Develop Reference

Unable to log user state information to transcript

I am using TranscriptLoggerMiddleware and CosmosDB to log my chatbot transcripts. We are trying to capture the user state information (user name, account number, account type, etc) as top level attributes in the transcript so that specific customers can easily be queried in the DB (if that information is just in the individual timestamp attributes of the document, they can't be queried).
Ideally I would just add the user state when I'm building the file, but I can't figure any way to access it since the logger is defined in index.js and TranscriptLoggerMiddleware only provides the activity to my function, not the full context. If anyone has a way to get the user state data via TranscriptLoggerMiddleware, let me know, that would solve this issue. Here is the customLogger code. Note that due to the function receiving both the user query and bot response, I couldn't get retrieving and resaving the transcript to work, so I'm overwriting the transcript from a local log object. Not trying to come up with a new approach here but if one would solve the overall issue I'd like to hear it.
// Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
// Licensed under the MIT License.
const { CosmosDbPartitionedStorage } = require('botbuilder-azure');
const path = require('path');
/**
* CustomLogger, takes in an activity and saves it for the duration of the conversation, writing to an emulator compatible transcript file in the transcriptsPath folder.
*/
class CustomLogger {
/**
* Log an activity to the log file.
* #param activity Activity being logged.
*/
// Set up Cosmos Storage
constructor(appInsightsClient) {
this.transcriptStorage = new CosmosDbPartitionedStorage({
cosmosDbEndpoint: process.env.COSMOS_SERVICE_ENDPOINT,
authKey: process.env.COSMOS_AUTH_KEY,
databaseId: process.env.DATABASE,
containerId: 'bot-transcripts'
});
this.conversationLogger = {};
this.appInsightsClient = appInsightsClient;
this.msDelay = 250;
}
async logActivity(activity) {
if (!activity) {
throw new Error('Activity is required.');
}
// Log only if this is type message
if (activity.type === 'message') {
if (activity.attachments) {
try {
var logTextDb = `${activity.from.name}: ${activity.attachments[0].content.text}`;
} catch (err) {
var logTextDb = `${activity.from.name}: ${activity.text}`;
}
} else {
var logTextDb = `${activity.from.name}: ${activity.text}`;
}
if (activity.conversation) {
var id = activity.conversation.id;
if (id.indexOf('|') !== -1) {
id = activity.conversation.id.replace(/\|.*/, '');
}
// Get today's date for datestamp
var currentDate = new Date();
var day = currentDate.getDate();
var month = currentDate.getMonth()+1;
var year = currentDate.getFullYear();
var datestamp = year + '-' + month + '-' + day;
var fileName = `${datestamp}_${id}`;
var timestamp = Math.floor(Date.now()/1);
// CosmosDB logging (JK)
if (!(fileName in this.conversationLogger)) {
this.conversationLogger[fileName] = {};
this.conversationLogger[fileName]['userData'] = {};
this.conversationLogger[fileName]['botName'] = process.env.BOTNAME;
}
this.conversationLogger[fileName][timestamp] = logTextDb;
let updateObj = {
[fileName]:{
...this.conversationLogger[fileName]
}
}
// Add delay to ensure messages logged sequentially
await this.wait(this.msDelay);
try {
let result = await this.transcriptStorage.write(updateObj);
} catch(err) {
console.log(err);
this.appInsightsClient.trackTrace({message: `Logger Error ${err.code} - ${path.basename(__filename)}`,severity: 3,properties: {'botName': process.env.BOTNAME, 'error':err.body}});
}
}
}
}
async wait(milliseconds) {
var start = new Date().getTime();
for (var i = 0; i < 1e7; i++) {
if ((new Date().getTime() - start) > milliseconds) {
break;
}
}
}
}
exports.CustomLogger = CustomLogger;
Not being able to get user state in this function, I decided to try a few other approaches. The most promising was creating a separate "updateTranscript" function to grab the transcript, add user state, and save it back. But I think it was catching it only on user request and getting overidden again by local object on bot response. I added a delay to try to combat this, but it still didn't work. On my very first prompt of providing customer number user state data is getting stored on transcript, but at the next activity it is gone and never comes back (even though I can see it is supposedly getting written to DB). Here is that update function.
