Forward Hero Card from Skype Chatbot with functional buttons (or deeplinking chatbot and passing a reference) - botframework

Question

Is there a way to create a hero card that has buttons that keep working when it is forwarded to another user?
We want to build a chatbot that enables you to share things with someone else. So first you talk to the chatbot (mainly via buttons) to setup a thing and then you forward that to one of your contacts so that they can participate. With Facebook Messenger we can directly call a share action that pops up the share dialog with which the user can forward a card to a contact. Using a m.me/123?ref=456 URL in a button of the card the receiver can open a conversation with the chatbot in the correct context. I managed to do something similar for Telegram.
I try to replicate this with other services. With Skype there is no way to explicitly call the share action, but I can write a message "Please forward the next card to the user you want to share this with:" [and then I display that card]. Now I give that card a button with a postBack action that should open the correct context, but that button seems to be non functional. When tapping it no post back is sent to the chatbot.
Is there a way to implement something like what I described for Facebook Messenger with Skype? Or is there a way to deep link to a chatbot passing some reference?
(I'd rather have the later for a second use case anyway, where a user puts a share button on their website that then opens Skype in a conversation with the chatbot, passing the reference. I have that for Messenger and Telegram.)
Edit: What I would like to do would basically be the following. I use nodejs, but only the ChatConnector class and not the UniversalBot class.
connector.send([
{
type: 'message',
address,
textFomrat: 'plain',
text: 'Forward the next message to people you want to share THING with:',
},
{
type: 'message',
address,
attachments: [{
contentType: 'application/vnd.microsoft.card.hero',
content: {
title: name,
images: [{
url: image_url
}],
buttons: [{
type: 'postBack',
title: 'Chat with this bot about THING',
value: 'open:' + thing_id,
}]
}
}],
}
], callback);

