Current instructions to install and run Bot Composer

[zxyanliu]

Hi -

I have been exploring Bot Composer lately and I found (IMHO) current instruction1 on how to install and run Bot Composer not very clear for beginners. Please correct me if I am wrong (VERY LIKELY).

Two instructions I have followed:
instruction1
instruction2

Two ways to install and run Bot Composer:
1. Use a Docker Image (which is recommended but I didn't make it work)
I followed instruction1 and did:

• clone the repo to my target folder
• run docker-compose up in the terminal
• navigate to http://localhost:3000
  I can see the Bot Composer UI in my browser at this point
• created a basic echo bot and tested it. It didn't work in the Emulator. There was POST 500 directline.postActivity

Confusion:

• when should I execute docker-compose build to "restart" the bot composer?
• should I run the BotProject\CSharp folder when testing my bot? The instruction of running the BotProject\CSharp folder exists in the yarn approach.
• do we need to use ngrok when testing the bot in the Emulator in this case since it is documented "make sure you use ngrok"?

2. Use Yarn (worked perfectly)
Instead of following this instruction1 , I followed this instruction2.
Only four steps involved to install and run Bot Composer with success. It is very important to note that we should be inside the Composer folder.

• cd Composer // switch to Composer folder
• yarn install // install dependencies
• yarn build // build extensions and libs
• yarn start // start client and server at the same time

I also picked the part of running the BotProject\CSharp folder from instruction1 before testing my echo bot built with Bot Composer.

Finally, I found this tutorial on creating a basic echo bot using Bot Composer very helpful.

[cwhitten]

this is good feedback @zxyanliu - we will update the README to be more clear

[zxyanliu]

Closing because the issue is fixed.