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.
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.
Creating Actions with the SDK
Single Actions
The SDK provides builder helpers that abstract the underlying JSON. For example:
Action Sets
Group actions together using ActionSet:
Raw JSON Alternative
Just like when building cards, if you prefer to work with raw JSON, you can do just that. You get typesafety for free in typescript.
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.
Input Validation
Input Controls provide ways for you to validate. More details can be found on the Adaptive Cards documentation.
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.
The data values are not typed and come as any, so you will need to cast them to the correct type in this case.