How SUSI WebChat Implements RSS Action Type

SUSI.AI now has a new action type called RSS. As the name suggests, SUSI is now capable of searching the internet to answer user queries. This web search can be performed either on the client side or the server side. When the web search is to be performed on the client side, it is denoted by websearch action type. When the web search is performed by the server itself, it is denoted by rss action type. The server searches the internet and using RSS feeds, returns an array of objects containing :

  • Title
  • Description
  • Link
  • Count

Each object is displayed as a result tile and all the results are rendered as swipeable tiles.

Lets visit SUSI WebChat and try it out.

Query : Google
Response: API response

SUSI WebChat uses the same code abstraction to render websearch and rss results as both are results of websearch, only difference being where the search is being performed i.e client side or server side.

How does the client know that it is a rss action type response?

"actions": [
  {
    "type": "answer",
    "expression": "I found this on the web:"
  },
  {
    "type": "rss",
    "title": "title",
    "description": "description",
    "link": "link",
    "count": 3
  }
],

The actions attribute in the JSON API response has information about the action type and the keys to be parsed for title, link and description.

  • The type attribute tells the action type is rss.
  • The title attribute tells that title for each result is under the key – title for each object in answers[0].data.
  • Similarly keys to be parsed for description and link are description and link respectively.
  • The count attribute tells the client how many results to display.

We then loop through the objects in answers,data[0] and from each object we extract title, description and link.

let rssKeys = Object.assign({}, data.answers[0].actions[index]);

delete rssKeys.type;

let count = -1;

if(rssKeys.hasOwnProperty('count')){
  count = rssKeys.count;
  delete rssKeys.count;
}

let rssTiles = getRSSTiles(rssKeys,data.answers[0].data,count);

We use the count attribute and the length of answers[0].data to fix the number of results to be displayed.

// Fetch RSS data

export function getRSSTiles(rssKeys,rssData,count){

  let parseKeys = Object.keys(rssKeys);
  let rssTiles = [];
  let tilesLimit = rssData.length;

  if(count > -1){
    tilesLimit = Math.min(count,rssData.length);
  }

  for(var i=0; i<tilesLimit; i++){
    let respData = rssData[i];
    let tileData = {};

    parseKeys.forEach((rssKey,j)=>{
      tileData[rssKey] = respData[rssKeys[rssKey]];
    });

    rssTiles.push(tileData);
  }

return rssTiles;

}

We now have our list of objects with the information parsed from the response.We then pass this list to our renderTiles function where each object in the rssTiles array returned from getRSSTiles function is converted into a Paper tile with the title and description and the entire tile is hyperlinked to the given link using Material UI Paper Component and few CSS attributes.

// Draw Tiles for Websearch RSS data

export function drawTiles(tilesData){

let resultTiles = tilesData.map((tile,i) => {

  return(
    <div key={i}>
      <MuiThemeProvider>
        <Paper zDepth={0} className='tile'>
          <a rel='noopener noreferrer'
          href={tile.link} target='_blank'
          className='tile-anchor'>
            {tile.icon &&
            (<div className='tile-img-container'>
               <img src={tile.icon}
               className='tile-img' alt=''/>
             </div>
            )}
            <div className='tile-text'>
              <p className='tile-title'>
                <strong>
                  {processText(tile.title,'websearch-rss')}
                </strong>
              </p>
              {processText(tile.description,'websearch-rss')}
            </div>
          </a>
        </Paper>
      </MuiThemeProvider>
    </div>
  );

});

return resultTiles;
}

The tile title and description is processed for HTML special entities and emojis too using the processText function.

case 'websearch-rss':{

let htmlText = entities.decode(text);
processedText = <Emojify>{htmlText}</Emojify>;
break;

}

We now display our result tiles as a carousel like swipeable display using react-slick. We initialise our slider with few default options specifying the swipe speed and the slider UI.

import Slider from 'react-slick';

// Render Websearch RSS tiles

export function renderTiles(tiles){

  if(tiles.length === 0){
    let noResultFound = 'NO Results Found';
    return(<center>{noResultFound}</center>);
  }

  let resultTiles = drawTiles(tiles);
  
  var settings = {
    speed: 500,
    slidesToShow: 3,
    slidesToScroll: 1,
    swipeToSlide:true,
    swipe:true,
    arrows:false
  };

  return(
    <Slider {...settings}>
      {resultTiles}
    </Slider>
  );
}

We finally add CSS attributes to style our result tile and add overflow for text maintaining standard width for all tiles.We also add some CSS for our carousel display to show multiple tiles instead of one by default. This is done by adding some margin for child components in the slider.