Answer 1

I'm not sure how you're sending cards to the other user, but here's an example in .net where the buttons sent will function as expected for the other user:
using Microsoft.Bot.Builder.Dialogs;
using System;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Microsoft.Bot.Connector;
using Microsoft.Bot.Builder.FormFlow;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Collections.Concurrent;
using Microsoft.Bot.Builder.ConnectorEx;
using Newtonsoft.Json;
namespace CardsBot
{
[Serializable]
public class SendToUserDialog : IDialog<object>
{
static ConcurrentDictionary<string, ConversationReference> _cachedConversationReferences = new ConcurrentDictionary<string, ConversationReference>();
private const string HelpString = "Enter 'Send Card' to send a card to another user. 'Send Message' to send a json message to another user. Or 'List Users' to see who is ready to receive messages.";
public async Task StartAsync(IDialogContext context)
{
context.Wait(this.MessageReceivedAsync);
}
public async Task MessageReceivedAsync(IDialogContext context, IAwaitable<IMessageActivity> argument)
{
var message = await argument;
string upperText = message.Text.Replace(" ", "").ToUpper();
if (upperText == "SENDCARD")
{
IFormDialog<SendCardForm> form = new FormDialog<SendCardForm>(new SendCardForm(), SendCardForm.BuildForm, FormOptions.PromptInStart);
context.Call(form, AfterSendCardComplete);
}
else if (upperText == "SENDMESSAGE")
{
IFormDialog<SendMessageForm> form = new FormDialog<SendMessageForm>(new SendMessageForm(), SendMessageForm.BuildForm, FormOptions.PromptInStart);
context.Call(form, AfterSendMessageFormComplete);
}
else if (upperText == "LISTUSERS")
{
var names = String.Join(", ", _cachedConversationReferences.Keys);
await context.PostAsync($"Users : {names}");
}
else
{
if (!context.UserData.ContainsKey("name"))
{
var getNamePrompt = new PromptDialog.PromptString("What is your name?", "Please enter your name.", 3);
context.Call(getNamePrompt, AfterNamePrompt);
}
else
{
await context.PostAsync($"You said: {message.Text} ({HelpString})");
context.Wait(MessageReceivedAsync);
}
}
}
private async Task AfterSendMessageFormComplete(IDialogContext context, IAwaitable<SendMessageForm> result)
{
var sendMessageForm = await result;
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(sendMessageForm.RecipientName))
{
await context.PostAsync("A recipient name was not provided. Cannot send the message to nobody.");
}
else
{
ConversationReference conversation = null;
if (_cachedConversationReferences.TryGetValue(sendMessageForm.RecipientName, out conversation))
{
var originalReply = conversation.GetPostToBotMessage().CreateReply();
var replyMessage = GetMessage(originalReply, sendMessageForm.MessageJson);
var connector = new ConnectorClient(new Uri(originalReply.ServiceUrl));
await connector.Conversations.ReplyToActivityAsync(replyMessage);
await context.PostAsync($"Message was sent to {sendMessageForm.RecipientName} on {replyMessage.ChannelId} channel.");
}
else
{
await context.PostAsync($"No recipient found matching the name {sendMessageForm.RecipientName}");
}
}
}
private async Task AfterNamePrompt(IDialogContext context, IAwaitable<string> result)
{
var name = await result;
context.UserData.SetValue("name", name);
await context.PostAsync($"Thanks. What would you like to do now {name}? {HelpString}");
var conversationReference = context.Activity.ToConversationReference();
_cachedConversationReferences.AddOrUpdate(name, conversationReference, (oldVal, newVal) => conversationReference);
}
public Activity GetMessage(Activity originalReply, string messageJson)
{
var reply = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Activity>(messageJson);
reply.ChannelId = originalReply.ChannelId;
reply.Timestamp = originalReply.Timestamp;
reply.From = originalReply.From;
reply.Conversation = originalReply.Conversation;
reply.Recipient = originalReply.Recipient;
reply.Id = originalReply.Id;
reply.ReplyToId = originalReply.ReplyToId;
reply.ServiceUrl = originalReply.ServiceUrl;
return reply;
}
private async Task AfterSendCardComplete(IDialogContext context, IAwaitable<SendCardForm> result)
{
var SendCardForm = await result;
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(SendCardForm.RecipientName))
{
await context.PostAsync("A recipient name was not provided. Cannot send a card to nobody.");
}
else
{
ConversationReference conversation = null;
if (_cachedConversationReferences.TryGetValue(SendCardForm.RecipientName, out conversation))
{
var reply = conversation.GetPostToBotMessage().CreateReply();
reply.Attachments.Add(GetCard(SendCardForm.Text, SendCardForm.Buttons.Value));
var connector = new ConnectorClient(new Uri(reply.ServiceUrl));
await connector.Conversations.ReplyToActivityAsync(reply);
}
else
{
await context.PostAsync($"No recipient found matching the name {SendCardForm.RecipientName}");
}
}
}
public Attachment GetCard(string text, int numberOfButtons)
{
var card = new HeroCard(text);
card.Buttons = new List<CardAction>(GetCardActions(numberOfButtons));
return card.ToAttachment();
}
private IEnumerable<CardAction> GetCardActions(int numberOfButtons)
{
for (int counter = 1; counter < numberOfButtons; counter++)
{
yield return new CardAction()
{
Title = $"button{counter}",
Type = ActionTypes.ImBack,
Value = $"button{counter}"
};
}
}
}
[Serializable]
public class SendMessageForm
{
[Prompt("Who would you like to send this message to (enter the name of the recipient)?")]
public string RecipientName { get; set; }
[Prompt("Paste in the .json of the message you would like to Send.")]
public string MessageJson { get; set; }
public static IForm<SendMessageForm> BuildForm()
{
return new FormBuilder<SendMessageForm>()
.AddRemainingFields()
.Confirm("Is this information correct?{*}")
.Build();
}
}
[Serializable]
public class SendCardForm
{
[Prompt("What would you like for the card text?")]
public string Text { get; set; }
[Prompt("How many buttons?")]
public int? Buttons { get; set; }
[Prompt("Who would you like to send the card to?")]
public string RecipientName { get; set; }
public static IForm<SendCardForm> BuildForm()
{
return new FormBuilder<SendCardForm>()
.AddRemainingFields()
.Confirm("Is this information correct?{*}")
.Build();
}
}
}