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:

<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
    clientCallback,
    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).

• 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.

const clientCallback = {};
// With arguments
clientCallback.setStatus = newState => {
    setState(newState); // Your method
};
// Without arguments
clientCallback.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 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.status to 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

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();

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