ACTIVE LAB
Various embodiments provide a tool, referred to herein as “Active Lab” that can be used to develop, debug, and maintain knowledge bases. These knowledge bases (KBs) can then engage various applications, technology, and communications protocols for the purpose of task automation, real time alerting, system integration, knowledge acquisition, and various forms of peer influence. In at least some embodiments, a KB is used as a virtual assistant that any real person can interact with using their own natural language. The KB can then respond and react however the user wants: answering questions, activating applications, or responding to actions on a web page.
Creating and maintaining knowledge bases that are used for various projects can be a time consuming task. In the past, a great deal of human effort has been required to create and maintain knowledge bases in terms of developing, debugging and maintaining such knowledge bases. Errors that present themselves in a knowledge base can often cascade or grow when such knowledge bases are deployed and used by various applications. Thus, an important consideration in knowledge base development concerns accurately developing and deploying the knowledge base.
SUMMARYThis Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.
Various embodiments provide a tool, referred to herein as “Active Lab” that can be used to develop, debug, and maintain knowledge bases. These knowledge bases (KBs) can then engage various applications, technology, and communications protocols for the purpose of task automation, real time alerting, system integration, knowledge acquisition, and various forms of peer influence.
In at least some embodiments, a KB is used as a virtual assistant that any real person can interact with using their own natural language. The KB can then respond and react however the user wants: answering questions, activating applications, or responding to actions on a web page.
The same numbers are used throughout the drawings to reference like features.
Overview
Various embodiments provide a tool, referred to herein as “Active Lab” that can be used to develop, debug, and maintain knowledge bases. These knowledge bases (KBs) can then engage various applications, technology, and communications protocols for the purpose of task automation, real time alerting, system integration, knowledge acquisition, and various forms of peer influence.
In at least some embodiments, a KB is used as a virtual assistant that any real person can interact with using their own natural language. The KB can then respond and react however the user wants: answering questions, activating applications, or responding to actions on a web page.
In the discussion that follows, various terminology will be used. The following glossary is provided to assist the reader in the discussion that follows:
Agent: Agents are entities programmed to respond to inputs in a pre-determined fashion. They are often used to mimic a human consciousness.
AppCalls: AppCalls are Unit responses that perform application operations instead of simply generating a text response.
Building Blocks: Building Blocks are sets of vocabulary or Concepts, often used to group together terms and Concepts that can be associated with one another, but are not always synonymous.
Cascade: Cascades are graphical representations of the load order and match type of vocabulary, Concepts, and Units within the database.
Concepts: Concepts serve as the bricks of Units. As such, they are composed of Vocab Terms, Helper Terms, and Wild Cards arranged in specific input patterns that trigger the Concept's activation.
Context IQ Engine, the: The Context IQ Engine is essentially the algorithm that tracks and processes user inputs.
Data Mining: Data-mining is the targeted recursion of a set of FPML. After the results for a particular input have been achieved, the remainder of the input is run through a specific cascade, which is a self-sufficient FPML set in its own right.
Dependencies: Dependencies for a Concept or Vocab Term are all those objects which depend upon the aforementioned term or Concept for operation.
Dockable Window: Dockable windows are objects made visible by means of the View menu. These windows can be dragged and dropped at any location on the screen, and may be docked either on the right-hand side of the screen, or the top. When docked, multiple windows can be accessed via tabs.
FPML: A programming language, FPML, short for Functional Presence Mark-up Language is used to govern the behavior of Active Lab projects.
Helper Terms: Helper Terms are words or phrases that are commonly used, but have only one meaning. As such, they are not of sufficient importance to devote separate Vocab Terms and Concepts to them. Helper Terms may be used in both Concepts and Units.
Input Files: Input Files are *.txt files that contain words and/or phrases. They are used in Record Lists and Concepts.
Input Patterns: Input patterns determine the triggering of Concepts and Units. In Concepts, input patterns are composed of Vocab Terms, Wild Cards, and Helper Terms. In Units, input patterns are in turn composed of Concepts and Helper Terms. In both Concepts and Units, input patterns may be configured to trigger only if the input is in a specific order, or by proximity. All Concepts and Units must have at least one input pattern, and many have more than one.
Projects: Projects are the knowledge base storage configuration within the lab.
Situations: Situations are groups of related Units. For instance, a group of Units that all deal with the personality of a project may be grouped together under a personality situation.
Synonyms: Synonyms are words that share the same definition with one another and may be used interchangeably. Linguist's note: This is not entirely true. Many words may have the same definition, but carry different connotations. While they could technically be substituted, doing so would alter the reader's understanding of the sentence.
Test Questions: Test questions are sample inputs that are intended to trigger Units and Concepts. They are generally archetypal in nature, and are used as a guide for input patterns.
Units: Units are composed of Concepts and Helper Terms arranged in input patterns. When those input patterns are triggered, the Unit activates a response, in the form of text or an AppCall.
Units, Nested: Like Units, except that their response is contingent upon another Unit. A nested Unit may only be triggered immediately after its parent Unit has been triggered. This allows for continuity in conversation with the project.
User: The user is the individual human being who operates the software.
Vocab: Short for “Vocabulary,” Vocab Terms form the basis of Concepts, and consist themselves of synonyms.
Wild Cards: Wild Cards function as placeholders within Concepts for any random word or words.
In the discussion that follows, a section entitled
Principles of Active LabKnowledge bases (KB) cover the entire scope of a project, including all the information that ActiveAgent uses, along with all of its capabilities. The files themselves are written in a programming language known as FPML (Functional Presence Markup Language), a language similar to XML. This includes master FPML files, optional FPML files, and lex files. For additional information on FPML, the reader is referred to the following U.S. patent applications, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein: Ser. Nos. 10/839,425 and 11/169,142.
Active Lab is a visual tool (GUI) that allows the user to easily create and maintain a knowledge base without the necessity of knowing the actual FPML code.
The discussion that follows provides some of the principles behind what ActiveAgent can do, and how it works. Instructions for physically putting these Concepts into the lab will come later, along with more advanced uses of each of these principles.
Principles of a Knowledge BaseTo begin understanding how to create a knowledge base, we will start with the idea of an input and a response by ActiveAgent. Consider the following input and response:
-
- Input: How much does it cost to have a savings account?
- Response: Our savings accounts are free to have, but do require that you maintain a balance of $300.
First, let's examine the response. The response is a known answer in the knowledge base. When a response is paired together with patterns that will trigger it, it is called a Unit. A group of Units can be categorized into Situation Groups which are similar to folders in Windows®, and are used mainly for organizational purposes due to the large number of responses a KB may have.
Next, we must determine what questions should solicit that response. It turns out there are many different ways to phrase questions, all of which should be taken into account:
-
- Input:
- How much does it cost to have a savings account?
- What's the price of a savings account?
- $$ of a savings account?
- Saving's accounts: cost?
- Do I have to pay for savings accounts?
- What are the restrictions of a savings account?
- Is there a minimum balance I have to maintain to have a savings account?
- How much is a savings account?
These questions are then listed with the Unit for the purposes of testing to make sure that when they are asked, this particular response is given.
ConceptsA Concept is a breakdown of the critical ideas in a test question. In the above list of possible questions there seems to be three main themes: Cost, Savings Account, and Minimum Balance. Notice that not all of these Concepts exist in every possible question. Some questions have the idea of Cost, some Minimum Balance, and all have the Concept of Savings Account. To make a successful Unit, these Concepts are listed within the Unit and paired in such a way that this combination of Concepts is unique within the KB. This is called a Pattern. A Unit may have multiple patterns featuring different combinations of Concepts. For example:
-
- Cost AND Savings Account=Unit Response
- Minimum Balance AND Savings Account=Unit Response
Note that a pattern for a Unit includes at least one Concept, however it is not recommended to have more than four Concepts in a pattern. A Concept is made up mostly of Vocab, Helper Terms, and Building Blocks, which are described individually below.
VocabA Vocab is a grouping of unambiguous synonyms and misspellings. The name of a particular grouping of synonyms is known as a Vocab Term. Vocab Terms are usually end with the suffix “vocab.”
-
- AccountVocab
- Account
- Accounts
- Accounts
- Account's
- PriceVocab
- Price
- Prices
- Prise
- Prises
- Cost
- Costs
- Cost's
- AccountVocab
In the example of PriceVocab, the word cost is included because for this KB the user wants the words price and cost to be synonymous.
Helper TermsA Helper Term is a word that has no unambiguous synonyms, however functions almost the same way as a Vocab, and mostly consists of conjunctions. Here are some examples of common Helper Terms:
-
- and
- is
- for
- the
A Building Block is a list of either Vocab/Helper Terms or a list of Concepts that may be useful categorized together. As an example, consider the following:
Anatomy (Vocab Building Block):
-
- armvocab
- legvocab
- headvocab
- shouldervocab
- feetvocab
Now that these Vocab Terms are bundled together, they can be used in a Concept pattern. Here is an example use of a Vocab Building Block:
-
- surgeryvocab AND Anatomy (Building Block)
- brokenvocab AND myvocab AND Anatomy (Building Block)
In this example, because the Anatomy Building Block contained five Vocab Terms, it turned what would have been ten patterns into two. Also notice that Vocab Terms, which include all the synonyms and misspellings, are also included in this example. As another example, consider the following:
Types of Accounts (Concept Building Block)
-
- Savings Accounts
- Checking Accounts
- Money Market Accounts
- Investment Accounts
This Building Block would then be used to reduce the number of patterns necessary.
Creating ConceptsA Concept is made of patterns of Vocab, Helper Terms, and Building Blocks listed within the Concept. Here are the patterns that would make up the Savings Account Concept:
-
- savingsvocab AND accountvocab
- accountvocab AND for AND savingsvocab
- interestvocab AND bearingvocab AND accountvocab
Notice that the word “for” is a Helper Term and does not end with the suffix “vocab.” In Concepts, two things that are important are Order and Proximity, both of which are optional when creating any given pattern.
If Order is selected, a pattern will only trigger if it is received in that order. For example, a person would have to type in “savings account” to trigger the above example. If a person typed in “account savings” this pattern would not trigger because it is not in the correct order.
If Proximity is selected, a pattern will only trigger if the inputs are received next to each other. For example, a person would have to type in “savings account” to trigger the above example. If a person typed in “savings in my account” the pattern would not trigger because “savings” and “account” were not typed in next to each other.
Note that for most input patterns, it is important to have both Order and Proximity selected. In the above example, “Savings Account” has a very different meaning than “Account Savings” and “Savings in my Account.” Concepts also have their own associated test questions similar to Units for the purposes of testing.
Examples of Savings Account test questions can include:
-
- Do you have savings accounts at your bank?
- What's a savings account?
- Do you have any interest bearing accounts?
The relationship between these principles can be stated simply:
-
- Units are made of patterns of Concepts.
- Concepts are made of patterns of Vocab and Helper Terms.
- Vocabs are made of lists of synonyms.
The biggest benefit of this system is its flexibility. Once a Vocab has been created, it can be used in any number of Concepts, and once a Concept is created, it can be used in any number of Units. Conversely, any Unit or Concept can have any number of patterns, and the same Vocab or Concept can be used multiple times within each Unit or Concept.
In
In
The Context IQ Engine (CIE) is a term used to describe the part of ActiveAgent that actually does the processing of the FPML code written using Active Lab. The CIE has different functions relative to FPML code, and part of Active Lab is determining which functions to use, and in what order.
CascadesCompleting a single process through use of the CIE is known as a cascade. Any numbers of cascades can, and usually do, run every time the FPML is activated.
Here is an example of the simplest set of cascades necessary for a virtual agent:
-
- Pre-Vocab—a cascade that takes in contractions and outputs separate words.
- Vocab—a cascade that takes in all synonyms and outputs Vocab.
- Post-Vocab—a cascade that takes in separate compound words and outputs single Vocab words.
- Concept—a cascade that takes in Vocab, and Helper Terms and outputs Concepts.
- Unit—a cascade that takes in Concepts and outputs the response.
In this example, each cascade is necessary for a single person's input to output a response, and can do very different things. The Vocab cascade only does substitution; it inputs words and outputs Vocab. The Concept cascade inputs Vocab and Helper Terms, and then outputs all Concepts that have patterns that include those terms. This is known as Match All because it outputs all matches, not just the most accurate one. The Unit cascade inputs Concepts, but only outputs one response. This is known as a Best Match and is a mathematical calculation done by the Context IQ Engine, with the Unit with the highest scoring pattern giving the response.
Static FilesStatic Files are individual FPML files that are written by hand without the help of Active Lab's user interface. The most common files include setups and teardowns, as well as a lex file that handles special cases that Active Lab is currently not set up to handle. These are most commonly established during the initial creation of the project, and usually don't need to be modified during general use.
Common TermsWithin this document, the following terms are important to the proper understanding of Active Lab:
Cascades—A cascade is a layer of FPML processing and is essentially a “mini” fpml runtime contained within a larger runtime. It contains most, if not all, the processing features available to a global runtime, including preprocessing, a specialized lexer, setups and teardowns, chunkers, unit nodes, functions, etc.
Static Files—Static files are .fpml files that remain unchanged, such as lex files.
Input Files—Input files are text files that list various user inputs that can be easily categorized, such as a list of names.
Group—A group is a term that refers to separating similar items into smaller lists for organizational purposes. For example: a Concept Group is a group of similar Concepts.
The following describes some aspects of an Active Lab Family and Concepts:
The following describes the basic components of Active Lab in accordance with one or more embodiments. It also provides directions for getting started with Active Lab.
Components of Active LabThe main application window has several components that allow access to Active Lab features. The following table describes the main features of the illustrated main application window.
The menu bar contains four dropdown menus: File, View, Admin, and Help, which include the sub-menus illustrated in
All activity begins with the File menu.
Dockable WindowsThe dockable windows are the set of windows normally positioned on the right hand side of Active Lab, with each window differentiated by its own tab at the bottom. All dockable windows are opened and closed via the View menu. They may be docked on either the right side of the screen or the top, or allowed to float freely. When docked, multiple windows can be accessed through their corresponding tabs. The following table describes the components available through the dockable windows feature.
