koreUtil Libraries9 min read

koreUtil libraries provide pre-written JavaScript functions which makes common or complex tasks easy to implement. These libraries often target specific tasks such as setting up recurring rules for calendar, parsing and manipulation of dates, conversion of dates between timezone, tools to simplify programming with strings, numbers, arrays, functions and objects etc.

How to Use

koreUtil libraries can be used anywhere in the bot where there is a flexibility to write JavaScript code such as script node, message node, confirmation node, entity node, standard responses, answers to FAQs, small talk, event handlers etc.

List of koreUtil libraries

Below is the list of koreUtil libraries provided by the platform:

• koreUtil.rrule
• koreUtil.moment
• koreUtil.intl
• koreUtil.momenttz
• koreUtil.xml2js
• koreUtil.hash
• koreUtil._
• koreUtil.getCurrentOptions
• koreUtil.getSessionId
• koreUtil.closeConversationSession
• koreUtil.autoTranslate

koreUtil.rrule

koreUtil.rrule is platform offered JS library for creating new recurrence rules, interpreting and reading them in human readable format. This library is backed by rrule npm module version 2.2.0 installed on Kore.ai server. For more details on using rrule refer here.

Usage Example:
context.rule = new koreUtil.rrule({
freq: koreUtil.rrule.WEEKLY,
interval: 5,
byweekday: [koreUtil.rrule.MO, koreUtil.rrule.FR],
dtstart: new Date(2012, 1, 1, 10, 30),
until: new Date(2012, 12, 31)
});
context.between=context.rule.between(new Date(2012, 7, 1), new Date(2012, 8, 1));
context.readableFormat=context.rule.toText();

Output:

• For context.between
  [
"2012-08-27T10:30:00.000Z",
"2012-08-31T10:30:00.000Z"
]
• For context.readableFormat
  every 5 weeks on Monday, Friday until January 31, 2013

koreUtil.moment

koreUtil.moment is platform offered JS library for validating, manipulating, and formatting dates. This library is backed by moment npm module version 2.19.2 installed on Kore.ai server. For more details on using moment refer here.

Usage Example:
context.german=koreUtil.moment().locale('de').format('LLLL');

Output:
For context.german:
Montag, 18. November 2019 01:43

koreUtil.intl

koreUtil.intl is platform offered JS library for language specific string comparison, number formatting, and date and time formatting. This library is backed by intl npm module version 1.2.5 installed on Kore.ai server. For more details on using intl refer here.

Usage Example:
context.formattedNumberUK = koreUtil.intl.NumberFormat('en-GB').format(123456.789);
var date = new Date(Date.UTC(2012, 11, 20, 3, 0, 0));
context.USdate=koreUtil.intl.DateTimeFormat('en-US').format(date);

Output:

• For context.formattedNumberUK:
  123,456.789
• For context.USdate
  12/20/2012

koreUtil.momenttz

koreUtil.momenttz is platform offered JS library for formatting of dates in any timezone and convert dates between timezones. This library is backed by moment-timezone npm module version 0.4.1 installed on Kore.ai server is 0.4.1. For more details on using momenttz refer here.

Usage Example:
var jun = koreUtil.moment("2014-06-01T12:00:00Z");
context.newyork= koreUtil.momenttz(jun,'America/New_York').format('ha z');
context.tokyo = koreUtil.moment().tz('Asia/Tokyo').format('ha z');
context.sydney = koreUtil.moment().tz('Australia/Sydney').format('ha z');

Output:

• For context.newyork:
  5am PDT
• For context.tokyo:
  7pm JST
• For context.sydney:
  9pm AEDT

koreUtil.xml2js

koreUtil.xml2js is platform offered JS library for parsing xml to json and vice versa. This library is backed by xml2js npm version 0.4.19 installed on Kore.ai server. More details on using xml2js refer here.

Usage Example:
var obj = {name: "John", Surname: "Doe", age: 23};
var builder = new koreUtil.xml2js.Builder();
context.xml = builder.buildObject(obj);

Output:

• For context.xml:
  John Doe 23

koreUtil.hash

koreUtil.hash is platform offered JS library that supports SHA on JavaScript. The library is backed by sha.js npm module version 2.4.9 installed on Kore.ai server. For more details refer here.

Usage Example:
context.hashString= koreUtil.hash('sha256').update('42').digest('hex');

Output:

• For context.hashString:
  73475cb40a568e8da8a045ced110137e159f890ac4da883b6b17dc651b3a8049

koreUtil._

koreUtil._ is a platform offered JS library which provides utility functions for common programming tasks. This library is backed by lodash.js npm module version 3.10.1 installed on Kore.ai server. For more details refer here.

Usage Example:
context.chunkArray = koreUtil._.chunk(['a', 'b', 'c', 'd'], 2);
var users = [
{ 'user': 'barney', 'age': 36, 'active': true },
{ 'user': 'fred', 'age': 40, 'active': false }
];
context.filterActive =koreUtil._.pluck(koreUtil._.filter(users, { 'age': 36, 'active': true }), 'user');

Output:

• For context.chunkArray:
  [["a","b"],["c","d"]]
• For context.filterActive:
  [
"barney"
]

koreUtil.getCurrentOptions

koreUtil.getCurrentOptions is a platform offered JS library which provides utility functions to get the current template for language selection standard response options. This can be used to customize the standard response.
Post the release of v8.1, this function has been enhanced to return the authorization URL used in the standard response when end-user authorization is requested.

