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Add Conversation Bot To Microsoft Teams Channel And Group Chat

Conversational Bot can do many thing within the MS Teams Client.
  • Personal Conversation or Personal Chat: It's one to one chat between users and a bot.
  • Group Conversation or Group Chat: It's between a bot and two or more users.
  • Teams Channel: It's available to all channel team members.
.Prerequisites and how to create a Microsoft Azure Bot can be followed from my previous article Build Personal 1:1 Conversation Bot with Microsoft Teams 
 
In this article, your conversation bot can subscribe to events and activity related to Channels, Channel members, Group Chat and Message Reaction Events.
 
Below are conversation bot events and activities,
  • Channel Conversation Activity
  • Group Chat Activity
  • Message Reaction Event
    • reaction added
    • reaction removed
  • Team Member Events
    • team member added
    • team member removed
  • Channel Events
    • Channel created
    • Channel Renamed
  • Channel Deleted
  • Team Events
    • team renamed
 
Step 1 - Create Microsoft Teams App
 
In this section, we are going to create a Node.js project
  • Open the Command Prompt and navigate to desired directory to create a project.
  • Run the Yeomen Generator for Microsoft Teams

    yo teams
  • Yeomen generator will ask the following question
Add Conversation Bot To Microsoft Teams Channel And Group Chat
 
Step 2 - Add Channel Support to Conversational Bot
 
Type code in the command prompt. Nodejs scaffolding project opens in Visual Studio Code.
 
Locate and open the bot file /src/teamsChannelandGroupChatBot/teamsChannelandGroupChat.ts
 
Add import statement:
  1. import * as Util from "util";    
  2. const TextEncoder = Util.TextEncoder;    
 Add Message Factory object reference to existing botbuilder package:
  1. import {    
  2.   StatePropertyAccessor,    
  3.   CardFactory,    
  4.   TurnContext,    
  5.   MemoryStorage,    
  6.   ConversationState,    
  7.   ActivityTypes,    
  8.   TeamsActivityHandler,    
  9.   MessageFactory,    
  10. } from 'botbuilder';    
Locate the handler onMessage() within the constructor().
 
Locate and replace the line  (text.startsWith("hello")) { in the onMessage() handler with the following code:
  1. if (text.startsWith("mentionme")) {  
  2.                          
  3.                        if (context.activity.conversation.conversationType == "personal") {  
  4.                            await this.handleMessageMentionMeOneOnOne(context);  
  5.                          } else if(context.activity.conversation.conversationType == "groupChat")  
  6.                          {   
  7.                            await this.handleMessageMentionMeGroupChatConversation(context);  
  8.                          }   
  9.                          else  {                               
  10.                            await this.handleMessageMentionMeChannelConversation(context);  
  11.                          }  
  12.                          return;  
  13.                    } else if (text.startsWith("hello")) {  
Finally add the following method.
 
