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Action commands

Action commands allow you to present your users with a modal pop-up called as dialog in Teams. The dialog collects or displays information, processes the interaction, and sends the information back to Teams compose box.

Action command invocation locations​

There are three different areas from which action commands can be invoked from:

  1. Compose Area
  2. Compose Box
  3. Message

Compose Area and Box​

compose area and box

Message action command​

Screenshot of message extension response in Teams. By selecting the '...' button, a menu has opened with 'More actions' option in which they can select from a list of available message extension actions.

tip

See the Invoke Locations guide to learn more about the different entry points for action commands.

Setting up your Teams app manifest​

To use action commands you have define them in the Teams app manifest. Here is an example:

"composeExtensions": [
    {
        "botId": "${{BOT_ID}}",
        "commands": [
            {
            "id": "createCard",
            "type": "action",
            "context": [
                "compose",
                "commandBox"
            ],
            "description": "Command to run action to create a card from the compose box.",
            "title": "Create Card",
            "parameters": [
                {
                    "name": "title",
                    "title": "Card title",
                    "description": "Title for the card",
                    "inputType": "text"
                },
                {
                    "name": "subTitle",
                    "title": "Subtitle",
                    "description": "Subtitle for the card",
                    "inputType": "text"
                },
                {
                    "name": "text",
                    "title": "Text",
                    "description": "Text for the card",
                    "inputType": "textarea"
                }
            ]
            },
            {
                "id": "getMessageDetails",
                "type": "action",
                "context": [
                    "message"
                ],
                "description": "Command to run action on message context.",
                "title": "Get Message Details"
            },
            {
                "id": "fetchConversationMembers",
                "description": "Fetch the conversation members",
                "title": "Fetch Conversation Members",
                "type": "action",
                "fetchTask": true,
                "context": [
                    "compose"
                ]
            },
        ]
    }
]

Here we are defining three different commands:

  1. createCard - that can be invoked from either the compose or commandBox areas. Upon invocation a dialog will popup asking the user to fill the title, subTitle, and text.

Screenshot of a message extension dialog with the editable fields 'Card title', 'Subtitle', and 'Text'.

  1. getMessageDetails - It is invoked from the message overflow menu. Upon invocation the message payload will be sent to the app which will then return the details like createdDate,etc.

Screenshot of the 'More actions' message extension menu expanded with 'Get Message Details' option selected.

  1. fetchConversationMembers - It is invoked from the compose area. Upon invocation the app will return an adaptive card in the form of a dialog with the conversation roster.

Screenshot of the 'Fetch Conversation Members' option exposed from the message extension menu '...' option.

Handle submission​

Handle submission when the createCard or getMessageDetails action commands are invoked.

createCard() function

createMessageDetailsCard() function

Handle opening adaptive card dialog​

Handle opening adaptive card dialog when the fetchConversationMembers command is invoked.

createConversationMembersCard() function

Resources​