Support for English

This article is part of a tutorial about creating a multilingual bot.

1. Basic principles
2. Request routing
3. Support for English (you are here)
4. Support for other languages
5. Channel deployment

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In this section, we will create a monolingual bot in English. It is the second component of a bot which will eventually be able to understand multiple languages.

Create another project in JAICP, selecting English as the NLU language for this project. Then go to the NLU tab first.

Intents

The bot for this tutorial will ask the client their name and the number of the room to book.

Via the NLU interface, create two intents:

• The /hello intent will handle greetings on the part of the client. Fill it with such training phrases as hello, greetings, good day.
• The /book intent will be used for handling requests to book a room by its number. Enable slot filling for this intent and configure it as shown on the screenshot below.

Bot script

Bot descriptor

Go to the Editor tab to create the bot script.

The configuration for each monolingual bot should contain the ISO code of the language it supports. Add this configured property in the injector section in chatbot.yaml, so that it becomes available from the script.

injector:
  currentLanguage: en

Functions

Create a file named routerClient.js in the src directory. Functions defined in this file are aimed at interacting with the router bot.

function isSameLanguage(ctx) {
    return $caila.detectLanguage([ctx.request.query])[0] === ctx.injector.currentLanguage;
}

function returnToRouter(ctx, data, targetState) {
    data = data || {};
    targetState = targetState || "/Redirect";

    ctx.response.replies = ctx.response.replies || [];
    ctx.response.replies.push({
        type: "context-return",
        state: targetState,
        data: data
    });
}

• isSameLanguage calls the $caila.detectLanguage method to detect the request language and compares it with the current language set in the injector.

• returnToRouter uses context-return to return the execution context back to the router bot. By default, the bot makes a transition to the /Redirect state.

Script code

Put the script code for the bot in English in the main.sc file.

require: name/nameEn.sc
    module = sys.zb-common

require: slotfilling/slotFilling.sc
    module = sys.zb-common

require: routerClient.js

theme: /

    state: Start
        q!: $regex</start>
        go!: /Hello

    state: Hello
        intent!: /hello
        a: Hi! What’s your name?

        state: Name
            q: * $Name *
            a: Nice to meet you, {{$parseTree._Name.name}}!
            script:
                $session.booking = $session.booking || {};
                $session.booking.name = $parseTree._Name.name;
            go!: /Book

    state: Book
        a: Tell me the number of the room you would like to book.

        state: Yes
            intent: /book
            a: Room {{$parseTree._Room}} has been reserved for you.
            script:
                $session.booking = $session.booking || {};
                $session.booking.room = $parseTree._Room;

    state: NoMatch || noContext = true
        event!: noMatch
        if: isSameLanguage($context)
            a: I’m sorry, I didn’t get it.
        else:
            script: returnToRouter($context, $session.booking);

• At the top of the file, all the necessary dependencies are imported: in this case, the dictionary of names and the slot filling module from zb-common, as well as routerClient.js.
• The /Start and /Hello states are used for handling initial startup commands and client greetings, respectively.
• The Name state nested into /Hello accounts for processing the client’s personal name using the $Name pattern and storing it in session data.
• In the /Book state and its nested state Yes, the number of the room to book is clarified using slot filling and also stored in $session.

The /NoMatch state for handling unrecognized requests has a special implementation. First, it checks whether or not the request language matches the current bot language. If it doesn’t, the bot returns the context to the router bot, passing along all data previously stored in $session.booking.

tip

In the router bot, the context is returned to the /Redirect state. The processRequest handler bound to the state identifies the request language again and, depending on the result, makes the router either switch the context to another monolingual bot or respond that the request language is not supported.

Registration in the router

After you have saved all changes, go to the Channels tab and deploy the bot in any channel, such as the chat widget.

Copy the botId from the channel properties, then return to the router bot project and paste it into the appropriate field in the injector section of the bot descriptor:

injector:
  bots:
    en: "250555190-booking_en-250555190-UNE-16011289698"
    fr: ""

The bot is now deployed and registered in the router. On the next step, we will create a fully analogous bot in French.