One on One Conversation:
  1. private async handleMessageMentionMeOneOnOne(context: TurnContext): Promise<void> {  
  2.     const mention = {  
  3.       mentioned: context.activity.from,  
  4.       text: `<at>${new TextEncoder().encode(context.activity.from.name)}</at>`,  
  5.       type: "mention"  
  6.     };  
  7.     
  8.     const replyActivity = MessageFactory.text(`Hi ${mention.text} from a one to one personal chat.`);  
  9.     replyActivity.entities = [mention];  
  10.     await context.sendActivity(replyActivity);  
  11.   }  
Teams Channel Conversation:
  1. private async handleMessageMentionMeChannelConversation(context: TurnContext): Promise<void> {  
  2.     const mention = {  
  3.       mentioned: context.activity.from,  
  4.       text: `<at>${new TextEncoder().encode(context.activity.from.name)}</at>`,  
  5.       type: "mention"  
  6.     };  
  7.     
  8.     const replyActivity = MessageFactory.text(`Hi ${mention.text}!`);  
  9.     replyActivity.entities = [mention];  
  10.     const followupActivity = MessageFactory.text(`*We are in a channel conversation*`);  
  11.     await context.sendActivities([replyActivity, followupActivity]);  
  12.   }  
Group Chat Conversation:
  1. private async handleMessageMentionMeGroupChatConversation(context: TurnContext): Promise<void> {  
  2.     const mention = {  
  3.       mentioned: context.activity.from,  
  4.       text: `<at>${new TextEncoder().encode(context.activity.from.name)}</at>`,  
  5.       type: "mention"  
  6.     };  
  7.     
  8.     const replyActivity = MessageFactory.text(`Hi ${mention.text}!`);  
  9.     replyActivity.entities = [mention];  
  10.     const followupActivity = MessageFactory.text(`*We are in a Group Chat conversation*`);  
  11.     await context.sendActivities([replyActivity, followupActivity]);  
  12.   }  
Step 3 - Update Manifest Changes 
  • Browse manifest.json file ./src/maifest/manisfest.json
  • Update below properties:-
  • ID : Replace with azure bot id
  • Version: 1.0.0
  • PackageName : InteractiveBotBot
  • Bot Property
  1. "bots": [  
  2.    {  
  3.      "botId": "b0edaf1f-0ded-4744-ba2c-113e50376be6",  
  4.      "needsChannelSelector": true,  
  5.      "isNotificationOnly": false,  
  6.      "scopes": [  
  7.        "team",  
  8.        "personal",  
  9.        "groupchat"  
  10.      ],  
  11.      "commandLists": [  
  12.        {  
  13.          "scopes": [  
  14.            "team",  
  15.            "personal",  
  16.            "groupchat"  
  17.          ],  
  18.          "commands": [  
  19.            {  
  20.              "title": "Help",  
  21.              "description": "Shows help information"  
  22.            }  
  23.          ]  
  24.        }  
  25.      ]  
  26.    }  
  27.  ]  
Step 4 - Update Project Environemnt Variable
 
Locate and open the file. /.env.
 
Locate the following section in the file, and set the values of the two properties that you obtained when registering the bot:
  1. MICROSOFT_APP_ID=  
  2. MICROSOFT_APP_PASSWORD=  
Step 5 - Test and Run the Bot
 
From VSCode select View -> Terminal and Hit the below command
  1. gulp ngrok-serve   
Ngrok-serve builds your project and starts runing at local web server. Ngrok starts with a random subdomain and creates a secure url for local web server.
 
Microsoft Teams require all content to be displayed with HTTPS request. Local debugging requires local HTTP webserver. Ngrok creates a secure routable url to HTTP webserver to debug the HTTPS application securely.
 
Add Conversation Bot To Microsoft Teams Channel And Group Chat 
  • Browse https://Portal.Azure.com
  • Navigate to created Bot
  • Select Setting under Bot Management
  • Update Messaging End Point with Ngrok url
  • Click save to update.
Step 6 - Upload Manifest File
 
Navigate to manifest folder /src/manifest. Select both .png files and manifest.jon file and zip all three files. Give the name of zip file "manifest."
 
Login to https://teams.microsoft.com
  1. Navigate to App Studio
  2. Select Import an existing app
  3. Select the manifest.zip file and Bot name with icon will appear on screen.
 
Step 7 - Install Cusotm App to Teams Solution
 
Using the app bar navigation menu,
  • Select the Mode added apps button.
  • Select Browse all apps followed by Upload for me or my teams.
Add Conversation Bot To Microsoft Teams Channel And Group Chat
 
Select Add to Teams. It will prompt you to add to a specifc channel. Conversation bot will be added to the selected channel. 
 
Add Conversation Bot To Microsoft Teams Channel And Group Chat
 
User needs to type "@Botname" followed by text which will cause the bot to respond.
  1. As user type defined keyword with @BotName
  2. Bot responds as its invoked into channel conversation context.
  3. User reacts to reponse
  4. Chanel conversation bot again reacts with selected reactions. 
Add Conversation Bot To Microsoft Teams Channel And Group Chat
 
If user selects Add to Chat, it will prompt to add to Group Chat. Conversation bot will be added to selected Group Chat.
 
User needs to type "@Botname" followed by text which will invoke the bot to respond,
  • As user types defined keyword with @BotName
  • Bot respond as its invoked into Group conversation context.
  • User reacts to response
  • Group conversation bot again reacts with selected reactions. 
Add Conversation Bot To Microsoft Teams Channel And Group Chat
 
Code base exists at this location.
 
I hope you have enjoyed and learned something new in this article. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the next article.


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