const { CosmosDbStorage } = require('botbuilder-azure');
var updateTranscript = async (context, userData, appInsightsClient) => {
const transcriptStorage = new CosmosDbStorage({
serviceEndpoint: process.env.COSMOS_SERVICE_ENDPOINT,
authKey: process.env.COSMOS_AUTH_KEY,
databaseId: process.env.DATABASE,
collectionId: 'bot-transcripts',
partitionKey: process.env.BOTNAME
});
var id = context.activity.conversation.id;
if (id.indexOf('|') !== -1) {
id = context.activity.conversation.id.replace(/\|.*/, '');
}
// Get today's date for datestamp
var currentDate = new Date();
var day = currentDate.getDate();
var month = currentDate.getMonth()+1;
var year = currentDate.getFullYear();
var datestamp = year + '-' + month + '-' + day;
var filename = `${datestamp}_${id}`;
var msDelay = 500;
await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, msDelay));
var transcript = await transcriptStorage.read([filename]);
transcript[filename]['userData'] = userData
try {
await transcriptStorage.write(transcript);
console.log('User data added to transcript');
} catch(err) {
console.log(err);
appInsightsClient.trackTrace({message: `Log Updater Error ${err.code} - ${path.basename(__filename)}`,severity: 3,properties: {'botName': process.env.BOTNAME, 'error':err.body}});
}
return;
}
module.exports.updateTranscript = updateTranscript
I realize this approach is a bit of a cluster but I've been unable to find anything better. I know the Microsoft COVID-19 bot has a really nice transcript retrieval function, but I haven't been able to get any input from them on how that was accomplished. That aside, I'm quite happy to continue with this implementation if someone can help me figure out how to get that user state into the transcript without being overwritten or running into concurrency issues.
As to why I can't query an account number even via substring() function, here's an example of the documents data object. I have no idea which string to check for a substring, in this case 122809. I don't know what that timestamp could be. If this is stored at the top level (e.g. userData/accountNumber) I know exactly where to look for the value. For further context, I've displayed what I see after the first prompt for account number, where userData is populated. But it gets overidden on subsequent writes and I can't seem to get it back even with a delay in my updateTranscript function.
"document": {
"userData": {},
"botName": "AveryCreek_OEM_CSC_Bot_QA",
"1594745997562": "AveryCreek_OEM_CSC_Bot_QA: Hi! I'm the OEM CSC Support Bot! Before we get started, can you please provide me with your 6-digit Vista number? If you don't have one, just type \"Skip\".",
"1594746003973": "You: 122809",
"1594746004241": "AveryCreek_OEM_CSC_Bot_QA: Thank you. What can I help you with today? \r\nYou can say **Menu** for a list of common commands, **Help** for chatbot tips, or choose one of the frequent actions below. \r\n \r\n I'm still being tested, so please use our [Feedback Form](https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=lVxS1ga5GkO5Jum1G6Q8xHnUJxcBMMdAqVUeyOmrhgBUNFI3VEhMU1laV1YwMUdFTkhYVzcwWk9DMiQlQCN0PWcu) to let us know how well I'm doing and how I can be improved!",
"1594746011384": "You: what is my account number?",
"1594746011652": "AveryCreek_OEM_CSC_Bot_QA: Here is the informaiton I have stored: \n \n**Account Number:** 122809 \n\n I will forget everything except your account number after the end of this conversation.",
"1594746011920": "AveryCreek_OEM_CSC_Bot_QA: I can clear your information if you don't want me to store it or if you want to reneter it. Would you like me to clear your information now?",
"1594746016034": "You: no",
"1594746016301": "AveryCreek_OEM_CSC_Bot_QA: OK, I won't clear your information. You can ask again at any time."
},
"document": {
"userData": {
"accountNumber": "122809"
},
"botName": "AveryCreek_OEM_CSC_Bot_QA",
"1594746019952": "AveryCreek_OEM_CSC_Bot_QA: Hi! I'm the OEM CSC Support Bot! What can I help you with today? \r\nYou can say **Menu** for a list of common commands, **Help** for chatbot tips, or choose one of the frequent actions below. \r\n \r\n I'm still being tested, so please use our [Feedback Form](https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=lVxS1ga5GkO5Jum1G6Q8xHnUJxcBMMdAqVUeyOmrhgBUNFI3VEhMU1laV1YwMUdFTkhYVzcwWk9DMiQlQCN0PWcu) to let us know how well I'm doing and how I can be improved!"
},