.slick-slide{
  margin: 0 10px;
}

.slick-list{
  max-height: 100px;
}

We finally have our swipeable display of rss data tiles each tile hyperlinked to the source of the data. When the user clicks on a tile, he is redirected to the link in a new window i.e the entire tile is hyperlinked. And when there are no results to display, we show a `NO Results Found` message.

The complete code can be found at SUSI WebChat Repo. Feel free to contribute

Resources

 

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Creating and Maintaining User Sessions Using Universal-Cookies in SUSI Web Chat

If you login to SUSI Web Chat, and come back again after some days, you find that you didn’t have to login and all your previous sent messages are in there in the message pane. To achieve this, SUSI Web Chat uses cookies stored in your browser which is featured in this blog.  

In ReactJS, it’s highly misleading and extensive to use the conventional Javascript methodology of saving tokens and deleting them. However, universal-cookie, a node package allows you to store and get cookies with the least possible confusion. In the following examples, I have made use of the get, set and remove functions of the universal-cookie package which have documentations easily available at this link. The basic problem one finds while setting cookies and maintaining sessions is the time through which it should be valid and to secure the routes. We shall look at the steps below to figure out how was it implemented in SUSI Web Chat.

1. The first step is to install the packages by using the following command in your project’s root-

npm install universal-cookie --save

2. Import the Cookies Class, where-ever you want to create a Cookie object in your repository.

import Cookies from 'universal-cookie';

Create a Cookie object at the same time in the file you want to use it,

const cookies = new Cookies();

3. We make use of the set function of the package first, where we try to set the cookie while the User is trying to login to the account.

Note – The cookie value can be set to any value one wants, however, here I am setting it to the access token which is generated by the server so that I can access it throughout the application.

$.ajax({ options: options,
        success: function (response) {
//Get the response token generated from the server
                let accessToken = response.access_token;                       // store the current state
                 let state = this.state;
// set the time for which the session needs to be valid
            let time = response.valid_seconds;
//set the access token in the state
             state.accessToken = accessToken;
// set the time in the state
             state.time = time;           
// Pass the accessToken and the time through the binded function
             this.handleOnSubmit(accessToken, time);
            }.bind(this),
        error: function ( jqXHR, textStatus, errorThrown) {
                   // Handle errors
                   }
        });

Function –  handleOnSubmit()

// Receive the accessToken and the time for which it needs to be valid
handleOnSubmit = (loggedIn, time) => {
        let state = this.state;
        if (state.success) {
              // set the cookie of with the value of the access token at path ‘/’ and set the time using the parameter ‘maxAge’
            cookies.set('loggedIn', loggedIn, { path: '/', maxAge: time });
// Redirect the user to logged in state and reload
            this.props.history.push('/', { showLogin: false });
            window.location.reload();
        }
        else {
        // Handle errors
    }
}

4.  To access the value set to the cookie, we make use of the get function. To check the logged in state of the User we check if get method is returning a null value or an undefined value, this helps in maintaining the User behaviour at every point in the application.

if(cookies.get('loggedIn')===null||
    cookies.get('loggedIn')===undefined) {
    // Handle User behaviours do not send chat queries with access token if the cookie is null
    url = BASE_URL+'/susi/chat.json?q='+
          createdMessage.text+
          '&language='+locale;
  }
  else{
   //  Send the messages with User’s access token
    url = BASE_URL+'/susi/chat.json?q='
          +createdMessage.text+'&language='
          +locale+'&access_token='
          +cookies.get('loggedIn');
  }

