Tutorial: Adding a node with slots to a dialog

Learning objectives

By the time you finish the tutorial, you will understand how to:

• Define the intents and entities that are needed by your dialog
• Add slots to a dialog node
• Test the node with slots

Step 1: Add intents and examples

Add an intent on the Intents tab. An intent is the purpose or goal that is expressed in user input. You will add a #reservation intent that recognizes user input that indicates that the user wants to make a restaurant reservation.

1. From the Intents page of the tutorial skill, click Add intent.

2. Add the following intent name, and then click Create intent:

   reservation
   

   The #reservation intent is added. A number sign (#) is prepended to the intent name to label it as an intent. This naming convention helps you and others recognize the intent as an intent. It has no example user utterances associated with it yet.

3. In the Add user examples field, type the following utterance, and then click Add example:

   i'd like to make a reservation
   

4. Add these additional examples to help Watson recognize the #reservation intent.

   I want to reserve a table for dinner
   Can 3 of us get a table for lunch?
   do you have openings for next Wednesday at 7?
   Is there availability for 4 on Tuesday night?
   i'd like to come in for brunch tomorrow
   can i reserve a table?
   

5. Click the Close icon to finish adding the #reservation intent and its example utterances.

Step 2: Add entities

An entity definition includes a set of entity values that represent vocabulary that is often used in the context of a given intent. By defining entities, you can help your assistant identify references in the user input that are related to intents of interest. In this step, you will enable system entities that can recognize references to time, date, and numbers.

1. Click Entities to open the Entities page.

2. Enable system entities that can recognize date, time, and number references in user input. Click the System entities tab, and then turn on these entities:

   • @sys-time
   • @sys-date
   • @sys-number

You have successfully enabled the @sys-date, @sys-time, and @sys-number system entities. Now you can use them in your dialog.

Step 3: Add a dialog node with slots

A dialog node represents the start of a thread of dialog between your assistant and the user. It contains a condition that must be met for the node to be processed by your assistant. At a minimum, it also contains a response. For example, a node condition might look for the #hello intent in user input, and respond with, Hi. How can I help you? This example is the simplest form of a dialog node, one that contains a single condition and a single response. You can define complex dialogs by adding conditional responses to a single node, adding child nodes that prolong the exchange with the user, and much more. (If you want to learn more about complex dialogs, you can complete the Building a complex dialog tutorial.)

The node that you will add in this step is one that contains slots. Slots provide a structured format through which you can ask for and save multiple pieces of information from a user within a single node. They are most useful when you have a specific task in mind and need key pieces of information from the user before you can perform it. See Gathering information with slots for more information.

The node you add will collect the information required to make a reservation at a restaurant.

1. Click the Dialogs tab to open the dialog tree.

2. Click the More icon on the #General_Greetings node, and then select Add node below.

3. Start typing #reservation in the condition field, and then select it from the list. This node will be evaluated if the user input matches the #reservation intent.

4. Click Customize, click the Slots toggle to turn it on, and then click Apply.

   

5. Define the following slots:

   Slot details

   Check for	Save it as	If not present, ask
   @sys-date	$date	What day would you like to come in?
   @sys-time	$time	What time do you want the reservation to be made for?
   @sys-number	$guests	How many people will be dining?

6. As the response, specify OK. I am making you a reservation for $guests on $date at $time.

   

7. Click to close the node edit view.

Step 4: Test the dialog

1. Select the icon to open the chat pane.

2. Type i want to make a reservation.

   The assistant recognizes the #reservation intent, and it responds with the prompt for the first slot, What day would you like to come in?.

3. Type Friday.

   The assistant recognizes the value, and uses it to fill the $date context variable for the first slot. It then shows the prompt for the next slot, What time do you want the reservation to be made for?

4. Type 5pm.

   The assistant recognizes the value, and uses it to fill the $time context variable for the second slot. It then shows the prompt for the next slot, How many people will be dining?

5. Type 6.

   The assistant recognizes the value, and uses it to fill the $guests context variable for the third slot. Now that all of the slots are filled, it shows the node response, OK. I am making you a reservation for 6 on 2017-12-29 at 17:00:00.

It worked! Congratulations. You have successfully created a node with slots.

Summary

In this tutorial you created a node with slots that can capture the information necessary to reserve a table at a restaurant.

Next steps

Improve the experience of users who interact with the node. Complete the follow-on tutorial, Improving a node with slots. It covers simple improvements, such as how to reformat the date (2017-12-28) and time (17:00:00) values that are returned by the system. It also covers more complex tasks, such as what to do if the user does not provide the type of value that your dialog expects for a slot.