mattermost / mattermost-plugin-msteams-sync

Mattermost MS Teams Sync Plugin

Table of Contents

• License
• Overview
• Features
• Installation
• Setup
• Connecting to MS Teams
• FAQs

License

See the LICENSE file for license rights and limitations.

Overview

This plugin integrates MS Teams with Mattermost by providing automated syncing of messages from Mattermost to MS Teams and vice versa. For a stable production release, please download the latest version from the Plugin Marketplace and follow the instructions to install and configure the plugin. If you are a developer who wants to work on this plugin, please switch to the Developer docs.

Features

This plugin supports the following features:

• Connect to MS Teams account using the OAuth2 flow.

• Link Mattermost channels with MS Teams channels and sync messages between the linked channels.

• Link Mattermost DMs and group messages with Teams chats and sync messages.

• Sync Mattermost and MS Teams messages for any changes made in any existing messages on either side.

• Deletion of MS Teams messages is synced with Mattermost but it's not vice versa.

• Sync posts containing markdown and attachments.

  

• Sync reactions on posts.

Installation

1. Go to the releases page of this GitHub repository and download the latest release for your Mattermost server.
2. Upload this file on the Mattermost System Console > Plugins > Management page to install the plugin. To learn more about how to upload a plugin, see the documentation.
3. Enable the plugin from System Console > Plugins > MSTeams Sync.

Setup

• Microsoft Azure Setup
• Plugin Setup

Connecting to MS Teams

There are two methods by which you can connect your Mattermost account to your MS Teams account.

• Using slash command

  • Run the slash command /msteams-sync connect in any channel.

  • You will get an ephemeral message from the MS Teams bot containing a link to connect your account.

  • Click on that link. If it asks for login, enter your Microsoft credentials to connect your account.

• Using the button in the full screen modal

  • If the setting "Enforce connected accounts" is enabled in the plugin's config settings, then a full screen modal appears that looks like this -

  

  • Click on the "Connect account" button.

  • A window appears containing a link to connect your account.

  • Open that link. If it asks for login, enter your Microsoft credentials to connect your account.

• Connecting the bot account

  • Run the slash command /msteams-sync connect-bot in any channel.
  • This command is visible and accessible by system admins only.
  • After running the slash command, you will get an ephemeral message from the MS Teams bot containing a link to connect your account.
  • Click on that link. If it asks for login, enter your Microsoft credentials to connect your account.
  • Refer here for more details on connecting the bot account.

• FAQs

  • Read about the FAQs here

mattermost-plugin-msteams-sync's Issues

Linking of two channels in MM with a single channel on Teams should not be allowed

If a user tries to link same channel of MS Teams on two different channels on MM, then this should be not allowed. This can create a confusion which will make it very tough to judge which message on Teams came from which channel in MM.

Refactor the handler.go file

Refactor the handler.go file. It has been growing organically and it needs to be in better shape to integrate the sync concept.

Add monitoring system to check the health of the system

The monitoring system should monitor/renew/re-create subscriptions if they are unhealthy.

Complete thread gets deleted on MM on deleting reply on Teams

If the user deletes any reply message of any desired message on Teams, the complete thread gets deleted on MM.

Steps to reproduce:-

1. Start any new conversation on Teams through the text message.
2. Add any reply to that particular text message.
3. Delete that particular reply message.

The complete thread gets deleted on MM.

Subscriptions are not being created/renewed properly

After two channels are linked, messages are synced between MM and Teams with no issues. If we leave the system idle for few minutes, the messages from Teams to MM stop syncing. The following error was shown in the server logs:

Unable to create the new subscription         caller="app/plugin_api.go:976" plugin_id=com.mattermost.msteams-sync error="503 Service Unavailable: {"error":{"code":"UnknownError","message":"","innerError":{"client-request-id":"da925406-c994-4c23-ac2f-7fd5de6df45c","date":"2023-04-04T10:15:27","request-id":"da925406-c994-4c23-ac2f-7fd5de6df45c"}}}"
error [2023-04-04 15:45:27.287 +05:30] Unable to subscribe to channels               caller="app/plugin_api.go:976" plugin_id=com.mattermost.msteams-sync error="503 Service Unavailable: {"error":{"code":"UnknownError","message":"","innerError":{"client-request-id":"da925406-c994-4c23-ac2f-7fd5de6df45c","date":"2023-04-04T10:15:27","request-id":"da925406-c994-4c23-ac2f-7fd5de6df45c"}}}"

After this error, even if we unlink the channels and link again, the subscription will not be created and the messages from Teams will not be synced to Mattermost.

Messages edited on Teams are not reflected on MM.

When any desired message is edited on Teams, the same is not reflected in MM channel.