You had said you were encountering concurrency issues even though JavaScript is single-threaded. As strange as that sounds, I think you're right on some level. TranscriptLoggerMiddleware does have its own buffer that it uses to store activities throughout the turn and then it tries to log all of them all at once. It could easily have provided a way to get that whole buffer in your own logger function, but instead it just loops through the buffer so that you still only get to log them each individually. Also, it allows logActivity to return a promise but it never awaits it, so each activity will get logged "simultaneously" (it's not really simultaneous but the code will likely jump between function calls before waiting for them to complete). This is a problem for any operation that isn't atomic, because you'll be modifying state without knowing about its latest modifications.
while (transcript.length > 0) {
try {
const activity: Activity = transcript.shift();
// If the implementation of this.logger.logActivity() is asynchronous, we don't
// await it as to not block processing of activities.
// Because TranscriptLogger.logActivity() returns void or Promise<void>, we capture
// the result and see if it is a Promise.
const logActivityResult = this.logger.logActivity(activity);
// If this.logger.logActivity() returns a Promise, a catch is added in case there
// is no innate error handling in the method. This catch prevents
// UnhandledPromiseRejectionWarnings from being thrown and prints the error to the
// console.
if (logActivityResult instanceof Promise) {
logActivityResult.catch(err => {
this.transcriptLoggerErrorHandler(err);
});
}
} catch (err) {
this.transcriptLoggerErrorHandler(err);
}
}
All in all, I don't think transcript logger middleware is the way to go here. While it may purport to serve your purposes, there are just too many problems with it. I would either write my own middleware or just put the middleware code directly in my bot logic like this:
async onTurn(turnContext) {
const activity = turnContext.activity;
await this.logActivity(turnContext, activity);
turnContext.onSendActivities(async (ctx, activities, next) => {
for (const activity of activities) {
await this.logActivity(ctx, activity);
}
return await next();
});
// Bot code here
// Save state changes
await this.userState.saveChanges(turnContext);
}
async logActivity(turnContext, activity) {
var transcript = await this.transcriptProperty.get(turnContext, []);
transcript.push(activity);
await this.transcriptProperty.set(turnContext, transcript);
console.log('Activities saved: ' + transcript.length);
}
Since your transcript would be stored in your user state, that user state would also have the account number you need and hopefully you'd be able to query for it.

Kyle's answer did help me solve the issue, and I think that will be the most reusable piece for anyone experiencing similar issues. The key takeaway is that, if you're using nodejs, you should not be using TranscriptLoggerMiddleware and instead use Kyle's function in your onTurn handler (repeated here for reference):
// Function provided by Kyle Delaney
async onTurn(turnContext) {
const activity = turnContext.activity;
await this.logActivity(turnContext, activity);
turnContext.onSendActivities(async (ctx, activities, next) => {
for (const activity of activities) {
await this.logActivity(ctx, activity);
}
return await next();
});
// Bot code here
// Save state changes
await this.userState.saveChanges(turnContext);
}
You need to note, though, that his logActivity function is just storing the raw activities to the user state using a custom transcriptProperty. As of yet I haven't found a good method to give business/admin users access to this data in a way that is easily readable and searchable, nor construct some sort of file out output to send to a customer requesting a transcript of their conversation. As such, I continued using my CustomLogger instead. Here is how I accomplished that.
First, you must create the transcriptLogger in the constructor. If you create it inside your turn handler, you will lose the cache/buffer and it will only have the latest activity instead of the full history. May be common sense but this tripped me up briefly. I do this in the constructor via this.transcriptLogger = new CustomerLogger(appInsightsClient);. I also modified my logActivity function to accept the userData (my state object) as a second, optional parameter. I have successfully been able to use that userData object to add the required customer information to the bot transcript. To modify Kyle's function above you just need to replace this.logActivity with your function call, in my case this.transcriptLogger.logActivity(context, userData);.
While there are still some other issues with this approach, it does solve the title question of how to get user state data into the transcript.

