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Chatbot framework designed taking user context as a priority.

  • Created mixing game loop and web routing concepts.
  • Chatloop has a very easy to use a function to keep the user context under development. So, you don't need to worry about databases in the beginning.
  • Supports Facebook Messenger.

Usage

How it works:

Every time user sends an input, the loopsRoutes file will be called. Then, based on the user context, will define the correct conversational loop to call.

Exemple of conversational loop:
///loops/getStarted-loop.js
const send = require('chatloop').Send;
const context = require('chatloop').Development.context;

module.exports = function(event, context) {
        send.Text(event.senderId, 'Hi');

        let buttons = [
        {
            type:"postback",
            title:"Yes",
            payload:"DONT_LIKE_PIZZA_PAYLOAD"
        },
        {
            type:"postback",
            title:"No",
            payload:"LIKE_PIZZA_PAYLOAD"
        }
        ];
        send.Button(event.senderId, 'Do You like pizza?', buttons)

        if(event.payload === "LIKE_PIZZA_PAYLOAD") {
            context('likePizzaLoop')
            //change the loop to be called to likePizzaLoop
            send.Text(event.senderId, 'Me too')
            send.Text(event.senderId, 'What pizza flavour do you prefer?')
        }
         else if(event.payload === "DONT_LIKE_PIZZA_PAYLOAD") {
            context('dontLikePizzaLoop') 
            //change the loop to be called to dontLikePizzaLoop
            send.Text(event.senderId, 'I do not belive')
            senD.Text(event.senderId, 'Do you like hamburguer?')
        }
}

Based on user context, /loops/likePizza-loop.js or /loops/dontlikePizza-loop.js will be called.

///loops/loopsRoutes.js
const Loop = require('chatloop').Loop;
const context = require('chatloop').Development.context;

const getStartedLoop = require('./getStarted-loop');
const likePizza = require('./likePizza-loop');
const dontlikePizza = require('./dontlikePizza-loop');

module.exports = async function (event) {    
  /*
  Will return the current context. 
  If does not have loopToBeCalled defined,
  will call the getStartedLoop.
  */
    const read_context = await context();
  if(read_context && read_context.loopToBeCalled) {
    loopToBeCalled = read_context.loopToBeCalled
  } else {
    await context('getstartedLoop');
    loopToBeCalled = 'getstartedLoop'
  }

//ArrayOfLoops have all conversational loops
  let ArrayOfLoops = [];
  ArrayOfLoops.push(new Loop(
      'getStartedLoop',
      function() {
        getStartedLoop(event, context)
      }
));
  ArrayOfLoops.push(new Loop(
      'likePizza',
      function() {
        likePizza(event, context)
      }
));
  ArrayOfLoops.push(new Loop(
      'dontLikePizza',
      function() {
        dontlikePizza(event, context)
      }
));

Loop.findCurrentLoop(
    loopToBeCalled,
    ArrayOfLoops
)
}

Send the loopRoutes to chatloop:

const chatloop = require('chatloop');
const loopsRoutes = require('./loops/loopsRoutes');

chatloop.Connect(
    loopsRoutes
    //The default port is 3000
    //Can put here any port number you want
);

Create a /.env file to put config data

PAGE_ACESS_TOKEN = <messenger page token>
VERIFICATION = <large string>

Under Production, you can easily substitute the context functions for database functions.

Functions

Send Functions

send.Text(event.senderId, 'some_text')
send.Image(event.senderId, 'url')
send.RequestLocation(event.senderId, 'some_text')
send.Button(event.senderId, 'some_text', buttons)
send.QuickReply(event.senderId, 'some_text', quick_reply)
send.GenericTemplate(event.senderId, elements,
    /*
    image_aspect_ratio can be:
    'horizontal' or 'square'
    default is 'horizontal'
    */
    /*
    sharable 
    default is true
    */
)
send.ListTemplate(event.senderId, elements,
    /*
    top_element_style can be 'large' or 'compact'
    default is 'large'
    */
)
send.Typing(event.senderId)
send.GetProfileData(event.senderId)
    /*
    Returns a promise. The parameters are:
    first_name, last_name, profile_pic, locale, timezone,
    gender, is_payment_enabled, last_ad_referral
    */
send.Random(
    //Will send random between 'text_1' and 'text_2' 
    [
        function() {
            send.Text(event.senderId, 'text_1');
        },
        function() {
            send.Text(event.senderId, 'text_2');
        }
    ]
)
    //the send. funtions became from require('chatloop').Send;

Messenger Profile API Functions

The Messenger Profile API can provide the following features:

  • account_linking_url
  • get_started
  • greeting
  • home_url
  • payment_settings
  • persistent_menu
  • target_audience
  • whitelisted_domains

Using the MessengerProfileApi function, you can easily access this API.

Example of how to add a Get Started Button to your Chatbot using Chatloop:

We want to execute this only one time, so in a new file, just add the following code, changing <GET_STARTED_PAYLOAD>):

const chatloop = require('chatloop');

chatloop.MessengerProfileApi({ 
        "get_started":{
          "payload":"<GET_STARTED_PAYLOAD>"
        }
 })

Just run this file. If it's working, you will find the "Sending the POST request to the Profile API" message into the console, and your Button will be available quickly.

To add any other feature provided by the API , you need to know the correct parameters, it's into the Facebook developers site

Context Functions

context() 
    //will return the current context
context('someLoop') 
    /*
    will store {"loopToBeCalled": "likePizzaLoop"}
    in a local file
    */
context(undefined, 'some_position')
    /* second element are used for some position inside
    the loop, will store {"position": "not choose a flavor"}
    undefined in a parameter results in no change
    (only in parameter field) 
    */
contextDelete()
    //"reboot" the local file

    /*
    the context functions become from: 
    require('chatloop').Development.context

    contextDelete from: 
    require('chatloop').Development.contextDelete
    */

Examples, Tutorials

Build your first Chatbot with Chatloop

Contributing

Did you find a bug? If it is a security vulnerability, please don't open a GitHub issue, instead contact me: [email protected]

Did you solve a bug, rewrite part of the code, or write a new feature? Open a GitHub pull request.

If you have never contributed to an open source project, I suggest reading this article.

Some issue?

Feel free to open a Github issue. I will really like to help.

License

MIT