Use the following built-in functions to get and set contextual data.

Get and set bot variable

The setBotVariable function is used to set a bot variable’s state in memory, so it can be used later in the bot flow. By default, it stores the variable state in request scope, but you can specify the scope as a parameter.

The getBotVariable function is used for getting the bot variable. Bot variables that are not set will return NULL.

botVariables are strings. Whatever the data type of your input, it will be converted to a string. If you set a botVariable to an integer (ie: 10) it will be converted to “10”. When called using getBotVariable(), to be used as an integer again, you would need to convert it back to an integer (ie: 10*1).

Example

In the example below, we're using getBotVariable to retrieve a string that represents an integer, which might need to be handled slightly differently depending on your situation.

// retrieving an integer
var count = botContext.getBotVariable('Howmanyitems');
count = count*1;
if (count > 10) {
      botContext.sendMessage('You have more than 10 items!');
} else {
  botContext.setBotVariable('Howmanyitems',0,true,false);
  botContext.sendMessage('Sorry, you do not have any items with you... ');
}

Get current user message

getCurrentUserMessage is used for getting the most recent message from the user, whether typed or tapped (buttons or quick replies).

Example

// get what the user just said
var response = botContext.getCurrentUserMessage();
// use the response in a variable
botContext.setBotVariable('newsSource',response,true,false);

Set bot transfer intent by domain

Use the setBotTransferIntentbyDomain function to set an intent ID in the Transfer Bot Context object that can be sent from the sender bot to the receiver bot during a manual, bot-to-bot transfer. The intent ID is derived from the supplied domain name and intent name. You can retrieve the domain name that you need from the UI. And you can retrieve the intent name that you need from the UI or via getDialogStarterIntent. During the transfer, the system uses the domain name and the intent name to ascertain and pass the intent ID.

Example

botContext.setBotTransferIntentbyDomain("billing question", "Billing");

Set bot transfer intent ID

Use the setBotTransferIntentId function to set an intent ID in the Transfer Bot Context object that can be sent from the sender bot to the receiver bot during a manual, bot-to-bot transfer. You can retrieve the intent ID that you need from the application URL if you're logged into Conversation Builder directly and know how. Otherwise, use setBotTransferIntentbyDomain instead.

Example

botContext.setBotTransferIntentId("d46688d7-7ec2-44a4-a09c-b500f728ee05");

Set bot transfer user message

Use the setBotTransferUserMessage function to set a user message in the Transfer Bot Context object that can be sent from the sender bot to the receiver bot during a manual, bot-to-bot transfer.

Example

botContext.setBotTransferUserMessage("order status");

Get environment variable

getEnvVariable is used for getting an environment variable. An environment variable that isn't set returns NULL.

Example

In the example below, we use getEnvVariable to retrieve a string which will provide for us the correct skillId for routing depending upon the environment that the bot is currently in.

switch(intent){
case "billing":
    transferMessage = "Hold on while I transfer you to someone who can help with your billing issue...";
    skillId = botContext.getEnvVariable('billing');
    skillName = intent;
    break;
case "account":
    transferMessage = "Hold on while I transfer you to someone who can help with your account issue...";
    skillId = botContext.getEnvVariable('account');
    skillName = intent;
    break;
case "help":
    transferMessage = "Hold on while I transfer you to someone who can help with your issue...";
    skillId = botContext.getEnvVariable('help');
    skillName = intent;
    break;  
}      

Get conversation ID

The getConversationId function will retrieve the conversation ID for the current conversation.

Example

// store the conversation id in a variable inside your current pre/post process code
var convId = botContext.getConversationId();

You can also use the {$conversationId} system variable to display the conversation ID as text in interactions or post bodies.

Get LP account ID

The getLPAccountId function retrieves the Conversational Cloud account ID for the current conversation.

Example

// store the LP account ID in a variable inside your current pre/post process code
var acctId = botContext.getLPAccountId();

Get LP engagement attribute

The getLPEngagementAttribute function retrieves the specified LivePerson engagement attribute for the current conversation.

previousSkillId only works for Messaging. If used in a Chat conversation, it will be set to the same ID as the current skill ID.

Example

The following example shows how to use the function to access the current skill and previous skill IDs and set them to a botContext variable.

var currentSkill = botContext.getLPEngagementAttribute("currentSkillId");
var previousSkill = botContext.getLPEngagementAttribute("previousSkillId");

botContext.setBotVariable("currentSkill", currentSkill, true, false);
botContext.setBotVariable("previousSkill", previousSkill, true, false);

Messaging connector requirements:

• Ensure that the bot is set up with API OAuth login rather than password login.
• Ensure that the OAuth keys have permission to Engagement History.

Get matched intent

getDialogStarterIntent is used to retrieve the intent (associated with a Dialog Starter interaction) that was matched to the most recent user utterance.

This method returns the name of the intent. If you are using a meta intent, it returns the name of the child or sub-intent.

Example

var intentName = botContext.getDialogStarterIntent();

Get named entities

getNamedEntities is used to access user utterances that are recognized as entities.

To access the actual phrases used, call getPhrase() on the entity objects.

Example

var toppingObjects = botContext.getNamedEntities('toppings');
var toppings = [];
if (toppingObjects != null && toppingObjects.length > 0) {
    for (j = 0; j < toppingObjects.length; j++) {
        toppings.push(toppingObjects[j].getPhrase())
    }
}

Get NLP responses

getNlpResponse is used to get an array of results derived from Conversation Builder’s Natural Language Processing algorithms.

For instance, the sentence, “The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog” returns the following nouns [dog, fox], the verb [jumped], the phrases [the quick brown Fox, the lazy Dog] and tokens: [the, over, quick, lazy, jumped, brown, Dog, Fox].