Azure CosmosDb Stored Procedure IfMatch Predicate

In a DocDb stored procedure, as the first step in a process retrieving data that I'm mutating, I read and then use the data iff it matches the etag like so:
collection.readDocument(reqSelf, function(err, doc) {
if (doc._etag == requestEtag) {
// Success - want to update
} else {
// CURRENTLY: Discard the read result I just paid lots of RUs to read
// IDEALLY: check whether response `options` or similar indicates retrieval
was skipped due to doc not being present with that etag anymore
...
// ... Continue with an alternate strategy
}
});
Is there a way to pass an options to the readDocument call such that the callback will be informed "It's changed so we didn't get it, as you requested" ?
(My real problem here is that I can't find any documentation other than the readDocument undocumentation in the js-server docs)

Technically you can do that by creating a responseOptions object and passing it to the call.
function sample(selfLink, requestEtag) {
var collection = getContext().getCollection();
var responseOptions = { accessCondition: { type: "IfMatch", condition: requestEtag } };
var isAccepted = collection.readDocument(selfLink, responseOptions, function(err, doc, options) {
if(err){
throw new Error('Error thrown. Check the status code for PreconditionFailed errors');
}
var response = getContext().getResponse();
response.setBody(doc);
});
if (!isAccepted) throw new Error('The query was not accepted by the server.');
}
However, even if the etag you provide is not the one that the document has, you won't get an error and you will properly get the document itself back. It's just not supposed to work with that using the readDocument function in a stored procedure.

Thanks to some pushing from #Nick Chapsas, and this self-answer from #Redman I worked out that in my case I can achieve my goal (either read the current document via the self-link, or the newer one that has replaced it bearing the same id) by instead generating an Alt link within the stored procedure like so:
var docId = collection.getAltLink() + "/docs/"+req.id;
var isAccepted = collection.readDocument(docId, {}, function (err, doc, options) {
if (err) throw err;
// Will be null or not depending on whether it exists
executeUpsert(doc);
});
if (!isAccepted) throw new Error("readDocument not Accepted");

How do I get a hold of a Strongloop loopback model?

This is maddening, how do I get a hold of a loopback model so I can programmatically work with it ? I have a Persisted model named "Notification". I can interact with it using the REST explorer. I want to be able to work with it within the server, i.e. Notification.find(...). I execute app.models() and can see it listed. I have done this:
var Notification = app.models.Notification;
and get a big fat "undefined". I have done this:
var Notification = loopback.Notification;
app.model(Notification);
var Notification = app.models.Notification;
and another big fat "undefined".
Please explain all I have to do to get a hold of a model I have defined using:
slc loopback:model
Thanks in advance

You can use ModelCtor.app.models.OtherModelName to access other models from you custom methods.
/** common/models/product.js **/
module.exports = function(Product) {
Product.createRandomName = function(cb) {
var Randomizer = Product.app.models.Randomizer;
Randomizer.createName(cb);
}
// this will not work as `Product.app` is not set yet
var Randomizer = Product.app.models.Randomizer;
}
/** common/models/randomizer.js **/
module.exports = function(Randomizer) {
Randomizer.createName = function(cb) {
process.nextTick(function() {
cb(null, 'random name');
});
};
}
/** server/model-config.js **/
{
"Product": {
"dataSource": "db"
},
"Randomizer": {
"dataSource": null
}
}

I know this post was here a long time ago. But since I got the same question recent days, here's what I figured out with the latest loopback api:
Loopback 2.19.0(the latest for 12th, July)
API, Get the Application object to which the Model is attached.: http://apidocs.strongloop.com/loopback/#model-getapp
You can get the application which your model was attached as following:
ModelX.js
module.exports = function(ModelX) {
//Example of disable the parent 'find' REST api, and creat a remote method called 'findA'
var isStatic = true;
ModelX.disableRemoteMethod('find', isStatic);
ModelX.findA = function (filter, cb) {
//Get the Application object which the model attached to, and we do what ever we want
ModelX.getApp(function(err, app){
if(err) throw err;
//App object returned in the callback
app.models.OtherModel.OtherMethod({}, function(){
if(err) throw err;
//Do whatever you what with the OtherModel.OtherMethod
//This give you the ability to access OtherModel within ModelX.
//...
});
});
}
//Expose the remote method with settings.
ModelX.remoteMethod(
'findA',
{
description: ["Remote method instaed of parent method from the PersistedModel",
"Can help you to impliment your own business logic"],
http:{path: '/finda', verb: 'get'},
accepts: {arg:'filter',
type:'object',
description: 'Filter defining fields, where, include, order, offset, and limit',
http:{source:'query'}},
returns: {type:'array', root:true}
}
);
};
Looks like I'm not doing well with the code block format here...
Also you should be careful about the timing when this 'getApp' get called, it matters because if you call this method very early when initializing the model, something like 'undefined' error will occur.

