Do you use Microsoft Teams and also want to be kept up to date via Teams? No problem, you can create an app for your COYO via the App Studio in Teams. The new app informs the users once in COYO a blog article is published on a page that the users have subscribed to. We’ll show you what to do!
Note:
You require at least COYO version 21 for the integration.
Step 1: Download "App Studio"
You go into the Teams App Store and look for "App Studio". You add the app to your apps.
Then go into App Studio.
Step 2: Create your own app
You can use App Studio to create your own app. In App Studio, go to the "Manifest editor" tab at the top.
There, select "Create a new app".
Step 3: Add details
You can and need to add certain information to the app, such as a name and a description. We’ve added six blue rectangles in the screenshot. We’ll go into each of the rectangles and the respective information below.
- App names:
Give your app a name here. One short name and one detailed one. - Identification:
You first need to create a new app ID via "Generate" – this is your exclusive ID. Here, too, enter the name of the app in the field "Package Name". And in the field "Version", you can independently make a note of a version for your own reference (if it’s e.g. the first time that you’ve created the app, 1.0.0 is recommended). - Descriptions:
To provide orientation, assign the app with a description. A short description with maximum 80 characters in the first field and a more detailed description with maximum 4000 characters in the second. - Developer Information:
So that everyone knows who’s developed the app, enter your company name here and the URL of your company. - App URLs:
A data protection statement and terms of use naturally shouldn’t be missing. Add links here to your company’s corresponding data protection statements and terms of use. - Branding:
You can give your app an appealing logo – this attracts users’ attention straight away and provides orientation.
Step 4: Create your own bot
You need a bot to allow your users to be automatically notified via your Teams app whenever a new blog article is published in COYO. In the left-hand navigation within the App Studio, go to "Bots" under point 2 "Capabilities". Create your bot via "Set up".
The first thing to do is to give your bot a name. You also need to define a scope of use under "Scope". In our case, we are choosing "Personal", as only individual people should be able to use it.
Tip:
You can also assign a profile picture/logo to the bot. To do this, you need to go into the Bot Framework as a Microsoft 365 admin and add the corresponding information for the bot created here.
Note:
If you’ve already created a bot before using the Bot Framework, select your bot on the tab "Existing Bot".
Once the bot has been created, you need to generate an app password via "Generate new password".
Note:
Be sure to make a note of this password for the .env file, as it’s only displayed once during setup!
Another important step is configuring the "Messaging endpoint" to refer the bot to the COYO platform. The start of the endpoint address consists of the URL of your COYO platform and follows a certain logic (https://coyo.platform.url/web/teams/api/messages). We’ve added an example in the screenshot below.
You should also help users by adding two short commands in the lower area under "Commands". The short commands are "Sign In" and "Sign Out" for logging in and out within the Teams app.
The button "Add" leads to this screen, in which you can add the information for short commands. Under "Command text" the command, under "Help text" a description and here, too, a scope of use.
Step 5: Add domain and permissions
To ensure that the right information is displayed here for the users, you need a valid URL that’s accessed by your app in Teams. Add the URL of your COYO instance here. Please note that this must be stated without "https://www.".
Step 6: Customize your .env file
The COYO-data directory on your COYO server contains an .env file. In this, you need to customize the values for the following fields:
- COYO_TEAMS_BOT_ID (that’s the bot ID)
- COYO_TEAMS_BOT_SECRET (that’s the password for the bot)
- COYO_TEAMS_TENANT_SUFFIX (that’s the ending of your COYO URL; e.g. .coyocloud.com/)
- COYO_TEAMS_TENANT_URL (that’s your COYO URL; e.g. https://coyoapp.coyocloud.com)
The rest of the teams fields in the .env file can be left as they are.
After this change has been made, you need to restart your COYO for it to become effective.
Ensure that the corresponding Docker containers are rebuilt. To do this, you can use the following command to delete the containers after stopping:
docker container prune
Step 7: Make app accessible
In the left-hand navigation, you can find the point "Test and distribute" under "3 Finish".
In the first step, you finalize the app by installing it locally via "Install" and testing it once more before distributing it to your users. These options are available to give the users access to the app:
- Download:
You can download your Team app as a ZIP file. There are two possibilities available to you here: You make the app available to your users as a download for installing or you upload it via Administration and make it available to your organization centrally. The last method also allows you to specify that your Teams app will be set as default and available to all users in the left-hand navigation. The users then only need to log into the app. - Submit:
If you select Submit, the app is uploaded to the Microsoft Teams App Store. However, before that happens, Microsoft checks the app. After the check, Microsoft will inform you whether the app has been accepted into the App Store.
As an administrator for your organization, you can also specify via the administration settings in Microsoft 365 that your Teams app will be set as default and available to all users in the left-hand navigation. The users then only need to log into the app.