5. To delete the cookies, we make use of the remove function, which deletes that cookie. This function is called while logging the user out of the application.

cookies.remove('loggedIn');
this.props.history.push('/');
window.location.reload();

Here’s the full code in the repository. Feel free to contribute:https://github.com/fossasia/chat.susi.ai

Resources

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Processing Text Responses in SUSI Web Chat

SUSI Web Chat client now supports emojis, images, links and special characters. However, these aren’t declared as separate action types i.e the server doesn’t explicitly tell the client that the response contains any of the above features when it sends the JSON response. So the client must parse the text response from server and add support for each of the above mentioned features instead of rendering the plain text as is, to ensure good UX.

SUSI Web Chat client parses the text responses to support :

  • HTML Special Entities
  • Images and GIFs
  • URLs and Mail IDs
  • Emojis and Symbols
// Proccess the text for HTML Spl Chars, Images, Links and Emojis

function processText(text){

  if(text){
    let htmlText = entities.decode(text);
    let imgText = imageParse(htmlText);
    let replacedText = parseAndReplace(imgText);

    return <Emojify>{replacedText}</Emojify>;

  };
  return text;
}

Let us write sample skills to test these out. Visit http://dream.susi.ai/ and enter textprocessing.

You can then see few sample queries and responses at http://dream.susi.ai/p/textprocessing.

Lets visit SUSI WebChat and try it out.

Query : dream textprocessing

Response: dreaming enabled for textprocessing

Query : text with special characters

Response:  &para; Here are few “Special Characters&rdquo;!

All the special entities notations have been parsed and rendered accordingly!

Sometimes we might need to use HTML special characters due to reasons like

  • You need to escape HTML special characters like <, &, or .
  • Your keyboard does not support the required character. For example, many keyboards do not have em-dash or the copyright symbol.

You might be wondering why the client needs to handle this separately as it is generally, automatically converted to relevant HTML character while rendering the HTML. SUSI Web Chat client uses reactjs which has JSX and not HTML. So JSX doesn’t support HTML special characters i.e they aren’t automatically converted to relevant characters while rendering. Hence, the client needs to handle this explicitly.

We used the module, html-entities to decode all types of special HTML characters and entities. This module parses the text for HTML entities and replaces them with the relevant character for rendering when used to decode text.

import {AllHtmlEntities} from 'html-entities';
const entities = new AllHtmlEntities();

let htmlText = entities.decode(text);

Now that the HTML entities are processed, the client then processes the text for image links. Let us now look at how images and gifs are handled.

Query : random gif

Response: https://media1.giphy.com/media/AAKZ9onKpXog8/200.gif

Sometimes, the text contains links for images or gifs and the user would be expecting a media type like image or gif instead of text. So we need to replace those image links with actual images to ensure good UX. This is handled using regular expressions to match image type urls and correspondingly replace them with html img tags so that the response is a image and not URL text.

// Parse text for Image URLs

function imageParse(stringWithLinks){

  let replacePattern = new RegExp([
    '((?:https?:\\/\\/)(?:[a-zA-Z]{1}',
    '(?:[\\w-]+\\.)+(?:[\\w]{2,5}))',
    '(?::[\\d]{1,5})?\\/(?:[^\\s/]+\\/)',
    '*(?:[^\\s]+\\.(?:jpe?g|gif|png))',
    '(?:\\?\\w+=\\w+(?:&\\w+=\\w+)*)?)'
  ].join(''),'gim');

  let splits = stringWithLinks.split(replacePattern);

  let result = [];

  splits.forEach((item,key)=>{
    let checkmatch = item.match(replacePattern);

    if(checkmatch){
      result.push(
        <img key={key} src={checkmatch}
        style={{width:'95%',height:'auto'}} alt=''/>)
    }
    else{
      result.push(item);
    }
  });

  return result;
}

The text is split using the regular expression and every matched part is replaced with the corresponding image using the img tag with source as the URL contained in the text.

The client then parses URLs and Mail IDs.