Parse.com master key doesn't let to write PFUser currentUser

UPDATE: In a nutshell, I would like to use the Master key, because I need to write an other user object with my current user, but I don't want to override all security, I just wanna use it in one function. The accepted answer in this question gave a very nice starting point, however I couldn't make it to work. It's the last code block in this question.
I have two separated functions. The first is pure objective-c, it deletes users from the currentUser's firstRelation. It worked well without any problems until i added a different CloudCode function into a different view controller. The CloudCode function uses the master key and adds currentUser to otherUser's sampleRelation & adds otherUser to currentUser's sampleRelation (firstRelation and sampleRelation is two different column inside the User class).
So the problem is when I delete a user from currentUser's firstRelation (with current user) my app crashes, because the user must be authenticated via logIn or signUp. Actually i don't understand this, because in this case I'm writing the currentUser with the currentUser instead of another user, so it must work without any problems (and worked before the CloudCode).
I'm almost sure that it's because I'm using the master key with the CloudCode, but have no idea how can I avoid it. Everything else is still working, for example I can upload images with currentUser.
Here is the code that I'm using for the CloudCode, JavaScript is totally unknown for me, maybe somebody will see what causes the problem.
Parse.Cloud.define('editUser', function(request, response) {
Parse.Cloud.useMasterKey();
var userQuery = new Parse.Query(Parse.User);
userQuery.get(request.params.userId)
.then(function (user) {
var relation = user.relation("sampleRelation");
relation.add(request.user);
// chain the promise
return user.save();
}).then(function (user) {
var currentUser = request.user;
var relation = currentUser.relation("sampleRelation");
relation.add(user);
// chain the new promise
return currentUser.save();
}).then(function () {
response.success();
}, function (error) {
response.error(error);
});
});
It crashes when i try to remove the object:
PFUser *user = [self.friends objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];
PFRelation *myFriendsRel = [self.currentUser relationForKey:#"simpleRelation"];
if ([self isFriend:user]) {
for (PFUser *friendName in self.friends) {
if ([friendName.objectId isEqualToString:user.objectId]){
[self.friends removeObject:friendName];
break; // to exit a loop
}
}
// remove from parse
[myFriendsRel removeObject:user];
NSLog(#"deleted: %#", user.username);
}
[self.currentUser saveInBackgroundWithBlock:^(BOOL succeeded, NSError *error) {
if (error){
NSLog(#"Error %# %#", error, [error userInfo]);
}
}];
This is the newest attempt, that based Fosco's answer from the other question. It works, but the same way as the earlier versions.
Parse.Cloud.define('editUser', function(request, response) {
var userId = request.params.userId;
var User = Parse.Object.extend('_User'),
user = new User({ objectId: userId });
var currentUser = request.user;
var relation = user.relation("friendsRelation");
relation.add(currentUser);
user.save(null, { useMasterKey:true}).then(function(user) {
response.success(user);
}, function(error) {
response.error(error)
});
});

At a quick glance it looks like its failing because you're trying to remove an object from an array whilst it is being iterated. I know this causes a crash in Objective C regardless of whether you're using Parse objects or not.
Try re-writing this segment:
for (PFUser *friendName in self.friends) {
if ([friendName.objectId isEqualToString:user.objectId]){
[self.friends removeObject:friendName];
break; // to exit a loop
}
}
To something like this:
NSMutableArray *tempArray = [[NSMutableArray alloc]init];
for (PFUser *friendName in self.friends) {
if (![friendName.objectId isEqualToString:user.objectId]) {
[tempArray addObject:friendName];
}
self.friends = [NSArray arrayWithArray:tempArray];
Again, only had a quick glance so not 100% if that is your problem but it looks like it, let me know if it helps

