Categorized activities by channel

Artikkeli
05/19/2020

APPLIES TO: SDK v3

The following tables show what events (Activities on the wire) can come from which channels.

This is the key for the tables:

Symbol	Meaning
✅	The Bot should expect to receive this Activity
❌	The Bot should never expect to receive this Activity
⬜	Currently undetermined whether the Bot can receive this

Activities can meaningfully be split into separate categories. For each category we have a table of possible Activities.

Conversational

\	Cortana	Direct Line	Direct Line (Web Chat)	Email	Facebook	GroupMe	Kik	Teams	Slack	Skype	Skype Business	Telegram	Twilio
Message	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
MessageReaction	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌

All Channels send Message Activities.
When using a Dialog, Message Activities should generally always be passed onto the Dialog.
This is probably not true of the MessageReaction although they are very much part of the conversation.
There are logically two types of MessageReaction: Added and Removed

Tip

"Message Reactions" are things like a "thumbs up" on a previous comment. They can happen out of order, so they can be thought of as similar to buttons. This Activity is currently sent by the Teams Channel.

Welcome

\	Cortana	Direct Line	Direct Line (Web Chat)	Email	Facebook	GroupMe	Kik	Teams	Slack	Skype	Skype Business	Telegram	Twilio
ConversationUpdate	✅	✅	✅	❌	⬜	✅	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌	✅	❌
ContactRelationUpdate	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	✅	❌	❌

It is common for Channels to send ConversationUpdate Activities.
There are logically two types of MessageReaction: Added and Removed
It is very tempting to assume bot "Welcome" behavior can be simply implemented by wiring up ConversationUpdate.Added and this sometimes works.
However, this is a simplification, in order to produce a reliable "Welcome" behavior the bot implementation may also need to use state.

Application Extensibility

\	Cortana	Direct Line	Direct Line (Web Chat)	Email	Facebook	GroupMe	Kik	Teams	Slack	Skype	Skype Business	Telegram	Twilio
Event.*	⬜	✅	✅	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜
Event.CreateConversation	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜
Event.ContinueConversation	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜

Event Activities are an extensibility mechanism in Direct Line (aka Web Chat).
An application that owns both the client and server may chose to tunnel their own events through the service using this Event Activity.

Microsoft Teams

\	Cortana	Direct Line	Direct Line (Web Chat)	Email	Facebook	GroupMe	Kik	Teams	Slack	Skype	Skype Business	Telegram	Twilio
Invoke.TeamsVerification	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
Invoke.ComposeResponse	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌

Along with a number of the other typed Activities, Microsoft Teams defines a few Teams specific Invoke Activities.
Invoke Activities are specific to an application and not something a client would define.
There is no general notion of Invoke specific subtypes of the activity.
Invoke is currently the only Activity that triggers a request-reply behavior on the bot.

This is very important: if using Dialogs for the OAuth Prompt to work the Invoke.TeamsVerification Activity must be forwarded to the Dialog.

Message Update

\	Cortana	Direct Line	Direct Line (Web Chat)	Email	Facebook	GroupMe	Kik	Teams	Slack	Skype	Skype Business	Telegram	Twilio
MessageUpdate	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	⬜	❌	❌	❌	❌
MessageDelete	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	⬜	❌	❌	❌	❌

Message Update is currently supported by Teams.

OAuth

\	Cortana	Direct Line	Direct Line (Web Chat)	Email	Facebook	GroupMe	Kik	Teams	Slack	Skype	Skype Business	Telegram	Twilio
Event.TokenResponse	⬜	✅	✅	❌	⬜	⬜	⬜	❌	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜

This is very important: if using Dialogs for the OAuth Prompt to work the Event.TokenResponse Activity must be forwarded to the Dialog.

Uncategorized

\	Cortana	Direct Line	Direct Line (Web Chat)	Email	Facebook	GroupMe	Kik	Teams	Slack	Skype	Skype Business	Telegram	Twilio
EndOfConversation	❌	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
InstallationUpdate	❌	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
Typing	❌	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
Handoff	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌

Out of Use (includes Payment specific Invoke)

DeleteUserData
Invoke.PaymentRequest
Invoke.Address
Ping

Summary of Activities supported per Channel

Cortana

Message
ConversationUpdate
Event.TokenResponse
EndOfConversation (when the window closes?)

