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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.

4.1. State Referencing

Start State

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

transitions = {
    'state': 'start',
    '`What can I do for you?`': {
        '[{time, clock}]': {
            '`It\'s 3PM.`': 'end'
        },
        '[{weather, forecast}]': {
            '`It\'s sunny outside`': 'end'
        },
        '[play, raining tacos]': {
            '`It\'s raining tacos. From out of the sky ...`': 'end'
        },
        'error': {
            '`Sorry, I didn\'t understand you.`': 'start'
        }
    }
}

#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.

4.1. State Referencing

hashtagStart State

hashtagCustom States

hashtagExit State

4.1. State Referencing

hashtagStart State

hashtagCustom States

hashtagExit State

Start State

Custom States

Exit State

Start State

Custom States

Exit State