# Send a Message to the Bot

Let’s stick with the example where the bot greets the customer with a welcome message and a choices menu. See [Retrieve the Bot’s Response](/docs/service/einstein-bot-api/guide/sdk-basic-bot-client-retrieve-bots-response.md) for the JSON response body.

```bash
Hi Jane Doe,
I’m a demo bot for the user guide.
Choose one of the options below
1.Order Status
2.Frequently Asked Questions
3.Transfer To Agent
4.End Chat
```

There are two methods that the customer can use to send an answer back to the bot.

Method 1: The customer answers the bot with a choice `alias` or `label`, for example, “1” for “Order Status”. The message object of the request has the `TextMessage` type in this case.

```java
// 1a. Answer with the choice alias.
AnyRequestMessage message = new TextMessage()
    .text("1")
    .type(TextMessage.TypeEnum.TEXT)
    .sequenceId(System.currentTimeMillis());

// 1b. Answer with the choice label.
AnyRequestMessage message = new TextMessage()
    .text("Order Status")
    .type(TextMessage.TypeEnum.TEXT)
    .sequenceId(System.currentTimeMillis());
```

Method 2: The customer answers the bot by selecting a menu choice. The message object of the request has the `ChoiceMessage` type and a `choiceIndex()`. The index starts with 0, for example, “Order Status” has an index of 0.

```java
int index=0;

// 2. Answer with the choice index.
AnyRequestMessage message = new ChoiceMessage()
    .type(ChoiceMessage.TypeEnum.CHOICE)
    .sequenceId(System.currentTimeMillis())
    .choiceIndex(index);
```

Now, build the request with the message.

```java
// Build the request with this message.
BotSendMessageRequest botSendInitMessageRequest = BotRequest
    .withMessage(message)
    .build();

// Retrieve the RuntimeSessionId from the sessionId returned by the bot when
// the session starts.
RuntimeSessionId runtimeSessionId = new RuntimeSessionId(sessionId);

// Send the request to the bot.
BotResponse response = client
    .sendMessage(config, runtimeSessionId, botSendMessageRequest);

```

Then extract the bot’s message from the response envelope.

```java
// Parse the response envelope.
System.out.println(getResponseMessageAsText(response.getResponseEnvelope()
    .getMessages()));
```

Here is an example output to the customer stating what the order status is.

```bash
// Message output
You should receive your item tomorrow.
```