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4. Interaction Design

Content

State Referencing

Resource

Source code:

4.1. State Referencing

Start State

Let us create transitions for a virtual agent that handles time, weather, and playing music:

#5: shows the current time (although it is correct only twice a day at the moment).
#8: informs the current weather in Sunnyville.
#11: plays the song "".
#14: print the error message and references to the start state.

Notice that when the user input does not match any of the conditions, it prints the error message and loops back to the start state.

Custom States

It is possible to name any transition you create as a state:

#6: names the state as time.
#9: names the state as weather.

Exit State

State referencing can be abused to create transitions that never end (infinite loop). It is important to design an exit state so you can terminate the conversation without throwing errors:

#6,10,14,17: loops back to the start state.
#19-21: creates an exit state to terminate the dialogue.

What is the main difference between an error transition and an exit state?

An error transition defines a default action for uninterpretable user input, whereas an exit state terminates the current session of the dialogue.

4.2. Advanced Interaction

Built-in Macros

Besides #ONT for checking an ontology, STDM provides several macros useful for dialogue design.

#LEM

The following example shows a use case of the macro #LEM that uses the to match lemmas of "raining tacos":

#5: maches the input with the lemma of "rain" or "rainy", then the lemma of "taco".

#UNX

The #UNX macro can be used as an alternative to the 'error' transition, which prepends a short acknowledgment phrase (e.g., "yeah", "sure") to the error statement:

#8: prepends an acknowledgment phrase to the error statement, "Thanks for sharing" in #8.

#3,5: add acknowledgment phrases given the user inputs.
#7: does not add an acknowledgment phrase when the user input is short.

When the user input contains fewer than three tokens, #UNK does not add any acknowledgment.

Seldomly, #UNKgets selected even when conditions in other transitions match the input (due to an STDM bug). If you notice this during testing, assign a very slow to the #UNK state to ensure it gets the lowest priority among other branches.

#SET & #IF

Let us update the above transitions so that it sometimes refuses to sing the same song:

#6: can be picked if the variable $RAINING_TACOS equals to the string 'True'.
#7: sets $RAINING_TACOS to 'True' after prompting the system output.

Once $RAINING_TACOS is set to 'True', STDM randomly picks a statement in #6 or #7 as the system output.

Notice that the #SET macro only assigns a string value to the variable. It is possible to write a macro to set any variable to an actual boolean value (e.g., True, False):

#3-4: checks if there are two arguments.
#6-8: retrieves the variable name.
#10-12

Given MacroSetBool, the above transitions can be updated as follow:

#6: is selected if $RAINING_TACOS is True.
#0: sets the variable $RAINING_TACOS to the boolean value True.

Currently, STDM randomly chooses the statements in #6 and #7 once $RAINING_TACOS becomes True. We can write another macro that prompts #7 only for the first time:

#3: the method in returns the value corresponding to the key, RAINING_TACOS if exists; otherwise, False.

Given MacroPlayRainingTacos, the transitions can be updated as follow:

#7: is selected if the macro #PLAY_RAINING_TACOS returns True.
#17: adds #PLAY_RAINING_TACOS to the macro dictionary.

Music

It is possible to make our system actually sings instead of prompting the lyric. Let us first install the package:

Then, import the package and update the MacroPlayRainingTacos macro to play the MP3 file, :

#1: imports the VLC package.
#6: creates a VLC media player and plays the specified MP3 file.

When you run the above dialogue flow, it now plays the MP3 file and prompts the lyric.

Time

The transitions in prompt the same time (3PM) upon every request. Let us create a new macro that checks the current (system) time:

#1: imports the package.
#5: retrieves the current time in the specified format using the method.
#6

The macro MacroTime can be called to generate the system output:

#11: calls the TIME macro to generate the system output displaying the current time.
#22: adds #TIME to the macro dictionary.

Weather

The transitions in prompt the same weather (sunny) upon every request. Let us retrieve the latitude and the longitude of the system using :

Then, use a web API provided by the to retrieve the grid correlates to the coordinate:

Look for the forecast field under properties:

Write a macro that retrieves the current weather for the grid using another web API:

#1: imports the package.
#2: imports the package.
#6

Finally, update the transitions with the weather macro:

#15: calls the WEATHER macro to generate the system output displaying today's weather.
#22: adds #WEATHER to the macro dictionary.