Searches enable users to find Concepts and Units by words occurring within their input patterns and/or responses (as appropriate). This sub-section discusses the components of Search and Unit Search. With respect to
-
- 1. Type in a word or phrase in the Search field of the Search dockable window.
- 2. Press <Enter> or click <Update>, which will add the phrase the “Phrases” tree in the main window.
- 3. Repeat steps 1-2 as often as desired.
- 4. Click <Search Now>.
- 5. The results will appear in the top pane, organized by Unit, Concept, and Vocab.
Search contains the following components:
With respect to performing a search, consider the following. Searches in dockable windows only find text that appears in the display names of individual items. Performing a search in a normal dockable window uses the following procedure:
-
- 1. In the dockable window's Search field, type in the desired text.
- 2. Click <Search>.
- 3. The results will appear in the display list highlighted in red.
Searching for text that occurs within the makeup of a Concept or Unit requires the use of Search and Unit Search, respectively.
To run a search for a Concept, use the following procedure:
-
- 1. In Search, type a phrase in the Search field.
- 2. Click <Update> to add the phrase to the search.
- 3. Repeat steps 1 & 2 as often as desired.
- 4. Ensure that the FPML for the project is up-to-date by clicking <Generate FPML>.
- 5. Click <Search Now> to run the search for all the phrases added to the search. Search results will appear in the display.
To run a search for a Unit in the Unit Search dockable window, use the following procedure:
-
- 1. In Unit Search dockable window, type a Concept name into the Search field. This will add the Concept to the Concepts display.
- 2. Select either <Filter On Patterns> or <Filter On Units>.
- 3. Repeat steps 1 & 2 as often as needed.
- 4. Click <Search Units Containing Concepts>.
- 5. Results appear in the Search Results display.
To run a search for a Unit in the Unit Search window, use the following procedure:
-
- 1. In Unit Search, type a Concept name or phrase into the Input field.
- 2. Select either <Match All> or <Match Any>.
- 3. Repeat steps 1 & 2 as often as needed.
- 4. Click <Search>.
- 5. Results appear in the Units Containing Input Concepts and Response Concepts displays.
Active Lab's main window contains five main tabs, in addition to the dockable windows described above. A brief description of each can be found in the following table.
The status bar, located at the bottom of the main window, shows the operations currently being undertaken by the program, and the current progress. An example of this is shown in
The full utility of Active Lab comes when handling knowledge bases (KBs). There are many things to take into consideration when creating a KB, including defining the scope, domain, and terminology surrounding the KB. Conversation directions should also be laid out before creating the KB in Active Lab. Other preparations vary depending on the specific KB. The section below entitled “Project Management” provides additional information in this regard. For information on modifying KBs directly, reference should be made to the sections below entitled “Vocabulary”, “Concepts” and “Units”.
Project ManagementEach project represents an FPML knowledge base (KB) storage configuration, which tells lab what databases to use for the KB components, which comprise Units, Concepts, and Vocabulary. Active Lab features many means by which the user can create, edit, view, and manipulate aspects of a project. This section details the configuration of KBs through the file menu options, the file menu, searches, administrating a project, and cascades.
ProjectsProjects serve as a collection of configuration information for a KB, enabling the user to manipulate the KB through Active Lab. Each project is connected to a database, where all of its constituent components are stored. Multiple projects can work from the same database.
Create New Project is accessed through the File menu by selecting New Project. This window allows the user to specify the foundational specifications of the project. Create New Project contains two tabs: Project Info, and Chat Review. As an example, consider
Project Info allows you to set the basic parameters of the project, including the name of the project, its local file directory, the project's database connection settings, user settings, and web server and subversion servers. Project Info contains the following components:
The Chat Review tab of Create New Project stores the location of Agent Chat Log databases. Chat Review contains the following components:
The database that the Knowledge Base is created from can have multiple projects associated with it. A project file is a file that can point to either part of or all of the database. When multiple users use identical project files, all those users will be working on the same part of the database (also known as the same project) at the same time.
The Project Files window, accessed from the dropdown→Admin→Project Files, can be used to access all the different projects that have been saved in the database. When a user has already has a project open, this window will be filled out when opened. Clicking <Connect> will display all project files associated with the database. These project files can then be downloaded by highlighting them and clicking <Download>.
Currently, most projects are stored on the same server with identical passwords. This means that if a user has a project open, they can view the project files of a different database simply by changing Database Name field and clicking <Connect>. With respect to the Project Files window, consider the following in connection with
Application data can be viewed by selecting Application Data from the Admin menu. This selection opens up Application Editor, which displays the project name, the version of the project, and the lex file associated with it. Once a project has been opened, you can view and change parts of the configuration through Application Editor, as well as copy projects to and from the database. AS an example, consider the following in connection with
Selecting Manage Users from the Admin menu opens the Manage Users window, which allows a user to view and edit user information, specifically display name, login name, password, and user type. With respect to Manage Users, consider the following in connection with
Deployment is the process of moving all the FPML files associated with the project from a user's local copy to another location, usually to a test or production server. To configure the deployment, select Deployment→Configure Deployment from the Admin menu. This will open the Deployment Configuration window. The user can select a means by which the test environment manager can be notified of changes to the FPML. The files may be transferred either by direct e-mail to the test environment manager, or by copying the files to a shared directory. With respect to a Deploy FPML Window, consider the following in connection with
A Deployment Configuration Window allows the user to set up the deployment configuration. This includes the destination folder, email settings, and whether to include copies or Text-to-Speech. With respect to this window, consider the following in connection with
Active Lab has functionality that creates documents that may be useful to the user. In one or more embodiments, there are two documents that Active Lab can create: FPML Statistics which is an Excel® spreadsheet displaying the percentage statistics of Unit test questions and Print Units which is an Excel® spreadsheet displaying all the Units along with their respective test questions.
To create the FPML Statistics spreadsheet, follow these procedures in connection with the user interface shown in
-
- 1. Open FPML Statistics window by following Admin→FPML Reports→Fpml Statistics.
- 2. Type in destination folder and name of file to be created.
- 3. Select destination folder and document name by typing in Report File field, or by clicking <Browse> to open a browse window to find a destination folder.
- 4. Select Print Status of Test, Production, or InActive.
- 5. Click <Generate> to create file.
FPML Statistics contains the following components:
To create the FPML Units spreadsheet, follow these procedures in connection with the user interface shown in
-
- 1. Open Print Units window by following Admin→FPML Reports→Print Units.
- 2. Select Print Status of Test, Production, or InActive.
- 3. Select destination folder and document name by typing in Output File field, or by clicking <Browse> to open a browse window to find a destination folder.
- 4. Click <Generate>
Print Units contains the following components:
Text-To-Speech (TTS) refers to the ability to translate on-screen text into audio speech. TTS files can be generated automatically, or can be pre-recorded voice files. The Text-To-Speech File Management window allows the user to easily manage importing large sets of TTS files.
Text-To-Speech File Management is accessed by selecting Text-To-Speech from Admin as indicated in the user interface of
A cascade represents a single function of the Context IQ Engine (CIE). Each cascade takes an input, processes that input through the CIE, and then gives an output.
The order that the cascades are listed is very important because many cascades only take the output of previous cascades. When an input is received, it is processed through all cascades in the order listed on the View/Edit Load Order window. There are many different types of cascades, some of which are unique to a project.
When it comes to Concepts and Units in particular, there are two types of outputs that are very important: One is called “Match All” and the other is called “Best Match.” A cascade that is set to “Match All” will output all matches to the input pattern that is received. A cascade that is set to “Best Match” will only have one output, which is calculated by the CIE based on the highest scoring pattern. If there is a tie in a “Best Match” cascade, then the output will be the last item that was calculated.
Concepts Groups can be set to either “Match All” or “Best Match” depending on the user. The majority of Concepts are usually set into “Match All” cascades, because Units take the input of multiple Concepts. Concepts are usually set into “Best Match” cascades when their patterns are so similar that they almost always triggered at the same time.
As an example, consider the following two Concepts—Home Equity and Home Equity Loan. The first Concept will always trigger because it will contain patterns that are also in the second Concept, therefore they should be put in their own “Best Match” cascade so only one can be outputted.
Units must always be assigned to “Best Match” cascades. The reason for this is because the output of a Unit is a response. This way, when an input is received, only one response is outputted.
Vocab is processed through the Context IQ Engine using cascades that only do substitution: it takes in a synonym replaces it with the name of its corresponding Vocab Term. This usually needs to be done three times for full effectiveness: the first time called the Pre-Vocab cascade where contractions are separated into separate words; the second time called the Vocab cascade where Vocab Terms are substituted for words; and a third time called the Post-Vocab cascade where multiple Vocab Term phrases are combined into single Vocab Terms, mainly for use in compound words.
The Cascades dockable window, shown in
Cascades are organized by type. In Cascade Group Type, shown in
Cascade Groups represent the primary grouping of all components of a KB. Cascade Group, as shown in the user interface of
Selecting View/Edit Load Order from the Admin menu opens the Application Load Order window as shown in
An Unused Item is an item contained in the database, but not used in the current project. This can occur in many ways: newly created projects that point to an existing database will show all the items in that database as unused; and groups of Vocab, Units, and Concepts can be removed from a project, but not from the database, so they can be available for other projects.
In the Unused Items dockable window, as shown in
The Resource Files dockable window, as shown in
This section provides detailed instructions for creating projects and interacting with the project management tools. To create a new project, use the following procedure in connection with the user interfaces shown in
-
- 1. Select File→New Project to open a Create New Project window.
- 2. Type the Application Name.
- 3. Click <Browse> under Local File Directory to select a local directory where the FPML files will be generated, or type the path in the Local File Directory text field.
- 4. Click <Browse> under Lex Field Source to select a local directory where the lex file will be found, or type the path in the Local File Directory text field.
- 5. Configure the Database Connection as follows:
- a. Select the Database Type from the drop-down menu
- b. Type in the Server Name in the appropriate field.
- c. Type in the Database Name in the appropriate field.
- d. Type in the User Name of your choice in the appropriate field.
- e. Type in the Password.
- 6. Type in the Web Server Path or skip to step 6.
- 7. Type in the Subversion Service or skip to step 7.
- 8. Click on Chat Review or skip to step 9.
- 9. Configure the Chat Review as follows:
- a. Type in the Display Name of the chat server.
- b. Type in the Connection String of the chat server.
- c. Select the Connection Provider for the chat server.
- d. Select the Dialect for the chat server.
- e. Select the Driver for the chat server.
- f. Click <Add>.
- g. Repeat steps a-g for each chat server to be added.
- 10. Click <Create Project> to open the new project, or click <Cancel> to exit the Create New Project window without creating a new project.
To opening an existing project, using the user interface of
-
- 1. Select File→Open Project
- 2. Browse for the project (*.proj) you want to open.
- 3. Click <Open> to open the selected project, or click <Cancel> to continue without opening a project.
Within Active Lab, configuration settings that may be changed are found in Application Editor. To change these configurations, use the following procedure:
-
- 1. Select Application Data from the Admin menu to open Application Editor.
- 2. Make any changes desired to the Name or skip to step 3.
- 3. Make any changes desired to the Version or skip to step 4.
- 4. Make any changes desired to the Approval Mode or skip to step 5.
- 5. Change the lex file using the following procedure or skip to step 6.
- a. Click <Load File> to open a Browse window.
- b. Browse to the desired location and select the lex file.
- c. Click <Open>.
- 6. Click <Upload File> to open a Browse window that will select an existing project or skip to step 7.
- 7. Click <Download File> to open a Browse window to save the project as a (*.proj) file in selected directory or skip to step 8.
- 8. Click <Save> to close the window and save changes OR click <Cancel> to close the window without saving changes.
Project deployment involves sending the project files from one location to another, usually from the user's local hard drive to a test or production environment. There are two methods of deployment: by email or by copying the project files to a shared directory. You may select one or both of these methods as the situation warrants.
Before deploying a project, the following steps can be used to ensure a stable set.
-
- 1. Click <Generate All FPML> or select→File→Force Generate All FPML.
- 2. Wait for FPML generation to complete.
- 3. Close Active Lab.
- 4. Reopen Active Lab.
- 5. Open the project by selecting File→Open Project and browsing to project file.
Once the above steps have been completed, it is very important not to do any other activity in Active Lab before you deploy, or it may interfere with the deployment. This means that after opening the project, you continue directly to the following steps, without doing any other activity.
-
- 1. Select Admin→Deployment→Deploy FPML open Deploy FPML window as shown in
FIG. 26 . - 2. Click <Change Version> to open Application Editor (
FIG. 27 ). - 3. Edit Version field to desired number.
- 1. Select Admin→Deployment→Deploy FPML open Deploy FPML window as shown in
Click <Save>. Window will close.
-
- 4. Return to Deploy FPML window.
- 5. Click <Edit Configuration> to open Deployment Configuration window (
FIG. 28 ) or skip to step 24. - 6. Click <Enable Copy Files> to deploy to a shared directory, or skip to step 12.
- 7. Type or browse to the Deployment Destination Folder of your choice. This is where the deployed files will be copied.
- 8. Select Create and Copy Zip File or Copy Project Folder.
- a. If Create and Copy Zip File is selected, enter Zip File Name in appropriate field.
- 9. Select Copy Text-To-Speech File Share With Deployment (Optional).
- 10. Select Create Deployment Log File (Optional).
- 11. Click Email tab (
FIG. 29 ) or skip to step 18. - 12. Type the Server Name in the first field. This should be your local network email server.
- 13. Type the e-mail address the e-mail will originate from in the second field.
- 14. Type in the email address to which the pertinent files will be sent in the Email Address List.
- 15. Repeat step 10 as often as desired, one address per line.
- 16. Select Attach Deployment Files With Email to ensure that the files will be sent. If this is not selected, the addresses listed will only receive a notification.
- 17. Click Run External Program tab (
FIG. 30 ) or skip to step 20. - 18. Type in or browse to appropriate file.
