Executing Actions

Adaptive Cards support interactive elements through actions—buttons, links, and input submission triggers that respond to user interaction.
You can use these to collect form input, trigger workflows, show task modules, open URLs, and more.

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Action Types

The Teams AI Library supports several action types for different interaction patterns:

Action Type	Purpose	Description
Action.Execute	Server‑side processing	Send data to your bot for processing. Best for forms & multi‑step workflows.
Action.Submit	Simple data submission	Legacy action type. Prefer Execute for new projects.
Action.OpenUrl	External navigation	Open a URL in the user's browser.
Action.ShowCard	Progressive disclosure	Display a nested card when clicked.
Action.ToggleVisibility	UI state management	Show/hide card elements dynamically.

For complete reference, see the official documentation.

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Creating Actions with the SDK

Single Actions

The SDK provides builder helpers that abstract the underlying JSON. For example:

from microsoft.teams.cards.core import ExecuteAction
# ...

action = ExecuteAction(title="Submit Feedback")
                    .with_data({"action": "submit_feedback"})
                    .with_associated_inputs("auto")

Action Sets

Group actions together using ActionSet:

from microsoft.teams.cards.core import ActionSet, ExecuteAction, OpenUrlAction
# ...

action_set = ActionSet(
                actions=[
                    ExecuteAction(title="Submit Feedback")
                    .with_data({"action": "submit_feedback"}),
                    OpenUrlAction(url="https://adaptivecards.microsoft.com").with_title("Learn More")
                ]
            ),

Raw JSON Alternative

Just like when building cards, if you prefer to work with raw JSON, you can do just that. You get type safety for free in Python.

json = {
  "type": "Action.OpenUrl",
  "url": "https://adaptivecards.microsoft.com",
  "title": "Learn More",
}

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Working with Input Values

Associating data with the cards

Sometimes you want to send a card and have it be associated with some data. Set the data value to be sent back to the client so you can associate it with a particular entity.

from microsoft.teams.cards import AdaptiveCard, ActionSet, ExecuteAction, OpenUrlAction
from microsoft.teams.cards.core import TextInput, ToggleInput
# ...

profile_card = AdaptiveCard(
        schema="http://adaptivecards.io/schemas/adaptive-card.json",
        body=[
            TextInput(id="name").with_label("Name").with_value("John Doe"),
            TextInput(id="email", label="Email", value="john@contoso.com"),
            ToggleInput(title="Subscribe to newsletter").with_id("subscribe").with_value("false"),
            ActionSet(
                actions=[
                    ExecuteAction(title="Save")
                    # entity_id will come back after the user submits
                    .with_data({"action": "save_profile", "entity_id": "12345"}),
                    OpenUrlAction(url="https://adaptivecards.microsoft.com").with_title("Learn More")
                ]
            ),
        ],
    )

Input Validation

Input Controls provide ways for you to validate. More details can be found on the Adaptive Cards documentation.

from microsoft.teams.cards import AdaptiveCard, ActionSet, ExecuteAction, NumberInput, TextInput
# ...

def create_profile_card_input_validation():
    age_input = NumberInput(id="age").with_label("age").with_is_required(True).with_min(0).with_max(120)
    # Can configure custom error messages
    name_input = TextInput(id="name").with_label("Name").with_is_required(True).with_error_message("Name is required")

    card = AdaptiveCard(
        schema="http://adaptivecards.io/schemas/adaptive-card.json",
        body=[
            age_input,
            name_input,
            TextInput(id="location").with_label("Location"),
            ActionSet(
                actions=[
                    ExecuteAction(title="Save")
                    # All inputs should be validated
                    .with_data({"action": "save_profile"})
                    .with_associated_inputs("auto")
                ]
            ),
        ],
    )
    return card

Server Handlers

Basic Structure

Card actions arrive as card_action activities in your app. These give you access to the validated input values plus any data values you had configured to be sent back to you.

from microsoft.teams.api import AdaptiveCardInvokeActivity, AdaptiveCardActionErrorResponse, AdaptiveCardActionMessageResponse, HttpError, InnerHttpError, AdaptiveCardInvokeResponse
from microsoft.teams.apps import ActivityContext
# ...

@app.on_card_action
async def handle_card_action(ctx: ActivityContext[AdaptiveCardInvokeActivity]) -> AdaptiveCardInvokeResponse:
    data = ctx.activity.value.action.data
    if not data.get("action"):
        return AdaptiveCardActionErrorResponse(
            status_code=400,
            type="application/vnd.microsoft.error",
            value=HttpError(
                code="BadRequest",
                message="No action specified",
                inner_http_error=InnerHttpError(
                    status_code=400,
                    body={"error": "No action specified"},
                ),
            ),
        )

    print("Received action data:", data)

    if data["action"] == "submit_feedback":
        await ctx.send(f"Feedback received: {data.get('feedback')}")
    elif data["action"] == "purchase_item":
        await ctx.send(f"Purchase request received for game: {data.get('choiceGameSingle')}")
    elif data["action"] == "save_profile":
        await ctx.send(
            f"Profile saved!\nName: {data.get('name')}\nEmail: {data.get('email')}\nSubscribed: {data.get('subscribe')}"
        )
    else:
        return AdaptiveCardActionErrorResponse(
            status_code=400,
            type="application/vnd.microsoft.error",
            value=HttpError(
                code="BadRequest",
                message="Unknown action",
                inner_http_error=InnerHttpError(
                    status_code=400,
                    body={"error": "Unknown action"},
                ),
            ),
        )

    return AdaptiveCardActionMessageResponse(
        status_code=200,
        type="application/vnd.microsoft.activity.message",
        value="Action processed successfully",
    )