Build action based message extension

Message extensions allow users to interact with web services in the Microsoft Teams client. They help to initiate actions in an external system from the compose message area, the command box, or directly from a message.

Key features of action based message extension

Presents the user with a modal pop-up to collect or display information.
Triggers the action commands from the compose message area, the command box, or from a message.

This step-by-step guide helps you to build Teams action-based message extension to initiate actions from compose message and message area. You'll see the following output:

output

Prerequisites

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Ensure you install the following tools and set up your development environment:

Microsoft Teams with valid account
.NET Core SDK version 3.1
Latest version of Visual Studio
ngrok latest version (only for devbox testing) or any equivalent tunneling solution

Note

After downloading ngrok, sign up and install authtoken.

Set up local environment

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Clone BotBuilder-Samples repository to your local GitHub:

Open BotBuilder-Samples.
Select Code.
From the dropdown menu, select Open with GitHub Desktop.
Select Clone.

Create and register your bot in Azure AD portal

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To create and register your bot in Microsoft Azure Active Directory (Azure AD), create a tunnel using ngrok, add messaging endpoint, and then perform the following steps:

Create Azure Bot resource to register bot with Azure Bot Service.
Create client secret to enable SSO authentication of the bot.
Add Teams channel to deploy the bot to a Teams channel.
Use ngrok to create a tunnel to your web server's endpoints.
Add messaging endpoint to the ngrok tunnel you created.

To create Azure Bot resource

Go to the Microsoft Azure portal.
Select Create a resource.
In the search box, enter Azure Bot.
Select Enter.
Select Azure Bot.
Select Create.
Enter required bot handle name in Bot handle.
Select your Subscription from the dropdown list.
Select your Resource group from the dropdown list.

You can also create a new resource group (select Create new > enter resource name > select OK).
In the Microsoft App ID section, by default Create new Microsoft App ID is selected.

You can either select Use existing app registration and enter Existing app ID and Existing app password, or select Create new Microsoft App ID.

Note

You can't create more than one bot with the same Microsoft App ID.
Select MultiTenant under Bot Type.
Select Review + create.
If the validation passes, select Create.

It takes a few moments for your bot service to be provisioned.
Select Go to resource.

Your Azure bot is created.

To create client secret

Perform the following steps if you've created a new Microsoft App ID:

In the left panel, select Configuration.

Tip

Save the Microsoft App ID or Client ID for future reference.
Next to Microsoft App ID, select Manage.
In the Client secrets section, select New client secret.

The Add a client secret window appears.
Enter Description.
Select Add.
In the Value column, select Copy to clipboard.

Tip

Save the Client secrets value or app password for future reference.

To add the Teams channel

Select Home.
Select your bot from Recent resources.
Select Channels in the left pane and select Microsoft Teams .
Select the checkbox to accept the Terms of Service.
Select Agree.
Select Save.

To create tunnel for local web server

Use ngrok to create a tunnel to your locally running web server's publicly available HTTPS endpoints. Run the following command in ngrok:

ngrok http --host-header=localhost 3978

Tip

If you encounter ERR_NGROK_4018, follow the steps provided in the command prompt to sign-up and authenticate ngrok. Then run the ngrok http --host-header=localhost 3978 command.

To add messaging endpoint

From ngrok, copy the HTTPS URL (https to io).

Note

The HTTPS URL in your ngrok is your fully qualified domain name. The WebAppDomain is a fully qualified domain name that doesn't include https:// in it.
In Settings for the Azure bot that you created, select Configuration.
In Messaging endpoint, use the HTTPS URL available from ngrok and at the end of the URL add /api/messages.
Select Apply.

You have successfully set up a bot in Azure Bot Service.

