Using the Dialog Builder Tool6 min read

This topic describes the user interface for creating a conversational flow between a user and a Virtual Assistant in a dialog task using the Dialog Builder tool in Kore.ai XO Platform.

Dialog Builder

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Adding Nodes

In ver9.0 of the platform, Conversation Driven Dialog Builder was introduced. This dialog builder allows you to build the dialog tasks in one of the following three ways:

• Using the conversation first approach, refer here for details.
• Drag and drop nodes from the panel onto the dialog builder, refer below.
• Directly from the dialog builder, refer below.

Drag and drop

You can add nodes by dragging the node from the panel to the designated place in the dialog task. Use the drop-down to reuse existing nodes and drag and drop the same.

Dialog Canvas

Use the + button next to the node where you want to add another node. You can either add a new node or use an existing node.

You can use the Add Node button visible on hover over the connector line, to add nodes between two existing nodes. You can create a new node or pick from the existing node list.

Node Properties

From the Properties panel you can access:

• Component Properties like name, type, and component-specific properties.
• Instance Properties can be customized for the selected node for the current dialog.
• Connection Properties can be used for setting the transition conditions.
• NLP Properties for intent and entity recognition.
• Voice Call Properties for IVR channels (available for certain nodes only after IVR integration).

Depending on the type of component added, you can define various settings in the Properties panel. For more information, see the corresponding component types of documentation.

VA Action Nodes

Note: This node was introduced in v9.0 of the platform as a container for Service, Script, etc nodes.

VA Action nodes include the following nodes which need processing by the VA without user interaction:

• Service Node
• Script Node
• Logic Node
• Webhook Node
• Process

To access these above-mentioned nodes follow the below steps:

1. Add VA Action node in the respective position
2. Click the expand (+) button next to the VA action node
   
3. The nodes panel will be replaced with the VA Action Nodes panel
   
4. Add any node from here, using either the + or drag and drop
   
5. Nodes inside the VA action node cannot be connected directly to any node outside the VA action.
6. For the nodes inside the VA action node, the following connections can be configured:
   • Node Connections – this option can be used to define the connection rules connecting to nodes within the VA action node. It can be configured to:
     • any node within the corresponding VA action node;
     • Not Connected;
     • End of Virtual Assistant Action – this would take the bot flow to the node connected to the bot action node;
   • VA Action Connections – this option can be used to define the connection rules connecting to a node outside of the current Virtual Assistant Action. These rules would be applied to the VA action node as a whole.

   

Grouping Nodes

You can group nodes to improve the user experience with follow-ups, digressions, and amending entity values.

To add a group node to the dialog task, follow the below steps:

1. Open the Dialog Task where you want to add the Group node.
2. Create a group using the ctrl key and the mouse action of selection covering one or more nodes in the dialog definition. (for pre-v9.0 use the mouse action of selection covering one or more nodes in the dialog definition.)
   
3. You can rename, configure, or delete a group.
   

Options Menu

The Options menu is your access to Dialog Builder tool settings and commands such as view settings, dialog task settings, and dialog import and export. To access commands,

• For the Options menu, click icon on the top-right of the Dialog Builder as shown in the following illustration. If Variable Namespace is enabled for the Virtual Assistant, you can see an additional Manage Variable Namespaces option.
  

Display Options

You can use Display Options to reduce unnecessary node information and better utilize screen real estate.
You can show or hide some or all node types, node details, or connection details displayed in the Dialog Builder.

• Show All to show all the node information.
• Hide Node Type to remove the node name.
• Hide Node Details to remove node descriptions.
• Hide All to show only basic node information.

Zoom Controls

Zoom Options are used to:

• Fit to Page – Resizes Dialog Builder components and connections to fit within the display screen resolution for a single, non-scrolling page.
• Reset Zoom – Resets zoom settings to actual size.

Additional Zoom Option controls are available at the bottom-left of the Dialog Task builder shown in the following illustration.

Dialog Settings

The Dialog Settings dialog allows you to modify the dialog task basic settings, and if desired, set the visibility of a dialog to create a hidden dialog task that is available for use, but not shown as a VA task.

Add or modify the following settings for each dialog:

• Name – The name of your dialog task, usually the main user intent. For example, Pay Bills.
• Description – An optional description of your dialog task.
• Options – Specify the behavior of this dialog task to the end-user:
  • Sub intent only dialog – Task is invoked only as a sub-task when another task is in progress. The task is not presented as a VA task when the user requests help.
  • Hide from help – Task is not presented as a VA task when the user requests for help. Users can invoke this task anytime while talking to the Virtual Assistant. Note this option is selected automatically when the previous option is selected.
• Follow-up Task – Follow-up task array contains all the intents detected from user utterances from this dialog. You can either:
  • Handle the follow-up tasks as part of node connections (default setting).
  • Let the user select the follow-up task.
• Task Execution Failure – Define the Virtual Assistant behavior when there is an error in task execution. It can be set as either:
  • Same as the VA Level behavior
  • Specific to this task – initiate a task, run script, or show a message.

Troubleshooting

A real-time set of errors and warnings are available as you define your dialog task located on the top-right of the Dialog Builder. Click the information icon to display any errors or warnings as shown in the following illustration.