ucwa

Using UCWA API for chatbot?


Can UCWA be used for enterprise chatbot application on Skype For Business on premise server? I couldn't find much documentation regarding this.


Solution

  • It is definitively possible to implement a chat bot using UCWA, but you'll have to go through some challenges. This is mainly about keeping the UCWA impersonated App always online, and keeping a reliable communication with the Event Channel. There isn't either an SDK provided by Microsoft, or a sample available that implements these UCWA important concepts.

    Extending this example for implementing messaging should be possible, but you'll also have to make sure the concepts I explained before are implemented correctly (that, for what I know, they aren't in that example)

    For your case, being on-premises, is probably more appropriate to look at UCMA, which despite is much 'heavier' in requirements and infrastructure; it doesn't require you to take care of the mentioned 'always on' and 'event channel' handling.
    This example uses UCMA 4.0, and should be part of the SDK samples of UCMA
    Creating a Lync bot

    EDIT: Trying to add more information or pointers to some topics, as per comment's request

    Impersonation:

    Events Channel:

    It is a fundamental concept for UCWA, so make sure you understand and get it work confidently for your purposes

    Events in UCWA

    Keeping a UCWA App always online:

    If you need to achieve that, you need to understand and implement correctly the concepts explained here me Dashboard, especially at Reporting activity section: