Creating Messages

Messages are one of the most common types of activities to be used in agents as they're used to communicate to humans or other agents.

The MessageFactory object provides methods that help developers create different types of message activities. Using the MessageFactory makes it faster and easier to send responses. Using MessageFactory is also less prone to errors in the construction of more complex types of messages.

Typically, the way a message is rendered in a UI depends on the client. Most clients accept a message of type text and adaptive cards (Clients vary in the supported version of adaptive cards).

Text

 var textMessage = MessageFactory.Text("Hello, world!");

Adaptive cards

var adaptiveCardAttachment = new Attachment
{
    ContentType = "application/vnd.microsoft.card.adaptive",
    Content = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(adaptiveCardJson)
};

var adaptiveCardMessage = MessageFactory.Attachment(adaptiveCardAttachment);

await turnContext.SendActivityAsync(adaptiveCardMessage, cancellationToken);

Typing indicators

Typing indicators use a combination of a Text Message and a Typing Activity:

  var typingMessage = MessageFactory.Text(string.Empty);
  typingMessage.Type = ActivityTypes.Typing;

There are other types of supported messages in MessageFactory, including Carousel, List, and SuggestedActions.