Update the Azure AD app registration

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Go to the Azure portal.
Select Azure Active Directory.
In the left navigation panel, select App Registrations.
Select your bot.
Under Manage, select Expose an API.
Select Set.
Set the Application ID URI in the form of api://{AppID}.
Insert the WebAppDomain value between api:// and /{AppID}.
api://2bb1****.ngrok.io/{AppID}

The following image shows the domain name:

Note

If you're using a tunneling service such as ngrok, ensure you update the value whenever your ngrok subdomain changes. For example: api://f631****.ngrok.io/92c11075-c629-4a1e-ab58-02b4fd4204c2, where f631****.ngrok.io is the new ngrok subdomain name.
Select Add a scope.
In the panel that appears, enter access_as_user as the Scope name.
Set Who can consent? to Admins and users.
To configure the admin and user consent prompts with appropriate values for access_as_user scope, provide the following information in the fields:
- Enter Teams can access the user’s profile as Admin consent display name.
- Enter Allows Teams to call the app’s web APIs as the current user as Admin consent description.
- Enter Teams can access the user profile and make requests on the user’s behalf as User consent display name.
- Enter Enable Teams to call this app’s APIs with the same rights as the user as User consent description.
Ensure that State is set to Enabled.
Select Add scope to save.

Note

The Scope name should match with the Application ID URI with /access_as_user appended at the end.
api://2bb1****.ngrok.io/00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000/access_as_user
In the Authorized client applications section, identify the applications that you want to authorize for your app’s web application.
Select Add a client application.
Enter Client ID: 1fec8e78-bce4-4aaf-ab1b-5451cc387264 for Teams mobile or desktop application.

You can enter Client ID: 5e3ce6c0-2b1f-4285-8d4b-75ee78787346 for Teams web application.
Select Authorized scopes.

The following image displays the client IDs:
In the left panel, select API Permissions.

Note

Users need to consent to these permissions only if the Azure AD app is registered in a different tenant.
Select Add a permission.
Select Microsoft Graph.
Select Delegated permissions.
Add the following permissions:
- email
- offline_access
- OpenId
- profile
- User.Read
Select Add permissions.
From the left panel, select Authentication to set a redirect URI.

Note

If an app isn't granted IT admin consent, users must provide consent the first time they use an app.
1. Select Add a platform.
2. Select Web.
3. Enter the redirect URI for your app by appending auth-end to fully qualified domain name:
  https://2bb1****.ngrok.io/auth-end.
4. Enable Implicit grant and hybrid flows by selecting the following checkboxes:
  - ID tokens
  - Access tokens
5. Select Configure.

Set up app settings and manifest files

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Navigate to appsettings.json in cloned repository.
Open appsettings.json in latest version of Visual Studio and update the following information:
- Set "MicrosoftAppType" to MultiTenant.
- Set "MicrosoftAppId" to your bot's Microsoft App ID.
- Set "MicrosoftAppPassword" to your bot's Value of the Client Secret ID.
- Leave "MicrosoftAppTenantId" blank for MultiTenant bot.
- Set "BaseUrl" to the fully qualified domain name.
Navigate to manifest.json in cloned repository.
Open manifest.json in latest version of Visual Studio and make the following changes:
- Replace the <<validDomains>> with your fully qualified domain name.
- Replace all occurrences of <<Microsoft-App-ID>> with your bot's Microsoft App ID.

Build and run the service

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To build and run the service using latest version of Visual Studio or Command line

Latest version of Visual Studio
Command line

Launch the latest version of Visual Studio.
Navigate to File > Open > Project/Solution.
Select TeamsMessagingExtensionsAction.csproj file from csharp_dotnet folder.
Press F5 to run the project.
Select Yes if the following dialog appears:

A webpage opens with a message Your bot is ready!.

Navigate to samples > csharp_dotnetcore > 51.teams-messaging-extensions-action in Command Prompt window and enter the following command:

dotnet run

Dotnet

Add Action Message Extension app to Teams

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In your cloned repository, navigate to csharp_dotnetcore > 51.teams-messaging-extensions-action > TeamsAppManifest.
Create a .zip with the following files that are present in the Manifest folder:
- manifest.json
- icon-outline.png
- icon-color.png
Go to Microsoft Teams.
Select Apps.
Select Manage your apps.
Select Upload a custom app.
Select Open to upload the .zip file that you created in the Manifest folder.
Select Add.