Query: search internet

Response: Internet The global system of interconnected computer networks that use the Internet protocol suite to… https://duckduckgo.com/Internet

The link has been parsed from the response text and has been successfully hyperlinked. Clicking the links opens the respective url in a new window.

We used react-linkify module to parse links and email IDs. The module parses the text and hyperlinks all kinds of URLs and Mail IDs.

import Linkify from 'react-linkify';

export const parseAndReplace = (text) => {return <Linkify properties={{target:"_blank"}}>{text}</Linkify>;}

Finally, let us see, how emojis are parsed.

Query : dream textprocessing

Response: dreaming enabled for textprocessing

Query : susi, do you use emojis?

Response: Ofcourse ^__^ 😎 What about you!? 😉 😛

All the notations for emojis have been parsed and rendered as emojis instead of text!

We used react-emojine module to emojify the text.

import Emojify from 'react-emojione';

<Emojify>{text}</Emojify>;

This is how text is processed to support special characters, images, links and emojis, ensuring a rich user experience. You can find the complete code at SUSI WebChat.

Resources

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How to make a SUSI chat bot skill for Cortana

Cortana is assistant from Microsoft just like Siri from Apple. We can make a skill for Cortana i.e Creating your own bot with in cortana so that you can use your bot through cortana by activating it using invocation name. To create SUSI cortana skill we will use SUSI API and Microsoft bot framework. First of all we will have to make a bot on microsoft bot framework and to do so follow this tutorial. Change code in this tutorial with code given below.

var restify = require('restify');
var builder = require('botbuilder');
var request = require('request');
var http = require('http');

// Setup Restify Server
var server = restify.createServer();
server.listen(process.env.port || process.env.PORT || 8080, function() {
   console.log('listening to ', server.name, server.url);
});
// Create chat bot
var connector = new builder.ChatConnector({
   appId: process.env.appId,
   appPassword: process.env.appPassword
});

setInterval(function() {
       http.get(process.env.HerokuURL);
   }, 1200000);

var bot = new builder.UniversalBot(connector);
server.post('/api/messages', connector.listen());

//getting response from SUSI API upon receiving messages from User
bot.dialog('/', function(session) {
   var msg = session.message.text;
   var options = {
       method: 'GET',
       url: 'http://api.asksusi.com/susi/chat.json',
       qs: {
           timezoneOffset: '-330',
           q: session.message.text
       }
   };
//sending request to SUSI API for response
   request(options, function(error, response, body) {
       if (error) throw new Error(error);
       var ans = (JSON.parse(body)).answers[0].actions[0].expression;
       //responding back to user
       session.say(ans,ans);

   })
});

After making bot we have to configure this bot for Cortana and to do so select cortana from list of channel on your bot from https://dev.botframework.com and add following detail shown in figure below.

Invocation name is name which you will call to use your bot. There are many ways to in invoke your skill like Run <invocation name> , Launch <invocation name>. Here is the complete list of invocation commands. How SUSI skill in cortana actually works is when user invoke SUSI skill cortana acts as middleware to send and receive responses from skill to user. After configuring your bot for Cortana test it with cortana with same hotmail account which you have used for bot framework by calling invocation name. Here is the demo video for testing SUSI Skill https://youtu.be/40yX16hxcls.

You have complete creating a skill for cortana now if you want to publish it to world select manage cortana dashboard from your bots in https://dev.botframework.com and publish it to first by filling form.

If you want to learn more about bot framework refer to https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/Bot-Framework/index

References:
SUSI Cortana Repository: https://github.com/fossasia/susi_cortana_skill
Tutorial for bot: https://blog.fossasia.org/susi-ai-bots-with-microsofts-bot-framework/

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How to make SUSI kik bot

To make SUSI kik bot first you have to configure a bot. To configure bot go to https://dev.kik.com/ and make your bot by scanning code from your kik mobile app.You have to answer following questions from botsworth and make your bot.

 

After logging in to your dashboard get your api key by going to configuration menu on top.