Steps to reproduce:-

1. Enter any desired text message on Teams.
2. Verify it once on linked channel in MM.
3. Go back to the Teams channel and edit the same message.
4. Verify the same message on MM channel.

The message edited is not visible on MM channel.

Also, if user tries to edit a message on MM which was originally sent through Teams, it is not getting reflected on Teams and vice-versa.

Add unit tests for getters.go file of handlers package

Improve the user sync

Improve the user sync using subscriptions and sync on restart or subscription failure.

Handle lifecycle "subscriptionRemoved" event

The lifecycle "subscriptionRemoved" event from the MS Teams subscriptions are not handled. This is also a TODO comment in the code.

Reference

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/webhooks-lifecycle#resources-that-support-lifecycle-notifications

Link

mattermost-plugin-msteams-sync/server/api.go

Line 105 in b9c6ab0

// TODO: Handle lifecycle messages

Message deletes are not being synced

When we delete a message in Mattermost, it is not deleted on MS Teams.

Screenshots

In Mattermost

In MS Teams

User's profile picture is broken when the bot impersonates a user

Screenshots

Steps to reproduce

1. Connect your account using /msteams-sync connect command
2. Link a Mattermost channel to a MS Teams channel
3. Post a message in MS Teams from an account which is not connected to Mattermost

Message received from system not synced properly

When the user receives any message in a channel in MM from system, it is shown as given by the user in Teams.

Steps to reproduce:-

1. Do any message through which the system responds.(for example, add any new member in channel)
2. Go to the linked channel in Teams.

The response received from system will be shown as received from any user in Teams.

Even after turning on the users sync configuration on MM, new users are not created.

If the user turns on and sets the time to sync the number of users setting in plugin configuration of MS Teams plugin on MM, still the users are not getting created on MM which are already present on Teams.

Channel unlinked still the same message presented to the user

Once the channel is unlinked, again running the unlink slash command, the user is presented the same message.

Only single updated reaction visible on Teams

Despite of multiple reactions added by the user on any desired message on MM, only the last added reaction is visible on that particular message on Teams.

Steps to reproduce:-

1. Add any desired reaction to the message in MM.
2. Add second desired reaction to the same message in MM.
3. Verify the same reactions on Teams.

Only the last added reaction would be presented to the user on Teams.

Reactions on posts are not being synced

When we add a reaction on a Mattermost post, it is not synced with the MS Teams post.

Screenshots

In Mattermost

In MS Teams

Add unit tests for handlers.go file of handlers package

Messages not visible on Teams if the user is not connected

If any desired user is not connected to Teams, the messages done by that particular user on Mm are not visible on Teams. But opposite of this is true(if a user do a message on Teams and the user is not connected, still the messages are visible on MM channel.)

Steps to reproduce:-

1. Add any test message on MM channel by the user who is not connected to Teams.
2. Verify the same message on Teams.

The message done by the user who is not connected is not visible on the Teams channel.

Conduct Manual QA

Conduct manual QA and regression testing

Reactions not in sync on MM with Teams

Reactions added on Teams are not visible on MM.

Steps to reproduce:-

1. Go to Teams linked channel.
2. Add any reaction on the desired message.
3. Go to the channel linked in MM.

The reaction added are not visible in MM channel.

Automatically created synthetic users is not done for connected channels

Whenever a direct message is received from a non-connected users it creates a synthetic user to deliver the message. It is not happening now for connected channels.

Same message even if the user is disconnected

Once the user is disconnected, after the running the disconnect slash command, it again shows the same error.

Complete set up of Test environment

Complete set up of Test environment

Add unit tests for converters.go file of handlers package

Implement the sync posts mechanism

The mechanism for syncing posts is not yet implemented. This is also a TODO comment in the code.

Link

mattermost-plugin-msteams-sync/server/plugin.go

Line 157 in b9c6ab0

// TODO: Implement the sync mechanism

Subscriptions not working properly

Subscriptions for messages on Teams to be shown on MM are not working properly. Once the plugin is restarted and user is connected again along with linking the channel again is making the subscriptions to work properly.

Add unit tests for attachments.go file of handlers package

Add unit tests for api.go file

Add unit tests for store.go file of store package

Subscriptions are not being renewed

After linking two channels, the syncing of messages from Mattermost to Teams works fine but the messages from Teams to Mattermost work only for 10 minutes. After that we get the following error in the console -

