Add actions to a bot using Power Automate

• 9/22/2020
• 8 minutes to read
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Select the version of Power Virtual Agents you're using here:

You can enable your bot to perform an action by calling a Microsoft Power Automate flow. Flows can help you automate activities, or call backend systems. For example, you can use flows with end-user authentication to retrieve information about a user after they've signed in.

You call flows from within topics, as a discrete Call an action node. You can utilize flows that have already been created in your Power Apps environment, or you can create a flow from within the Power Virtual Agents authoring canvas.

Flows typically use variables to input and output information. The variables can then be used in other nodes within the topic.

Prerequisites

• Learn more about what you can do with Power Virtual Agents.

Create a new flow from the Power Virtual Agents authoring canvas

1. Go to the Topics page for the bot you want to edit.

2. Open the authoring canvas for the topic from which you want to call a flow.

3. Select the plus (+) button below an existing node to add a new node.

4. In the node selection window, select Call an action, and then select Create a flow.

   

Using the Create a flow option opens a starter flow template in the Power Automate portal in a separate tab.

This template is an example of a flow that can be used by bots. To be suitable for bots, a Power Automate flow requires a special Power Virtual Agents trigger and response action:

• Flow trigger: Power Virtual Agents

  

• Response action: Power Virtual Agents

  

Input and output parameters

There is no upper limit on how many input or output parameters Power Automate flow for a bot can have. Bots can use the following types of inputs and outputs with Power Automate flows:

• Number
• String
• Boolean

The following types are not supported:

• Object
• Date
• Timestamp
• List [String]
• List [Number]
• List [Boolean]
• List [Object]
• List [Date]
• List [Timestamp]

Input parameters

To specify a flow to accept input parameters from a bot, select the Add an input option in the Power Virtual Agents trigger user interface, and then select the type a - string, number, or a boolean.

For example, you can select Text and Number to add the following input parameters to the flow:

• String_Input of type string
• Number_Input ot type number

Output parameters

To return output parameters to the bot that can be a string, number, or a boolean, select Add an output option in Power Virtual Agents response user interface, and then select the type for the output.

For example, you can select Text and Number to add the following output parameters to the flow and assign return values for them.

• String_Output of type string
• Number_Output ot type number

This example creates a fully functional flow that accepts two parameters, a string and a number, and returns them to a bot as outputs.

Select Save to save your new flow.

Your flow is saved to the Default Solution under the Solutions tab on the Power Automate portal.

Flows created from the Power Virtual Agents authoring canvas are immediately available to the bot

All flows created from the Power Virtual Agents authoring canvas are saved in a Default Solution in Power Automate. They can be used by your bots immediately.

In Power Virtual Agents, you can now see this new flow on the list of available actions when you use the Call an action node in the authoring canvas.

Optionally move a flow from Default Solution to another solution

To be available to your bots, flows must be stored in a solution in Power Automate. If you do not want to use the Default Solution for this purpose, you can move your flows to another solution.

Move flow to new or existing solution:

1. On the Power Automate portal, go to the Solutions tab where you can see the available solutions. Use any of the existing solutions or create a new solution for your flows.

2. To create a new solution, select New solution.

   

3. Give your new solution a name, select CDS Default Publisher in the Publisher field, enter a Version number, and then select Create.

   

4. On the Solutions tab, go to the solution you want to use. Select Add existing to add a flow.

   

5. On the Add existing flow page, select the From solutions tab, and then select your flow. Select Add to add your flow to the solution.

   

   To move a flow from My flows tab to a solution, select the Outside solutions option. Select Add to add your flow to the solution.

   

Modify a flow on the Power Automate portal

You can rename and modify your flow on the Power Automate portal. For example, the flow you just created using the template can be updated to provide a weather forecast when called from a bot.

1. In Power Virtual Agents, you can open a flow by using the flow's View flow details link on the list of available actions when you use the Call an action node in the authoring canvas.

   

   If you want to update a flow that is already used in your dialog, the same View flow details link is available directly in the Action node.

   

   Using the flow's View flow details link launches the Power Automate portal in a separate browser tab, and opens the flow in a Details page where you can modify it using the Edit command.

   

   If you want to open a flow on the Power Automate portal, go to the Solutions tab and then open your flow's solution. Use the flow's Edit menu to open the flow for editing.

   

2. Rename the flow to Get weather forecast and then add the following flow input parameters to Power Virtual Agents trigger:

   • City (String)
   • Zipcode (Number)

   

3. Choose Add an action to create a new action below the Power Virtual Agents trigger.

   

4. Enter MSN weather into the search box, and then select the Get forecast for today action from the list.

   

5. A new MSN Weather Connector is added to the flow. Under Location, select Add dynamic content. Select City and Zipcode from the list.

   

6. In the response node Return value(s) to Power Virtual Agents, add the output parameters that you want to return to the bot. Save your flow.

   • day_summary (String)
   • location (String)
   • chance_of_rain (Number)

   

This flow is now ready to be used in your bots.

Call a Power Automate flow as an action from a bot

You can call a Power Automate flow from a bot topic using the Call an action node. You can then pass variables to the flow and receive flow outputs that can be used in a bot conversation.

These instructions use adding weather information to a flow as an example. If you haven't already, follow the steps under the Modify a flow on the Power Automate portal section in this topic to create a weather forecast flow.

Call a flow from within a topic:

1. In Power Virtual Agents, go to the Topics page for the bot you want to edit.

2. Create a new topic, and name it Get weather.

3. Add the following trigger phrases:

   • will it rain
   • today's forecast
   • get weather
   • what's the weather

4. Go to the Authoring canvas for the new topic.

   

5. By default, a message node is created. Enter I can help you with that into the node, and then select the plus (+) button under it to add a new node.

   

6. Add two new Ask a question nodes to ask users for the City (String) and Zipcode (Number) inputs.

   

7. Select the plus (+) button under the question nodes to add a new node. In the node selection window, select Call an action, and then select the flow you created earlier called Get weather forecast.

   

8. Map the flow input blocks to the output variables from the question nodes. City (text) gets its value from Var1 (text) and Zipcode (number) gets its value from Var2 (number).

9. Under the flow's node, add a Message node and then enter a message that uses the flow's outputs. For example:

   Today's forecast for (x)location:{x}day_summary. Chance of rain is {x}chance_of_rain%

   

10. Select Save to save your topic.

Test your flow and topic

In the Test chat pane, start a conversation with the bot by typing in a trigger phrase for the topic that contains the flow.

Enter your city and zip code at the prompt to get today's weather forecast from the bot.

Troubleshoot your bot

While testing your bot in the Test chat pane, you can use the Save snapshot command to get conversational diagnostics data. This data can help you troubleshoot issues, such as the bot not responding in the way you expect.

1. At the top of the Test chat pane, select the menu icon (three vertical periods) and then Save snapshot.

   

2. In the window that appears, select Save.

   

3. The bot's content and conversational diagnostics will be saved in a .zip archive file called DSAT.zip.

   

4. The DSAT.zip file contains two files: botContent.json and dialog.json.

   1. dialog.json contains conversational diagnostics, including detailed descriptions of errors.

      

   2. botContent.json contains the bot's topics and other content, including entities and variables used in the bot.

You can help us improve Power Virtual Agents by flagging issues with the Flag an issue command on the test bot pane. This submits your conversation ID to Microsoft, which is a unique identifier that Microsoft uses to troubleshoot the issue of the conversation. Other information, such as that in the DSAT.zip file, is not sent when you flag an issue.

All information collected is anonymous and will be used to help improve bot quality.