After your bot is setup follow given steps to create your first susi kik bot.

Steps:

  1. Install Node.js from the link below on your computer if you haven’t installed it already.
    https://nodejs.org/en/
  2. Create a folder with any name and open shell and change your current directory to the new folder you created.
  3. Type npm init in command line and enter details like name, version and entry point.
  4. Create a file with the same name that you wrote in entry point in above given step. i.e index.js and it should be in same folder you created.
  5. Type following commands in command line  npm install –save @kikinteractive/kik. After @kikinteractive/kik is installed type npm install –save http after http is installed type npm install –save request when all the modules are installed check your package.json these modules will be included within dependencies portion.

  6. Your package.json file should look like this.

     
    {
     "name": "susi_kikbot",
       "version": "1.0.0",
     "description": "susi kik bot",
     "main": "index.js",
     "scripts": {
       "test": "node tests/sample.js"
     },
     "license": "MIT",
     "dependencies": {
       "@kikinteractive/kik": "^2.0.11",
       "request": "^2.75.0"
     }
    }
    
    
  7. Copy following code into file you created i.e index.js and add your bot name to it in place of username.

    var http = require('http');
    var Bot = require('@kikinteractive/kik');
    var request = require('request')
    var answer;
     
    var bot = new Bot({
     
        username: '<your-bot-name>',
        apiKey: process.env.API_KEY,
        baseUrl: process.env.HEROKU_URL
     
    });
     
    bot.updateBotConfiguration();
     
    bot.onTextMessage((message) => {
     
        request('http://api.asksusi.com/susi/chat.json?q=' + encodeURI(query), function(error, response, body) {
     
            if (!error && response.statusCode == 200) {
     
                answer = JSON.parse(body).answers[0].actions[0].expression;
     
            } else {
     
                answer = "Oops, Looks like Susi is taking a
                break, She will be back soon";
     
            }
     
        });
     
        message.reply(answer)
    });
     
    http.createServer(bot.incoming()).listen(process.env.PORT || 5000)
    
    
  8. Before deploying our bot to heroku so that it can be active we have to make a github repository for chatbot to make github repository follow these steps.In shell change current directory to folder we created above and  write
    git init
    git add .
    git commit -m”initial”
    git remote add origin <URL for remote repository>
    git remote -v
    git push -u origin master

    You will get URL for remote repository by making repository on your github and copying this link of your repository.

  9. To deploy your bot to heroku you need an account on Heroku and after making an account make an app.

     

  10. Deploy app using github deployment method.
  11. Select Automatic deployment method.
  12. Go to settings of your app and config variables and paste your API key for bot to this and name it as API_KEY and get your heroku app url and make a variable for it named HEROKU_URL.
  13. Your susi bot is ready now test it by massaging it.

If you want to learn more about kik API then refer to https://dev.kik.com/#/docs/messaging

 

Resources:

Github Repository: https://github.com/fossasia/susi_kikbot
KIK bot API: https://dev.kik.com/#/docs/messaging

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SUSI AI Bots with Microsoft’s Bot Framework

The Bot Framework is used to build intelligent chatbots and it supports .NET, Node.js, and REST. To learn about building bots using bot framework go to  https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/bot-framework/bot-builder-overview-getstarted . Now to build SUSI AI bot for different platforms like facebook, telegram, kik, skype follow below given steps.

  1. Install Node.js from the link below on your computer if you haven’t installed it already.
    https://nodejs.org/en/
  2. Create a folder with any name and open a shell and change your current directory to the new folder you created.
  3. Type npm init in shell and enter details like name, version and entry point.
  4. Create a file with the same name that you wrote in entry point in above given step. i.e index.js and it should be in same folder you created.
  5. Type following commands in command line  npm install –save restify.After restify is installed type npm install –save botbuilder   after botbuilder is installed type npm install –save request when all the modules are installed check your package.json modules will be included within dependencies portion.

