Working with actions
Use actions to run procedures to get or push data, or initiate tasks in third-party systems.
Getting and formatting data
For example, the following series of actions enables a user to make a doctor's appointment:
- setDoctor sets a variable to store the doctor's name.
- getDates makes a REST call to a third-party system to get a list of available doctors and dates.
- formatDates processes the data into a format that can be used by the chatbot (using the Set Variable action type).
Using conditional logic to control the conversation flow
You can also use an action to add conditional logic to the chatbot and set the direction that the conversation takes based on whether one of the conditions is met.
For example, the following action defines three conditions that determine the next step in the conversation based on whether the user requests a brochure (and must therefore give their address details) or whether they request a phone call or demo:
The conditions are defined like this:
| Variable | Operator | Value | Next |
|---|---|---|---|
| {nextStep} | = | Request brochure | Provide Address |
| {nextStep} | = | Request demo | Confirm |
| {nextStep} | = | Request call back | Confirm |
See also Example: using counters and conditions.
Going to another chatbot
You can use an action to move from an interaction in one chatbot to an interaction in another chatbot. This makes it easier to organize complex chatbots as you can then group more specialized interactions in separate chatbots. In the following example one chatbot determines the type of insurance quote, then uses Go to Bot actions to hand over to other more specialized chatbots.
