58.teams-start-new-thread-in-channel

Teams - Start new thread in a channel (proactive messaging)

This Bot Framework v4 bot shows how to create a new thread in a Teams channel by sending a proactive message, then replying to that message.

This bot has been created using Bot Framework. This sample shows how to incorporate basic conversational flow into a Teams application. It also illustrates a few of the Teams specific calls you can make from your bot.

Prerequisites

• Microsoft Teams is installed and you have an account
• NodeJS
• ngrok or equivalent tunnelling solution

To try this sample

Note these instructions are for running the sample on your local machine, the tunnelling solution is required because the Teams service needs to call into the bot.

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/Microsoft/botbuilder-samples.git

2. In a terminal, navigate to samples/javascript_nodejs/58.teams-start-new-thread-in-channel

3. Install modules

   npm install

4. Run ngrok - point to port 3978

   ngrok http -host-header=rewrite 3978

5. Create Bot Framework registration resource in Azure

   • Use the current https URL you were given by running ngrok. Append with the path /api/messages used by this sample
   • Ensure that you've enabled the Teams Channel
   • If you don't have an Azure account you can use this Bot Framework registration

6. Update the .env configuration for the bot to use the Microsoft App Id and App Password from the Bot Framework registration. (Note the App Password is referred to as the "client secret" in the azure portal and you can always create a new client secret anytime.)

7. This step is specific to Teams.

   • Edit the manifest.json contained in the teamsAppManifest folder to replace your Microsoft App Id (that was created when you registered your bot earlier) everywhere you see the place holder string <<YOUR-MICROSOFT-APP-ID>> (depending on the scenario the Microsoft App Id may occur multiple times in the manifest.json)
   • Zip up the contents of the teamsAppManifest folder to create a manifest.zip
   • Upload the manifest.zip to Teams (in the Apps view click "Upload a custom app")

8. Run your bot at the command line:

   npm start

Interacting with the bot

You can interact with this bot by sending it a message. The bot will respond by sending a reply to the channel, and then responding to that reply.

Avoiding Permission-Related Errors

You may encounter permission-related errors when sending a proactive message. This can often be mitigated by using MicrosoftAppCredentials.trustServiceUrl(). See the documentation for more information.

Deploy the bot to Azure

To learn more about deploying a bot to Azure, see Deploy your bot to Azure for a complete list of deployment instructions.

Further reading

• How Microsoft Teams bots work