- 19. Click Commit To Subversion tab or skip to step 22.
- 20. Click <Commit Deployed Files to SVN>. (Optional)
- 21. Click <Save> to close the window and save the deployment settings. The window will close
- 22. Return to Deploy FPML window.
- 23. Examine the Deployment Settings to ensure that all is in order.
- 24. Examine Deployment Status. If it reads “Ready To Deploy,” click <Deploy>.
When the Unit responses have been finalized, one can generate a spreadsheet of the ones requiring new audio files. If you have previously imported voice files, this will be a two step process. First, generate a list of new requests; and secondly, generate a list of responses changed since the last recording.
New Requests:
-
- 1. Admin→Text-To-Speech to open Text-To-Speech File Management.
- 2. Click on New File Requests tab
- 3. Click <Dump New Requests to Excel>.
- 4. Click <OK> in response to the “Please Choose an xml file” window.
- 5. In the Save As window, choose a name and location for the file. Click <Save>.
- 6. The file will be created and the results displayed in the Status field.
Changed Responses:
-
- 1. Admin→Text-To-Speech to open Text-To-Speech File Management.
- 2. Click on Change File Requests tab
- 3. Click <Dump Change Requests to Xml File>.
- 4. Click <OK> in response to the “Please Choose an xml file” window.
- 5. In the Save As window, choose a name and location for the file. Click <Save>.
- 6. The file will be created and the results displayed in the Status field.
When updated with the names of the audio files, these spreadsheets can be used as TTS import files.
VocabularyActive Lab uses vocabulary to allow the user a way to define important terms in a project as well as group synonyms together in order to streamline the Concept, Unit building, and maintenance process. This section contains a description of the details and principles surrounding vocabulary as well as instructions on creating and maintaining vocabulary within Active Lab.
Vocabulary is at the core of defining a Knowledge Base. Concepts and Units build on the foundation of vocabulary. The purpose of vocabulary is to group synonymous words together to be used in formulating input patterns for Concepts and Units. Vocabulary also vastly streamlines the maintenance involved in managing a KB.
The way that vocabulary is streamlined in the KB is by grouping synonyms together under a single label, called a Vocab Term. Synonyms can include any unambiguous synonyms, misspellings, tenses, pluralities, and/or possessive forms. Together, a list of Synonyms and its corresponding Vocab Term are known as a Vocab.
Vocab functions as a substitution algorithm: when a word is entered, it is substituted for its corresponding Vocab Term. This way, only the Vocab Term needs to be used when creating patterns later on. Vocab Terms are organized into Vocab Groups, mainly for organizational purposes. Vocab Groups can then be assigned to different cascades. Vocab is primarily viewed in the Vocab dockable window (See
The Vocab dockable window contains the following components:
The Vocab dockable window has three different right-click menus (shown in
Vocab Groups are sets of Vocab Terms that are categorically similar. For instance, the Vocab Terms “dog,” “cat,” and “parrot” might be placed in a Vocab Group called “animals.” Vocab Groups are used to simplify Vocab management within cascades and projects. Individual groups can be added and removed from projects, and can be moved around, in, and between cascades. Each Vocab Term can only belong to one Vocab Group.
The Add New Vocab Group window (
Vocab Terms are used to simplify maintenance of Concepts and Units by converting all synonymous words into a single term. Thus, Vocab Terms act as a form of substitution. In cases of ambiguous synonyms, create two separate Vocab Terms to be placed in a Building Block together later on. Vocab Terms are created via the Vocab Editor (See
Helper Terms are commonly used words and phrases that are used to build sentences, and have no synonyms or common misspellings, such as “is,” “or,” or “but.” Helper Terms are also used for words that should not be made into Vocab, especially those that are only necessary for a single Concept or Unit. Some names/proper nouns that you want to reuse in response may be used as Helper Terms. Helper Terms can be used anywhere Vocab is used, and also directly in Units. The Helper Terms dockable window is shown in
The Add New Helper Term and Edit Helper Term windows (see
Building Blocks serve as a means to group related Vocab and Helper Terms and Concepts together. There are two types of Building Blocks: Standard and Phrase.
Standard Building Blocks provide a useful means for associating terms or Concepts that are commonly though not always related to one another, specifically ambiguous Vocab, or words with multiple meanings based on context, such as “arm,” which can mean a part of the body or to ready a weapon.
Phrase Building Blocks are used to group short patterns of Vocab and/or Helper Terms together in a particular order. When a phrase Building Block is used in an input pattern, that pattern will only trigger when an input is received that exactly matches the order, from top to bottom, that is listed in the Building Block.
Building Blocks composed of Concepts are represented by a first type of icon, while those composed of Vocab Terms are represented by a second type of icon. Vocab and Helper Term Building Blocks can be used in Concept input patterns, while Concept Building Blocks can be used in Unit input patterns.
Building Blocks can be nested. This means that Building Blocks can be used to make other Building Blocks. Building Blocks has a dockable window shown in
Building Block Editor (
This section describes how to create, edit, and delete Vocab Groups, Vocab Terms, Helper Terms, and Building Blocks. Creating a Vocab Group can be performed in the following way.
-
- 1. In the Vocab dockable window, right click anywhere and select Add→New Vocab Group to open the Add New Vocab Group window (
FIG. 39 ). - 2. In the Add New Vocab Group window, enter a name for the group in the Group field.
- 3. Select the appropriate cascade group from the Cascades Group drop-down menu. Note: for Vocab Groups, the selection should end in “vocab”. Most words will be found in the General_Vocabulary cascade.
- 4. Click the <OK> button to add the Vocab Group to the database OR click <Cancel> to continue without adding the Vocab Group to the database.
- 1. In the Vocab dockable window, right click anywhere and select Add→New Vocab Group to open the Add New Vocab Group window (
Because Vocab Groups are shared across projects that share the same database, deleting a Vocab Group from the database affects the functionality of all projects attached to it. For this reason, it is best to remove the group from the project rather than deleting it from the database. Note: Vocab Groups may only be removed if they have no dependencies. To remove a Vocab Group from a project, use the following procedure:
-
- 1. In Vocab, right-click on the desired Vocab Group and select Remove From Application.
- 2. The group will disappear from the list.
As noted above, it is generally not recommended to delete Vocab Groups. However, should it be necessary to delete a Vocab Group from the database altogether, use the following procedure:
-
- 1. Select the desired Vocab Group and click <Delete> OR right-click on the desired Vocab Group and select Delete.
- 2. In the Confirm Delete dialogue, click <Yes> to delete the group OR click <No> to close the dialogue without deleting.
To create Vocab terms, consider the following in connection with
-
- 1. Right click on an empty portion of the Vocab dockable window and select Add→New Vocab Term OR click the <Add> button at the top of the window.
- 2. Select the Group to which the Vocab Term will belong from the drop-down menu.
- 3. Type the Natural Language form of the term.
- 4. Select Add Plural Forms and/or Add Possessive Forms if desired.
- 5. Click <Add> or press the <enter> key, which will generate the name for the term.
- 6. Click in the Synonym text field
- 7. Type the desired synonym and press <Enter> or click <Add> to add the synonym to the list.
- 8. Repeat steps 6-7 for each additional synonym.
- 9. Click the <Close> button when finished.
Adding new synonyms can be accomplished as follows:
-
- 1. Right click on an existing Vocab Term and select Add→Synonym, OR double-click on said existing Vocab Term OR highlight the desired Vocab Term and click <Edit> to open the Vocab Editor window.
- 2. Click on the Synonyms text field.
- 3. Type the desired synonym and press <Enter> or click <Add>.
- 4. Repeat steps 2 & 3 for each additional synonym you wish to add.
- 5. Click the <Close> button when finished.
Editing a Vocab Term can take the form of adding or deleting synonyms, changing the title of the term, or changing the Vocab Group to which it belongs. To edit an existing Vocab Term use the following procedure:
-
- 1. Open the Vocab Editor window either by right clicking the desired Vocab Term and selecting Edit OR double-clicking on said Vocab Term OR highlighting the Vocab Term and clicking the <Add> button.
- 2. Make any desired changes to the Natural Language field, Term field, or Group drop-down menu, and click the <Edit Names or Vocab Group> button.
- 3. Select a synonym from the Synonyms display. Make any changes as needed in the Synonyms field, and click <Update>.
Editing a synonym in Vocab Editor uses the following procedure:
-
- 1. Double click on the synonym you wish to edit.
- 2. Modify the text in the Synonym text field as desired.
- 3. Click <Update> to add the changes to the term OR click <Cancel> to cancel the changes.
- 4. Repeat steps 1-3 for each synonym to be edited.
- 5. Click <Close> to close the window.
To delete synonyms, use the following procedure:
-
- 1. Double-click on the desired synonym in the Synonyms display list.
- 2. Click <Delete>.
- 3. In the Confirm Delete dialogue, click <Yes> to delete the synonym OR click <No> to close the dialogue without deleting.
- 4. Repeat steps 1-3 for each synonym to be deleted.
- 5. Click <Close> to close the window.
To remove a Vocab Term from a project:
-
- 1. Right click on the Vocab Term in question and select Delete OR select the term and click <Delete>.
- 2. In the Confirm Delete dialogue, click <Yes> to delete the term OR click <No> to close the dialogue without deleting.
To create a Helper Term, consider the following in connection with
-
- 1. In the Helper Terms dockable window, click the <Add> button, or right click in the window and select Add, either of which will open the Add New Helper Term window.
- 2. Type the desired term in the Term field
- 3. Click <OK> to save the term, or click <Cancel> to close the window and continue without adding the term.
With respect to editing Helper Terms, consider the following in connection with
-
- 1. In Helper Terms, select the desired Helper Term and click <Edit> OR right-click on the desired Helper Term and select Edit, OR double-click on the desired Helper Term to open Edit Helper Term.
- 2. Make any changes desired to the text in the Term field.
- 3. Click <OK> to close the window and save the changes OR click <Cancel> to close the window without saving the changes.
With respect to deleting Helper Terms, use the following procedure:
-
- 1. In Helper Terms, select the desired Helper Term.
- 2. Click <Delete> OR right click on the term and select Delete.
- 3. In the Confirm Delete box that appears, click <OK> to delete the file OR click <Cancel> to close the box without deleting the term.
With respect to creating, editing and deleting Building Blocks, consider the following in connection with
To create a Building Block, use the following procedure:
-
- 1. In the Building Blocks dockable window, click the <Add> button OR right click anywhere in the window and select Add from the right click menu, either of which will open up the Building Block Editor window.
- 2. Type name for the Building Block in the Name field and click <Add> or press <Enter>.
- 3. Select a Standard or Phrase from the Type dropdown.
- 4. Drag and drop Vocab Terms, Helper Terms, or Building Blocks from the Vocab, Helper Terms, or Building Block dockable windows OR drag and drop Concepts from the Concepts dockable window OR manually type the a term into the text field at in the Search section of the Building Block Editor, press <Search>, and drag and drop the results into the Terms display. A Building Block may contain either vocabulary (Vocab and Helper Terms) or Concepts.
- 5. Click <Close> when done.
To edit a Building Block, use the following procedure:
-
- 1. Select the desired Building Block and click <Edit> OR double-click on the desired Building Block OR right-click on the desired Building Block and select Edit to open Building Block Editor.
- 2. Add new components to the Building Block by using the steps described above or skip to step 3.
- 3. Remove the desired terms/Concepts or skip to step 4.
- a. Double-click on the desired term or Concept.
- b. Click <Remove>.
- 4. Click <Close>.
To delete a Building Block, use the following procedure:
-
- 1. Select the desired Building Block in Building Blocks.
- 2. Click <Delete> OR right-click to open the right-click menu and select Delete.
- 3. In the Confirm Delete box, click <OK> to delete the Building Block OR click <Cancel> to close the box without deleting the Building Block.
Concepts can serve as the middle step in the Vocab, Concept, and Unit process. It is an important step in the process that defines the meanings behind groups of words and phrases. This section details what a Concept is, as well as the processes involved in creating and editing Concepts.
In the English language, groups of words and phrases can imply a particular meaning. This meaning could be a goal, as in the phrase, “tell me about”, or it can be an idea, such as “a refreshing drink”. A group of all the possible phrasings that can define a meaning is known as a Concept. These Concepts are then used to create input patterns for any number of Units later on.
The Basics of ConceptsConcepts are composed of input patterns of Vocab Terms, Building Blocks, Wild Cards, and Helper Terms. A Concept is considered triggered (or “hit”) when it receives an input pattern that completely matches at least one of its patterns.
Concept GroupsConcepts are organized into groups by subject matter. The placement of Concept Groups in a cascade determines load order, and whether they are “Best Match,” or “Match All.” If a Concept Group is in a cascade labeled “Best Match,” only the constituent Concept with the best matching input pattern is triggered. If, on the other hand, the Concept Group is in a cascade labeled “Match All,” any Concept in this cascade having an input pattern matching the user's input will trigger.
Material ConceptsKnowledge Bases created by Active Lab can be used for many different things, even the use of functions not currently supported by the Lab. One of these uses is to help create Information Retrieval (IR) databases, which are used for other advance types of searching.
For use with these IR searches, Active Lab has the functionality to mark a Concept as a Material Concept, which will have a specific functionality within the IR search.
Generic ConceptFor every Concept Group, one Concept can be marked as the Generic Concept. The Generic Concept will trigger any time any Concept triggers from that Concept Group.
Concepts Dockable WindowThe Concepts dockable window, as shown in
Concepts also has two right-click menu options, as shown in
Concepts are comprised of two principle components: tests and patterns. Patterns are made up of Vocab Terms, Helper Terms, Building Blocks, and Wild Cards and determine what phrases trigger the Concept. Tests are ways to make sure that the Concept is working as intended.
