Syncfusion aspnetmvc ai assistview

Syncfusion ASP.NET MVC AI AssistView

A full-featured conversational AI interface component for ASP.NET MVC. Renders prompt/response conversations, supports prompt suggestions, custom views, toolbar customization, file attachments, speech-to-text, and integrates with major AI backends.

Documentation and Navigation Guide

Getting Started

📄 Read: references/getting-started.md

• NuGet installation and namespace setup
• CDN stylesheet and script references
• ScriptManager registration
• Minimal AIAssistView render
• Wiring PromptRequest and addPromptResponse
• Configuring PromptSuggestions with matched responses

Assist View Configuration

📄 Read: references/assist-view-config.md

• Setting prompt text (Prompt property)
• Prompt placeholder text (PromptPlaceholder)
• Pre-loading prompt/response pairs (Prompts collection)
• Rendering markdown responses
• Prompt suggestions and suggestion headers
• Prompter avatar icon (PromptIconCss)
• Responder avatar icon (ResponseIconCss)
• Show/hide clear button (ShowClearButton)
• Scroll-to-bottom indicator (EnableScrollToBottom)

Appearance

📄 Read: references/appearance.md

• Setting control width (Width property)
• Setting control height (Height property)
• Custom CSS class (CssClass property)

Templates

📄 Read: references/templates.md

• Banner template (BannerTemplate) — welcome notes, branding
• Prompt item template (PromptItemTemplate) — custom prompt bubbles
• Response item template (ResponseItemTemplate) — custom response bubbles
• Prompt suggestion item template (PromptSuggestionItemTemplate)
• Footer template (FooterTemplate) — fully custom input area

Toolbar Items

📄 Read: references/toolbar-items.md

• Footer toolbar (send, attachment, positioning, custom items, ItemClick)
• Header toolbar items (iconCss, type, text, visible, disabled, tooltip, cssClass, align, tabIndex, template, ItemClicked)
• Built-in prompt toolbar (edit, copy) and response toolbar (copy, like, dislike)
• Custom prompt toolbar items (PromptToolbarSettings)
• Custom response toolbar items (ResponseToolbarSettings)
• Regenerate Responses — enable regenerate button, request alternative AI responses, navigate through multiple responses (RegeneratedResponses property)

Generative UI

📄 Read: references/generative-ui.md

• Register custom tools (registerToolUI method)
• Define tool templates and handlers for interactive components
• Add tools to AI responses via blocks property with blockType: 'tool'
• Examples: weather cards, recipe builders, interactive forms
• Configure AI system prompt for structured generative UI block responses
• Dynamic tool rendering within conversation context

Chain of Thoughts (Thinking)

📄 Read: references/chain-of-thoughts.md

• Visualize AI reasoning process with thinking blocks
• Define reasoning stages with blockType: 'thinking' and stages array
• Stage status options: completed, inprogress, failed
• Add collapsible thinking headers and timeline visualization
• Configure thinking block templates (blockTemplate, itemTemplate)
• Support for inline context items with clickable badges
• Ideal for extended reasoning models (Claude 3.5, GPT-o1, etc.)

Custom Views

📄 Read: references/custom-views.md

• Adding views via Views collection
• View type (Assist vs Custom)
• View name, icon (IconCss), and ViewTemplate
• Setting active view (ActiveView)

File Attachments

📄 Read: references/file-attachments.md

• Enabling attachments (EnableAttachments)
• Configuring AttachmentSettings (SaveUrl, RemoveUrl)
• Restricting file types (AllowedFileType)
• File size limit (MaxFileSize)
• Maximum attachment count (MaximumCount)

Events

📄 Read: references/events.md

• Created — after control renders
• PromptRequest — when user submits a prompt
• PromptChanged — when prompt text changes
• Attachment events: BeforeAttachmentUpload, AttachmentUploadSuccess, AttachmentUploadFailure, AttachmentRemoved, AttachmentClick

Methods

📄 Read: references/methods.md

• addPromptResponse(string) — add response to last prompt
• addPromptResponse(object) — add new prompt+response pair
• executePrompt(string) — programmatically trigger a prompt

AI Integrations & Speech

📄 Read: references/ai-integrations.md

• Azure OpenAI integration (controller + view wiring)
• Gemini AI integration (Mscc.GenerativeAI NuGet)
• Ollama / local LLM integration (Microsoft.Extensions.AI)
• LiteLLM proxy integration (OpenAI-compatible API)
• Speech-to-Text (SpeechToTextSettings: enable, lang, buttonSettings, tooltipSettings, interimResults, events)
• Text-to-Speech (TTS) (TextToSpeechSettings: language, speechPitch, speechRate, volume, voice; enable via e-assist-audio toolbar icon)
• Streaming response pattern (character-by-character with marked.js)

