I have several bots on the same server and interrogate each on a different port.
My concern is how to switch from one bot to another without redoing a build of the bot to launch?

Thank you for a help.

there are a couple of techniques for multiple bots.  One is to compile them all in the same build, on the same port, with each having a different bot name and possibly a bot id.  You can have up to 64 different bots in a build (but only in the same language).  If you have a single machine running multiple copies of cs on different ports, you can tell an instance to relocate source and TOPIC folder to different places, so each can build independently

Thank you.
I understand and my case is the last. Is there a start command to start a CS copy with a default bot instead of making a build of the bot so that it appears by default.

If you have a multibot build, you can use bot=xxxx on the run command (or cs_init.txt) to specify what bot to be running.

Yes, I have multibot build but that I run the CS copy on a specific port like ./LinuxChatScript64 port=1099 bot=toto, it does not launch toto by default but for example the last bot compiled on this port. I thought that by launching this command it would prevent me from making a build of toto to make it available on this port.

Where do I find cs_init.txt or do I have to create it?

cs_init.txt is a top level file you create.  But it is no different than using bot=xxx on the command line. And that command does not change the default bot. Normally if you want a specific bot from outside, you’d pass that in as part of the 3-string message format. That’s what allows a server to serve lots of people different bots with the same server and port.
You already are selecting a port somehow. Can’t you name the bot within?

In a pinch, I could add a parameter that allows you to change the default bot on startup.

Sorry for my late response.
Indeed it would be very interesting to be able to change the default bot on startup unlike the build to do to activate a bot.

ALso, How can I name the bot while I choose the port?

1) you could have a batch file that edits a cs_init file to add a defaultbot= on startup or pass that in as a parameter to the cs command line for launch.

The default option on the command line does not set the specified bot. You have to go through :build bot
to have the wanted bot.

In which folder should I put the cs_init file?
I am under windows

the file is top level of CS, but if param doesnt work it wont help. I will have to debug param

ok, Maybe I have to open an issue for reminder.

Bruce,

Frejus states that he always gets the “last bot built”. Could that be because his filesXXXX.txt only picks up a single bot definition? This is how all of the samples like Harry work. You have a filesXXX.txt file for each individual bot.

According to: ChatScript Multiple Bots manual

if you want them to cohabit you must have a single filesxxx.txt file that names the separate bot’s folders- they must be built together

If he wants to have Dorothy and Toto, then he should have a filesOZ1.txt file that picks up /RAWDATA/Dorothy/botdef.top and /RAWDATA/Toto/botdef.top. He would then

If he does this then both bot definitions would be in the build and the bot=toto thing would work.

If this is correct then you would not have to add any new parameters to the engine.

Stephen G.

this is true

Bruce,

On a related note. What is the use case for having multiple bots in the same engine instance? Is it possible to have bot A send a message to bot B and have bot B respond back? If yes, how?

As I understand it the purpose of multiple bots is to allow each one to specialize in a type/area of conversation. Bot A could handle initial customer greeting and figuring out what area of information the customer wants [returns: bot-B, order-status: bot-C, find-a-product: bot-D], once it does that, it could pass the conversation of to the other bot. Is this thinking correct? Are there other use-cases for multiple bots?

Stephen G.

The enterprise use case is for A-B testing or experimental bot testing or as you mentioned, different areas of conversation. Typically we have 7-10 ongoing a-b tests where I work that are around for a few weeks before deciding to kill them or merge them into the std bot. There is no obvious way to have separated bots send each other messages, except by a call to an intermediary program via something like popen or system, but I dont have a real use for that.