Botframework-sdk: Bot Framework now requires endpoints to be HTTPS

[DavePilks]

Is this something new that was changed? This requirement was not there a few days ago when I first created my bot. Today I tried to change the logo for the bot and it wouldn't let me as it said that my endpoint had to be HTTPS.

[srijiths]

Yes ,me also noticed this. Right now it seems like they are allowing existing HTTP bots. But its better to migrate.Not sure how long they maintain this.

[renebrandel]

Why is this an issue? Because it seems that this should be a standard.
Please take a look at the guidelines for contributing.
In order to qualify as an issue, you should append a bug or a suggestion to your issue.

[DavePilks]

@brene I will append a suggestion then :

Either notify users that they change has occurred or allow them to have both HTTP and HTTPS endpoints.

[dandriscoll]

That's a good observation. I'll make a note that v1 bots upgrading to v3 should consider the HTTPS requirement.

[v-thgratMSGit]

Closing this issue. Thanks!

[JPThorne]

Same issue here. We're trying to spin up a number of quick demoable bots, and don't have https certs lying around. For a production environment https would be fine, but it is slowing us down in terms of demoing.

[renebrandel]

You can try using ngrok. This allows you to easily create an HTTPS tunnel. I use that for all my demos.

[JPThorne]

Ah ok cool, thanks. That would work for the emulator hey? Sorry, to be more specific - I'm trying to demo via the messenger channel.

[renebrandel]

You just specify your endpoint in your bot directory as the URL that ngrok gives you. That way it should be completely independent of your messenger channels. (Personally tested it a lot on Skype and worked like a charm)

[JPThorne]

Ah, awesome! That totally worked. Thanks.

[deubaka]

@JPThorne ngrok is the way to go as also suggested by the official docs (localtunnel is also one). However, I've quickly found that I was changing the endpoint whenever a new run of ngrok is made, so instead, I've just gone through using Let's Encrypt It and use their free certs (for 3 months, can be auto-renewed) and have just environment set up to use those cert when run locally. This removes me from changing the endpoint always (at least for 3 months or the next renewal :D)

[meets7]

I am using localtunnel for testing from local. It allows you to reserver a static subdomain. eg. xyz.localtunnel.me using the --subdomain option.
eg. lt --port 5000 --subdomain mycompany
That way you don't have to change the bot settings everytime.