Direct Line

Message
ConversationUpdate
Event.TokenResponse
Event.*
Event.CreateConversation
Event.ContinueConversation

Email

Message

Facebook

Message
Event.TokenResponse

GroupMe

Message
ConversationUpdate
Event.TokenResponse

Kik

Message
ConversationUpdate
Event.TokenResponse

Teams

Message
ConversationUpdate
MessageReaction
MessageUpdate
MessageDelete
Invoke.TeamsVerification
Invoke.ComposeResponse

Slack

Message
ConversationUpdate
Event.TokenResponse

Skype

Message
ContactRelationUpdate
Event.TokenResponse

Skype Business

Message
ContactRelationUpdate
Event.TokenResponse

Message
ConversationUpdate
Event.TokenResponse

Twilio

Message

Summary Table All Activities to All Channels

\	Cortana	Direct Line	Direct Line (Web Chat)	Email	Facebook	GroupMe	Kik	Teams	Slack	Skype	Skype Business	Telegram	Twilio
Message	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
MessageReaction	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
ConversationUpdate	✅	✅	✅	❌	⬜	✅	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌	✅	❌
ContactRelationUpdate	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	✅	❌	❌
Event.*	⬜	✅	✅	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜
Event.CreateConversation	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜
Event.ContinueConversation	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜
Invoke.TeamsVerification	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
Invoke.ComposeResponse	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
MessageUpdate	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	⬜	❌	❌	❌	❌
MessageDelete	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	⬜	❌	❌	❌	❌
Event.TokenResponse	⬜	✅	✅	❌	⬜	⬜	⬜	❌	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜	⬜
EndOfConversation	❌	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
InstallationUpdate	❌	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
Typing	❌	✅	✅	❌	✅	❌	❌	✅	✅	❌	❌	✅	❌
Handoff	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌

Web Chat

Web Chat will send:

"message": with "text" and/or "attachments"
"event": with "name" and "value" (as JSON/string)
"typing": if the user set an option, namely "sendTypingIndicator" Web Chat will not send "contactRelationUpdate". And Web Chat do not support "messageReaction", no one explicitly ask us to support this feature.

By default, Web Chat will render:

"message": will render as either carousel or stacked, depends on the option in the activity
"typing": will render for 5s and hide it, or until next activity come in
"conversationUpdate": will hide
"event": will hide
Others: will show a warning box (we never see it in production) You can modify this render pipeline to add, remove, or replace any custom render.

You can use Web Chat to send any activity type and payload, we neither document nor recommend this feature. You should use "event" activity instead.

Action support by channel

The following table shows the maximum number of Suggested Actions and Card Actions that are supported in each channel. The ❌ indicates that the action is not supported at all in the specified channel.

\	Cortana	Direct Line	Direct Line (Web Chat)	Email	Facebook	GroupMe	Kik	Line	Teams	Slack	Skype	Skype Business	Telegram	Twilio
Suggested Actions	❌	100	100	❌	10	❌	20	13	❌	❌	10	❌	100	❌
Card Actions	100	100	100	❌	3	❌	20	99	3	100	3	❌	❌	❌

For more information about the numbers shown in the above table, refer to channel support code listed here.

For more information on Suggested Actions, refer to the Use button for input article.

For more information on Card Actions, refer to the Send a hero card section of the Add media to messages article.

Card Support by Channel

Channel	Adaptive Card	Animation Card	Audio Card	Hero Card	Receipt Card	Signin Card	Thumbnail Card	Video Card
Cortana	✔	❌	❌	❌	✔	✔	✔	❌
Email	🔶	🌐	🌐	✔	✔	✔	✔	🌐
Facebook	⚠🔶	✔	❌	✔	✔	✔	✔	❌
GroupMe	🔶	🌐	🌐	🌐	🌐	🌐	🌐	🌐
Kik	🔶	✔	✔	❌	🌐	❌	✔	🌐
Line	⚠🔶	✔	🌐	✔	✔	✔	✔	🌐
Microsoft Teams	✔	❌	❌	✔	✔	✔	✔	❌
Skype	❌	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Slack	🔶	✔	🌐	🌐	✔	✔	🌐	🌐
Telegram	⚠🔶	✔	🌐	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Twilio	🔶	🌐	❌	🌐	🌐	🌐	🌐	❌
Web Chat	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔

Note: The Direct Line channel technically supports all cards, but it's up to the client to implement them

✔: Supported - Card is supported fully with the exception that some channels only support a subset of CardActions and/or may limit the number of actions allowed on each card. Varies by channel.
⚠: Partial Support - Card may not be displayed at all if it contains inputs and/or buttons. Varies by channel.
❌: No Support
🔶: Card is Converted to Image
🌐: Card is Converted to Unformatted Text - Links may not be clickable, images may not display, and/or media may not be playable. Varies by channel.

These categories are intentionally broad and don't fully explain how every card feature is supported in each channel due to the many possible combinations of cards, features, and channels. Please use this table as a base reference, but test each of your cards in the desired channel(s).

Jaa