{"timestamp":"2023-03-22 13:30:19.127 Z","level":"error","msg":"Unable to refresh the subscription","caller":"app/plugin_api.go:976","plugin_id":"com.mattermost.msteams-sync","error":"404 Not Found: {\"error\":{\"code\":\"ResourceNotFound\",\"message\":\"The object was not found.\",\"innerError\":{\"client-request-id\":\"b4af97b8-8b26-4886-86dd-f07c7831546d\",\"date\":\"2023-03-22T13:30:19\",\"request-id\":\"b4af97b8-8b26-4886-86dd-f07c7831546d\"}}}","subscriptionID":"201ca758-82eb-4f0d-85f3-37b051df5b93"}
{"timestamp":"2023-03-22 13:30:20.023 Z","level":"error","msg":"Unable to refresh the subscription","caller":"app/plugin_api.go:976","plugin_id":"com.mattermost.msteams-sync","error":"404 Not Found: {\"error\":{\"code\":\"ResourceNotFound\",\"message\":\"The object was not found.\",\"innerError\":{\"client-request-id\":\"dbd49c56-c0cf-4baf-b12c-b85b48693f43\",\"date\":\"2023-03-22T13:30:20\",\"request-id\":\"dbd49c56-c0cf-4baf-b12c-b85b48693f43\"}}}","subscriptionID":"9d54db16-82ad-4afd-8581-af9bcdcbfcc0"}

Add unit test cases for client.go file

No icon in the slash command suggestion and bot profile picture

In the suggestion menu of /msteams-sync slash command, there is no icon for the plugin. Similarly, there's no plugin specific profile picture for the msteams bot.

Screenshots

Bot profile picture

Add unit tests for command.go file

Weird error shown on linking the channel in DM's.

When the user tries to run the link slash command to link a channel, a weird error message is presented to the user of not being the channel admin, despite of him being the system admin.

Replies are being posted as new messages

When we post a reply on Mattermost, it is being posted as a new message on MS Teams.

Screenshots

In Mattermost

In MS Teams

Migrate the client library to the official Microsoft Go SDK

Migrate to official SDK library

Create 1 subscription per linked channel

I still need to test this, my environment is not working properly.

Messages are still visible for users who are not in the linked MM channel but are in the Teams channel

If a user is NOT a member of the linked channel in MM, but IS a member of the linked channel in Teams, then the message sent by that particular user through Teams is visible in MM channel. Also, on hovering the profile pop-up is also visible for that particular user.

Steps to reproduce:-

1. Do any desired message through Teams by the user who is not a member of MM channel.
2. Verify it on MM channel.

Weird error shown to user on not connecting to Teams

If the user generates the access token to link his account to Teams, and no step is taken further to connect by the user, after a certain period of time, a weird error is presented to the user.

Steps to reproduce:-

1. Run the connect slash command.
2. Do not open the link presented to the user.
3. Wait for a certain amount of time(likely to be 10-15 minutes).

A weird error occurs on screen.

Also, if the user is already connected, and on running the connect slash command, sometimes another weird error is presented to the user. The steps to reproduce this issue are also the same as given above.

Plugin doesn't work with MySQL

When this plugin is run on a Mattermost server using MySQL, it fails to start and gives the following errors -

msg":"Unable to restart plugin on upgrade.","caller":"web/context.go:105","path":"/api/v4/plugins","request_id":"debfczthcpbm5b9ph6npr5q8ir","ip_addr":"172.31.1.8","user_id":"zz8ghn1gdibhfjtrbyiwqqueor","method":"POST","err_where":"installExtractedPlugin","http_code":500,"err_details":"Error 1064: You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'PRIMARY KEY, mmTeamID VARCHAR, msTeamsChannelID VARCHAR, msTeamsTeamID VARCHAR)' at line 1"

Not able to link the channel on MM

On MM, the channel is not getting linked despite of connecting the user and the bot as well. It presents a weird message.

No way for user to disconnect account

After connecting a Mattermost account to MS Teams account, there is no way to disconnect the account even if the config setting for "Enforce connected accounts" is disabled.

Expected

If the config setting Enforce connected accounts is disabled, then there should be a slash command so that a user can disconnect his account.

Add unit tests for plugin.go file

Linking of two MM servers with single Teams server should not be allowed.

If a user tries to link one server of Teams with two different servers of MM, then this should not be allowed. Whenever there will be a message sent on any server of MM, then there is no way to verify on Teams that from which MM channel did it come from.

Link and Unlink channel command is also available for normal user

Link and Unlink channel commands is available for a normal user for linking and unlinking a channel.

Messages are not synced from Teams to Mattermost if bot user is not connected

After connecting the account and linking a channel, we are not able to get the messages from MS Teams to Mattermost if the bot user is not connected. This is not feasible as creating a bot/dummy user in Azure will not be possible for most enterprises.

Reference

https://community.mattermost.com/core/pl/9q5ju8kcz3y63f9yjbbipytjae

If the user does not exist in teams, then message added by the user in MM is missing.

If any user exists on MM, but is not a member of Teams, then the message delivered by that particular user on MM is not visible on Teams.

Add unit tests for crypt.go file of store package

Add unit tests for message_hooks.go file