Can Apex return tables in Agentforce?

Question:

I am trying to return a formatted table of results in Agentforce using an Apex @InvocableMethod. My scratch org has the features Einstein1AIPlatform and enableEinsteinGptPlatform enabled. The following Apex code is invoked successfully, with debug logs confirming the method completes and returns as expected:

@InvocableMethod(
    label='List documents related to records'
    description='List documents related to the named Fund including those related to its child records.'
)
public static Response[] listDocuments(Request[] requests) {
    // Method logic here
}

The returned inner classes are structured as follows:

global inherited sharing class Response {
    @InvocableVariable(label='Documents')
    public Document[] documents = new Document[] {};
}

global inherited sharing class Document {
    @InvocableVariable(label='Content Version Id')
    public Id contentVersionId;

    @InvocableVariable(label='Title')
    public String title;

    @InvocableVariable(label='Size')
    public Integer size;

    @InvocableVariable(label='Created Date')
    public Datetime createdDate;
}

When invoked, the returned JSON response looks like this:

[{
  "documents": [{
    "title": "Agenda",
    "size": 828,
    "createdDate": "2024-12-20T13:05:47.000Z",
    "contentVersionId": "068Oy000009lyraIAA"
  }, {
    "title": "Sales",
    "size": 324296,
    "createdDate": "2024-12-19T11:48:03.000Z",
    "contentVersionId": "068Oy000009kOS0IAM"
  }]
}]

Despite these efforts, I encounter an error in the Agentforce Event Log: “We couldn’t retrieve the action output,” with a null error message. The Apex class is included in the Einstein User profile. Additionally, I’ve attempted different instructions, such as asking Agentforce to format the Documents variable as rows in a table, but the error persists.

Does Agentforce support returning and formatting tables from an Apex @InvocableMethod? If so, what patterns or techniques should I use to ensure the table is displayed correctly?

Answer:

This appears to be a bug in Agentforce. You should raise a support ticket to report the issue. However, a workaround can be implemented using prompt engineering within the action instructions. By adding detailed descriptions to your @InvocableVariable annotations, Agentforce can better interpret the output and render it as a table.

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Below is a revised version of your class with more explicit annotations:

global inherited sharing class DocumentService {
    global class Response {
        @InvocableVariable(label='Documents' description='List of Document objects containing details about each document')
        public Document[] documents = new Document[] {};
    }

    global class Document {
        @InvocableVariable(label='Content Version Id' description='The unique identifier for the content version of the document')
        public Id contentVersionId;

        @InvocableVariable(label='Title' description='The title or name of the document')
        public String title;

        @InvocableVariable(label='Size' description='The size of the document in bytes')
        public Integer size;

        @InvocableVariable(label='Created Date' description='The date and time when the document was created')
        public Datetime createdDate;
    }

    @InvocableMethod(label='Get Document Responses' description='Returns document details for the given document names')
    public static List<Response> getDocumentsResponse(List<String> documentNames) {
        List<Response> responses = new List<Response>();

        for (String docName : documentNames) {
            Response response = new Response();
            List<Document> documents = new List<Document>();

            for (Integer i = 1; i <= 2; i++) { // Example data
                Document doc = new Document();
                doc.contentVersionId = Id.valueOf('068Oy000009lyraIAA'.substring(0, 15 - i.toString().length()) + i.toString());
                doc.title = docName + ' - Version ' + i;
                doc.size = Math.mod(docName.length() * 100 * i, 500000);
                doc.createdDate = Datetime.now().addDays(-Math.mod(docName.length() * i, 30));
                documents.add(doc);
            }

            response.documents = documents;
            responses.add(response);
        }

        return responses;
    }
}

Code explanation:
The DocumentService class is a global Apex class designed to retrieve and return details of documents in a structured format. It contains two nested classes: Response, which holds a list of Document objects, and Document, which encapsulates details like ContentVersionId, Title, Size, and CreatedDate. The getDocumentsResponse method generates mock document data for each name in the input list, creating two versions of each document with dynamically generated properties, and returns the results in a list of Response objects.

This approach ensures that Agentforce interprets and renders the data as intended. If the issue persists, Salesforce support can provide further assistance.

Summing Up:

The DocumentService class is a versatile and extensible framework for retrieving and organizing document metadata in Salesforce. It provides a global structure through its nested Response and Document classes, allowing seamless encapsulation of document attributes such as ID, title, size, and creation date. The getDocumentsResponse method simulates the generation of document data by creating two mock versions for each provided document name, dynamically calculating attributes based on input parameters. This class demonstrates how to use Apex’s object-oriented principles to design reusable and well-organized solutions for managing and sharing document-related data.

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