Example

// get the results
var nlpResponse = botContext.getNlpResponse();
var nlpNouns = nlpResponse.nouns;
var nlpVerbs = nlpResponse.verbs;
var nlpPhrases = nlpResponse.phrases;
var nlpTokens = nlpResponse.tokens;

botContext.sendMessage('I found the following nouns: '+ nlpNouns + ' and verbs: '+ nlpVerbs + ' and phrases: ' + nlpPhrases + ' and tokens: ' + nlpTokens);

Get sentiment

getSentiment is used for having the sentiment conversation chatbox messages with the user. Instead of using the sentiments in the intents of the bot, this function relies on programmatically checking the sentiment of the user.

Example

// get the sentiment results
var sentiment =  botContext.getSentiment();
if(sentiment == "Positive"){
    botContext.sendMessage('Excellent!');
} else if(sentiment == "Neutral"){
    botContext.sendMessage('Hmmmm, not too sure about that…');
} else {
    botContext.sendMessage('Well that’s not good.');
}

Get quick reply payload

getQuickReplyPayload is used to access the Quick Reply buttons that are selected by the user. These buttons have a hidden payload that may be different than the text shown to the user. For instance, Quick Replies asking you to select your favorite color might show: Red, Blue, Green, Purple, etc., but the payloads could be color01, color02, color03, etc.

This function is used in Process User Response, where the code for assessing user interaction resides.

Example

//get what the user just said
var response = botContext.getCurrentUserMessage();
//accessing the user selected payload
var payload = botContext.getQuickReplyPayload();
//sending an Immediate reply to the user with the desired output
botContext.sendImmediateReply('Hey you picked option ' + response  +' with a payload of '+ payload);

Get disambiguated intent

getDisambiguatedIntentName and getDisambiguatedIntentId can be used in preProcess/postProcess/processUserResponse code to get the relevant disambiguated intent data.

Example

// get the disambiguated intent name
var intentName = botContext.getDisambiguatedIntentName() ;
// get the disambiguated intent ID
var intentID = botContext.getDisambiguatedIntentId();
// display the results...
botContext.printDebugMessage('The intent name = ' + intentName + 'and the intent ID = ' + intentID);

Get Web View variables

getWebViewVariable and getWebViewVariables retrieve session-scoped variables that were set via the Web View API.

Example

    botContext.getWebViewVariable('name'); // This returns the value as PaymentId
    botContext.getWebViewVariable('PaymentStatus'); // This returns the value as PROCESSED

For the corresponding curl example, see the Web View API documentation.

Get type of hours

Given an array of hours classified by type and a time zone, getHoursType returns the type of hours.

This method is commonly used to provide a different experience or messaging to the consumer during regular or after hours. Additionally, the method is able to handle generalized hours, hours for specific days of the week, and specific dates. Note the following:

• Keys: The keys are user-defined and arbitrary (REG_HOURS, AFTER_HOURS, etc.). If you want to specify a shift/time period for a particular day, use the name of the day (“FRIDAY|”, “SATURDAY|”, etc.) as appropriate. You can also use a specific date (e.g., 12.25.2018 for Christmas).
• Values: If two time frames overlap, the later time frame is used.
• Time zone: The time zone value should be the time zone of the agent call center, not the user. You can find the appropriate format for all time zones here.

getHoursType is a basic function to specify agent time shifts.

Example

var hoursSpec = [
    "REG_HOURS~8:00~20:00",
    "AFTER_HOURS~20:00~8:00",
    "FRIDAY|WKEND_REG_HOURS~8:00~17:00",
    "FRIDAY|WKEND_AFTER_HOURS~17:00~08:00",
    "SATURDAY|WKEND_REG_HOURS~8:00~17:00",
    "SATURDAY|WKEND_AFTER_HOURS~17:00~08:00",
    "SUNDAY|WKEND_REG_HOURS~8:00~17:00",
    "SUNDAY|WKEND_AFTER_HOURS~17:00~08:00",
    "11.22.2018|HOLIDAY_THANKS~0:00~23:59",
    "12.25.2018|HOLIDAY_XMAS~0:00~23:59"
];

var type = botContext.getHoursType(hoursSpec, "America/Los_Angeles");

// TEST FOR type and set the transferMessage to result
switch(type){
  case "REG_HOURS":
  case "WKEND_REG_HOURS":
    msg = "Let me connect you to an Agent who can help you.";
    botContext.setBotVariable('transferMessage',msg,true,false);
    botContext.setTriggerNextMessge('Liveperson Transfer');
    break;

  case "AFTER_HOURS":
  case "WKEND_AFTER_HOURS":
    msg = "You have reached us after our business hours. We are open 7 days a week; 8AM - 8PM PST Monday through Thursday and 8AM - 5PM PST Friday through Sunday.";
    botContext.setBotVariable('noTransferMessage',msg,true,false);
    botContext.setTriggerNextMessge('No Transfer');
    break;

  case "HOLIDAY_THANKS":
    msg = "We are closed for the Thanksgiving holiday today. We will resume regular hours tomorrow. We are open 7 days a week; 8AM - 8PM PST Monday through Thursday and 8AM - 5PM PST Friday through Sunday.";
    botContext.setBotVariable('noTransferMessage',msg,true,false);
    botContext.setTriggerNextMessge('No Transfer');
    break;

  case "HOLIDAY_XMAS":
    msg = "We are closed for the Christmas holiday today. We will resume regular hours tomorrow. We are open 7 days a week; 8AM - 8PM PST Monday through Thursday and 8AM - 5PM PST Friday through Sunday.";
    botContext.setBotVariable('noTransferMessage',msg,true,false);
    botContext.setTriggerNextMessge('No Transfer');
    break;
}