  6. Your package.json file should look like this.

    {
    "name": "skype-bot",
    "version": "1.0.0",
    "description": "SUSI AI Skype Bot",
    "main": "app.js",
    "scripts": {
      "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1",
      "start": "node app.js"
    },
    "author": "",
    "license": "ISC",
    "dependencies": {
      "botbuilder": "^3.8.1",
      "request": "^2.81.0",
      "restify": "^4.3.0"
    }
    }
    
  7. Copy following code into file you created i.e index.js

    var restify = require('restify');
    var builder = require('botbuilder');
    var request = require('request');
    
    // Setup Restify Server
    var server = restify.createServer();
    server.listen(process.env.port || process.env.PORT || 8080, function() {
       console.log('%s listening to %s', server.name, server.url);
    });
    
    // Create chat bot
    var connector = new builder.ChatConnector({
     appId: process.env.appId,
     appPassword: process.env.appPassword
    });
    
    var bot = new builder.UniversalBot(connector);
    server.post('/api/messages', connector.listen());
    //When bot is added by user
    bot.on('contactRelationUpdate', function(message) {
       if (message.action === 'add') {
           var name = message.user ? message.user.name : null;
           var reply = new builder.Message()
               .address(message.address)
               .text("Hello %s... Thanks for adding me. You can talk to SUSI now.", name || 'there');
           bot.send(reply);
       }
    });
    //getting response from SUSI API upon receiving messages from User
    bot.dialog('/', function(session) {
       var options = {
           method: 'GET',
           url: 'http://api.asksusi.com/susi/chat.json',
           qs: {
               timezoneOffset: '-330',
               q: session.message.text
           }
       };
    //sending request to SUSI API for response 
       request(options, function(error, response, body) {
           if (error) throw new Error(error);
           var ans = (JSON.parse(body)).answers[0].actions[0].expression;
           //responding back to user
           session.send(ans);
    
       })
    });
    
  8. You have to replace appID and appPassword with your own ID and Password which you can get by below given steps.
  9. Sign in/Sign up to this https://dev.botframework.com/. After signing in go to My Bots option at the top of the page and Create/Register your bot. Enter details of your bot and click on “Create Microsoft App ID and password”. 
  10. Leave messaging endpoint for now after getting app ID and password we will write messaging endpoint.
  11. Copy your APP ID and Password and save them for later use. Paste your App ID in box given for ID on bot registration page.

  12. Now we have to create messaging endpoint to listen for requests. Make a github repository and push the files in the folder we created above.

    In command line change current directory to folder we created above and  write
    git init
    git add .
    git commit -m”initial”
    git remote add origin <URL for remote repository>
    git remote -v
    git push -u origin master  You will URL for remote repository by making repository on your github and copying this link of your repository.

  13. Now we have to deploy this github repository to heroku to get url for messaging endpoint. If you don’t have account on heroku sign up here https://www.heroku.com/ else just sign in and create a new app.
  14. Deploy your repository onto heroku from deploy option and choosing github as a deployment method.
  15. Select automatic deployment so that you make any changes in github repository they should be deployed to heroku.

  16. Open you app from option on top right and copy the link of your heroku app and append it with /api/messages and enter this url as messaging endpoint.

    https://{Your_App_Name}.herokuapp.com/api/messages
  17. Register the bot and add APP ID and password you saved to your heroku app in settings->config variables.
  18. Now go to  https://dev.botframework.com/. and then in My Bots go to your bot and click on Skype bot then add it to contact and start chatting.
  19. You can connect same bot to different channels like kik, slack, telegram, facebook and many others.

    Add different channels in your bot page and follow these links for deploying onto different platforms.

If you want to learn more about bot framework you can refer to https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/Bot-Framework/index

Resources:
Code: https://github.com/fossasia/susi_skypebot
Bot Framework: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/bot-framework/bot-builder-overview-getstarted

Continue ReadingSUSI AI Bots with Microsoft’s Bot Framework

Using react-url-query in SUSI Chat

For SUSI Web Chat, I needed a query parameter which can be passed to the components directly to activate the SUSI dreams in my textarea using just the URL which is not easy when one is using react-router. React URL Query is a package for managing state through query parameters in the URL in React. It integrates well with React Router and Redux and provides additional tools specifically targeted at serializing and deserializing state in URL query parameters. So for example, if one wants to pass some parameters to populate in your component directly through the URL, you can use react-url-query. Eg. http://chat.susi.ai/?dream=fossasia will populate fossasia in our textarea section without actually typing the term textarea.

