Update and delete messages sent from bot

Important

The code samples in this section are based on version 4.6 and later versions of the Bot Framework SDK. If you are looking for documentation for earlier versions, see the bots - v3 SDK section in the Legacy SDKs folder of the documentation.

Your bot can dynamically update messages after sending them instead of having them as static snapshots of data. Messages can also be deleted using the Bot Framework's DeleteActivity method.

Note

A bot can't update or delete messages sent by the user in Microsoft Teams.

Update messages

You can use dynamic message updates for scenarios, such as poll updates, modifying available actions after a button press, or any other asynchronous state change.

It is not necessary for the new message to match the original in type. For example, if the original message contains an attachment, the new message can be a simple text message.

To update an existing message, pass a new Activity object with the existing activity ID to the UpdateActivityAsync method of the TurnContext class.

// Send initial message
var response = await turnContext.SendActivityAsync(MessageFactory.Attachment(card.ToAttachment()), cancellationToken);
var activityId = response.Id; // Fetch activity id.

// MessageFactory.Text(): Specifies the type of text data in a message attachment.
var newActivity = MessageFactory.Text("The new text for the activity");
newActivity.Id = activityId;

// UpdateActivityAsync(): A method that can participate in update activity events for the current turn.
await turnContext.UpdateActivityAsync(newActivity, cancellationToken);

Now that you have updated messages, update the existing card on button selection for incoming activities.

Update cards

To update the existing card on button selection, you can use ReplyToId of incoming activity.

To update existing card on a button selection, pass a new Activity object with updated card and ReplyToId as activity ID to the UpdateActivityAsync method of the TurnContext class.

// Returns a message activity that contains an attachment.
var activity = MessageFactory.Attachment(card.ToAttachment());
activity.Id = turnContext.Activity.ReplyToId;

// A method that can participate in update activity events for the current turn.
await turnContext.UpdateActivityAsync(activity, cancellationToken);

Now that you have updated cards, you can delete messages using the Bot Framework.

Delete messages

In the Bot Framework, every message has its unique activity identifier. Messages can be deleted using the Bot Framework's DeleteActivity method.

To delete a message, pass that activity's ID to the DeleteActivityAsync method of the TurnContext class.

foreach (var activityId in _list)
{
    // When overridden in a derived class, deletes an existing activity in the conversation.
    await turnContext.DeleteActivityAsync(activityId, cancellationToken);
}

Code sample

The following code sample demonstrates basics of conversations:

Sample name Description .NET Node.js Python Manifest
Teams Conversation Basics This sample shows how to use different bot conversation events available in bot framework v4 for personal and teams scope. View View View View

Next step

See also