Call a Teams Chatbot via a Power Automate Flow

[Himashi]

Hi.

I created a chatbot using Power Virtual Agents and added it to a Teams channel. When someone posts a message on the Teams channel, I want to reply to that message using Power Automate. This Power Automate message should be able to @mention and call the chatbot. Is there a way to accomplish this?

Thanks in advance. 

[Expiscornovus · Accepted solution]

Hi @Himashi,

First of all great question, very interesting scenario 🙂

You could use the Graph API and the Reply to a message in a channel method. In that request you can reply with an at-mention to the bot and add a topic trigger text.

Below is a short example.

1. Add a When a new channel message is added trigger action

2. Add a Send an HTTP request action (Office 365 Groups Connector)

Use the following URI & the POST method

https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/teams/@{triggerOutputs()?['body/channelIdentity']['teamId']}/channels/@{triggerOutputs()?['body/channelIdentity']['channelId']}/messages/@{triggerOutputs()?['body/id']}/replies

Use the json below for the body.

Replace the variables with your values for the topic trigger phrase, bot name & bot app id.

{
    "body": {
        "contentType": "html",
        "content": "<div><div><at id=\"0\">@{variables('BotName')}</at> @{variables('PVATopicTrigger')}</div></div>"
    },
    "mentions": [
        {
            "id": 0,
            "mentionText": "@{variables('BotName')}",
            "mentioned": {
                "device": null,
                "user": null,
                "conversation": null,
                "tag": null,
                "application": {
                    "id": "@{variables('BotAppId')}",
                    "displayName": "@{variables('BotName')}",
                    "applicationIdentityType": "bot"
                }
            }
        }
    ]
}

Btw, I have also written a blog about this approach with a bit more details:

https://www.expiscornovus.com/2022/06/10/mention-a-bot-with-a-flow/

[Himashi]

@Expiscornovus Great and detailed solution. Thank you very much!