Build action based message extension

Teams action based message extension allow users to interact with web services in the Microsoft Teams client. Message extensions 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. By the end of this tutorial, you can achieve the following output:

Screenshot of the message extension output after you have successfully completed the step-by-step guide.

Prerequisites

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

	Install	For using...
	Microsoft Teams	Microsoft Teams to collaborate with everyone you work with through apps for chat, meetings, and call-all in one place.
	Visual Studio 2022	You can install the enterprise version in Visual Studio 2022, and install the ASP.NET and web development workloads. Use the latest version.
	.NET Core SDK	Customized bindings for local debugging and Azure Functions app deployments. If you haven't installed the latest version, install the portable version.
	Dev tunnel	Teams app features (conversational bots, message extensions, and incoming webhooks) need inbound connections. A tunnel connects your development system to Teams. Dev tunnel is a powerful tool to securely open your localhost to the internet and control who has access. Dev tunnel is available in Visual Studio 2022 version 17.7.0 or later. or You can also use ngrok as a tunnel to connect your development system to Teams. It isn't required for apps that only include tabs. This package is installed within the project directory (using npm `devDependencies`).

Note

After downloading ngrok, sign up and install authtoken.

Set up local environment

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

Register Microsoft Entra app

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The following steps help you to create and register your bot in Azure portal:

Create and register your Azure app.
Create client secret to enable SSO authentication of the bot.
Add Teams channel to deploy the bot.
Create a tunnel to your web server's endpoints using dev tunnel (recommended) or ngrok.
Add messaging endpoint to the dev tunnel that you created.

Add App registration

Go to Azure portal.
Select App registrations.
Select + New registration.
Enter the name of your app.
Select Accounts in any organizational directory (Any Microsoft Entra ID tenant - Multitenant).
Select Register.

Your app is registered in Microsoft Entra ID. The app overview page appears.

Note

Save the app ID from Application (client) ID and Directory (tenant) ID for further use.

Create a tunnel

dev tunnel
ngrok

Open Visual Studio.
Select Create a new project.
In the search box, enter ASP.NET. From the search results, select ASP.NET Core Web App.
Select Next.
Enter Project name and select Next.
Select Create.

An overview window appears.
In the debug dropdown list, select Dev Tunnels (no active tunnel) > Create a Tunnel....

A pop-up window appears.
Update the following details in the pop-up window:
1. Account: Enter a Microsoft or GitHub account.
2. Name: Enter a name for your tunnel.
3. Tunnel Type: From the dropdown list, select Temporary.
4. Access: From the dropdown list, select Public.
Select OK.

A pop-up window appears showing that dev tunnel is successfully created.
Select OK.

You can find the tunnel you've created in the debug dropdown list as follows:
Select F5 to run the application in the debug mode.
If a Security Warning dialog appears, select Yes.

A pop-up window appears.
Select Continue.

The dev tunnel home page opens in a new browser window and the dev tunnel is now active.
Go to Visual Studio, select View > Output.
From the Output console dropdown menu, select Dev Tunnels.

The Output console shows the dev tunnel URL.

Use ngrok or Command Prompt 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.

The window shows the HTTPS URL.

Screenshot shows the ngrok HTTPS URL.

Add a web authentication

In the left pane, under Manage, select Authentication.
Select Add a platform > Web.
Enter the redirect URI for your app by appending auth-end to the fully qualified domain name. For example, https://your-devtunnel-domain/auth-end or https://your-ngrok-domain/auth-end.
Under Implicit grant and hybrid flows, select the Access tokens and ID tokens checkboxes.
Select Configure.
Under Web, select Add URI.
Enter https://token.botframework.com/.auth/web/redirect.
Select Save.

Create a client secret

In the left pane, under Manage, select Certificates & secrets.
Under Client secrets, select + New client secret.

The Add a client secret window appears.
Enter Description.
Select Add.
Under Value, select Copy to clipboard to save the client secret value for further use.

Add API permission

In the left pane, under Manage, select API permissions.
Select + Add a permission.
Select Microsoft Graph.
Select Delegated permissions.
Select the following permissions:
- OpenId permissions > email, offline_access, openid, profile.
- User > User.Read.
Select Add permissions.
Note
- If an app isn't granted IT admin consent, users must provide consent the first time they use an app.
- Users need to consent to the API permissions only if the Microsoft Entra app is registered in a different tenant.