Tests allows the user to create and edit test questions. Test questions represent user inputs that should cause the Concept to trigger. When looking at the set of test questions, it is best to consider the ideas involved. Ideal test questions should represent complete user inputs. In this manner, each Concept can be tested to see how it interacts with other Concepts. Test questions serve as a useful guide for the creation of input patterns. The Tests tab, as shown in
Tests also includes a right-click menu, as shown in
Patterns, as shown in
The tabs shown in
As discussed earlier, the Concepts Builder function is accessed either by means of the Concepts Editor tab, or by right clicking in the Concepts dockable window.
Creating a New Concepts GroupNew Concept Groups are created using the following procedure in connection with the user interface shown in
-
- 1. Right click on a blank space in the Concepts dockable window and select Add→Concept Group to open the Add New Concept Group window.
- 2. Enter the name of the new Concept Group in the Group field.
- 3. Choose a Print Status from the Print Status drop.
- 4. Select a Cascade Group from the Cascade Group drop-down menu.
- 5. Click <OK> to create the new Concept group OR click <Cancel> to close the window without creating a new Concept Group.
New Concepts can be added using the following procedure in connection with the user interface shown in
-
- 1. Click <Add> in the Concepts dockable window OR right click on blank space in the Concepts dockable window and select Add→Concept, which opens the Concept Editor tab, or Click <Add> in the Concept Editor tab of the main display.
- 2. Choose Concept Group from drop-down menu.
- 3. Enter the name of the Concept in the Name field
- 4. Click <Create>.
Once a Concept has been created, the user can add test questions on the Tests tab using the following procedure in connection with the user interface shown in
-
- 1. Type the question in the Test Question field. Note: For Concepts, test questions are often single words or short phrases; however there is no limit to the size of test question.
- 2. Click <Add> or press <Enter>
- 3. Repeat steps 1 & 2 as often as desired.
To add Vocab Terms to a Concept pattern, use the following procedure in connection with the user interface shown in
-
- 1. In the Patterns tab, click the <Add> button to generate a blank pattern.
- 2. Open the Vocab dockable window and select a Vocab Term.
- 3. Drag and drop the selected Vocab Term into the blank pattern.
- 4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 as often as desired.
- 5. If needed, select Helper Terms and Building Blocks from the Helper Terms or Building Blocks dockable windows and drag and drop them into the pattern.
- 6. Drag and drop to edit the order of the input pattern.
- 7. Select <Order Matters> and/or <Proximity Matters> if desired.
- 8. Select Position from drop-down if desired.
- 9. Click <Save> if steps 7 or 8 have been followed.
- 10. Repeat steps 1-9 to create as many input patterns as desired.
Once patterns for either Concepts or Units have been changed, it is necessary for the FPML files themselves to be generated. There are currently two options:
-
- <Generate All FPML>: This will generate all FPML files for the project.
- <Generate FPML (Change Only)>: This will generate only the FPML files that have recently changed in the database.
Once test questions and patterns have been added to the Concept, it is necessary to run a test to ensure correct patterns have been used.
-
- 1. Click <Run Tests> in the Tests tab. The dialogue box in
FIG. 55 will only appear if changes have been made to the database (i.e.: a pattern has been changed): - 2. Click <Yes> to generate FPML (Changes Only) and run test or Click <No> to not generate FPML. The dialogue box in
FIG. 56 will only appear if <No> was selected from the Generate Files dialogue box. - 3. Click <Yes> to run tests, or click <No> to not run tests.
- 1. Click <Run Tests> in the Tests tab. The dialogue box in
When the test is completed, the results will show in the Test Questions display next to each question. As discussed above, a green circle indicates success, a yellow circle indicates the Concept was untested or has been marked as InActive, and a red circle indicates failure.
Editing ConceptsEditing a Concept works as follows:
-
- 1. Find the Concept in the Concepts dockable window.
- 2. Double click on the Concept, which will open it in the Concept Editor tab OR right click on the Concept and select Edit→ In Main Editor or Edit→ In Pop-Up.
- 3. Make any changes desired.
To delete a Concept, use the following procedure:
-
- 1. In the Concepts dockable window, Select the Concept to be deleted and click <Delete> OR right click on a Concept and select Delete.
- 2. In the Confirm Delete dialogue, click <Yes> to delete the Concept and close the dialogue OR click <No> to close the dialogue without deleting.
Because Concept Groups are shared by every project that accesses a given database, they may only be removed from the given project using the following procedure:
-
- 1. Right-click on the Concept Group to be removed and select Remove from the right-click menu.
Units are the primary form of response to user input. A response is what results from user input. Units ensure that the appropriate responses appear for the each user input. The response may be as simple as a plain text output, or as complex as a series of Application Calls (AppCalls) that trigger specific actions, or any combination thereof. When preparing a Unit, it is important to consider the kinds of questions to which it will respond. What are the key phrases or words that are likely to show up in questions that should trigger the Unit? What question is the Unit supposed to answer? The answers to these questions will influence the user's choice of Concepts and the structure of the patterns.
In order to trigger the Unit, an input must match all the Concepts and Helper Terms in at least one of the input patterns of the Unit. It is often helpful to determine the Unit's response first, as that will in turn define which questions it will answer.
Units are organized into sets called Situation Groups according to their subject matter. Like Concept Groups, Situation Groups are placed under cascades, except they are set to “Best Match.” The placement of these cascades in the load order is usually last, because the Unit cascade outputs the response.
The Units Dockable Window
The Units dockable window, shown in
Unit contains two right-click menus as shown in
The Unit Editor Tab
The Unit builder function can be accessed through Unit Editor as shown in
Tests, as shown in
The Tests tab also contains the right-click menu shown in
The Patterns tab, as shown in
The Patterns tab also has the following right-click menu shown in
Response Tab
The response tab, as shown in
The right click menu shown in
Urls
One of the most powerful tools of ActiveAgent is the ability to direct a response to a particular web page. This is done by creating a Url in the Urls dockable window, shown in
Clicking the <Add> button or right-clicking→Add will open the Edit Url window shown in
Web Links
Web Links allow the user to include links directly to other Units and/or Urls along with a response. Web Links are created and edited from the Web Links dockable window shown in
The Web Links dockable window is separated into two folders: Links Containing Urls, and Links Containing Units. This is done for mainly organizational purposes. The Web Links dockable window contains the following components:
Web Links are created and edited by selecting <Add> or by selecting right-click→Add to open the Web Links window, which is shown in
Advanced Tabs
These tabs may only be viewed when <Advanced View> is selected.
Response Blocks are responses shared by multiple Units in addition to the unique Unit-specific responses. Response Blocks can be manipulated via the Response Blocks dockable window, and the Response Blocks advanced tab found under the Units tab.
The Text-To-Speech tab allows the user to manually attach a voice file to a Unit and has the following features:
The following discussion describes various ways to create, test, and edit Units.
Creating a New Situation
To create a new situation, use the following procedure:
-
- 1. In the Units dockable window, right click on a Unit or Situation and select Add→Situation, which will open the Add New Situation window shown in
FIG. 70 . - 2. In the Situation field, type the desired name of the Situation Group and hit <Tab> or <Enter>. The Counter Variable field will auto populate.
- 3. Edit the Counter Variable if desired. Note: Counter Variables can only be a single word.
- 4. Select a Print Status from the drop-down.
- 5. Select <Required> check box if desired, or skip to step 7.
- 6. Choose a Cascade Group from the drop-down menu.
- 7. Click <OK> to continue and save the changes OR click <Cancel> to close Add New Situation without creating a new situation.
- 1. In the Units dockable window, right click on a Unit or Situation and select Add→Situation, which will open the Add New Situation window shown in
Adding New Units
-
- 1. In Units, select a Situation Group and click <Add> OR right-click on a Situation Group and select Add→Unit from the menu to open the Units tab.
- 2. Select the Situation which the Unit will belong to from the drop-down menu.
- 3. Type in the Unit Name.
- 4. Click <Create>.
Adding Questions
Once the Unit has been created, test questions may be added under the Tests tab of the Unit Editor.
-
- 1. Type the question in the Test Questions field.
- 2. Press <Enter> or click <Add> to add the test question to the Test Questions display.
Adding Responses
Each Unit has a response that occurs as a result of an input that matches any of its input patterns. As discussed above, this may be as simple as a single line of text or as complicated as an application action.
Though responses do not require URLs to function, they can benefit from the versatility associated with web pages. To add a URL to a response:
-
- 1. Open Urls dockable window.
- 2. Click and Drag selected Url from the Urls dockable window into the Url display in the Response tab.
- 3. Select Auto-Navigate to URL if desired.
To create the response itself:
-
- 1. Type in the desired response in the Response field.
- 2. Click the <Save> button to save the response OR click the <Cancel> button to erase any changes made to the response.
Web Links allows the user to add links to additional web pages and/or Units in the response. To add a Web Link to a response:
-
- 1. Open Urls, Web Links, or Units dockable window.
- 2. Click and Drag selected Url, Web Link, or Unit from the dockable window into the Web Links display in the Response tab. Note: you may be prompted to create a Web Link at this point.
- 3. Use <Move Call Order Up> and <Move Call Order Down> as desired.
Generating the Patterns
In order to generate a pattern for a Unit, use the following procedure:
-
- 1. In Patterns of Units, click <Add> to create a blank input pattern.
- 2. Drag and drop any desired Concepts from the Concepts dockable window into the blank pattern.
- 3. Drag and drop any desired Helper Terms from the Helper Terms dockable window into the pattern.
- 4. Arrange the Concepts and Helper Terms as desired.
- 5. Select <Order Matters> and/or <Proximity Matters> as desired. Note: no affect will be produced by this step unless AppEvents are used.
- 6. Choose a pattern position from the Edit Pattern Position drop-down menu.
- 7. Click <Save> to save any changes.
- 8. Click <Generate FPML (Changes Only) or <Generate All Fpml> or to enter the pattern into the database if desired.
Use steps 1-7 to create as many patterns as desired. Note: You must double click on the pattern in order to later make any changes to the Position or <Order Matters> and <Proximity Matters> check boxes. Click <Save> to save these changes.
Testing the Patterns
In order to test the input patterns, use the following procedure similar to testing Concepts:
-
- 1. Click <Run Tests> in the Tests tab.
- 2. The dialogue box in
FIG. 71 will only appear if changes have been made to the database (i.e.: a pattern has been changed): - 3. Click <Yes> to generate FPML (Changes Only) and run test or Click <No> to not generate FPML. Note, select <Yes> if a pattern was changed.
- 4. The dialogue box in
FIG. 72 will only appear if <No> was selected from the Generate Files dialogue box. - 5. Click <Yes> to run tests, or click <No> to not run tests.
- 6. The status of each test question is displayed as a colored ball next to the question. A green circle indicates success, a yellow ball indicates the question was not tested, and a red ball indicates failure. Questions that fail feature a brief summary of the error(s) encountered.
To debug a failed question:
-
- 1. Right click on the test question.
- 2. Select Debug Question. This loads the selected question into the debugger, and allows the user to see the processes that led to the question's failure.
Editing a Unit
To edit a unit, perform the following procedure:
-
- 1. Double click on the Unit in the Units OR right click on the Unit and select Edit→ In Main Editor or Edit→ In Pop-Up Editor. Both methods have the same functionality.
- 2. Make any changes desired to Name, Situation, or Print Status then click the <Update>.
- 3. Make any changes to individual input patterns.
- a. Select an input pattern.
- b. If desired, drag and drop a new Concept into the input pattern.
- c. If desired, select or de-select Order Matters.
- d. If desired, select or de-select Proximity Matters.
- e. If desired, select a Position.
- f. Click <Save> to finalize the changes to the input pattern.
- 4. Make any changes to test questions.
- 5. Make any changes desired to the response.
To delete a pattern, perform the following procedure:
-
- 1. Select the desired input pattern and click <Delete> OR right-click on the selected input pattern and select Delete.
- 2. In Confirm Delete, click <Yes> to delete the pattern or <No> to close the window without deleting.
To deactivate a pattern, perform the following procedure:
-
- 1. Right-click on the desired pattern.
- 2. Select Set Active/Inactive from the right-click menu.
In the same way that patterns may be deactivated, the same may be done to entire Units.
-
- 1. In the main tab Tests, right-click the tests associated with the desired Unit.
- 2. Select Set Active/Inactive from the right-click menu.
Test questions may be edited using the following procedure:
-
- 1. Double-click on the desired test question to open it in the text field.
- 2. Make any desired changes to the text. 3. Click <Update>
Responses may be edited using the following procedure:
-
- 1. If desired, select a new URL by dragging it from the Urls dockable window.
- 2. Make any changes desired to the text.
- 3. Click <Save>
Deleting a Unit
To delete a unit, use the following procedure:
-
- 1. Select the desired Unit in Units.
- 2. Right click on the Unit and select Delete.
- 3. In the Confirm Delete window that appears, click <Yes> to continue and delete the Unit OR select <No> to continue without deleting the Unit.
Directives are the way conversation scenarios are created for ActiveAgent. They can take the form of a directed conversation, or a series of steps the user needs a person to follow. This section discusses in detail what directives are, along with the different windows that are associated with it, as well as how to implement them.
Definition of a Directive
A Directive can be thought of as a series of Units that are linked together by specific responses, forming conversations. These conversations can be triggered by events on a web page, or by a person's input to ActiveAgent.
Take this simple example:
-
- Person: How are you?
- ActiveAgent: I'm fine, thanks! How are you?
- Person: Good.
- ActiveAgent: I'm glad to hear that.
In this example, there are actually two Units being triggered. The first is the response of “I'm fine, thanks! How are you?” and the second Unit has the response “I'm glad to hear that.” The work of the Directive is to make the second Unit only accessible directly after the first Unit has triggered. The reason for this is to prevent ActiveAgent from responding with “I'm glad to hear that” anytime a person types is “Good.”
A single Directive is not limited to one conversation stream; it can have many branches, based on the variety of things a person could say to the question of “How are you?”
-
- Person: How are you?
- ActiveAgent: I'm fine, thanks! How are you?
- Person: Not so good.
- ActiveAgent: I'm sorry to hear that.
In this example, the same Unit response was hit, of “I'm fine, thanks! How are you?” but a different response is given.
