Prerequisites

Please check out also this article to better understand how the communication between client and server works.

Linking the script

There are two ways to link the library to your application. For simpler apps, add this line to the head of your index.html file:

<script type="text/javascript" src=https://bot.flowstorm.ai/service.js></script>

Alternatively, you can use a package manager such as Yarn or NPM. Create a file named .npmrc containing this (or add to your existing one):

@flowstorm:registry=https://gitlab.com/api/v4/projects/23512224/packages/npm/

Then, add the dependency:

yarn add @flowstorm/bot-service
# or
npm install @flowstorm/bot-service

Instancing the bot

If you linked the package, in your HTML, add this to your JavaScript code:

const Bot = window.botService.default

or if you used NPM/Yarn, add this:

import Bot from '@flowstorm/bot-service';

Then, instantiate the bot object:

const bot = Bot(
    'https://core.flowstorm.ai',
    'sender',
    true,       // autostart
    false,      // called from Kotlin
    undefined   // JWT token
    );

Arguments:

• Core URL (String) - URL of the back-end system

• Device ID (String)- Identifier of the client

• Autostart (Boolean) - Whether the bot should start the conversation immediately after opening the socket. If false, the conversation must be started manually by calling bot.handleOnTextInput('#intro', false) (see the "Controlling the bot" section).

• Kotlin (Boolean) - whether the bot is linked from Kotlin code

• Token (String) - JWT token identifying the user. If undefined, the conversation will start in anonymous mode

Implementing callbacks

There are certain functions which are called in the bot code, but are not implemented there. They serve for allowing the front-end to react to certain events during the conversation. For the client to work correctly, they must be implemented in your web application code and attached to the bot object before starting the conversation. The function attaching is done by calling e.g.

// With arguments
bot.setStatus = newState => {
    setState(newState); // Your method
};
// Without arguments
bot.getVoice = this.getVoice; // this.getVoice = your method

The functions in your applications can have arbitrary name and, with the exception of the three get methods, may even be empty, but all bot.x properties listed below must be defined and callable.

Below is the list of needed functions:

​

Launching the bot

Start the conversation by calling

bot.init(
    'xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx', 
    'xy',        // language
    true,        // input audio
    true,        // output audio
    '#intro',    // starting message
    true,        // mask signals
    ['error'],   // allowed sounds
    false,       // save session
)

Arguments:

• Application key (String) - Identifier of the dialogue which the client should conduct

• Language (String) - Two-letter code for the language for the conversation

• Default input audio (Boolean) - Whether the bot should listen to audio input. If false, the user will be able to communicate with the bot only by text.

• Default output audio (Boolean) - Whether the bot should play its utterances as audio. If false, no audio will be played, including the status sounds.

• Starting message (String) - Initializing signal for the conversation

• Mask signals (Boolean) - Whether the signals from user (such as #intro or #silence) should be displayed in the conversation log.

• Allowed sounds (Array of Strings) - List of status sounds which are allowed to play during the conversation. The available sounds are intro, error, listening, recognized and sleep.

• Save session (Boolean) - If the recording fails, the client might (based on this setting) save the session by turning off the input audio. The conversation then continues in text-only mode.

After calling this, the bot will open a socket to the server. If autoStart was set to true, the conversation will begin. After its first utterance, the browser will ask for microphone permission and if it is granted, it will listen for audio input. If the callbacks are empty, the communication will be only through audio.

Controlling the bot

The bot can also be controlled by calling certain methods

// With parameters
bot.click('LISTENING');
// Without parameters
bot.pause();