This document is part of the documentation that shows you the steps in creating a sample Travel Planning Assistant. 

Assistant Capabilities

The assistant we build will perform basic travel booking tasks, as follows:

• Check the status of a flight, based on the flight number provided by the user, as seen here.
• Update a flight booking, as discussed in this article.
• Perform a flight change, based on the current flight and new flight preference provided by the user, as seen here.

In this article, therefore, we will be configuring the assistant to update a booking, by configuring an Update Booking Intent. For the purpose of this use case, we will work with a Name update.

Update Booking Dialog Task / Intent

• The Update booking task will prompt the user to enter the booking number corresponding to the booking that they want to update. 
• It would then prompt for the type of update – e.g. Name or Passport Number. 
• A service call will be made to fetch the details, and then another service call to update the booking.
• The success/failure message will be displayed.

To create an Update Booking Dialog Task / Intent:

1. Open the Travel Planning Assistant  with the Get Flight Status task already configured.
2. Navigate to Build > Conversational Skills > Dialog Tasks.
3. Click Create Dialog from the top right. The Create Dialog screen will open.
4. Enter the following details:
1. Intent Name – Enter the Intent name, this is the phrase that triggers the dialog. The intent name should be simple and not more than 3-4 words. For example, Update Booking.
2. You can add a description and under More Options other dialog-related details. Let’s retain the default settings without any changes.
3. You can also include utterances to train this intent.
4. Select Try Conversation Driven Dialog Builder option.
5. Click Proceed.
6. The Property Panel for User Intent will be displayed. We will retain the default properties.
   
   

   Note: For instructions related to the Legacy Dialog Builder, refer here

7. Close the User Intent Property Panel.

Add Entity nodes (Booking Number & Update Type)

The Entity Node is typically used to gather information from the user.

Here we will be using it to capture the user input for Booking Number and type of update. 

Add an Entity node that retrieves the Booking Number as follows:

1. Click the + below the User Intent node
2. Select the Entity option and click +New Entity.
3. The Property Panel for the Entity Node is displayed, if not click on the newly created entity to open it.
4. Enter the following details:
1. Name: BookingNumber
2. Display Name: Booking Number
3. Type: Number

 

Add an Entity Node that retrieves the Update Type 

1. Click the + below the Booking Number node
2. Select the Entity option.
3. Click + New entity 
4. The Property Panel for the Entity Node is displayed, if not click on the newly created entity to open it.
   1. Enter the following details:
      1. Name: UpdateType
      2. Display Name: Update Type 
      3. Type: Select List of Items (enumerated)from the drop-down. We need to provide the list of values that the user can select.
         1. Click the Settings (gear) icon that appears next to the field.
         2. Opt for Static List.
         3. Enter the following options under separate rows as the Display name – Name and Passport Number. Value and Synonym columns will auto-populate, leave them as is.
         4. Define the percentage of Auto-correction to be applied to match the user’s input to a value in the list.
            
         5. Click Save.
      4. Navigate back to the Entity Property Panel.
      5. User Prompts: Enter the following text and hit enter to save:
         What would you like to update?
      6. Display List Of Values: Mark asYes, use channel specific standard formatting for default messages and show the available list of values to the end user‘. This will present the list of values in a button template for the supported channels.
   2. Close the UpdateType Entity Property Panel.
      
      

 

Add an Entity Node that retrieves the Updated Name, as follows: 

1. Click the + below the UpdateType node
2. \Select the Entity option and click +New Entity.
3. The Property Panel for the Entity Node is displayed, if not click on the newly created entity to open it. Enter the following details:
   • Name: Name
   • Display Name: Name
   • Type: String
   • User Prompts: Enter the following text and hit enter to save:
     Please enter your full name.

Add a Bot Action – Service Node (Get Booking Details)

A Service Node allows you to make a backend API call. It is included in the Bot Actions node.

Here the service node is used to call an API to get the booking details  for the user entered booking number.

We will be using a dummy API setup for this tutorial. We will be using a mock API created specifically for this purpose with the following fields – FirstName, LastName, Address, City, Country, ZipCode, BookingNumber.

1. Click the + below the UpdateType Entity node
2. Select Bot Action, click to open properties, name it GetBooking , and close the properties window.
3. To add a service node, click the + next to the Get Booking Bot Action node to expand it
4. Click the + within the Bot Action layout.
5. Select Service – Service node is used to make a backend API call to get booking information.
1. Click + New Service
2. The Property Panel for the Service Node is displayed, if not click on the newly created entity node to open it.
3. Enter the following details:
1. Name: GetBooking
2. Display Name: Get Booking
4. Under Request Definition: click Define Request and enter it.

Add a Bot Action – Service Node (Update Balance)

Here the service node is used to call an API to update the account balance for the user entered booking number.

We will be using a dummy API setup for this tutorial.

1. Click the + below the GetBooking  Service node
2. Select Service – Service node is used to make a backend API call to update booking information.
3. Click + New service 
4. The Property Panel for the Service Node is displayed, if not click on the newly added service node to open
5. Enter the following details:
1. Name: UpdateBooking
2. Display Name: Update Booking
3. Service Type: Custom Service
4. Type: Webservice
5. Sub Type: REST
6. Click DEFINE REQUEST
• In the Define Request Page, enter the following details:
• Request type – PUT
• Request URL –https://5c3c633d29429300143fe4d2.mockapi.io/AccountDetails/{{context.entities.BookingNumber}}.
• This API does not require any Auth Parameters.
• In the Body tab, select the type as application/json.
• Select the Test Request tab.
• Enter an account number and balance in the Sample Context Values section.
• Click the Test button.
• Wait for the test to be completed and you get a Status: 200.
• Click Save as Sample Response.
• Click Save.
7. On the Service node Property window, click the Connections tab.
• Under the Connection Rules section, ensure that the Default connection is set to End of Bot Action.
8. Close the Service Property Panel
9. Click – next to the Bot Action node to collapse it.

Add a Message Node

A Message Node is used to display a message from the assistant to the user.

Here we will be using the Message node to show the success message.

1. Click the + below the GetBooking Bot Action
2. Select Message and click the + New message 
3. Property Panel for the Message Node is displayed
4. Enter the following details:
1. Name: BookingUpdated
2. Display Name: Booking Updated
3. Bot Responses: Enter Your booking has been updated.
5. On the Message Property Panel, click the Connections icon.
1. Change the Default connection from Not Connected to End of Dialog‘.
2. Click Save.
6. Close the Property Panel.

When completed, your task may look similar to the one illustrated below: 

Test the Assistant

To test the Dialog task, you can use the Talk to bot feature, at the bottom right corner of the Platform.

Enter the following utterance (intent name) – “Update Booking”

Follow the Bot instructions:

• Enter Booking Number – 29565731.
• Select the Update Type – Choose Name.
• Enter the Name: e.g. Anne Smith.
• See the success message.