Directive Trees
Directives are displayed in a Directive Tree, which is a series of responses that can branch out as many times and with as much complexity as the user wants.
In the following example, a single Unit, called the Parent Unit, is triggered. The conversation then flows into Child Units, or Units that can be accessed through Directives.
Initial input: “I want to buy a watch”
-
- Unit 1 (Parent Unit)—“Great! Would you like a gold, silver, or diamond watch?”
- 1. Response—“a diamond”
- a. Unit 2—“would you like a small, medium, or large diamond watch?”
- i. Response—“small”
- 1. Unit 5—“To purchase a small diamond watch, please . . . ”
- ii. Response—“medium”
- 1. Unit 6—“To purchase a medium diamond watch, please . . . .”
- iii. Response—“large”
- 1. Unit 7—“To purchase a large diamond watch, please . . . ”
- a. Unit 2—“would you like a small, medium, or large diamond watch?”
- 2. Response—“a gold watch”
- b. Unit 3 “would you like a small, medium, or large gold watch?”
- i. Response—“small”
- 1. Unit 8—“To purchase a small gold watch, please . . . ”
- ii. Response—“medium”
- 1. Unit 9—“To purchase a medium gold watch, please . . . .”
- iii. Response—“large”
- 1. Unit 10—“To purchase a large gold watch, please . . . ”
- b. Unit 3 “would you like a small, medium, or large gold watch?”
- 3. Response—“a silver watch”
- c. Unit 4—“would you like a small, medium, or large silver watch?”
- i. Response—“small”
- 1. Unit 11—“To purchase a small silver watch, please . . . ”
- ii. Response—“medium”
- 1. Unit 12—“To purchase a medium silver watch, please . . . .”
- iii. Response—“large”
- 1. Unit 13—“To purchase a large silver watch, please . . . ”
- c. Unit 4—“would you like a small, medium, or large silver watch?”
- 1. Response—“a diamond”
- Unit 1 (Parent Unit)—“Great! Would you like a gold, silver, or diamond watch?”
As seen in this example, specific responses to a Unit that is set up as a Directive will produce other Units. If a person typed “small” and wasn't in a Directive, no Unit would be triggered. However, if “small” is typed in response to a particular Unit, a specific Unit is triggered. In this manner, conversations can be directed.
Another feature of Directives is that a Child Unit still has all the qualities of a regular Unit. This means that a Child Unit can also be accessed from outside the Directive. For example, Unit 3 from the above example can be set to always respond directly to the question, “Can I buy a gold watch?” even if its Parent Unit has never been triggered.
Directive Dockable Window
Since Directives are simply Units that have Child Units, the Directives dockable window, as shown in
Directive Builder
Directives are created and edited in the Directive Builder window. This window consists of two main Tabs:
-
- Builder Tab: a quick easy way to create directive trees, and responses, and links.
- Advanced Tab: a tree view of the entire directive, as well as testing and pattern building for Child Units.
Builder Tab
The Builder tab of the Directive Builder window, as shown in
Advanced Tab
The Advanced tab of the Directive Builder window, as shown in
The Advanced tab contains three main sections:
-
- Directive field: the location of the Directive Tree
- Edit Info tab: use this tab to add or modify patterns, responses, test questions, Variables, and Urls.
- Test tab: where all test questions can be run.
The Directive Tree is a tree view of the entire Directive. Each indent on the tree implies one level further into the tree. Branches on the same level of the tree are linked together with vertical lines.
To access many of the features of the Directives field, access the right click menu. The Directives field has the following components:
The Edit Info tab, as shown in
Test questions and patterns listed under the Edits Tab are Directive specific. This means that they only apply within the Directive, and cannot be accessed unless the previous point in the Directive has been hit. The Edit Info tab has the following components:
In the Tests tab, shown in
Except for the fact that the tests are in the form of a tree, the functionality of Tests is very similar to the Tests tab from the Unit Editor. The Tests Tab has the following components:
This section describes the creation and editing of Directives using the Directive Builder, and Directives dockable window.
The Builder Tab
When the Directive Builder opens, it will default to the Builder tab. The Parent Unit will be displayed in the upper left corner. From this window, both the Parent Unit and the Child Unit can be edited, and an entire Directive Tree can be easily built. The Builder tab creates an easy way to build a Directive Tree, however patterns and test questions are added using the Advanced tab discussed below.
The left hand side of the Builder tab is a slide show view of the entire Directive. The uppermost slide will always be the Parent Unit of the entire Directive. Below it on smaller slides are all of the Child Units that are directly below it in the Directive Tree.
If a Child Unit is selected, it will increase in size and any of its Child Units will appear in as small slides below it. This can be repeated as long as there are more Child Units below each subsequent Child Unit.
Clicking on any Parent Unit will change the slide show view to show all Child Units of that Unit.
A Directive can be created in a variety of ways from a variety of places. The reason for this is because a Directive is simply multiple Units linked together in a series. This makes creating Directives very flexible.
There are three different ways to begin the process of creating a Directive:
-
- From an existing Unit (either from the Unit Editor tab or Unit Builder window), click <Open Directive Editor> to open the Directive Builder. If the Unit is not already used in a Directive elsewhere, it will appear as the main Parent Unit in the Directive Builder.
- From the Directives dockable window, click <Add> to open the Directive Builder.
- From the Directives dockable window, right-click Add→Directive to open the Directive Builder.
When the Directive Builder opens, it will default to the Builder tab. The Parent Unit will be displayed in the upper left corner. All Child Units will be displayed below.
To add a Child Unit:
-
- Right-click on the enlarged Child Unit and select→Add Child.
To add a Child Unit to an existing Child Unit:
-
- 1. Left click on desired Child Unit to bring it to the full size of a Parent Unit
- 2. Right-click on the desired Parent Unit and select→Add Child.
To delete a Child Unit:
-
- Right-click on the desired Child Unit and select→Delete.
Once a Parent Unit or Child Unit has been created its User Input display can be added or changed:
-
- 1. Left Click on desired Parent Unit or Child Unit in the Slide Show Display.
- 2. Click in the field labeled User Input in the Chat Window display.
- 3. Type desired User Input.
Once a Parent Unit or Child Unit has been created its Response can be added or changed:
-
- 1. Left Click on desired Parent Unit or Child Unit in the Slide Show Display.
- 2. Click in the field labeled Response in the Chat Window display.
- 3. Type desired Response.
Once a Parent Unit or Child Unit has been selected, its Web Links can be added and removed, and the order of the Web Links modified.
-
- 1. Open Urls, Web Links, or Units dockable window.
- 2. Click and Drag selected Url, Web Link, or Unit from the dockable window into the Web Links display in the Response tab. Note: you may be prompted to create a Web Link at this point.
- 3. Use <Move Call Order Up> and <Move Call Order Down> as desired.
Unused Answer Links, listed below Web Links, are the Child Units of the selected Unit. They can be added as Web Links to the Unit by clicking and dragging them from Unused Answer Links to the Web Links field.
Web Links can be removed from the Unit by clicking the <Remove> button.
Urls can be added and removed from the Unit response in a Directive using the same steps as a regular Unit.
-
- 1. Open Urls dockable window.
- 2. Click and Drag selected Url from the Urls dockable window into the Url display in the Response tab.
- 3. Select Auto-Navigate to URL if desired.
The Advanced Tab
When the Directive Builder window opens, it will default to the Builder tab, as shown in
The Advanced tab allows an entire directive to be built and maintained. It includes all the functionality of the Builder tab, just in a different form. It also has the ability to add test questions, add patterns, and actually test the Directive. This section describes the process.
There are two ways to create a Parent Unit. Using Existing Units:
-
- 1. Drag any existing Unit from the Units dockable window onto “Missing User Input” in the main Directive Tree window of the Directive Builder.
- 2. Click <Yes> when prompted to replace the node.
To create a new Parent Unit from the Directive Builder:
-
- 1. Right-click on the Missing User Input and select→Add Prompt/Agent Response. An unfinished response will appear below the Unit.
- 2. Type a name for the response in the Agent Response field and press <Enter>.
- 3. Type a user input that will display as the name of the Unit in the User Input Display on the Edit Info tab to the right.
Once a Parent Unit is set in the Directive Tree, you can now add possible user responses. Each response will be considered a Child Unit, therefore only add one response per Child Unit desired. There are two ways to add a Child Unit:
Note: These processes can be used on any branch of the Directive Tree to create Child Units for any branch.
Using Existing Units:
-
- 1. Drag any existing Unit from the Units dockable window onto the response of the Parent Unit. This becomes the new Child Unit.
- 2. Enter response in User Input Display in the Edit Info tab to the right.
- 3. Change the Response Display in Edit Info tab to the right if desired. This will also change the Unit's name in the Unit Editor as well.
Creating a new Child Unit:
-
- 1. Right-click on the response of the desired Parent Unit and select→Add User Input.
- 2. Type the response name in the Input Display in the Edit Info tab to the right and press <Enter>.
- 3. Type a name for the Unit Response in the Response Display in the Edit Info tab to the right and press <Enter>.
Units that are created in the Directive Builder do not technically exist until they are officially created. This is done by right-clicking on the selected Directive and selecting→Create Unit. The Unit Builder window will open. You may edit the Unit as necessary, or close the window.
Once the Unit is created, it can be found in its corresponding Situation Group in the Units window, or by selecting→Edit Unit from the right-click menu. Patterns and test questions created from the Unit Editor can be accessed from outside the Directive, while patterns and test question created inside the Directive Builder will only operate when in the Directive.
There are three ways to edit both the User Input Display and Response Display:
-
- Left click twice slowly on any input or response in the Directive Tree to open a text field to edit the item.
- Right-click on any input or response in the Directive Tree and select→Rename to open a text field to edit the item.
- With the Edit Info tab open, left-click on any input or response to make that Unit display on the Edit Info tab. The User Input Display and Response Display can now be directly edited.
To delete any branch of the Directive Tree, including any Child Units of that branch:
-
- 1. Select Unit to be deleted by left clicking on either the response or User Input.
- 2. Click <Remove> or right-click and select→Remove.
- Note: Removing a Unit from the Directive Builder does not delete the Unit from the project if it has already been created.
Adding Test Questions within a Directive
To add test questions that will only apply within the Directive, follow these steps:
-
- 1. Select chosen Child Unit by left-clicking on it in the Directive Tree.
- 2. Select the User Input tab under the Edit Info tab.
Type test question into the text field and press <Enter> or <Add>. Repeat this step as many times as desired.
To add test questions that will only apply within the Directive, follow these steps:
-
- 1. Select chosen Child Unit by left-clicking on it in the Directive Tree.
- 2. Select the User Input tab under the Edit Info tab.
- 3. Select Test question and click <Delete> OR double click on selected test question so it appears in the text field and click <Delete>. Repeat this step as desired.
To edit test questions within a Directive, follow these steps:
-
- 1. Select chosen Child Unit by left-clicking on it in the Directive Tree.
- 2. Select the User Input tab under the Edit Info tab.
- 3. Select Test question and click either <Edit> or double click on the test question. It will appear in the text field below.
- 4. Edit the test question in the text field.
- 5. Press <Enter> or click <Update>. Repeat steps 3-5 as many times as desired.
Adding Patterns to Child Units
Adding a pattern to a Child Unit within the Directive will limit that pattern to work only in the Directive. Adding these patterns is done in the exact same way as it is done in the Patterns tab of the Unit Editor.
-
- 1. In Additional Patterns of Edit Info, click <Add> to create a blank input pattern.
- 2. Drag and drop any desired Concepts from the Concepts dockable window into the blank pattern.
- 3. Drag and drop any desired Helper Terms from the Helper Terms dockable window into the pattern.
- 4. Arrange the Concepts and Helper Terms as desired.
- 5. Select <Order Matters> and/or <Proximity Matters> as desired. Note: Currently, these options only affect AppEvents.
- 6. Choose a pattern position from the Edit Pattern Position drop-down menu.
- 7. Click <Save> to save any changes.
- 8. Use steps 1-7 to create as many patterns as desired. Note: You must double click on the pattern in order to later make any changes to the Position or <Order Matters> and <Proximity Matters> check boxes. Click <Save> to save these changes.
- 9. Click <Generate FPML (Changes Only) or <Generate All Fpml> or to enter the pattern into the database if desired.
To edit patterns within a directive, perform the following procedure:
-
- 1. Select chosen Child Unit by left-clicking on it in the Directive Tree.
- 2. Select the Additional Patterns tab under the Edit Info tab.
- 3. Select pattern and click either <Edit> or double click on the pattern. It will appear in the Edit Pattern field below.
- 4. Edit the pattern by either dragging and dropping new Concepts into the input pattern or deleting Concepts.
- 5. If desired, select or de-select Order Matters.
- 6. If desired, select or de-select Proximity Matters.
- 7. If desired, select a Position.
- 8. Click <Save> to finalize the changes to the input pattern if steps 5, 6 or 7 were followed.
To delete patterns within a directive perform the following procedure:
-
- 1. Select chosen Child Unit by left-clicking on it in the Directive Tree.
- 2. Select the Additional Patterns tab under the Edit Info tab.
- 3. Select the desired input pattern and click <Delete> OR right-click on the selected input pattern and select Delete.
- 4. In Confirm Delete, click <Yes> to delete the pattern or <No> to close the window without deleting.
To deactivate patterns within a directive, perform the following procedure. When set inactive, a pattern will not trigger the Unit when matched.
-
- 1. Select chosen Child Unit by left-clicking on it in the Directive Tree.
- 2. Select the Additional Patterns tab under the Edit Info tab.
- 3. Right-click on the desired pattern.
- 4. Select Set Active/Inactive from the right-click menu.
Additional Variables within a Directive
To add a Variable to a Directive, drag and drop any chosen Variable from the Components dockable window into the Additional Variables tab under Edit Info.
Adding a Url within a Directive
Though responses do not require URLs to function, they can benefit from the versatility associated with web pages. To add a URL to a response:
-
- 1. Select chosen Child Unit by left-clicking on it in the Directive Tree.
- 2. Select the Url tab under the Edit Info tab.
