How to remove tooManyAttempts message in Prompt.Choice? How to accept text in Prompt.Choice that is not in list of options? C# - botframework

Question

I'm using bot-Framework SDK3 C#.
I want to allow user input anything which is not in "PromptDialog.Choice"'s options. Any better ways to recommend?
This is my code.
private async Task SelectCategory(IDialogContext context)
{
List<string> options = new List<string>();
options = category.Keys.ToList();
options.Add("Category1");
options.Add("Category2");
options.Add("Category3");
PromptOptions<string> promptOptions = new PromptOptions<string>(
prompt: "which one do you prefer?",
tooManyAttempts: "",
options: options,
attempts: 0);
PromptDialog.Choice(context: context, resume: ResumeAfterSelectCategory, promptOptions: promptOptions);
await Task.FromResult<object>(null);
}
private async Task ResumeAfterSelectCategory(IDialogContext context, IAwaitable<string> result)
{
try
{
selected = await result;
}
catch (Exception)
{
// if the user's input is not in the select options, it will come here
}
}
But the problem is it always send the message "tooManyAttempts". If I set it to empty, I will send me "0".

Answer 1

I suppose you are using NodeJS. You can use the simple builder.Prompts.choice with maxRetries set to 0. Here is a sample snippet. It asks user to choose some option from a list, or they can enter something which is not in the list.
If you are using C# SDK, you can find some similar option for the list.
bot.dialog("optionalList", [
function(session){
builder.Prompts.choice(
session,
"Click any button or type something",
["option1", "option2", "option3"],
{maxRetries: 0} // setting maxRetries to zero causes no implicit checking
)
},
function(session, result){
// something from the list has been clicked
if(result.response && result.response.entity){
console.log(result.response.entity); // use the clicked button
} else {
console.log(session.message.text) // if user entered something which is not in the list
}
}
]);
EDIT 1:
Hi, Saw that you are using C# SDK. I am not that proficient with that but I can give you some suggestion.
The list which you generate in the async task SelectCategory you can generate in some other place, which is also accessible to the second async task ResumeAfterSelectCategory, (like making it a class variable or getting from database).
Now that the list is accessible in the 2nd task, you can compare what user has typed against the list to determine if the message is from the list or not.
If message is something from the list, then take action accordingly, otherwise user has entered something which is not in the list, and then take action accordingly.
Your 2nd problem is
And if user typed, it will show a message "you tried to many times"
What is meant by that? Does bot sends "you tried to many times" to the bot visitor. In which case it could be the behavior of library. You will be able to control that only if library provides some option. Else I don't know. Hope, that helps
EDIT 2:
I came across this SO question Can I add custom logic to a Bot Framework PromptDialog for handling invalid answers?
You can use that questions answer. Basically extending PromptDialog.PromptChoice<T>.Here is an example.
Override TryParse method like this
protected override bool TryParse(IMessageActivity message, out T result)
{
bool fromList = base.TryParse(message, out result);
if (fromList)
{
return true;
} else {
// do something here
return true; // signal that parsing was correct
}
}

Answer 2

I used node.js and to get message which user entered. use this code snippet.
(session, args) => {
builder.Prompts.text(session, "Please Enter your name.");
},
(session, args) => {
session.dialogData.username = args.response;
session.send(`Your user name is `${session.dialogData.username}`);
}