Actions in adaptive dialogs - reference guide

  • Article

APPLIES TO: SDK v4

This article lists the actions defined in the Bot Framework SDK, grouped by their general purpose.

  • For an introduction to this topic, see the Actions topic in the Composer documentation.

Responses and questions

Action Name Action title Description
Ask Send a response to ask a question Uses an activity as a way to prompt the user.
AttachmentInput Prompt for a file or an attachment Asks the user for a file or image.
ChoiceInput Prompt with multi-choice Asks the user to pick from a list of choices.
ConfirmInput Prompt for confirmation Asks the user for confirmation (a yes-no question).
DateTimeInput Prompt for a date or a time Asks the user for a date or time value.
NumberInput Prompt for a number Asks the user for a numeric value.
OAuthInput OAuth login Asks the user to sign in with an OAuth identity provider.
SendActivity Send a response Sends an activity, such as a response to a user.
TextInput Prompt for text Asks the user to type a response.

Conditions and looping

The conditional actions are designed to help your bot make decisions based on any pre-defined condition that you've created. These actions are specified by a set of conditional statements that have Boolean expressions, which are evaluated to a Boolean value of true or false.

The remaining actions relate to looping statements which enable you to repeat the execution of a block of code for every element in a collection.

Action Name Action title Description
BreakLoop Break out of loop Exits the enclosing loop.
ContinueLoop Continue loop Starts the next iteration of the enclosing loop.
ForEach Loop: For each item Runs a set of actions on each item in a collection.
ForEachPage Loop: For each page (multiple items) Runs a set of actions on each page (subset of items) in a collection.
IfCondition Branch: If/else Runs a set of actions based on a Boolean expression.
SwitchCondition Branch: Switch (multiple options) Runs a set of actions based on the value of a property.

Dialog management

Action Name Action title Description
BeginDialog Begin a new dialog Begins a new dialog and adds it to the stack. You can provide input parameters for the new dialog. When the new dialog ends, control returns to the next step in this trigger.
CancelAllDialogs Cancel all active dialogs Cancels all active dialogs. Optionally sends a custom event that can be caught to prevent cancellation from propagating.
CancelDialog Cancel dialog Cancels the active dialog. Optionally sends a custom event that can be caught to prevent cancellation.
ContinueConversation Continue conversation Sends a proactive message. Requires a bot with a configured storage queue.
ContinueConversationLater Continue conversation later Queues a proactive message to be sent after a delay. Requires the bot to have a storage queue configured.
EndDialog End this dialog Ends the current dialog and returns an optional result.
EndTurn End turn Ends the current turn without explicitly ending the dialog.
GetConversationReference Get conversation reference Saves the current conversation reference to memory. For use with the continue conversation actions.
GotoAction Go to action Jump to another action in the current trigger.
RepeatDialog Repeat this dialog Restarts the current dialog. You can provide input parameters for the dialog.
ReplaceDialog Replace this dialog Replaces the current dialog with a new dialog. You can provide input parameters for the new dialog.

Manage properties

Action Name Action title Description
DeleteActivity Delete Activity Deletes an activity that was previously sent to a user.
DeleteProperties Delete properties Removes multiple properties at once.
DeleteProperty Delete a property Removes a property from memory.
EditArray Edit an array property Performs an operation on an array.
GetActivityMembers Get activity members Gets the members participating in an activity. Only supported by the BotFrameworkAdapter connector.
GetConversationMembers Get conversation members Gets the members participating in a conversation. Only supported by the BotFrameworkAdapter connector.
SetProperties Set properties Sets the value of multiple properties at once.
SetProperty Set a property Sets a property's value in memory.
UpdateActivity Update an activity Updates an activity that was previously sent to a user.

Access external resources

Note

Azure AI QnA Maker will be retired on 31 March 2025. Beginning 1 October 2022, you won't be able to create new QnA Maker resources or knowledge bases. A newer version of the question and answering capability is now available as part of Azure AI Language.

Custom question answering, a feature of Azure AI Language, is the updated version of the QnA Maker service. For more information about question-and-answer support in the Bot Framework SDK, see Natural language understanding.

Action Name Action title Description
BeginSkill Connect to a skill Begins a skill and forwards activities to the skill until the skill ends.
EmitEvent Emit a custom event Raises a custom event. To allow a dialog to react to the event, add a custom events trigger to the dialog.
HttpRequest Send an HTTP request Makes an HTTP request to an endpoint.
OAuthInput OAuth login Asks the user to sign in with an OAuth identity provider.
QnAMakerDialog QnAMaker dialog Uses a QnA Maker knowledge base to answer user questions.
SendHandoffActivity Send a handoff request Deprecated. Don't use this action.
SignOutUser Sign out user Signs out the user from an OAuth identity provider.

Debugging options

Action Name Action title Description
LogAction Log to console Writes to the console and optionally sends the message as a trace activity.
TelemetryTrackEventAction Telemetry - track event Uses the registered telemetry client, to track a custom event.
ThrowException Throw an exception Throws an exception. To allow a dialog to catch the exception, add an error occurred trigger to the dialog.
TraceActivity Emit a trace event Sends a trace activity.

Additional Information