The time and the weather retrieved by the above macros are oriented to the system, not the user. It is possible to anticipate the users' location if one's IP address is provided; however, this is not possible unless the user uses a specific device (e.g., Amazon Echo, smartphone) and agrees to send one's private information to our system.

4.3. Compound States

Multiple Topics

A dialogue flow can be complex when you start adding multiple topics. In this case, you can create a separate transition dictionary for each topic.

Let us create transitions talking about music and movies:

4.4. Global Transition

Exercise

Draw a diagram describing the following dialogue flow.
What is the role of MacroWhatElse?

Global Transitions

It is often the case that the user says something out of the topic that the system expects. One way of handling such occasions is by using global transitions that anticipate common cases:

#1-8: creates global transitions.
#10: adds the global transitions to the dialogue flow.

Notice that after prompting an output in the global transitions, it will direct to the good state defined in the regular transitions.

The global transitions are fired whenever the user content matches their conditions, which can cause multiple matching conditions as follow:

#5: matches the condition in the movie state.

#5: matches the condition in the global transition.

Thus, it is recommended to put lower scores on the conditions in global transitions such that local transitions are prioritized over them:

4.5. Saving and Loading

Saving

Let us create a simple transition that counts how many times the user visits:

#4: calls the macro #VISITS defined in #7.

MacroVisits can be defined as follow:

#10-13: uses the statements to return the appropriate literal.

The challenge is that we must save the number of visits to make this macro effective (and correct). This can be achieved by saving the variable dictionary into a binary file using the built-in Python object serialization called :

#1: takes a dialogue flow df and a file path varfile for saving the variable dictionary to.
#3: creates a dictionary by copying only user-generated variables.

After running this code, you will see the visits.pkl file saved under the resources directory.

Loading

The following code shows how to load the saved dictionary to a new dialogue flow:

#1: takes a dialogue flow df and a file path varfile for loading the variable dictionary from.
#2: opens a readable (r) and binary (b) file and loads the object as a dictionary.

4.6. Quiz

Overview

You aim to create a chatbot that makes a movie or a song recommendation. Your system should conduct dialogue including the following aspects:

Greet with respect to the current time and/or weather.
Ask about the user's name (with a different way of asking each time the user logins).
If it is the first time the system sees the name, then prompt the first-time greeting. Otherwise, greet by asking about its previous recommendation.
Recommend a movie or a song, depending on the user's request. Do not make the same recommendation more than once for each genre.
If the user requests a different recommendation, make another suggestion.
Provide more information about the recommendation upon request.

Here is an example dialogue for a user talking to this chatbot for the first time:

Here is an example dialogue for a user coming back for the second time:

Your chatbot should give an appropriate response to every user response.

Task 1

Create a Python file under the package.
Update it to design a dialogue flow for the chatbot.

Task 2

Create a PDF file quiz4.pdf that describes the following:

Sample dialogues that your chatbot can conduct.
Explanations of your approach.

Submission

Commit and push quiz4.py to your GitHub repository.
Submit quiz4.pdf to Canvas.

4.2. Advanced Interaction

Built-in Macros

Besides #ONT for checking an ontology, STDM provides several macros useful for dialogue design.

#LEM

The following example shows a use case of the macro #LEM that uses the to match lemmas of "raining tacos":

#5: maches the input with the lemma of "rain" or "rainy", then the lemma of "taco".

#UNX

The #UNX macro can be used as an alternative to the 'error' transition, which prepends a short acknowledgment phrase (e.g., "yeah", "sure") to the error statement:

#8: prepends an acknowledgment phrase to the error statement, "Thanks for sharing" in #8.

#3,5: add acknowledgment phrases given the user inputs.
#7: does not add an acknowledgment phrase when the user input is short.

When the user input contains fewer than three tokens, #UNK does not add any acknowledgment.

#SET & #IF

Let us update the above transitions so that it sometimes refuses to sing the same song:

#6: can be picked if the variable $RAINING_TACOS equals to the string 'True'.
#7: sets $RAINING_TACOS to 'True' after prompting the system output.

