Livestreaming typing animation

[compulim]

Fixes #4876. Fixes #4939. Fixes #5184.

Changelog Entry

Added

• Resolves #5184. Added channelData.webChat.styleOptions.typingIndicatorDuration to override the default typing indicator duration on a per-activity basis, by @compulim, in PR #5141
• Resolves #4876 and #4939. Added support of livestreaming, by @compulim, in PR #5141

Description

Added livestreaming support and per-activity typing indicator duration.

Currently, we only support streaming contents. In future, we will support informative message indicating streaming status.

Design

Livestreaming

Add livestreaming support via "typing" activity with "text" field.

The following JSONs are not strictly enforced in Web Chat. However, for best compatibility across clients, bot authors are expected to follow the format.

Support of attachments and other features varies across clients. Bot authors should test their bot on individual clients.

Multiple simultaneous livestream session is supported. Make sure each session has its own unique ID.

First chunk

The first chunk indicates start of a livestream session.

{
  channelData: {
    streamSequence: 1,      // Must be a monotonic increasing positive integer
    streamType: 'streaming' // Must be "streaming"
  },
  text: 'A quick',          // Content of the first chunk
  type: 'typing'            // Must be "typing"
}

Subsequent chunks

{
  channelData: {
    streamId: '<activity ID of the first chunk>', // Must be activity ID of the first chunk
    streamSequence: 2,                            // Must be a monotonic increasing positive integer
    streamType: 'streaming'                       // Must be "streaming"
  },
  text: 'A quick brown fox',                      // Content must include past chunks
  type: 'typing'                                  // Must be "typing"
}

Final chunk

The final chunk will "close" the livestreaming session with a finalized message.

{
  channelData: {
    streamId: '<activity ID of the first chunk>',       // Must be activity ID of the first chunk
    streamType: 'final'                                 // Must be "final"
  },
  text: 'A quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dogs.', // The whole message
  type: 'message'                                       // Must be "message"
}

Per-activity typing indicator duration

Bot author can specify how long a typing indicator should show up for a specific activity via channelData.webChat.styleOptions.typingIndicatorDuration.

Currently, the channelData.webChat.styleOptions only supports typingIndicatorDuration. The broader support of styleOptions is being tracked by #5185.

Specific Changes

• Added useGetActivitiesByKey to support "multiple activity revisions"
  • Livestream is more-or-less "multiple revisions of the same activity"
• Added WebChatActivity.channelData.webChat.styleOptions.typingIndicatorDuration property
  • When specified, will override the styleOptions.typingIndicatorDuration for the specific activity
• Added WebChatActivity.channelData.webChat.receivedAt property to indicate when the activity is received by Web Chat
• Updated HOOKS.md to include the useGetActivitiesByKey and some missing hooks

• I have added tests and executed them locally
• I have updated CHANGELOG.md
• I have updated documentation

Review Checklist

This section is for contributors to review your work.

• Accessibility reviewed (tab order, content readability, alt text, color contrast)
• Browser and platform compatibilities reviewed
• CSS styles reviewed (minimal rules, no z-index)
• Documents reviewed (docs, samples, live demo)
• Internationalization reviewed (strings, unit formatting)
• package.json and package-lock.json reviewed
• Security reviewed (no data URIs, check for nonce leak)
• Tests reviewed (coverage, legitimacy)

[anshumankmr]

Awesome. Can't wait to t try this out👍👍👍