How to add a delay to bot responses, so it feels more real in Microsoft Bot Framework Node.js?

Question

Is there a way to add a bit of a delay to the responses? So the bot feels more real, like if it was typing? Just a little bit. Right now the reaction from testers has been that it’s too fast. Which is great, but… feels too “cold”. With a little time where it looks like the bot is typing, it would feel a bit more warm and fuzzy: :)

I need to add delay between two lines

    session.send("Account created successfully");
    session.send("Please login");

Below is the full code

var restify = require('restify');
var builder = require('botbuilder');
var botbuilder_azure = require("botbuilder-azure");

// Setup Restify Server
var server = restify.createServer();
server.listen(process.env.port || process.env.PORT || 3978, function () {
console.log('%s listening to %s', server.name, server.url); 
});

// Create chat connector for communicating with the Bot Framework Service
var connector = new builder.ChatConnector({
    appId: process.env.MicrosoftAppId,
    appPassword: process.env.MicrosoftAppPassword,
    openIdMetadata: process.env.BotOpenIdMetadata 
});

// Listen for messages from users 
server.post('/api/messages', connector.listen());

var bot = new builder.UniversalBot(connector);

bot.on('conversationUpdate', (message) => {
    if (message.membersAdded) {
        message.membersAdded.forEach(function (identity) {
            if (identity.id === message.address.bot.id) {
                bot.beginDialog(message.address, 'accountCheck');
            }
        });
    }
});

bot.dialog('accountCheck', [
    function (session, results, next) {

         session.send("Account created successfully");
         session.send("Please login");

    }
]).endConversationAction("stop",
    "",
    {
        matches: /^cancel$|^goodbye$|^exit|^stop|^close/i
        // confirmPrompt: "This will cancel your order. Are you sure?"
    }
);

Use `session.sendTyping()`. From my experience, artificial delays can also lead your users to think there are performance problems. — nwxdev, Jan 02 '18 at 21:30
I need 2 seconds delay. So, it's not a problem. session.sendTyping() is not working for me — Vigneswaran A, Jan 03 '18 at 05:28

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 20 '18 at 15:15

You can use session.delay()

bot.dialog('accountCheck', [
    function (session, results, next) {

         session.send("Account created successfully");
         // 0.5 sec delay between messages
         session.delay(500)
         session.send("Please login");

    }
]).endConversationAction("stop",
    "",
    {
        matches: /^cancel$|^goodbye$|^exit|^stop|^close/i
        // confirmPrompt: "This will cancel your order. Are you sure?"
    }
);

see the docs: https://docs.botframework.com/en-us/node/builder/chat-reference/classes/_botbuilder_d_.session.html#delay

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 20 '19 at 20:55

2

Bot framework SDK v4:

await turnContext.sendActivity({ type: ActivityTypes.Typing })

Documentation link SDK v4

Bot Framework SDK v3:

session.sendTyping()

Documentation link SDK v3

answered Mar 20 '19 at 20:55

Ron

39
1
4

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 11 '20 at 10:00

The way I have implemented this using nodejs SDK 4.0 is to use ActivityTypes.Typing in SendActivities as below

await context.sendActivities([
{type: ActivityTypes.Typing},
{type: 'delay', value:2000},
{type: ActivityTypes.Message, text: 'Bot Response goes here is only text else send attachments as reply'}])

Try to add above code in Change SendActivity to SendActivities with dealy Try testing in emulator.

hurricane · Accepted Answer · 2018-01-03T07:48:16.693

1

You can use timeout on your client side or backend side.

function (session, results, next) {

    session.send("Account created successfully. Wait 10 seconds...");
    setTimeout(function() {
            session.send("Please login");
    }, 10000); //10 seconds
}

edited Jan 03 '18 at 07:48

answered Jan 02 '18 at 14:27

hurricane

6,521
2
34
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@VigneswaranA Can you show us your structure and codes on node.js? – hurricane Jan 03 '18 at 06:52
@VigneswaranA I have changed. Can you try it? – hurricane Jan 03 '18 at 07:48
@VigneswaranA can you apply? – hurricane Jan 03 '18 at 09:41
Let us [continue this discussion in chat](http://chat.stackoverflow.com/rooms/162409/discussion-between-vigneswaran-a-and-hurricane). – Vigneswaran A Jan 03 '18 at 09:44

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 02 '18 at 15:14

1

Instead of adding delay, you can just send a typing indicator

session.sendTyping();

More info at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/bot-framework/nodejs/bot-builder-nodejs-send-typing-indicator

answered Jan 02 '18 at 15:14

Ezequiel Jadib

14,767
2
38
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Not sure what that means... the typing indicator works well it will also depends on the operations you are doing next. As I pointed and also pointed in the comments, adding a delay is not a good practice – Ezequiel Jadib Jan 03 '18 at 12:14
be aware that the session.sendTyping() doesn't work for every channel. Maybe that's why it is not working for @VigneswaranA – Victor Lia Fook May 02 '18 at 05:05

How to add a delay to bot responses, so it feels more real in Microsoft Bot Framework Node.js?

5 Answers5