Virtual Assistant solution was built on top of this template, offering more assistance-focused experiences with skills to supplement it's knowledge base.

What's new: Virtual Assistant Template

The Enterprise Template is now known as the Virtual Assistant Template and introduces the following capabilities:

• Available in both VSIX and Yeoman generator
• Works out-of-box with Bot Framework Skills, enabling you to use re-usable conversational capabilities or hand off specific tasks to child Bots within your organization
• Adaptive Cards that greet new and returning users
• Native conversational telemetry and Power BI analytics via the Bot Builder SDK
• ARM-based automated Azure deployment, including all dependent services

Microsoft.Bot.Builder.Solutions (NuGet) & botbuilder-solutions (NPM) packages

• Provides helper components to improve bot development
• MultiProviderAuthDialog to provide capability of authenticating user for multiple auth providers
• proactive messaging scenario support
• Common Middleware for bot developers to easily kick start the bot development

Bot Framework Skills

Bot Framework Skills are re-usable conversational skill building-blocks covering conversational use-cases enabling you to add extensive functionality to a Bot within minutes. In this release, developers are now able to deploy Skills remotely and have them be referenced by their Virtual Assistant.

What's new: Skill Template

Users can take the new Skill Template to create a remote skill that can be called by bots over the Internet.

Microsoft.Bot.Builder.Skills (NuGet) & botbuilder-skills (NPM) packages

• Provide components developers can use to communicate with a remote skill
• Provide components developers can use to transform their bot into a remote skill
• Support both websocket (recommended) and HTTP synchronous transport
• Support JWT authentication for skill invocation
• SkillDialog class as the central component that routes activities to remote skills

Productivity & Point of Interest Skills (Preview)

The core Bot Framework Skills have been updated with new Adaptive Cards providing supplemental UI to the conversational experience.

Analytics

The telemetry logging provided by the Microsoft.Bot.Builder.Solutions package has been moved directly into the Microsoft.Bot.Builder SDK.

Telemetry	.NET	JS
QnA Maker Telemetry	PR 1430	PR 823
LUIS Recognizers Telemetry	PR 1424	PR 816
Telemetry Logger Middleware	PR 1420	PR 816

Maintenance

General

• Deployment refinement and simplification
• Simplified Bot response handling
• Support for cross-platform deployment
• Unit Tests across the VA solution and supporting libraries including Skill infrastructure

Continuous integration and continuous delivery

• Build & Release for VSIX, yeoman generator and npm packages.
• Builds for skills and Virtual Assistant Sample separately.

Beta Release 0.3

Beta Release 0.3 🥳

Templates and Solution Accelerators provide a mechanism to identify high growth opportunities for our Conversational AI, Speech and broader Azure platform. These enable our customers / partners to accelerate delivery of advanced, transformational conversational experiences typically not viewed as possible or require too much effort to deliver a high-quality experience.

In this latest release we have provided significant updates to our Templates and Virtual Assistant solution and we have many exciting new features in the pipeline.

Our focus on the Skill front was to enable developers to write their own skills to plug into the Virtual Assistant and light up support for more advanced proactive scenarios. We also implemented new designs for the Skill conversation flows and performed broader testing of Office/Google productivity accounts.

The Virtual Assistant has undergone further refinement with simplified response handling and deployment improvements, better documentation and unit tests.

Templates have seen new typescript support, unit testing and improvements to the telemetry and PowerBI template.

As with any release, we also fixed a number of bugs along the way!

Read more at https://aka.ms/conversationalaidocs

Enterprise Template

• Typescript version of the Enterprise Template
• Yeoman Generator
• Coded Unit Tests covering all core template functionality and providing a framework to enable additional automated tests to be added
• Teams support
• Updated to the latest 4.3 BF SDK
• Fix for Chinese QnA Maker deployment bug.

