How to add custom choices displayed through Prompt options inside Cards & trigger actions on choice click in BOT V4 using c#?

Question

I am developing a chat bot using c# bot framework v4 sdk with multiple dialogs of waterfall type where one dialog class will display set of choices buttona through Prompt op

Answer 1

This can absolutely be done. I'm fairly certain I understand what you're looking for. If not, let me know and I'll edit this answer.

Create the Hero Cards

The important part is making sure that:

1. The card has a button
2. The button has a CardAction with an ImBack action type and the appropriate value

var heroCard1 = new HeroCard
{
    Title = "Option1",
    Subtitle = "subtitle",
    Text = "Some text",
    Images = new List<CardImage> { new CardImage("https://sec.ch9.ms/ch9/7ff5/e07cfef0-aa3b-40bb-9baa-7c9ef8ff7ff5/buildreactionbotframework_960.jpg") },
    Buttons = new List<CardAction> { new CardAction(ActionTypes.ImBack, "Option1", value: "Option1") },
};
var heroCard2 = new HeroCard
{
    Title = "Option2",
    Subtitle = "subtitle",
    Text = "Some text",
    Images = new List<CardImage> { new CardImage("https://sec.ch9.ms/ch9/7ff5/e07cfef0-aa3b-40bb-9baa-7c9ef8ff7ff5/buildreactionbotframework_960.jpg") },
    Buttons = new List<CardAction> { new CardAction(ActionTypes.ImBack, "Option2", value: "Option2") },
};
var heroCard3 = new HeroCard
{
    Title = "Option3",
    Subtitle = "subtitle",
    Text = "Some text",
    Images = new List<CardImage> { new CardImage("https://sec.ch9.ms/ch9/7ff5/e07cfef0-aa3b-40bb-9baa-7c9ef8ff7ff5/buildreactionbotframework_960.jpg") },
    Buttons = new List<CardAction> { new CardAction(ActionTypes.ImBack, "Option3", value: "Option3") },
};

Add the Hero Cards to a Message

var reply = stepContext.Context.Activity.CreateReply();
reply.AttachmentLayout = AttachmentLayoutTypes.Carousel;
reply.Attachments.Add(heroCard1.ToAttachment());
reply.Attachments.Add(heroCard2.ToAttachment());
reply.Attachments.Add(heroCard3.ToAttachment());

Send the Message, Followed By a Blank Text Prompt

Cards of any kind, by default, do not wait for user input. The blank text prompt is used force a wait and to capture the user's input, sending it to the next step.

await stepContext.Context.SendActivityAsync(reply);
return await stepContext.PromptAsync(nameof(TextPrompt), new PromptOptions() { Prompt = MessageFactory.Text("") });

Result

Notes

I recommend using Hero Cards for this because:

• You can dynamically program the Hero Card however you want
• If you use an Adaptive Card, capturing input is a bit trickier
• If the input is just buttons, an Adaptive Card is overkill
• As @KyleDelaney mentioned, Adaptive Cards aren't supported on all channels

You can have any number of buttons per card and it will still work. The Result is linked to the CardAction.value

---

Per @MattStannett

If you want to pass through a complex object rather than a simple string, this can be achieved by using the PostBack action and JsonConvert.SerializeObject to turn the object into a string. Using PostBack means that the message won't be displayed in the chat, the result can be retrieved from the Result object then read out using JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<>