Ability to send "From Properties" when Directline is Init'ed

Feature Request

directLine.postActivity({
    from: { id: 'myUserId', name: 'myUserName' }, // required (from.name is optional)
    type: 'message',
    text: 'a message for you, Rudy'
}).subscribe(
    id => console.log("Posted activity, assigned ID ", id),
    error => console.log("Error posting activity", error)
);

the From properties are only received when the user sends the first message… if the same provision is added when the user connects to the bot

var directLine = new DirectLine({
    secret: /* put your Direct Line secret here */,
    token: /* or put your Direct Line token here (supply secret OR token, not both) */,
    domain: /* optional: if you are not using the default Direct Line endpoint, e.g. if you are using a region-specific endpoint, put its full URL here */
    webSocket: /* optional: false if you want to use polling GET to receive messages. Defaults to true (use WebSocket). */,
    pollingInterval: /* optional: set polling interval in milliseconds. Default to 1000 */,
});

This would add features such as

• greet the user by their name when they connect the bot
• send proactive messages to the user when they are connected
• greet the user based on time of day, such as good morning, good evening, etc

[xtianus79]

Great question and answer!

[cwhitten]

see https://github.com/microsoft/BotBuilder-Samples/issues/1589 for an update on how the ConversationUpdate event is fired in the Direct Line protocol