Analytics

• TelemetryLoggerMiddleware
  • Added ITelemetryLoggerMiddleware to allow users the ability to extend their own
  • Added speak property to all events
• TelemetryExtensions
  • Remove duplicate properties that are provided by the SDK telemetry
• QnaTelemetryMaker
  • Added questionId property
  • Fixed bug with answer
• TelemetryLuisRecognizer
  • Added entities and fromId properties
  • Renamed luisIntent.IntentName to LuisResult
• Updated SkillName.OnTurnAsync function in all skills to pass the telemetry client, this was blocking the analytics from logging sub-intents (in the previous release it only logged Dispatch result)
• Refactored IQnaTelemetryMaker & ITelemetryLuisRecognizer to use boolean LogPersonalInformation to configure what PII data should be logged

Virtual Assistant

General

• Deployment refinement and simplification
• Simplified Bot response handling
• Support for cross-platform deployment
• Unit Tests across the VA solution and supporting libraries including Skill infrastructure
• Updated to the latest 4.3 BF SDK

Transcripts

• Review sample transcripts of the Virtual Assistant Skills in the Bot Framework Emulator

Proactive scenario support for Assistant and Skills

• Send proactive message in background task
• Send proactive message in scheduled task
• Use SkillEvents.json to configure events support for skills
• Proactive support documentation

Skills

• Skill Template enabling developers to create custom skills quickly and easily
• Skill unit tests
• Bug fix for single-turn skill scenarios that caused the skill to not close cleanly
• Updated to the latest 4.3 BF SDK

Email Skill

• Better navigation experience: aligned GUI/voice experience in show summary flow, added navigating options after each sub flow completes: show/create/delete
• Largely improved prompts: enriched information, customized based on context data, re-try
• Added search capabilities: by subject/contact
• Allow users to update email creation parameters at confirmation
• Improved email creation efficiency by making certain fields optional and assign default values
• Mark email as read after show detail
• Improved language model

Calendar Skill

• Better navigation: aligned GUI/voice experience in show summary flow, added navigating options after each sub flow completes: show/create/delete/update
• Largely improved prompts: enriched information, customized based on context data, re-try, better per page
  Customized prompt responses based on context data
• Allowed users to update meeting status: accept/reject/tentative
• Added search capabilities: by subject/contact/participants
• Improved meeting creation efficiency by making certain fields optional and assign default values
• Added join meeting scenarios
• Improved Find contact scenario
• Improved language model

ToDo Skill

• Enhanced multi-list support: to-do, shopping, grocery lists
• Improved prompts: enriched information, customized based on context data, re-try
• Added navigating prompts after each sub flow completes: show/mark complete/delete

Point of Interest Skill

• Improvements to voice-focused scenarios
• FourSquare data provider integration
• New Adaptive Cards with rich elements
• ChoiceRecognizer for free form choice selection

Automotive Skill

• Improvements to voice-focused scenarios
• Bug fixes for free form choice creation
• New images for setting validation cards
• Updated vehicle settings
• Support for VA integration including dispatch

New webchat integration:

• Webchat UI
• Webchat token service
• Webchat build & release pipeline & auto configuration with VA

CI/CD improvements:

• Added build step for JS enterprise template and yeoman generator
• Improvements to set more settings in release pipeline

Beta Release 0.2

Beta Release 0.2

The beta 0.2 release of Virtual Assistant contains following features:

1. Fully functioning Virtual Assistant working with productivity skills as well as QnA app with the support from Dispatch
2. Productivity skills with core functionalities such as

• Email Skill (check, send, forward, reply, delete)
• Calendar Skill (create, update, join, update)
• Todo Skill (todo, grocery, shopping)
• POI Skill (search, navigate)

3. Experimental skill such as Automotive Skill
4. Custom telemetry support for VA with the new BotBuilder SDK 4.2 support for dialog telemetry and a new Conversational Analytics Power BI dashboard providing deep analytics into usage, dialog quality, etc.
5. Simplified deployment process for bot code and language models as well as multi-language support in one deployed VA service
6. Updated Enterprise Template including features like:

• Improved Analytics and PowerBI dashboard
• Updated language models from the prebuilt models team.
• QnA Maker Professional chit-chat model to handle basic queries
• Improvements to localization support
• Alignment with latest msbot release

6. Test harness improvements:
   Sample Android application highlighting Speech Devices SDK integration with Cognitive Services TTS/STT and the Virtual Assistant bot.
   Web Test application showcases both linked accounts and web chat functionality, demonstrating how an authenticated user can have their data persistently linked to the Virtual Assistant without needing to reauthorize.
7. Retail Customer Support focused template which provides further LUIS models for this scenario and example dialogs for Order Management, Stock Availability and Store Location.
8. Skill Template enabling developer to implement customized skill that can be easily plugged into the VA architecture.
9. Basic support for implementing proactive messaging scenarios