Add Application ID URI

In the left pane, under Manage, select Expose an API.
Next to Application ID URI, select Add.
Update the Application ID URI in the api://your-devtunnel-domain/botid-{AppID} or api://your-ngrok-domain/botid-{AppID} format and select Save.

The following image shows the domain name:

Add a scope

In the left pane, under Manage, select Expose an API.
Select + Add a scope.
Enter access_as_user as the Scope name.
Under Who can consent?, select Admins and users.
Update the values for the rest of the fields as follows:
- 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.

The following image shows the fields and the values:

Note

The Scope name must match with the Application ID URI with /access_as_user appended at the end.

Add client application

In the left pane, under Manage, select Expose an API.

Under Authorized client applications, identify the applications that you want to authorize for your app’s web application.
Select + Add a client application.
Add Teams mobile or desktop and Teams web application.
1. For Teams mobile or desktop: Enter the Client ID as 1fec8e78-bce4-4aaf-ab1b-5451cc387264.
2. For Teams web: Enter the Client ID as 5e3ce6c0-2b1f-4285-8d4b-75ee78787346.
Select the Authorized scopes checkbox.
Select Add application.

The following image displays the Client Id:

Create your bot

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Create an Azure bot resource

Note

If you're already testing your bot in Teams, sign out of this app and Teams. To see this change, sign in again.

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

If you don't have an existing resource group, you can create a new resource group. To create a new resource group, follow these steps:
1. Select Create new.
2. Enter the resource name and select OK.
3. Select a location from New resource group location dropdown list.
Under Pricing, select Change plan.
Select FO Free > Select.
Under Microsoft App ID, select Type of App as Multi Tenant.
In the Creation type, select Use existing app registration.
Enter the App ID.

Note

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

The bot takes a few minutes to provision.
Select Go to resource.

You've successfully created your Azure bot.

Add a Teams channel

In the left pane, select Channels.
Under Available Channels, select Microsoft Teams.
Select the checkbox to accept the Terms of Service.
Select Agree.
Select Apply.

To add a messaging endpoint

dev tunnel
ngrok

Use the dev tunnel URL in the Output console as the messaging endpoint.
In the left pane, under Settings, select Configuration.
Update the Messaging endpoint in the format https://your-devtunnel-domain/api/messages.
Select Apply.

You've successfully set up a bot in Azure Bot service.

Note

If the Application Insights Instrumentation key shows an error, update with App ID.

From ngrok, copy the HTTPS URL.

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 the left pane, under Settings, select Configuration.
Update the Messaging endpoint in the format https://your-ngrok-domain/api/messages.
Select Apply.

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

Note

If the Application Insights Instrumentation key shows an error update with App ID.

Set up app settings and manifest files

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Go to the appsettings.json file in cloned repository.
Open the appsettings.json file 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 Client Secret.
- Leave "MicrosoftAppTenantId" blank for MultiTenant bot.
- Set "BaseUrl" to the fully qualified domain name.
Go to the manifest.json file in the cloned repository.
Open the manifest.json file 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, use Visual Studio or Command line.

Visual Studio
Command line

Open Visual Studio.
Go to File > Open > Project/Solution.....
From csharp folder, select the TeamsMessagingExtensionsAction.csproj file.
Press F5 to run the project.
Select Yes if the following dialog appears:

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

Go to samples > msgext-action > csharp in Command Prompt window and enter the following command:

dotnet run

Screenshot of Command Prompt - dotnet run with the dotnet run command.

Add Action Message Extension app to Teams

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In your cloned repository, go to samples > msgext-action > csharp > TeamsAppManifest.
Create a .zip with the following files that are present in the Manifest folder:
- manifest.json
- icon-outline.png
- icon-color.png
In the Teams client, select the Apps icon.
Select Manage your apps.
Select Upload an app.
Look for the option to Upload a custom app. If you see the option, custom app upload is enabled.

Note

Contact your Teams administrator, if you don't find the option to upload a custom app.
Select Open to upload the messaging.zip file that you created in the TeamsAppManifest folder.

Interact with the app in Teams

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Select Create Card command from the compose box command list.
Enter your information in the modal pop-up window.
Select Submit.
Select More options (...) from the overflow menu.
Select More actions > Share Message.
If you want to include an image, select the Include image in Hero Card checkbox and then select Submit.