How To
Clients and Channels
Flowstorm Project
Development System
Web client
This guide describes how to attach the Promethist JS client to your web application.
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:1
<script type="text/javascript" src=https://bot.flowstorm.ai/service.js></script>
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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):1
@flowstorm:registry=https://gitlab.com/api/v4/projects/23512224/packages/npm/
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Then, add the dependency:
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yarn add @flowstorm/bot-service
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# or
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npm install @flowstorm/bot-service
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Instancing the bot
If you linked the package, in your HTML, add this to your JavaScript code:
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const Bot = window.botService.default
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or if you used NPM/Yarn, add this:
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import Bot from '@flowstorm/bot-service';
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Then, instantiate the bot object:
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const bot = Bot(
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'https://core.flowstorm.ai',
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'sender',
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true, // autostart
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clientCallback,
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false, // called from Kotlin
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undefined // JWT token
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);
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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 callingbot.handleOnTextInput('#intro', false)(see the "Controlling the bot" section). - Callback provider (object) - contains functions which the bot executes in certain situations. See the "Implementing callbacks" section for complete specification.
- 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 passed to the bot object on creation. Attaching the functions to the object is done by calling e.g.
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const clientCallback = {};
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// With arguments
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clientCallback.setStatus = newState => {
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setState(newState); // Your method
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};
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// Without arguments
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clientCallback.getVoice = this.getVoice; // this.getVoice = your method
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The functions in your applications can have arbitrary name and, with the exception of the three
get methods, may even be empty, but all the properties listed below must be defined and callable.Below is the list of needed functions:
Name
Parameters
Called when
What is handled
setStatus
newState - object with String field status
Whenever the bot
changes status
Whenever the bot changes
status, this method is called
so that the front end can
reflect this.
Inspect
newState.statusto see the current bot status.
Note that you should keep track of the status on your app's level to use it in certain functions.
addMessage
type - String, “sent“ or “received”
text - String, content of the message
image - optional String, URL of image
background - optional String, URL of image
signal - String, user signal starting with #
Whenever a message
comes (multiple times
a turn from bot,
once a turn from the user)
In this callback,
handle displaying
the message and image
if it is included.
addLogs
logs - array of Strings
Once a turn
Print technical logs
from the backend
addVideo
video - String, URL of the video
callback - function to execute once the video finishes
If the turn contains a video
Display a video in the UI
onError
error - object
If an error occurs on the backend
Handle the error
onEnd
When the
conversation ends
Reflect the end on the GUI
getAttributes
In the beginning of the conversation
Return object with
client attributes such as
location or whether
the client has a screen
getUUID
In the beginning of the conversation
Return session ID
(String in UUID format)
getVoice
In the beginning of the conversation
Return voice name (String)
which should be used for the conversation (
undefined to use dialogue default)
focusOnNode
node - Int, ID of node
Once per bot message
Used in editor to track the conversation progress in the dialogue tree
handleCommand
command - String, command name
code - String, command payload
Whenever there is a command in the dialogue
Respond with the client to the command
play
sound - String
On bot ready (if autostart is false)
Play "bot ready" sound
Launching the bot
Start the conversation by calling
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bot.init(
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'xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx',
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'xy', // language
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true, // input audio
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true, // output audio
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'#intro', // starting message
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true, // mask signals
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['error'], // allowed sounds
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false, // save session
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)
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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
#introor#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,recognizedandsleep. - 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
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// With parameters
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bot.click('LISTENING');
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// Without parameters
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bot.pause();
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Method name
Arguments
Purpose
onStopClick
Ends the conversation
pause
Pauses current bot
utterance (if playing)
resume
Resumes current bot
utterance (if paused)
inAudio
state - current bot state (String)
Turns audio input on and off
outAudio
state - current bot state (String)
Turns audio output on and off
handleOnTextInput
text - text to send (String)
audioOn - true (boolean)
Sends text input to the bot
instead of audio
click
state - current bot state (String)
Simulates button click, acts differretly based on state.
RESPONDING - skips the current utterances