Steps

BotTalk describes the dialog flow between the user and the assistant as a set of steps that are connected with each other using next sections of each step.

Consider the following example:

scenario:

  steps:

    - name: Welcome Step
      actions:
        - sendText: >
            Hello and welcome to my new skill.
            Do you want to continue with the game we started last time or start over?
        - getInput:
      next:
        continue_with_the_game: Continue
        start_over: Start New Game

    - name: Continue
      actions:
        - sendText: >
            OK, let's continue with the game. Last time you played you had 23 points...
            The next question: What is the highest building in New York City?
        - getInput:
      next:
        highest_building_answer: Check Highest Buidling Answer

    - name: Start New Game
      actions:
        - sendText: >
            Great, let's start a new game!
            I'll ask you some questions - and you will answer them.
            Are you ready?
        - getInput:
      next:
        yes_sure: Ready
        not_yet: Wait

This scenario describes a prototypical trivia game that the user has already played before.

In the Welcome Step the assistant asks the user if she wants to continue with the game or start over. To send a text from assistant to a user BotTak uses sendText action. The assistant is then waiting for the user to answer - this is represented by the getInput action.

There are two possible answers to this questions. We call those answers intents.

What happens NEXT when either of those answers is given is described in the next section of the step.

In our prototypical game the first intent is called continue_with_the_game and when the user says something like “Yes, sure, let’s continue” BotTalk jumps to the Continue step.

When the user says something along the lines of "Start the new game", BotTalk will jump to the step Start New Game.

Basic rules

Each step should have a unique name. First step, described in this section, becomes initial step - meaning it will be executed when the Alexa Skill / Google Action is invoked.

next section of a step is not obligatory. You can choose to jump to the next step directly without waiting for a user input like that:

  - name: Step One
    actions: "I am the first step"
    next: Step Two

  - name: Step Two
    actions: "I am the second step"

In this example above, Step Two will execute right after Step One. All text responses, produced by the steps, will be concatenated into one big response.