---

Quick Start Example

@using Syncfusion.EJ2.InteractiveChat
@using Newtonsoft.Json

@{
    var suggestions = new string[] {
        "How do I prioritize my tasks?",
        "How can I improve my time management skills?"
    };
    var prompts = new[]
    {
        new { prompt = "How do I prioritize my tasks?",
              response = "Prioritize tasks by urgency and impact: tackle high-impact tasks first, delegate when possible, and break large tasks into smaller steps.",
              suggestionData = new List<string>() }
    };
    var promptsJson = Html.Raw(JsonConvert.SerializeObject(prompts));
}

<div style="height: 350px; width: 650px;">
    @Html.EJS().AIAssistView("aiAssistView")
        .PromptSuggestions(suggestions)
        .PromptRequest("onPromptRequest")
        .Created("onCreated")
        .Render()
</div>

<script>
    var assistObj;
    var prompts = @Html.Raw(promptsJson);

    function onCreated() { assistObj = this; }

    function onPromptRequest(args) {
        setTimeout(function () {
            var found = prompts.find(p => p.prompt === args.prompt);
            var defaultResponse = 'Connect to your AI service for real-time responses.';
            assistObj.addPromptResponse(found ? found.response : defaultResponse);
        }, 2000);
    }
</script>

---

Common Patterns

Pattern: Streaming Response with Markdown

// Include marked.js: <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/marked@latest/marked.min.js"></script>
async function streamResponse(responseText) {
    let current = '';
    let i = 0;
    while (i < responseText.length) {
        current += responseText[i++];
        if (i % 10 === 0 || i === responseText.length) {
            assistObj.addPromptResponse(marked.parse(current), i === responseText.length);
            assistObj.scrollToBottom();
        }
        await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 15));
    }
}

Pattern: Server-side AI Proxy (controller)

[HttpPost]
public async Task<IActionResult> GetAIResponse([FromBody] PromptRequest request)
{
    if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(request?.Prompt))
        return BadRequest("Prompt cannot be empty.");
    // Call AI provider and return Json(responseText)
}
public class PromptRequest { public string Prompt { get; set; } }

Pattern: Reset conversation on toolbar click

function toolbarItemClicked(args) {
    if (args.item.iconCss === 'e-icons e-refresh') {
        assistObj.prompts = [];
        assistObj.promptSuggestions = suggestions;
    }
}

---

Key Properties at a Glance

Property	Type	Description
Prompt	string	Pre-set prompt text
PromptPlaceholder	string	Textarea placeholder (default: "Type prompt for assistance...")
Prompts	collection	Pre-loaded prompt/response data; supports regeneratedResponses for alternative responses
PromptSuggestions	string[]	Suggestion chips shown to user
PromptSuggestionsHeader	string	Header above suggestion chips
PromptIconCss	string	CSS class for prompter avatar
ResponseIconCss	string	CSS class for responder avatar (default: e-assistview-icon)
ShowClearButton	bool	Show clear button in textarea (default: false)
EnableScrollToBottom	bool	Show scroll-to-bottom icon (default: true)
Width / Height	string	Control dimensions (default: 100%)
CssClass	string	Custom CSS class for theming
ActiveView	int	Zero-based index of active view (default: 0)
EnableAttachments	bool	Enable file attachment button (default: false)
ResponseToolbarSettings.Items	collection	Response toolbar buttons; can include e-assist-regenerate (regenerate) and e-assist-audio (text-to-speech)
TextToSpeechSettings	object	Configure TTS behavior: Language, SpeechPitch, SpeechRate, Volume, Voice
BlockTemplate	string	Custom template for thinking/tool blocks (generative UI and Chain of Thoughts)
ItemTemplate	string	Custom template for thinking block stages in timeline

Key Events

Event	Trigger
Created	Control fully rendered
PromptRequest	User submits a prompt
PromptChanged	Prompt textarea text changes
BeforeAttachmentUpload	Before file upload begins
AttachmentUploadSuccess	File uploaded successfully
AttachmentUploadFailure	File upload failed
AttachmentRemoved	Attachment removed

Key Methods

Method	Description
assistObj.addPromptResponse('text')	Add string response to last prompt
assistObj.addPromptResponse({prompt, response})	Add new prompt+response pair
assistObj.executePrompt('text')	Programmatically submit a prompt
assistObj.scrollToBottom()	Scroll conversation to bottom