- 3. Open Urls dockable window.
- 4. Click and Drag selected Url from the Urls dockable window into the Url display in the Url tab.
- 5. Select Auto-Navigate to URL if desired.
To remove a URL from a response:
-
- 1. Select chosen Child Unit by left-clicking on it in the Directive Tree.
- 2. Select the Url tab under the Edit Info tab.
- 3. Select <Remove All Url Items>.
Testing Directives
To test only the test questions associated with the Directive, follow these steps:
-
- 1. Select the Tests tab from the Advanced tab within the Directive Builder.
- 2. Click <Run Tests>. The dialogue box shown in
FIG. 79 will only appear if changes have been made to the database (i.e.: a pattern has been changed). - 3. Click <Yes> to generate FPML (Changes Only) and run test or Click <No> to not generate FPML. The following dialogue box will only appear if <No> was selected from the Generate Files dialogue box.
- 4. Click <Yes> to run tests, or click <No> to not run tests in the box shown in
FIG. 80 .
The status of each test question is displayed as a colored ball next to the question. A green circle indicates success, a yellow ball indicates the question was not tested, and a red ball indicates failure. Questions that fail feature a brief summary of the error(s) encountered.
To debug a failed question:
-
- 1. Right click on the test question.
- 2. Select Debug Question. This loads the selected question into the debugger, and allows the user to see the processes that led to the question's failure.
Variables are means by which the KB may store information captured in a conversation for later use. This section discusses Variables and Record Lists as they fit into Units and Concepts.
Components Dockable Window
Variables and Record Lists are accessed via Components, along with AppCalls. The Components dockable window is shown in
The above components only apply to Variables and Record Lists.
Variables
Variables are components used for profiling and contextualization. When used for profiling, they log a site user's activities on the user's site, and any information they might divulge, such as name, IP address, e-mail address, or credit card number.
Variables are means by which a user may allow certain Units to trigger only in specific situations. Much like Directives, they allow for greater specificity in a Unit's functioning. The user may specify the type of Variable, the Variable's name, and the Variable's initialization value (be it true/false, empty string, or other value). Furthermore, the user may specify whether Variable information is saved in the chat logs. Note: If the Save In Chat Logs selection is not checked, all information gained from the Variable will be lost when the site-user leaves the chat. Save In Chat must be selected to view the information at a later time.
Variables are grouped together by type. This is done mostly for organizational purposes. There are three categories of Variables:
-
- System Variables: System Variables are set by the Context IQ Engine.
- Application Variables: Application Variables are set by the parent application.
- User-defined Variables: These variables can represent a single value, an array, or a Record List.
By clicking on Variables, and selecting <Add> or selecting a Variable Type and selecting <Edit>, the Variable Type window shown in
Variable Editor, shown in
View Variable Initialization and Setup
Selecting→Admin→View Variable Initialization And Setup will open the Variables window. The Variables window is a list of all Variables associated with the project, as well as what value the Variables are set to at either initialization or setup (before each User Input).
The Variables window, shown in
-
- Variable: This column displays the name of the Variable.
- Initialization Action: This column displays what is done to the Variable at the beginning of each session. A Variable can be set to a value, cleared, or not initialized at all.
- Initialization Value: This column displays the value the Variable is set to at either initialization or setup.
- Setup Action: This column displays what action is taken before every user input.
The Variables window also contains the following right-click menu:
Record Lists
Record Lists are lists of Variables that work in conjunction with one another. They are used when information should be grouped together and when an unspecified number of values is possible.
The Record List Editor, shown in
Record List configuration appears whenever a Record List is added to a Concept, Unit; or Response Block. The Configure Record List window, shown in
The following section discusses the procedures involved in creating, maintaining, and using Variables and Record Lists.
Managing Variables and Record Lists
This sub-section deals with creating, editing and deleting Variables and Record Lists. These operations are performed via Components. To create variable types, perform the following procedure in connection with
-
- 1. Select “Variables” and click <Add> OR right-click on “Variables” and select Add.
- 2. In Variable Type, type in a Name for the Variable Type.
- 3. If desired select the Make Public check box.
- 4. Click <Save> to save the Variable Type OR click <Cancel> to close the window without saving.
To edit an existing variable type:
-
- 1. Select the desired Variable Type in Components and click <Edit> OR double-click on the desired Variable Type OR right-click on the desired Variable Type and select Edit from the right-click menu.
- 2. In Variable Type, make any changes to Name or Make Public.
- 3. When finished, click <Save> to close the window and save changes, OR click <Cancel> to close the window without saving changes.
To create variables perform the following procedure in connection with
-
- 1. In Components, select a Variable Type and click <Add> OR right-click on a Variable Type and select Add from the right-click menu.
- 2. In Variable Editor, select Variable Type from the drop-down-list. Defaults to the Variable Type you were on when you clicked <Add>.
- 3. Select a Variable Type from the dropdown
- 4. Type in a Name for the Variable.
- 5. Select an Initialization Value from one of the radio buttons.
- a. If <Set Initialize Value> is selected, enter a value in the appropriate field.
- 6. Select a Setup Action from one of the radio buttons.
- 7. If desired, select Save in Chat Logs. Default is unchecked.
- 8. Click <Save> to save the Variable and close the window OR click <Cancel> to close the window without saving the Variable
To edit variables, perform the following procedure in connection with
-
- 1. In Components, select the desired Variable and click <Edit> OR double-click on the desired Variable OR right-click on the desired Variable and select Edit from the right-click menu.
- 2. In Variable Editor, make any changes to Variable Type, Name, Initialization Value, Setup Action, or Save in Chat Logs as needed.
- 3. Click <Save> to close the window and save all changes made OR click <Cancel> to close the window without saving changes.
To delete variables:
-
- 1. In Components, select the desired Variable and click <Delete> OR right-click on the desired Variable and select Delete from the right-click menu.
- 2. In Confirm Delete, click <Yes> to delete the Variable OR click <No> to close the window without deleting the Variable.
To creating record lists, perform the following procedure in connection with
-
- 1. In Components, select “Record Lists” and click <Add> OR right-click on “Record Lists” and select Add.
- 2. In Record List Editor, type in a Name.
- 3. Type in an Index Variable Name. Note: This must be different from the name of the Record List. A common means of doing this while making the association between the index Variable and Record List clear is to simply type the name of the Record List, followed immediately by “index.” Thus, the index Variable for Record List “state” would be “stateindex.”
- 4. Click <Save>.
- 5. If desired, select Clear on Initialization. If selected, this will set Record List name to “.” and set index to
- 6. Type a desired required parameter in Required Parameters input field.
- 7. Click <Add>.
- 8. Repeat steps 6 & 7 as often as desired.
- 9. When finished, click <Close>.
To edit record lists, perform the following procedure in connection with
-
- 1. In Components, select the desired Record List and click <Edit> OR double-click on the desired Record List OR right-click on the desired Record List and select Edit.
- 2. In Record List Editor, make any changes to Name or Index Variable Name desired.
- 3. Click <Save>.
- 4. To edit a required parameter:
- a. Select the desired required parameter.
- b. Make any changes in the Required Parameters field.
- c. Click <Update> to make the changes, or click <Delete> to remove the required parameter.
- 5. When finished, click <Close>.
To deleting record lists, perform the following procedure:
-
- 1. In Components, select the desired Record List and click <Delete> OR right-click on the Record List and select Delete from the right-click menu.
- 2. In Confirm Delete, click <Yes> to delete the Record List from the project OR click <No> to close the window without deleting.
Using Variables and Record Lists
When Variables and Record Lists are placed in a Concept or Unit, they are assigned a value. This sub-section concerns the assigning of value for Variables and Record Lists.
To set variables in concepts and units, perform the following procedure:
-
- 1. Open the desired Unit or Concept in the appropriate tab.
- 2. Select Advanced View.
- 3. Open Components as shown in
FIG. 92 . - 4. Drag the desired Variable from Components to the tab.
- 5. In Variable Value Editor, as shown in
FIG. 93 , type in the desired value in the Set Value To field. This value will henceforth be available for all other Variables in the drop-down list. - 6. When finished, click <Save> to close the window and save the Variable OR click <Cancel> to close the window without saving the Variable.
- 7.
To remove variables from concepts and units, perform the following procedure:
-
- 1. Open the Concept or Unit in question in the appropriate tab.
- 2. Select Advanced Tabs
- 3. Open Components.
- 4. Select the Variable in question and click <Delete> OR right-click on the Variable in question and select Delete from the right-click menu.
- 5. In Confirm Remove Variable, click <Yes> to remove the Variable from the Concept or Unit OR click <No> to close the window without removing the Variable.
To set record lists in concepts and units, perform the following procedure in connection with
-
- 1. Open the Concept or Unit in the appropriate tab.
- 2. Select Advanced View.
- 3. Open Components.
- 4. Drag and drop the desired Record List from Components into Components.
- 5. In Configure Record List, select the Parameter Value Type from the radio buttons for each parameter.
- 6. Select a Value from the drop-down list.
- 7. Click <Next>.
- 8. Repeat steps 5—7 for each parameter.
- 9. When finished, click <Finish> to close the window and add the Record List to the Concept or Unit OR click <Cancel> to close the window without setting values for the Record List.
To removing a record list from a concept or unit, perform the following procedure:
-
- 1. Open the Concept or Unit in the appropriate tab.
- 2. Select Advanced View.
- 3. Open Components.
- 4. Select the Record List in question and click <Delete> OR right-click on the Record List and select Delete from the right-click menu.
- 5. In Confirm Remove Record List, click <Yes> to remove the Record List from the Concept or Unit OR click <No> to close the window without removing the Record List.
Advanced vocabulary refers to items that may be used to add greater flexibility to Concepts and Units, as well as discern the differences between various types of inputs. This section describes Variables, lex types, Wild Cards, and input files.
Lex Types
Lex types classify user inputs to further specify what is to be matched. Lex types function as placeholders that determine the type of input that is recognized. For instance, lex types are used to differentiate between numerical inputs and word inputs, or between units of weight and units of distance.
Lex Types includes a dockable window, shown in
Lex files are static files that are edited manually using a text editor or the Editor tab. They may be added to a project through the lab by means of a Lex Builder component. A Lex Builder window is shown in
Wild Cards are place-holders that allow the user to create more flexible input patterns for Concepts. A Wild Card is placed between two Vocab Terms to indicate that there may be any words in between the Vocab Terms. There are three Wild Cards, and they are applicable to all projects:
-
- Match Any: this Wild Card can hold the place of zero or more words.
- Match One: This wildcard holds the place of one and only one unspecified word in a pattern.
- Match One or More: This Wild Card holds the place of one or more words.
Wild cards includes a dockable window shown in
The Wild Card Builder, shown in
Input Files are lists of words in a text file (*.txt). They are used as substitutes for large groups of words, such as names and locations. An Input File can be placed in the pattern for a Concept just like a single Vocab Term. The pattern for the Concept will then trigger if any word in the Input File is hit, much like a Building Block.
Once an Input File has been created, it can be compared against all Vocab in the KB. Any overlapping words are converted to Vocab in the Input File. In this way, common misspellings can be included if a word has already been assigned to a Vocab Term. Input files are accessed via a dockable window of the same name, illustrated in
Input File Builder, shown in
The next section deals with the procedures involved in managing lex types and input files. As mentioned above, lex types are created as part of the overall lex file, which is created manually by the administrator.
To add a lex type to a project, use the following procedure. Note that corresponding FPML must be manually entered into the static file *.lex before this will have any affect.
In Lex Types, click <Add> OR right click anywhere in the window to open a right-click menu and select Add.
In the Name field (
Type the desired Display Name in the appropriate field. While this name may be any name, it would be best to stick to a name that accurately represents the lex type's function.
Click <Save> to close Lex Builder and add the lex type to the project OR click <Cancel> to close the window without adding the lex type to the project.
To edit lex types, use the following procedure in connection with
-
- 1. In Lex Types, double-click on the desired lex type OR select the desired lex type and click <Edit> OR right-click on the desired item to open a right-click menu and select Edit.
- 2. Make any changes desired to the Name and/or Display Name fields.
- 3. Click <Save> to close the window and save changes OR click <Cancel> to close the window without saving.
Lex types may be added to the input patterns of Concepts just like any other form of vocabulary. To do so, use the following procedure:
-
- 1. Open the desired Concept in Concept Editor.
- 2. Select Patterns.
- 3. Create an input pattern OR open a previously existing input pattern.
- 4. In Lex Types, drag the desired lex type into the desired pattern.
- 5. Make any desired changes to Position, Order and Proximity.
- 6. Click <Save>.
To delete a lex type from a project, use the following procedure:
-
- 1. In Lex Types, select the desired file and click <Delete> OR right-click on the desired file to open a right-click menu and select Delete.
- 2. In the Confirm Delete dialogue, click <OK> to delete the file OR click <Cancel> to close the dialogue without deleting the lex type.
Managing Wild Cards
This sub-section deals with creating, editing, and adding Wild Cards to Concepts.
In one or more embodiments, Wild Cards are created by the administrator only. To add a Wild Card to a Concept input pattern, use the following procedure:
-
- 1. In the Wild Cards dockable window, click and drag the desired Wild Card into an input pattern in the Concepts Patterns tab.
- 2. Change the order of the input pattern as desired.
- 3. Make any changes to Position, Order, and Proximity selections as desired.
- 4. Click <Save>
Input files are manipulated primarily through Input Files. This sub-section outlines the procedures involved in creating, editing, and deleting input files.
Creating Input Files
-
- 1. In Input Files, click <Add> OR right-click in the window and select Add from the right-click menu.
- 2. In Input File Builder (
FIG. 103 ), type a file name into the File Name field OR browse for an existing file using <Browse>. Note: the File Name must end with the file extension *.txt. - 3. Enter desired word or phrase on one line in File Contents. Repeat as often as desired.
- 4. Select Vocab Output tab, or skip to step 8.
- 5. Select <Create Vocab Output>.
- 6. Review Vocab Results to ensure proper results.