So this in the URL,
Screenshot from 2017-06-29 09.46.33

Will produce this in the textarea,

To achieve this. the following steps are required:

  1. First we proceed with installing the packages (Dependencies  – history)
npm install history --save
npm install react-url-query --save
  1.   We then instantiate a history in our component where we want to listen to the parameters like the following code. Our class ChatApp is where we want to pass the params.

ChatApp.react.js

import history from '../history'; 
//Import the history object from the History package.
    
 // force an update if the URL changes inside the componentDidMount function
  componentDidMount() {
      history.listen(() => this.forceUpdate());
   }
  1.  Next, we define the props of the parameters in our Message Section. For that we need the following props-
  • urlPropsQueryConfig – this is where we define our URLConfig
  • Static proptypes – the query param to which we want to pass the value, so for me it’s dream.
  • The defaultProps when no such value is being passed to our param should be left a blank.
  • And then we finally assign the props.
  • This is then passed to the Message Composer Section from where we receive the value passed.

MessageSection.react.js

// Adding the UrlConfig
const urlPropsQueryConfig = {
  dream: { type: UrlQueryParamTypes.string }
};

 // Defining the query param inside our ClassName
  static propTypes = {
    dream: PropTypes.string
  }
// Setting the default param

  static defaultProps = {     
dream: ''
  }

 //Assigning the props inside the render() function
    const {
      dream
    } = this.props;
 //Passing the dream to the MessageComposer Section

                  <MessageComposer
                    threadID={this.state.thread.id}
                    theme={this.state.darkTheme}
                    dream={dream} />                
//Exporting our Class

export default addUrlProps({ urlPropsQueryConfig })(ClassName);
  1. Next we update the Message Composer section by the props we had passed. For this we first check if the props are null, we don’t populate it in our textarea if it is, otherwise we populate the textarea with the value ‘dream + props.dream’ so the value passed in the URL will be prepend by a word dream to enable the ‘dream value’ in our textarea.

The full file is available at MessageComposer.js

 //Add Check to the constructor
 constructor(props) {
    super(props);
    this.state = {text: ''};
    if(props.dream!==''){   //Setting the text as received ‘dream dreamPassed’
      this.state= {text: 'dream '+ props.dream}
    }
  }
// Populate the textarea
        <textarea
          name="message"
          value={this.state.text}
          onChange={this._onChange.bind(this)}
          onKeyDown={this._onKeyDown.bind(this)}
          ref={(textarea)=> { this.nameInput = textarea; }}
          placeholder="Type a message..."
        />
// Add props to the component
MessageComposer.propTypes = {
  /* other props */,
  dream: PropTypes.string //Setting Proptypes to receive the prop from the MessageSection
};

Now we have the full code working for querying any dream. Head over to chat.susi.ai?dream=fossasia Change fossasia to see the text change.

Resources

Continue ReadingUsing react-url-query in SUSI Chat

Using SUSI as your dictionary

SUSI can be taught to give responses from APIs as well. I made use of an API called Datamuse which is a premier search engine for English words, indexing 10 million unique words and phrases in more than 1000 dictionaries and glossaries.

1. First, we head towards creating our dream pad for creating rules for the skill. To do this we need to create a dream at dream.susi.ai and give it a name, say dictionary.