Following is the return format for each of the situations:

• For the language selection standard response:

  {"list_of_languages": [
     {"title": "English","value": "English"},
     {"title": "Deutsche","value": "Deutsche"},
     {"title": "Español","value": "Español"}
  ]}

• For the language ambiguity standard response:

  {"current_language": "Español",
        "list_of_new_languages": [
           {"title": "English","value": "English"},
           {"title": "Deutsche","value": "Deutsche"},
           {"title": "Español","value": "Español"}
    ]}

• For the language switch standard response:

  {"new_language": "Español","current_language": "English"}

• For User authorization request standard response:

  {
      "authorizationURL": "https:///r/xxxxxxxxxxxxx"
  }

Following are the usage examples of how the above utility can be used to render the message in a button template, you can use any template as per your requirements.  See here for more on message templates.

Usage Example 1: To get the standard response for “Ask if the user would like to select any of the languages“

var info = koreUtil.getCurrentOptions();
var message = {
  "type": "template",
  "payload": {
    "template_type": "button",
    "text": "please select your laguage",
    "subText": "Button Template Description",
    "buttons": []
    }
  };
for (i = 0; i < info.list_of_languages.length; i++) {
  var button = {
    "type": "postback",
    "title": info.list_of_languages[i].title,
    "payload": info.list_of_languages[i].value
    };

  message.payload.buttons.push(button);
 }
print(JSON.stringify(message));

Usage Example 2: To get the standard response for “Ask if the user would like to switch to any of the new languages detected during a conversation“

var info = koreUtil.getCurrentOptions();
var message = {
    "type": "template",
    "payload": {
        "template_type": "button",
        "text": "language abiguity response for the current language" + info.current_language,
        "subText": "Button Template Description",
        "buttons": []
    }
};
for (i = 0; i < info.list_of_new_languages.length; i++) {
    var button = {
        "type": "postback",
        "title": info.list_of_new_languages[i].title,
        "payload": info.list_of_new_languages[i].value
    };

    message.payload.buttons.push(button);
}
print(JSON.stringify(message));

Usage Example 3: To get the standard response for “Ask if the user would like to switch to any of the new languages detected during a conversation“

var info = koreUtil.getCurrentOptions();
var message = {
    "type": "template",
    "payload": {
        "template_type": "button",
        "text": "would you like to switch to new language detected: current language " + info.current_language + "new language : " + info.new_language,
        "subText": "Button Template Description",
        "buttons": []
    }
};
var options = ["yes", "no"]
for (i = 0; i < options.length; i++) {
    var button = {
        "type": "postback",
        "title": options[i],
        "payload": options[i]
    };
    message.payload.buttons.push(button);
}
print(JSON.stringify(message));

Usage Example 4: To get the standard response for “User needs to authorize or re-authorize“

var info = koreUtil.getCurrentOptions();

var message = {
    type: 'template',
    payload: {
        template_type: 'button',
        text: 'Please authorize before we continue...',
        buttons: [
            {
                type: 'url',
                title: 'Click here to authorize',
                url: info.authorizationURL
            }
        ]
    }
};

print(JSON.stringify(message));

koreUtil.getSessionId

koreUtil.getSessionId is a platform offered JS library for obtaining the current conversation session Id.

Usage Example:
var sessionId = koreUtil.getSessionId();

Output:

• For sessionId:
  5x54321x11xx87654321xx12

koreUtil.closeConversationSession

koreUtil.closeConversationSession is a platform function for force closing any active conversation. This function can be invoked from any component that supports JavaScript. When you invoke this function, the platform will discard any ongoing task and the active conversation session  will be closed. The platform also presents the session timeout message on the supported channels.

Usage Example:

koreUtil.closeConversationSession();

Output:

No response is returned and session ends.

Note: The koreUtil.closeConversationSession is supported in the Platform v8.1 and above versions.

koreUtil.autoTranslate

koreUtil.autotranslate is a platform function that lets you automatically translate the virtual assistant response from a language in which the bot is configured to the language in which the user is interacting or a language of your choice. This function uses a translation engine to translate the bot responses into user input language. For more information on how to configure a translation engine, refer here.

Please refer below for the translation behavior:

Usage Example:

koreUtil.autoTranslate();

Here are a few use case examples for your reference:

Use Case-1:To translate part of a sentence in the user’s language:

Example:

{{koreUtil.autoTranslate('Welcome! I am a virtual assistant powered by ')}} General Insurance

Output in Serbian

Добредојдовте! Јас сум виртуелен асистент напојуван од General Insurance

Use Case-2:To translate the content of a customized JavaScript template, then use koreUtil.autoTranslate as follows:

Example:

var accountBalance = getbalance();
var message = koreUtil.autoTranslate("Your account balance is ");
var message = message.concat(env.currency, ‘ ’, accountBalance);
print(message);

Output in Serbian

Баланс вашего счета USD 5,278.00

Use Case-3: To translate the bot responses in a particular language by passing the language code. An example where the bot will respond only in German even though the user is interacting in any language:

Example

var message = koreUtil.autoTranslate("This is a sample message", "de");
print(message);

Output in German

Dies ist eine Beispielnachricht