Once $RAINING_TACOS is set to 'True', STDM randomly picks a statement in #6 or #7 as the system output.

Notice that the #SET macro only assigns a string value to the variable. It is possible to write a macro to set any variable to an actual boolean value (e.g., True, False):

#3-4: checks if there are two arguments.
#6-8: retrieves the variable name.
#10-12

Given MacroSetBool, the above transitions can be updated as follow:

#6: is selected if $RAINING_TACOS is True.
#0: sets the variable $RAINING_TACOS to the boolean value True.

Currently, STDM randomly chooses the statements in #6 and #7 once $RAINING_TACOS becomes True. We can write another macro that prompts #7 only for the first time:

#3: the method in returns the value corresponding to the key, RAINING_TACOS if exists; otherwise, False.

Given MacroPlayRainingTacos, the transitions can be updated as follow:

#7: is selected if the macro #PLAY_RAINING_TACOS returns True.
#17: adds #PLAY_RAINING_TACOS to the macro dictionary.

Music

It is possible to make our system actually sings instead of prompting the lyric. Let us first install the package:

Then, import the package and update the MacroPlayRainingTacos macro to play the MP3 file, :

#1: imports the VLC package.
#6: creates a VLC media player and plays the specified MP3 file.

When you run the above dialogue flow, it now plays the MP3 file and prompts the lyric.

Time

The transitions in prompt the same time (3PM) upon every request. Let us create a new macro that checks the current (system) time:

#1: imports the package.
#5: retrieves the current time in the specified format using the method.
#6

The macro MacroTime can be called to generate the system output:

#11: calls the TIME macro to generate the system output displaying the current time.
#22: adds #TIME to the macro dictionary.

Weather

The transitions in prompt the same weather (sunny) upon every request. Let us retrieve the latitude and the longitude of the system using :

Then, use a web API provided by the to retrieve the grid correlates to the coordinate:

Look for the forecast field under properties:

Write a macro that retrieves the current weather for the grid using another web API:

#1: imports the package.
#2: imports the package.
#6

Finally, update the transitions with the weather macro:

#15: calls the WEATHER macro to generate the system output displaying today's weather.
#22: adds #WEATHER to the macro dictionary.

4. Interaction Design

hashtagContent

hashtagResource

4.1. State Referencing

hashtagStart State

hashtagCustom States

hashtagExit State

4.2. Advanced Interaction

hashtagBuilt-in Macros

hashtag#LEM

hashtag#UNX

hashtag#SET & #IF

hashtagMusic

hashtagTime

hashtagWeather

4.3. Compound States

hashtagMultiple Topics

4.4. Global Transition

hashtagExercise

hashtagGlobal Transitions

4.5. Saving and Loading

hashtagSaving

hashtagLoading

4.6. Quiz

hashtagOverview

hashtagTask 1

hashtagTask 2

hashtagSubmission

4.1. State Referencing

hashtagStart State

hashtagCustom States

hashtagExit State

4.2. Advanced Interaction

hashtagBuilt-in Macros

hashtag#LEM

hashtag#UNX

hashtag#SET & #IF

hashtagMusic

hashtagTime

hashtagWeather

4.6. Quiz

hashtagOverview

hashtagTask 1

hashtagTask 2

hashtagSubmission

4. Interaction Design

hashtagContent

hashtagResource

4.3. Compound States

hashtagMultiple Topics

hashtagGating

hashtagScoring

4.5. Saving and Loading

hashtagSaving

hashtagLoading

4.4. Global Transition

hashtagExercise

hashtagGlobal Transitions

Content

Resource

Start State

Custom States

Exit State

Built-in Macros

#LEM

#UNX

#SET & #IF

Music

Time

Weather

Multiple Topics

Exercise

Global Transitions

Saving

Loading

Overview

Task 1

Task 2

Submission

Start State

Custom States

Exit State

Built-in Macros

#LEM

#UNX

#SET & #IF

Music

Time

Weather

Overview

Task 1

Task 2

Submission

Content

Resource

Multiple Topics

Gating

Scoring

Saving

Loading

Exercise

Global Transitions