miniApps and Flows values configuration

miniApps help convey information to the callers and receive an answer from them. Callers' information is passed to the following miniApps in the Dialog Application by configuring them accordingly.

Each miniApp or Flow building block in the Orchestrator has input and output fields for the receiving and the outgoing information.

To configure these fields, click the Settings icon in the right upper corner of a selected miniApp or another building block to open the settings window.

The output field of a miniApp or other building block depends on the miniApp and can be used in the input field of any of the following miniApp or Flow building blocks to drive the conversation accordingly.

Input Fields

The Input fields contain information that can drive the conversation. It can either be information provided from the caller’s data (phone number, area calling from), or information provided to the caller during the conversation and extracted as output from another miniApp.

The type of input data depends on the type of miniApp and can be set during miniApp configuration.

The Orchestrator contains data of the miniApp that will be passed to a caller in specific pair of parameters - Input name and Field name.

The parameter of the miniApp Field 1 in Orchestrator equals the value of the same parameter of miniApp which is configured in the OCP miniApps® web application, whereas the data of this value that is actually passed to a caller is stored in the Orchestrator Field 1.

 

Output fields

OCP miniApps® return values based on the responses of the callers and what information miniApps are configured to extract from them. The Output Fields contain the information extracted from the caller while they are talking to the miniApp the following way:

  • The miniApp Field1 is a parameter in the Orchestrator that equals the value of the same parameter configured in the miniApp to contain another parameter with the caller’s response.

  • The Orchestrator Field1  stores the value with the actual caller’s response.

 

Change the Field name name of Output Fields to something that makes sense to you and is relative to the expected output (for example, cardNumber, accountID). Do not change the Value name of Intent type miniApps.

 

Multiple Output fields

It is possible to add multiple Output Fields to pass extra information from the caller. For example, if instead of “I want to make a payment” the caller says “I want to put 20$ on my credit card”, this information can be stored by adding some extra Output Fields. This information can be recognized by NLU and passed as an NLU entity by adding the entity name as an Output Field.

Also, these extra Output Fields can be optional, so even if you decide not to select this field, the miniApp will still receive all the necessary information.

  1. Сlick the Options menu on the right upper of the selected miniApp.

2. In the opened window, click the + Add output Field to add more items. Drag the toggle button next to the output field to make it optional. Also, you can remove the optional field by clicking the Trash can icon.

This approach is valid for all the miniApp types except Intelli and Web Service, since these types of miniApps do not use NLU.

Multiple Output fields in Intelli and Web Service miniApps

Adding multiple output fields in the Intelli and Web Service miniApps is also applicable. However, if any of these miniApps end, while multiple fields are defined without providing any values, the Dialog Application will still run.

Properties fields

The Properties fields store the extra information of the miniApps configuration which overwrites some of the preconfigured or default miniApp settings directly in Orchestrator. For example, you can reconfigure the error threshold in a certain miniApp per one usage during the Dialog, whereas this threshold will still be the same (default) in any other cases this miniApp plays.

These Properties are collected in the list of the specific fields that are available for being reconfigured in a certain miniApp. Here you can find more information about the available specific fields. Once Properties and their Values are reconfigured in Orchestrator, the new parameters are passed to the miniApp. Each Property type can be reconfigured only once in a certain miniApp.

 

This functionality is available for all the miniApp types, the Anything Else? building blocks, but not for the Flows.

 

To overwrite the miniApp configuration, follow the next steps:

  1. Сlick the Options menu on the right upper of the selected miniApp.

2. Switch to the Properties tab and click the +Add button.

3. Select the specific field you want to reconfigure in the miniApp from the Property 1 field. For example, choose the Continuous agent request field from the dropdown menu, so it will be reconfigured in the miniApp.

4. Specify the Value 1 field. For example, enter 3 to overwrite the default configurations, so the new value will be used for the selected Property 1 field when the miniApp plays at this step of the Dialog.

5. Click Save when finished.

 

Configure Settings of miniApps fields

miniApp and other building blocks have configurable settings for Input and Output fields. To successfully drive a conversation, the Output field of the originating miniApp affects the Input field of the next ones.

To configure the settings of a miniApp building block, follow the steps:

  1. Сreate a Dialog Application that consists of two connected miniApps

  2. Click the Settings button in the right upper corner of the selected miniApp to open the settings window.

  3. In the settings window, click the + Add Input Field button.

4. Select the extValue1 from the Input name 1 dropdown menu in the Input Fields section.

5. Define the variable for the Field name 1 field from the dropdown list.

When more building blocks are added and more miniApps are connected, more information is elicited from callers and the dropdown list of possible Input Field values grows with the Output Fields value of the previous building blocks.

6. The Output name field is preconfigured in OCP miniApp and is selected automatically, whereas the Field name contains the value of information retrieved from the caller, and can be modified.

7. Click the Save button to finish the process.

8. Select another miniApp, click the Settings button in the right upper corner of the miniApp and configure it so that the output from the previous miniApp that contains the caller’s response can now be used as a value of the Input fields. Click Save when finished.

 

Now that the miniApps are configured, they can pass information to the callers, receive and read their answer, process it to be further used in the next building blocks, and create a conversation that you can test in an Orchestrator Chat.

Configure Global Fields

It is possible for a user to set defined fields as global. Global fields are reusable in all miniApps and Flows within the Application, and are used without explicitly setting them as inputs or outputs over and over again in order to optimize interaction between Orchestrator and other services.

The built-in fields (for example, ANI, DNIS and so on) can not be set as global fields.

To set the global fields, proceed as follows:

  1. Navigate to the Options menu icon onto the Application tab, click it to select the Global Fields label.

2. When clicked, create the global field. It is possible to create more than one global field. Click Save to finish.

3. Select a miniApp, click on the Options menu button and choose the global field from the list of the Input Fields.

Since the Flows are reusable within multiple Applications, the defined global fields can be fetched in any Application the Flow is used in.