Will BotFramework-CLI support Azure's new Question Answering service? - botframework

Now that Azure's Question Answering service is available and we are recommended to migrate from QnA Maker, I noticed that botframework-cli does not seem to have been updated and I did not see any issues or information related to it being updated to support authoring Knowledge Bases for the new Question Answering service. Our CI/CD pipelines use these CLI tools to create/update/delete Knowledge Bases.
It seems the only way to automate this is via the Authoring REST API, is that true? If so, is there any rough ETA on when that might be updated or some other CLI tool will be made available?

THe next SDK release of Bot Framework supports this new feature. https://github.com/microsoft/botframework-sdk/issues/6413
Not sure if the cli tools are in scope. If not, I suggest you enter a feature request in that repository

There is a clear documentation on migration procedure of QnA maker to azure question answering. Please do check the below mentioned link and follow the steps.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cognitive-services/language-service/question-answering/how-to/migrate-qnamaker
The services are updated in May 2021 itself.

No, there is no support to manage project creation (a.k.a. knowledgebases) within Question Answer from BotFramework-cli. They do however offer a REST API, and SDK support with C# and Python.
There is a GitHub issue to support this, but from Apr. 19, 2022 to Sept. 19, 2022 there has been no response nor update.

Related

How to use powershell support for Build Events in VS2019

I found this link Add powershell support for Build Events indicating that as of VS2019 v16.2 you can now use powershell directly in VS build events. Mads closed this with the following comment:
This feature has now been released in the latest product update
released version 16.2. Please install and let us know your feedback.
Please continue to provide feedback and help us be even better.
I'd like to use this but I can't find it in VS and I can't find docs on it (there is a lot of noise on this topic). Mads comment above was dated Jul 18, 2019 so it's been there a while.
Have I missed or misunderstood something about that thread? Does anyone know how this feature might be enabled/used?
I'm specifically interested in this feature not in generic info on running powershell as a build event via cmd.
Update: I've added the following ticket Add (or document) powershell support for Build Events to the MS Developer Community site to request support or documentation of this feature.

How to mention a user/group in a new message to a channel?

I checked the samples/API references here:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/connectors
https://dev.outlook.com/Connectors/GetStarted
https://dev.outlook.com/Connectors/Reference
But cannot find how to mention someone in a new message to a channel.
Sorry this was never answered. This feature was added months ago - there are SDK methods called addMentionToText (Node.js) and AddMentionToText (C#) - source and usage samples here.
There's also an example here that's actually a bit more helpful. That example bot can be run very quickly on Glitch - repo and instructions are here.
Note that one of the challenges in using this API is that you have to have the user ID of the person you want to # mention, and for that you need the team roster. Examples of how to do that are here.
Programmatic #mentions are not currently supported by Microsoft Teams, and will probably not come soon.
There is such a wish from the community in the MS uservoice portal, but it seems not to burn as much as other issues:

Microsoft Bot framework with Wit.Ai for other language than English

Is it possible to use wit.ai with Microsoft Bot framework, as it supports more languages than LUIS for NLP?if so any sample demo or document available?
Not sure if you are still looking for this but will be helpful to anyone coming here.
There is a very nice npm module
https://github.com/sebsylvester/botbuilder-wit that supports using wit.ai with Microsoft Bot Framework.
To my knowledge, there is no Wit.ai support on the Bot Framework (for now).
Nervertheless, Microsoft plans to do it (https://github.com/Microsoft/BotBuilder/issues/144).
Since the Bot Framework is an open source project, you can do it by yourself but it's quite time consuming.
I am at the early stages, but you can have a look at this.
https://github.com/q3blend/BotBuilder-Wit.ai
I hope it can help you

Upgrading from Web API RC to Web API RTM

I have seen that yesterday Web API RTM has been released by Microsoft.
However I can't seem to find any log about what has changed from RC to RTM and any tips on what has changed.
We have a service that's ready for production next week, and I am not sure whether to roll with RC or upgrade to RTM this late in the project. What value does it add?
Thanks
Ubal
The official release notes can be found here at www.asp.net.
As #Aliostad kindly mentioned, I wrote an overview post highlighting what's changing and including some code samples and other references.
Henrik also wrote a nice overview post - and that one's also focused on the preview for the out-of-band functionalities available as NuGet packages (OData, tracing, Help page, and a formatting library for Win8).
If you ask whether you should upgrade - obviously yes. There aren't many breaking changes so it should be rather painless, and you get a mature, production-deployable product. It's well worth it imho.

Accessing Microsoft Exchange server from Ruby

I need to sync MS Exchange's contacts with my Ruby on Rails application.
Which is the best way? Would you recommend any existing gems for it?
One place to start would be the Exchange Developer Center, where Microsoft links to downloads of the different SDKs, documentation, etc. Understandably, most of the docs and examples will be using Microsoft's .NET Framework and languages.
If you want to connect with Exchange 2007 or 2010, you'll probably find it easiest to use some form of Exchange Web Services (EWS) which you may be able to connect to using Ruby web services frameworks like SOAP4R, WSO2, etc.
For Exchange 2003 and earlier, you're much more limited; and programming CDO through Ruby's win32ole is not going to be pretty or fun.
Perhaps https://rubygems.org/gems/exchanger exchanger gem will help you.
Ruby library for accessing Microsoft Exchange using Exchange Web
Services. This library tries to make creating and updating items as
easy as possible. It will keep track of changed properties and will
update only them.
I tested viewpoint gem and it works. Be sure to follow wiki page for instructions, because readme is a little bit deprecated.
perhaps using win32ole?
Updating this thread a bit, 5 years later: this gem looks promising, starting to test it right now: https://github.com/WinRb/Viewpoint

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