Botbuilder-dotnet: QoL - Microsoft.Bot namespace collides with Bot class name

[drub0y]

Because the root namespace is Microsoft.Bot and there is a class named Bot, there is no way to use the plain class name in code without either aliasing it or prefixing it with the Builder namespace. That means that a new user sitting down and writing the following code:

Bot myBot = new Bot(...);

Will immediately run into errors with intellisense finding the class and putting red squigglies under the class name, and the following compile time error:

Error    CS0118 'Bot' is a namespace but is used like a type

Instead you are forced to use either explicit namespace scoping:

Builder.Bot myBot = new Builder.Bot(...);

Or you would have to alias the Bot class to a name that doesn't collide like:

using BotIMean = Microsoft.Bot.Builder.Bot;
.
.
.

BotIMean myBot = new BotIMean(...);

This is going to be a problem for those who just sit down to use the SDK for the first time and also seems like a silly thing to have to constantly work around. Either the namespace could be renamed to something like Microsoft.Bots or the class could be renamed, but that seems less appropriate since that really is the "thing" that the noun represents.

[cleemullins]

This is (and has been) driving me nuts as well, and is polluting all my code.

I'm working with the folks on the other languages (JS, etc) to see if we can figure out a single namespace / name that will work across all the platforms. That's not as simple as you would hope.

Stay tuned!

[justinwilaby]

we should consider using the name: class BotBuilderBotThatUsesMiddlewareAndPluginsToPostAndReceiveActivities {} In case there is ever an Objective-C port in the future. ;)

[cleemullins]

There's also the Lisp Variant:
(((((((((((((((((((((((((((b(((((((((((((((((((o(((((((((((((((((((((((((((t))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

[garypretty]

Don't let anyone say we don't have any fun around here.

[cleemullins]

With the recent change (#145 ) the Bot+Adapter, the "Bot" class is now gone. This has the happy side-effect of making this issue go away.