- 7. Click <Save Output>. This will open a Browse window to select a name and location of the output file.
- 8. Click <Save>.
Editing Input Files
-
- 1. Double-click on the desired input file in Input Files OR right-click on the desired input file and select Edit from the right-click menu.
- 2. Make any changes desired in Input File Builder and click <Save> OR click <Cancel> to close the window without saving changes.
- 3. Select Vocab Output tab, or skip to step 6.
- 4. Select <Create Vocab Output>.
- 5. Review Vocab Results to ensure proper results.
- 6. Click <Save Output>. This will open a Browse window to select a name and location of the output file.
Adding Input Files to Concepts
-
- 1. Open the desired Concept in Concept Editor.
- 2. Open Patterns.
- 3. Create a blank input pattern by clicking <Add>.
- 4. In Input Files, select the desired input file.
- 5. Drag the desired input file from Input Files to the blank input pattern.
- 6. Add any desired Vocab Terms, Helper Terms, or Building Blocks.
- 7. Make any changes to Position, Order, and Proximity.
- 8. Click <Save>
Deleting Input Files
-
- 1. In Input Files, select the desired Input File and click <Delete> OR right-click on the input file and select Delete in the right-click menu.
- 2. In the Confirm Delete box, select <OK> to delete the input file from the project OR click <Cancel> to close the box without deleting.
This section deals with advanced response items, specifically Dynamic Functions, AppCalls, Conditional Statements and Response Blocks. All of these items are used primarily, though not exclusively, in response-related capacities.
This section examines the principles behind Conditional Statements, AppCalls, Response Blocks, and Dynamic Functions.
Conditional Statements
Conditional statements represent the necessary prerequisites for a specific action being taken. They are used in Response Blocks and often for data-mining operations. In such situations, the conditional statement is a pre-established Variable value. The value of this Variable will then determine the way in which a Unit that contains the given Response Block functions. For instance, a Unit might respond differently based upon whether the user registers as male or female. The user's gender thus functions as the pre-condition of the Response Block.
Components Window
AppCalls are accessed via Components (
AppCalls
AppCalls, short for “Application Calls,” are a form of response wherein an external application is used. For example, a Unit might have an AppCall that opens a new program or fills out a form when triggered.
The AppCall consists of two parts. The first is the call to the outside application.
The second part of an AppCall is to define what parameters (ex: the value of a Variable) needs to be passed along with the AppCall.
AppCall Editor (
Configure AppCall Window
The Configure AppCall window (
Search AppCall Usage
The Search AppCall Usage window (
Response Blocks
Response Blocks are responses that are shared by multiple Units, which may or may not have other additional response features, such as AppCalls, Dynamic Functions, or Record Lists, which coincide. Response Blocks are also used when more control over the print order of the Unit is desired. They also provide a means of data-mining when combined with dynamic functions. Response Blocks may be added to both Concepts and Units by means of dragging and dropping them into the Response Blocks tab.
Response Blocks Dockable Window, shown in
The Response Block Editor window, shown in
The following discussion describes aspects of the tabs of the Response Block Editor window.
Call Items are Record Lists, AppCalls, Variables, and dynamic functions that are used when the Response Block is called. Variables, AppCalls, and Record lists are set to the value listed here, similar to the Components tab in the Unit Editor. Call Items contains the following components:
Response allows the user to set a plain text and/or tagged response associated with the Response Block and includes the following components.
Conditional Statement allows the user to associate specific conditional statements with the Response Block and includes the following components.
Text-To-Speech allows the user to select a specific Text-To-Speech File for the Response Block. Text-To-Speech includes the following components.
Dynamic functions serve as a means for profiling site users and running searches based upon ranges (such as “cameras between $100 and $200”). They are used in Call Items for Response Blocks. Each dynamic function must reside in its own cascade, which must bear the same name. This cascade must have leveling enabled. Dynamic functions has a dockable window as shown in
A Dynamic Function Editor, shown in
This section deals with managing the AppCalls, Response Blocks, and dynamic functions. AppCalls are found in Components. This sub-section deals with the procedures involved in creating, editing, and using AppCalls. Creating new app calls can be performed using the AppCall Editor shown in
-
- 1. In the Components dockable window, select the AppCalls object.
- 2. Open the AppCall Editor window.
- 3. Enter a name for the AppCall in the Name field.
- 4. Select a Type from the drop-down list.
- 5. Select an Output Type from the drop-down list.
- 6. Enter a string of FPML in the Required Parameters field.
- 7. Click <Add>.
- 8. Repeat steps 6 & 7 as often as desired.
- 9. Click <Save>.
To edit AppCalls, perform the following procedure using the AppCall editor of
-
- 1. Double-click on the desired AppCall in Components OR select the desired AppCall and right-click on the desired AppCall and select Edit from the right-click menu.
- 2. In AppCall Editor, double click on the desired required parameter OR select the desired required parameter and click <Edit> OR right-click the desired required parameter and select Edit from the right-click menu.
- 3. Make any changes in the Required Parameters field and click <Update> to replace the old required parameter OR click <Add> to add the new form as an additional required parameter.
- 4. Repeat steps 2 & 3 as often as needed.
- 5. When finished, click <Close>.
To delete AppCalls, perform the following procedure using the editor of
-
- 1. Select the desired AppCall in Components and click <Delete> OR right-click on the desired AppCall and select Delete from the right-click menu.
- 2. In the Confirm Delete dialogue, click <Yes> to delete the AppCall OR click <Cancel> to close the dialogue without deleting.
To create new response blocks, perform the following procedure:
-
- 1. In Response Blocks, right-click in the window and select Add from the right-click menu.
- 2. In Response Block Editor, enter a Name and click <Save>.
- 3. In Call Items, add any desired Dynamic Functions, Record Lists, AppCalls, or Variables by dragging them from their respective dockable window. You may be prompted to set the value the item will have when the Response Block is triggered.
- 4. In Response, type in the desired response and click <Save>.
- 5. In Conditional Statement, click <Add>
- 6. Select <Build Dynamic Statement> or <Type Static Statement>.
- a. If <Build Dynamic Statement> is selected, use the following procedure:
- i. Choose Concatenator from the drop-down list.
- ii. Click <Add>.
- iii. Set Variables for each operand in Match Condition.
- b. If <Type Static Statement> is selected, use the following procedure:
- i. Type the desired static statement into the Static Statement tab.
- a. If <Build Dynamic Statement> is selected, use the following procedure:
- 7. In Text-To-Speech, select a particular Text-To-Speech by clicking <Browse> if desired.
To edit response blocks, perform the following procedure:
-
- 1. In Response Blocks, select the desired Response Block and click <Edit> OR right-click on the desired Response Block and select Edit from the right-click menu. Either of these will open Response Block Editor.
- 2. Make any changes desired in Call Items, Response, Conditional Statement, and Text-To-Speech desired.
To deleting response blocks, perform the following procedure:
-
- 1. In Response Blocks, select the desired Response Block and click <Delete>.
- 2. In Confirm Delete, click <Yes> to delete the Response Block OR click <No> to close the window without deleting the Response Block.
To create new dynamic functions, perform the following procedure:
-
- 1. In Dynamic Functions, click <Add>, opening Dynamic Function Editor.
- 2. Enter a Name for the new dynamic function. The name entered will be copied into Cascade Group automatically.
- 3. Select a Type from the drop-down menu.
- 4. Insure that the proper lex file is loaded.
- 5. Select a Pattern Override from the drop-down menu.
- 6. Select a Print Order.
- 7. Click <Save> to close Dynamic Function Editor and save the dynamic function OR click <Cancel> to close the window without saving.
To edit dynamic functions, perform the following procedure:
-
- 1. In Dynamic Functions, select the desired dynamic function and click <Edit> OR double click on the desired dynamic function OR right-click on the desired dynamic function and select Edit from the right-click menu.
- 2. Make any changes desired in Dynamic Function Editor to the Name, Type, Lex File, Pattern Override, and Print Order.
- 3. Click <Save> when finished to close the window OR click <cancel> to close the window without saving changes.
To delete dynamic functions, perform the following procedure:
-
- 1. In Dynamic Functions select the desired item and click <Delete> OR right-click on the desired dynamic function and select Delete from the right-click menu.
- 2. In the Confirm Delete dialogue, click <Yes> to delete the dynamic function or <No> to close the dialogue without deleting.
Until they are placed in a Concept or Unit, advanced response items are just empty templates that do not actually contain any information, just the form. Like Variables, they must be assigned values in order to function properly.
To call AppCalls from a Concept or Unit, perform the following procedure:
-
- 1. Double-click on the desired Concept or Unit in the Concepts or Units dockable window, respectively, to open it in the appropriate tab.
- 2. In the Concept Editor or Unit Editor, select <Advanced View>.
- 3. Open the Components advanced tab.
- 4. Drag the desired AppCall from the Components dockable window to the Components tab.
- 5. In Configure AppCall, select a Parameter Value Type the first parameter.
- 6. Select a Value.
- 7. Click <Next>.
- 8. Repeat steps 5-7 for each parameter.
- 9. When finished, click <Finnish> to close the window.
AppCalls may also be manually input into the response of a Unit in the Response tab.
To use response blocks in a concept or unit, perform the following procedure:
-
- 1. Open the desired Concept or Unit in its respective tab.
- 2. Select Advanced View.
- 3. Open Response Blocks.
- 4. Drag the desired Response Block from the dockable window to the Concept or Unit.
Response Blocks can also be incorporated into the Concept or Unit by adding it to Wild Cards within any input patterns.
Dynamic Functions are added to Concepts and Units as part of Response Blocks, which are in turn added to Concepts and Units as described above. To add dynamic functions to a concept or unit, perform the following procedure:
-
- 1. Open the desired Response Block from Response Blocks.
- 2. Drag the desired Dynamic Function from its dockable window into the Call Items tab of Response Block Editor.
- 3. Add the Response Block to the Concept or Unit using the procedures described above.
Testing and Debugging
Testing and its sister function, debugging, are important elements of creating a successful project. To this end, this section will examine both the testing and debugging features of Active Lab.
Details of Tests
While tests for each Unit and Concept may be found in the respective tabs, it is also possible to view the tests for the entire project in a Tests Tab shown in
Unit tests are organized by Situation Group, while Concept tests are organized by Concept Group. Each Concept Group and Situation Group may be expanded to view its constituent parts, and each of these in turn may be expanded to view the individual test questions.
As with the tests in individual Units and Concepts, green circles represent success, yellow circles represent a test that did not run, and red circles indicate a failed test. If one test for one Unit or Concept shows up red, the status of the Unit or situation itself will show red, and will in turn lead to a red status for the Situation Group or Concept Group in which it appears. This status is also reflected on the project as a whole. Thus, if so much as one test question in one Concept in the entire project shows red, the entire project will be red. Put simply, the status of any group is only as good as that of its worst constituent.
The Tests Tab contains the following components.
Test Editor, shown in
Details of Debugger
The Debugger enables you to validate the FPML to make sure it is syntactically correct. Syntax is only one part of creating FPML. The other is ensuring the right response and action is taken for the right input. The Debugger also allows you to see what response will be given for a given input. To further aid in testing and validating FPML, the Debugger allows entire input scripts to be run in order to verify comprehensive response results.
The Debugger is designed to allow users great flexibility in their testing and debugging processes. After a KB has been thoroughly debugged in Active Lab, it is recommended to also test it in the Active Agent application before using it live. The Debugger environment does not replicate the AppCalls, as they are defined in the application using the FPML.
Chat Control
The Chat Control dockable window, usually residing on the left hand side of the Debugger tab, is used to directly ask questions to the Agent.
Anything entered into the Chat Here window will be processed by Active Lab. The response will be displayed in the Chat History window directly above it. The processes that occur to receive that response are displayed in the variety of tabs that appear in the Debugger.
Note: Any time that “Send To Debugger” is selected elsewhere in Active Lab, the Debugger tab is opened and the selected test question in entered into the Chat Here field and processed.
The Match Data Tab
Match Data, as described above, displays the procedure used by the project to trigger the Unit. More specifically, it shows how the pre-processed string is converted into Vocab and Helper Terms, which Concepts are triggered by the Vocab and Helper Terms, then which Units are then triggered by those Concepts.
Here is a breakdown of the pieces of the Match Data:
-
- The User Input entry displays the natural language form of the user's input, also known as the Pre-processed string.
- The first Pre-Processed String entry shows the string after it has been processed through the Vocab cascades, but before it is sent to the Concept cascades.
- All Concepts that are triggered by the first Modified String will be displayed as a Concept Hit or as a Lower Scoring Concept. The Score of the Concept listed, as well as what pattern triggered it.
- Multiple Pre-Processed String entries will show the string as it is processed through all the Concept cascades, but before it is sent to the Unit cascades. Vocab and Helper Terms are still displayed, and now Concepts are displayed as {cp Concept Name cp}.
- The Highest Scoring Unit, along with any other Lower Scoring Units, are the last items displayed at the bottom of the Match Data tab. The score for each Unit that was triggered is displayed, along with which pattern triggered the Unit.
- When no Unit is triggered, the processed string is handled by FPML that is hand written in Static Files. The Static File Hit will list which line within the listed static file was hit.
Note: In case of a tie, the Unit that was triggered last will be listed as the Highest Scoring Unit. In case of a tie between Concepts that are in a Best Match cascade, the Concept that was triggered last will be listed as a Concept Hit.
The App Calls Tab
The App Calls tab, shown in
The Brain Variables Tab
The Brain Variables tab, shown in
Right-click on any Variable and select Add Watch to add selected Variable to the Watch Variables window.
The Web Page Tab
The Web Page tab, shown in
The Fpml Error Messages Tab
The Fpml Error Messages tab, shown in
The Load Data Tab
The Load Data tab, shown in
Each entry in the Load Data tab displays consists of an action and a file path. Common actions include: Loading, Learning, and IRDLL. Each *.FPML file that is loaded correctly will be listed in black, and errors will be listed in red.
