HTML bot response control
Summarize
Summary of HTML bot response control
The HTML bot response control in ServiceNow’s Virtual Agent allows you to display static HTML content as part of the bot’s chat responses. This feature is useful for embedding formatted text, images, and links directly within conversations to enhance interaction and present rich information.
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Note that if you previously used this control to create card layouts, it is recommended to transition to the Card bot response control, which dynamically displays information from records and includes direct links.
Security Considerations
To protect against cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks, an automatic HTML sanitizer runs on all HTML markup, including Virtual Agent conversations. This sanitizer removes unsafe elements and attributes. You can customize the sanitizer’s behavior by editing its configuration or disabling it for Virtual Agent conversations via a system property.
Key Properties and Configuration
- Node name: Identifies the HTML response node within the conversation flow.
- HTML message: The HTML content to display; editable via an HTML editor.
- Height and Width (Pixels): Define the maximum display size of the HTML output in third-party messaging apps to ensure proper rendering.
- Advanced option - Hide this node: Allows conditional display of the HTML response based on no-code conditions or scripts.
Channel Support and Rendering Behavior
The HTML bot response control supports multiple channels with some rendering variations:
- Fully supported: Web UI, Mobile UI, Now Assist panel, Slack, Workplace.
- Microsoft Teams: HTML renders as an image; therefore, using cards or images is better for Teams.
- Not supported: Facebook Messenger, SMS (Twilio), LINE, WhatsApp, Apple Messages for Business.
- Alexa Voice: Partial support on devices with screens; nonscreen devices receive a link message instead.
Because HTML output can vary across messaging platforms, it is important to set and preview height and width values appropriately to achieve optimal display.
Practical Use and Example
The control enables inclusion of images, headings, paragraphs, and links within the bot responses. While the Web UI renders HTML natively, platforms like Slack and Teams display the content as images with extracted URLs shown separately. Relative links must be relative to the ServiceNow instance.
This control is ideal for presenting rich and styled information in conversations, but when targeting Microsoft Teams or unsupported channels, consider alternative controls for better compatibility and user experience.
Use the HTML bot response control to display static HTML text in the Virtual Agent bot response.
Security considerations for HTML markup
For security reasons, an HTML sanitizer script runs automatically and checks all HTML markup used in the instance, including Virtual Agent conversations. The sanitizer script removes elements or attributes that might enable cross-site scripting attacks. You can edit the HTML sanitizer script to change the list of markup items to be preserved or removed. For details, see HTML sanitizer. For examples of adding markup items to the exclusion or inclusion lists, see Configure HTML sanitizer.
To disable the HTML sanitizer script only for Virtual Agent conversations, add the com.glide.cs.html.sanitizer.enabled system property and set the value to false. For details about creating a system property, see Add a system property.
HTML bot response control properties
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| Node name | Name that identifies this HTML bot response control node in the topic flow. |
| HTML message | HTML output to be displayed. Select the Script icon  to open the HTML editor and enter the HTML text. |
| Height (Pixel) | Maximum height of the area for displaying HTML output in third-party messaging applications. |
| Width (Pixel) | Maximum width of the bot bubble for displaying HTML output in third-party messaging applications. |
| Advanced | |
| Hide this node | |
| Conditionally show this node if | No-code condition statement or low-code script that specifies a condition for presenting this node in the conversation. The condition must evaluate to true. |
Channel support
| Channel | Support | Constraints |
|---|---|---|
| Web UI | Supported | None |
| Mobile UI | Supported | None |
| Now Assist panel | Supported | None |
| Microsoft Teams | Supported | Since HTML is rendered as an image in Microsoft Teams, other controls are recommended. For example, use images or cards instead of HTML for Microsoft Teams. |
| Slack | Supported | None |
| Workplace | Supported | None |
| Facebook Messenger | Not supported | Not applicable |
| SMS Twilio | Not supported | Not applicable |
| LINE | Not supported | Not applicable |
| Not supported | Not applicable | |
| Apple Messages for Business | Not supported | Not applicable |
| Alexa (Voice) | Partial support | Supported on devices with screens. For nonscreen devices, the user receives a message: We found a link. For details, see Fine-tune Virtual Agent settings and topics for the best Alexa voice chat experience. |
Example HTML bot response output
The HTML bot response shows a static HTML as a chat response. This example includes an image, headings, and paragraph text. The web UI presents this content as HTML. The Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Workplace user interfaces display the same content as a PNG image. URL links within the HTML are extracted and displayed below the image. The URL can be either an absolute or a relative link. If you use a relative link, it must be relative to the ServiceNow instance.
| HTML bot response properties | HTML bot response output |
|---|---|