Teams Power Virtual Agent Issues

[jnovajosky]

Hello,

We were trying to deploy a custom solution of the Hornbill Teams Power Virtual Agent.  We followed the instructions in the deployment powershell script and attempted to upload the completed app to Power Apps.  However, we ran into an error stating that there was a missing XAML file.

Could we get some assistance with this?

 

Solution "Hornbill Power Virtual Agent" failed to import: Error while importing workflow {5ce3d382-8935-ec11-8c64-000d3a0ae61d} type ModernFlow name Search Users: Workflow import: Xaml file is missing from import zip file: FileName: /Workflows/SearchUsers-5CE3D382-8935-EC11-8C64-000D3A0AE61D.json

[Steve Giller]

There's a similar error on this Microsoft page that suggests that using tar to zip the file can be more reliable.

Not sure if that will help, but assuming the error refers to a file that is in the zip it's worth a try.

[James Ainsworth]

This error message is misleading as there is no Xaml file required. The issue is a result of the compression method for the creation of the Custom Solution Zip.

Solution:

• Open Powershell window
• Change directory to the extracted Solution folder
• Run the following batch script: tar -a -c -f "YourFileName.zip" *

The tar utility is a built-in Windows utility that creates ZIP files that Power platform does not complain about.

 

I have updated the Hornbill Team Power Virtual Agent documentation with this information

[Art at BU]

Hi,

Unfortunately despite the guidance from James I am unable to get the suggested tar syntax to work, can anyone advise further?

1) Using the syntax:  tar -a -c -f myFile.zip *  ---> I get a "Permission Denied" error. Has anyone got this syntax to work and/or what extra permissions need to be granted? (I am running powershell as admin).

2) So, I modified the statement to target my customised hornbill solution file with the syntax: tar -a -c -f myFile.zip HornbillPVA_v1_2_0_0.zip  ---> This does create myfile.zip

3) But when you try and 'import solution' with this myFile.zip into Power Apps, I still see the same error

If anyone has got past this step? I would appreciate any help on formatting the tar command, additional permissions required or an alternative.

Thanks.

 

[James Ainsworth]

Hi @Art at BU

While testing this I found that in certain circumstances you will get this error when it tries to create the new compressed file within the folder that our trying to compress.  Try changing the path for the new file to a different location.  For example tar -a -c -f ..\myfile.zip  * which will place the new file one directory level up from your current folder.

[Art at BU]

Hi @James Ainsworth

Thanks for the reply, but I have only limited success on this.

I tried the modified tar command as follows tar -a -c -f ..\myfile.zip  * to create a compressed folder of 'everything' (all the PVA files from GitHub plus output zip file from the BuildPVAPackage.ps1 ) and I also  ran this tar command on the single output zip file from the BuildPVAPackage.ps1 script.  

You'll see when I try and import I still get the error for either file that has been tar'd as suggested.

Am I missing something obvious...do you have any more ideas on this?

Thanks,

Art

 

[SamS]

Hi @Art at BU,

I will just PREfix a single line to @James Ainsworth's instructions:

• Extract the generated .zip file ( HornbillPVA_v1_2_0_0.zip in your case )

Then it is: Open PowerShell window and navigate to that particular folder - before running the tar-command as above. The resulting file (myfile.zip in your case) should then be importable.

-- wiki article updated to add that action

[Art at BU]

Hi @SamS

Thanks for the extra guidance, I appreciate your assistance. The tar works correctly now with the extra step but unfortunately the import into PowerApps now fails with the following error. I will continue to investigate but if you have any further suggestions I'd be happy to hear them!

 

[Steve G]

Hi @Art at BU,

The "System.Drawing.Common" issue is a pretty new one - it appears that Microsoft have removed support for the provision of embedded icons in Teams bot solutions - without documentation. To fix this issue, if you edit the generated bot.xml  file and delete the entire iconbase64 tag from the xml, save the file then perform the tar command as in @SamS's instructions above, then the solution import should go a whole lot smoother  

We'll get the PVA package updated on GitHub as soon as we can to remove this now-unsupported tag.

Cheers,

Steve

[Art at BU]

Hi @Steve G

Thanks for looking into this - I will try the suggestion and see how I get on. 

Cheers,

Art

[Art at BU]

Hi @Steve G,

That worked, thanks for your extra help to edit the generated bot.xml  file and delete the entire iconbase64 tag, plus the earlier suggestions by @SamS and @James Ainsworth

I shall now test out the bot!

Many thanks,

Art

[SamS]

Hi @Art at BU,

FYI: a new codebase has been uploaded v1.2.1.0, you might want to pick that up while you are at it.

[Art at BU]

Hi @SamS,

Thanks for the update!

Art