The Raw Match Data Tab
The Raw Match Data tab, shown in
Watch Variables Dockable Window
The Watch Variables window, shown in
Variables can be easily added or removed from Watch Variables, using the available right-click menu.
Viewing Dependencies
One of the most powerful tools to track down problems is the Dependencies window shown in
The Dependency window can be opened by selecting a particular item and choosing <Show Dependencies> from many of the Button Bars. It is also available on many different right-click menus.
Displayed in
The Dependencies window has the following components:
Testing Conditions
The Test Conditions dockable window, shown in
There are two Test Conditions that can be set to Variables and Record Lists: Pre-Conditions and Post-Conditions. These conditions are then assigned to any number of test questions.
When a Pre-Condition and inserted into a test question, the value of the condition is set just prior to the test question being run. When a Post-Condition is set into a test question, the value of the condition is set just after the test question is run.
Test Conditions contains the following components:
Create/Edit New Pre/Post-Condition
Creating and editing pre and post conditions is completed using three different windows, an example of which is shown in
-
- Create New Pre-Condition
- Create New Post-Condition
- Edit
Edit contains the following components:
Managing Tests and Debugger
This section deals with the procedures involved in testing and debugging.
Managing Tests
This sub-section deals with adding new test questions, editing existing test questions, and running tests.
Adding New Test Questions
In addition, new test questions may be added in Tests. To add a new test question, use the following procedure in connection with the window shown in
-
- 1. In Tests, select the desired Unit or Concept to which the new question will be added.
- 2. Click <Add> to open Test Editor.
- 3. In Test Editor, type the desired test question in Question.
- 4. Click <Add>
- 5. Repeat steps 3 & 4 as often as desired.
- 6. When finished, click <Close>.
Editing Test Questions
Test questions may be edited in Test Editor or in Concept Editor or Unit Editor, respectively. The following is the procedure for editing a test found in Tests in its appropriate tab:
-
- 1. Double click on the desired test question. The appropriate Unit Editor or Concept Editor tab will open.
- 2. Follow the procedures for editing a test questions as described in Concepts—Adding Questions or Units—
- 3. Adding Questions.
To edit test questions in Test Editor, use the following procedure:
-
- 1. In Tests, select the desired test question and click <Edit> OR double-click on the desired test question. This will open Test Editor with the test questions for the selected Unit or Concept loaded.
- 2. Make any changes desired to the selected test question and click <Update>.
- 3. When finished, click <Close>.
Deleting Test Questions
To delete a test question in Tests, use the following procedure:
-
- 1. Select the desired test question and click <Delete> OR right-click on the desired test question and select Delete from the right-click menu.
- 2. In Confirm Delete, click <Yes> to delete the test question OR click <No> to close the window without deleting.
To delete a test question in Test Editor, use the following procedure:
-
- 1. Select the desired test question in Tests and click <Edit> OR double-click on the desired test question; either of these methods will open the test question in Test Editor.
- 2. Ensure that the test question is selected and click <Remove>.
- 3. In Confirm Delete, click <Yes> to delete the test question OR click <No> to close the window without deleting the test question.
Running Tests
To run tests in Tests, use the following procedure:
-
- 1. Ensure that all FPML is up-to-date by selecting <Generate FPML (Changes Only)> OR <Generate All FPML>. Select the tests to be run from Test Selection.
- 2. Click <Run Tests>. This may take a while
- 3. Examine the results.
Debugging Questions
After examining the test results, it is important to examine the causes of any failures that might have cropped up. To debug a question (particularly a failed question), use the following procedure:
-
- 1. In Tests, select the desired test question and click <Debug Test Question> OR right-click on the desired test question and select Debug Question from the right-click menu.
- 2. In Debugger, examine results.
Debugging
This sub-section deals specifically with the procedures involved in debugging Units and Concepts.
Manual Debugging Procedures
Manual debugging is useful for running scripts through the FPML. To manually debug a project, use the following procedure:
-
- 1. In Debugger, type an input into Chat Here.
- 2. View the response in Chat History.
- 3. Examine results in Match Data, App Calls, Brain Variables, Web Page, FPML Error Messages, LoadData, and Raw Match Data.
Debugging from Outside the Debugger
To debug any question automatically from outside the Debugger, simply right-click on the test question and select→Debug Question. This will have the same effect as typing the question into the Debugger directly.
Dependencies
This sub-section shows the different uses of the Dependencies window.
Find Dependency
There are two ways to find the dependencies on an item:
-
- Right-click on selected item and choose→Show Dependencies.
- Highlight the selected item and choose <Show Dependencies>
Replace Usage
To replace either one item or a large group of a selected item with another, follow this procedure.
-
- 1. Select item to be replaced by right clicking and choosing→Show Dependencies OR by choosing <Show Dependencies> from the Button Bar. This will open the Dependencies window.
- 2. Check Replace Usage checkbox in Dependencies.
- 3. Drag replacement item into Drag/Drop Replacement field.
- 4. Check all boxes in Dependencies Display that have the searched for item that will be replaced. Note: Checking an item higher in the tree will check all items that are included in that branch.
- 5. Click <Replace>. The searched item will be replaced with the replacement item.
Test Conditions
This sub-section will describe the creation, editing, and use of Test Conditions.
Creating Test Conditions
The steps for creating both Pre and Post Condition are the same:
-
- 1. Open the Test Conditions dockable window.
- 2. Highlight either Pre-Conditions or Post-Conditions, depending on which will be created.
- 3. Select <Add> OR right-click→Add. Create New Pre/Post Condition will open.
- 4. Type desired Name and press <Enter> or <Save>. The name of the window will change to Edit followed by the name of the Test Condition.
- 5. Drag desired Variable or Record List into Values Display from Components dockable window. The Set Value To Display will activate. Repeat for all Variables and Record Lists desired for selected
- 6. Click <Expand> to view Variables and/or Record Lists.
- 7. Highlight the first Variable or Record List item.
- 8. Click <Save>.
- 9. Change Set Value Display to the desired value of the Variable or Record List. Repeat steps 5-8 for each Variable and Record List.
- 10. Click <Close>.
Editing Test Conditions
The steps for creating both Pre and Post Condition are the same:
-
- 1. Open the Test Conditions dockable window.
- 2. Double click on chosen Pre/Post Condition OR highlight chosen Pre/Post Condition and click <Edit>.
- 3. Edit Name field and press <Enter> or click <Save>.
- 4. Click <Expand> to view Variables or Record Lists used by the test condition.
- 5. Left-click once to bring up a Variable or Record List parameter in the Set Value To display.
- 6. Edit Set Value To display as desired. Repeat steps 5 and 6 as many times as needed.
- 7. Click <Save>.
- 8. Click <Close>.
Deleting Test Conditions
The steps for deleting both Pre and Post Condition are the same:
-
- 1. Open the Test Conditions dockable window.
- 2. Click on chosen Pre/Post Condition and click <Delete OR highlight chosen Pre/Post Condition and right-click→Delete.
Adding a Test Condition to a Test Question
Once a Test Condition has been created, it can be linked with any number of test questions:
-
- 1. Open the Tests tab in either the Concept Editor or the Unit Editor.
- 2. Open the Test Conditions dockable window.
- 3. Drag selected Test Condition from the Test Conditions dockable window to the desired test question in the Tests tab. A window will pop up prompting whether to add the Test Condition to all tests for the Unit/Concept.
- 4. Select <Yes> or <No> in the pop-up.
Removing a Test Condition from a Test Question
To remove a Test Condition from a test question, follow this procedure:
-
- 1. Open the Tests tab in either the Concept Editor or the Unit Editor
- 2. Highlight the name of the test condition and click <Delete> or right-click on the name of the test condition and select→Delete.
The Editor tab allows the user to view and interact with the raw FPML code of static files and lex files that forms the basis of all of Active Lab's operations.
The Editor tab, shown in
The Editor can be used in the same manner as other text editors. There are also customizable shortcuts which can be configured in the shortcuts.xml file located in the directory with Active Lab.
Static FilesStatic Files are FPML files created manually using either a standard text editor or Active Lab's Editor tab. They allow the user to create custom FPML functions beyond Active Lab's capabilities should such a need arise. Static files must be created manually outside of the lab and then imported into the database using the Static Files dockable window.
Lex FilesLex Files are instrumental to the proper function of a project, and as such should generally be left alone by the user. The user may view and edit Lex files through the Editor tab, though this is not generally recommended for most users.
Chance RequestWhile change requests do not directly affect the functioning of a project, they represent a way for the user to view feedback from other users regarding the construction of the project. In this regard, they can be quite useful in the process of fine-tuning the components of a project.
Because all of these change requests pertain to Units, they may be accessed through their respective Units or through Change Requests. This dockable window contains the components illustrated in
Change request management occurs primarily within the dockable window of the same name. The right-click menu allows the user to go directly to the Unit in question and make any changes. Change requests may not be deleted, as they serve as a record of the changes made to the project.
There are six types of change requests:
-
- Create New Unit Requests
- Change Response Request
- Url Change Request
- Add Test Question Request
- Wrong Response
- Wrong UL
Create New Unit Request
New Unit request can be edited, changed, and implemented in the Create New Unit Requests window. This window is broken up into two tabs: the Create Unit Request tab, which shows all the parameters for the Unit; and the Request Information tab, which shows history, comments, and the option to ignore the request.
The Request Information tab is shown in
The Response Change Request window, illustrated in
Url Change Request
The Url Change Request window, illustrated in
Add Question to Unit Request
The Add Question To Unit Request window, illustrated in
Wrong Response/Wrong Url
The Request Details window, illustrated in
Example System
In one or more embodiments, computer-readable instructions reside on the computer-readable media and implement the functionality described above. Such functionality can reside in the form of an application referred to as Active Lab 1366. Active Lab 1366 can present the various user interfaces described above and can implement the described functionality.
CONCLUSIONVarious embodiments provide a tool, referred to herein as “Active Lab” that can be used to develop, debug, and maintain knowledge bases. These knowledge bases (KBs) can then engage various applications, technology, and communications protocols for the purpose of task automation, real time alerting, system integration, knowledge acquisition, and various forms of peer influence.
In at least some embodiments, a KB is used as a virtual assistant that any real person can interact with using their own natural language. The KB can then respond and react however the user wants: answering questions, activating applications, or responding to actions on a web page.
Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.
Claims
1. A system comprising:
- one or more computer-readable storage media;
- computer-readable instructions stored on the one or more computer-readable storage media which, when executed, provide a tool to enable a user to create and maintain a knowledge base, wherein the tool is configured to: enable a user to create one or more units, wherein a unit comprises a response paired with one or more patterns that will trigger the response;
- wherein a pattern for a unit includes at least one concept and wherein a concept is composed of: vocab terms comprising a grouping of unambiguous synonyms and misspellings, helper terms comprising words that have no unambiguous synonyms, and/or building blocks comprising one or more of a list of vocab/helper terms or a list of concepts; and
- wherein the tool further enables a user to test patterns to ascertain that a particular pattern will result in an associated response.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the tool enables units to be grouped together in situation groups.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein a concept comprises a breakdown of ideas in a test question.
4. The system of claim 1, wherein a unit may have multiple patterns featuring different combinations of concepts.
5. The system of claim 1, wherein concepts can have an order and/or a proximity, wherein:
- if a concept has an order, a pattern will trigger if an input is received in that order; and
- if a concept has a proximity, a pattern will trigger if an input has a defined proximity.
6. The system of claim 1, wherein the tool utilizes cascades, wherein cascades can be selected from a group of cascades comprising:
- a pre-vocab cascade that takes in contractions and outputs separate words,
- a vocab cascade that takes in synonyms and outputs a vocab,
- a post-vocab cascade that takes in separate compound words and outputs single vocab words,
- a concept cascade that takes in vocab and helper terms and outputs concepts, or
- a unit cascade that takes in concepts and outputs a response.
7. The system of claim 6, wherein a cascade provides a FPML runtime contained within a larger runtime.
8. The system of claim 6, wherein at least some cascades take, as input, output from other cascades.
9. The system of claim 6, wherein a cascade can be set to one or more of: “Match All” or “Best Match”.
10. The system of claim 6, wherein the tool provides a dockable window for cascades that enable cascades to be created and for the type of output for a cascade to be determined.
11. The system of claim 10, wherein cascades are organized by type, and where the user may edit by name, match type, response, behavior, pre-process action and level settings.
12. The system of claim 1, wherein the tool is configured to provide a main application window, wherein the main application window includes a drop down menu bar, multiple tabs, a main display that displays currently selected/active tabs, a dockable window display, and a status bar.
13. The system of claim 12, wherein the multiple tabs comprise:
- a tests tab,
- chat review tab,
- debugger tab,
- concept editor tab,
- unit editor tab, and
- an editor tab.
14. The system of claim 12, wherein the menu bar is configured to enable a user to access and deploy FPML files.
15. The system of claim 14, wherein the tool enables FPML files to be deployed to a server.
16. The system of claim 12, wherein the dockable window display is configured to enable a user to view one or more of: building blocks, cascades, change requests, components, concepts, directives, dynamic functions, helper terms, input files, knowledge trees, lex types, resource files, response blocks, search control, static files, test conditions, unit search, units, unprintable items, unused items, URLs, vocab wild cards, or web links.
17. The system of claim 1, wherein the knowledge base comprises a FPML knowledge base.
18. The system of claim 1, wherein the tool is configured to enable a user to produce documents comprising one or more of: (a) an FPML statistics document displaying percentage statistics of unit test questions or (b) a print units document displaying all units along with their respective test questions.
19. The system of claim 1, wherein the tool comprises a text-to-speech component which provides an ability to translate on-screen text into audio speech.
20. The system of claim 1, wherein the tool provides a vocab dockable window that includes a vocab display tree that displays an organization of a vocabulary and a search tree that enables searches of cascades.
Type: Application
Filed: Jan 7, 2019
Publication Date: May 9, 2019
Inventors: Tanya M. Miller (Colbert, WA), Fred Brown (Colbert, WA), Mark Zartler (Garland, TX), Molly Q. Brown (Colbert, WA)
Application Number: 16/241,466