Preventing Browser Location Change in xulrunner

I've been reading and hacking around with https://developer.mozilla.org/en/XUL_School/Intercepting_Page_Loads but can seem to do what I need.
I'm working on Chromeless, trying to prevent the main xulbrowser element from ever being navigated away from, e.g., links should not work, neither should window.location.href="http://www.example.com/".
I'm assuming I can do this via browser.webProgress.addProgressListener and then listen to onProgressChange but I can't figure out how to differentiate between a resource request and the browser changing locations (it seems that onLocationChange is too late as the document is already being unloaded).
browser.webProgress.addProgressListener({
onLocationChange: function(){},
onStatusChange: function(){},
onStateChange: function(){},
onSecurityChange: function(){},
onProgressChange: function(){
aRequest.QueryInterface(Components.interfaces.nsIHttpChannel)
if( /* need to check if the object triggering the event is the xulbrowser */ ){
aRequest.cancel(Components.results.NS_BINDING_ABORTED);
}
},
QueryInterface: xpcom.utils.generateQI([Ci.nsIWebProgressListener, Ci.nsISupportsWeakReference])
}, wo._browser.webProgress.NOTIFY_ALL);
Another option that sounds promising is the nsIContentPolicy.shouldLoad() method but I really have no clue how to "create an XPCOM component that extends nsIContentPolicy and register it to the "content-policy" category using the nsICategoryManager."
Any Ideas?

I got help on this from the mozilla's #xulrunner irc channel.
Resulting solution follows.
Note: this is a module for use in Mozilla Chromeless, the require("chrome") and require("xpcom") bits will NOT be available under normal circumstances.
const {Cc, Ci, Cu, Cm, Cr} = require("chrome");
const xpcom = require("xpcom");
/***********************************************************
class definition
***********************************************************/
var description = "Chromeless Policy XPCOM Component";
/* UID generated by http://www.famkruithof.net/uuid/uuidgen */
var classID = Components.ID("{2e946f14-72d5-42f3-95b7-4907c676cf2b}");
// I just made this up. Don't know if I'm supposed to do that.
var contractID = "#mozilla.org/chromeless-policy;1";
//class constructor
function ChromelessPolicy() {
//this.wrappedJSObject = this;
}
// class definition
var ChromelessPolicy = {
// properties required for XPCOM registration:
classDescription: description,
classID: classID,
contractID: contractID,
xpcom_categories: ["content-policy"],
// QueryInterface implementation
QueryInterface: xpcom.utils.generateQI([Ci.nsIContentPolicy,
Ci.nsIFactory, Ci.nsISupportsWeakReference]),
// ...component implementation...
shouldLoad : function(aContentType, aContentLocation, aRequestOrigin, aContext, aMimeTypeGuess, aExtra) {
let result = Ci.nsIContentPolicy.ACCEPT;
// only filter DOCUMENTs (not SUB_DOCUMENTs, like iframes)
if( aContentType === Ci.nsIContentPolicy["TYPE_DOCUMENT"]
// block http(s) protocols...
&& /^http(s):/.test(aContentLocation.spec) ){
// make sure we deny the request now
result = Ci.nsIContentPolicy.REJECT_REQUEST;
}
// continue loading...
return result;
},
createInstance: function(outer, iid) {
if (outer)
throw Cr.NS_ERROR_NO_AGGREGATION;
return this.QueryInterface(iid);
}
};
let registrar = Cm.QueryInterface(Ci.nsIComponentRegistrar);
try
{
Cm.nsIComponentRegistrar.registerFactory(classID, description, contractID, ChromelessPolicy);
}
catch (e) {
// Don't stop on errors - the factory might already be registered
Cu.reportError(e);
}
const categoryManager = Cc["#mozilla.org/categorymanager;1"].getService(Ci.nsICategoryManager);
for each (let category in ChromelessPolicy.xpcom_categories) {
categoryManager.addCategoryEntry(category, ChromelessPolicy.classDescription, ChromelessPolicy.contractID, false, true);
}
Pull Request on github for those that are interested: https://github.com/mozilla/chromeless/pull/114