2. After that one needs to go to the API and check the response generated.

3. Going through the docs of the API, one can create various queries to produce informative responses as follows –

  • Word with a similar meaning.

define *| Meaning of *| one word for *

!console: $word$
{
"url":"https://api.datamuse.com/words?ml=$1$",
"path":"$.[0]"
}
eol
  • Word related to something that start with a given letter.

word related to * that start with the letter *

!console: $word$
{
"url":"https://api.datamuse.com/words?ml=$1$&sp=$2$*",
"path":"$.[0]"
}
eol

  • Word that sound like a given word..

word that sound like *|sounding like *

!console: $word$
{
"url":"https://api.datamuse.com/words?sl=$1$",
"path":"$.[0]"
}
eol

  • Words that are spelled similarly to a given word.

words that are spelled similarly to *| similar spelling to *| spelling of *

!console: $word$
{
"url":"https://api.datamuse.com/words?sp=$1$",
"path":"$.[0]"
}
eol

  • Word that rhyme with a given word.

rhyme *| word rhyming with *

!console: $word$
{
"url":"https://api.datamuse.com/words?rel_rhy=$1$",
"path":"$.[0]"
}
eol

  • Adjectives that are often used to describe a given word.

adjective to describe *|show adjective for *|adjective for *

!console: $word$
{
"url":"https://api.datamuse.com/words?rel_jjb=$1$",
"path":"$.[0]"
}
eol

  • Suggestions for a given word.

suggestions for *| show words like *| similar words to * | words like *

!console: $word$
{
"url":"https://api.datamuse.com/sug?s=$1$",
"path":"$.[0]"
}
eol

This is a sample query response for define *

To create more dictionary skills go to http://dream.susi.ai/p/dictionary and add skills from the API. To contribute by adding more skills, send a pull request to the susi_skill_data.  To test the skills, you can go to chat.susi.ai

Continue ReadingUsing SUSI as your dictionary

20 Amazing Things SUSI can do for You

SUSI.AI has a collection of varied skills in numerous fields such as knowledge, entertainment, problem solving, small-talk, assistants etc. Here’s a list of top skills which SUSI possesses.

Knowledge Based

  1. Ask SUSI to describe anything.

Sample Queries describe *

  1. Ask SUSI the distance between any two cities.

Sample queries – distance between * and *|What is distance between * and * ?| What is distance between * and *         

  1. Ask SUSI about your site’s rank.

Sample Query – site rank of *                

  1. Ask SUSI to know the location of any place.

Sample Queries – where is *

        

  1. Ask SUSI the time in any city.

 Sample Query – current time in *

        

  1. Ask SUSI the weather information of any city.

Sample Queries – temperature in * , hashtags * *, mentions * *, weather in *, Tell me about humidity in *|What is humidity in *|Humidity in *|* Humidity, Tell me tomorrow’s weather in *|Weather forecast of *

        

  1. Ask SUSI to wiki about anything.

Sample Query – wiki *

            

  1. Ask SUSI about any word, words etc.

Sample Queries – define *| Meaning of *| one word for *, word related to * that start with the letter *, word that sound like *|sounding like *, words that are spelled similarly to *| similar spelling to *| spelling of *, rhyme *| word rhyming with *, adjective to describe *|show adjective for *|adjective for *, suggestions for *| show words like *| similar words to * | words like *

  1. Ask SUSI about a day in the calendar.

Sample Queries – Date * ?, Day * ?, Day on year * month * date *?

        

  1. Ask to convert a currency to USD for you. 

Sample Queries –  convert * to USD

        

Problem Solving Based

  1. Ask SUSI to solve a problem for you in Mathematics.

  Sample Queries – compute *| Compute *| Calculate *| calculate *

        

Entertainment Based

  1. Ask SUSI to draw a card for you.

Sample Query – draw a card

        

  1. Ask SUSI to toss a coin for you.

Sample Query – flip a coin

        

  1. Ask SUSI to tell you a Big Bang Theory Joke.

Sample Query – * big bang theory| tell me about big bang theory|geek jokes|geek joke|big bang theory *

  1. Ask SUSI to generate a meme for you.

 Sample Query – get me a meme

        

        

  1. Ask SUSI to give you a recipe. 

Sample Queries – * cook *, cook *|how to cook *|recipe for

 

  1. Ask SUSI to tell you a random joke.

Sample Queries – tell me a joke|recite me a joke|entertain me

  1. Ask SUSI to give you a random gif.

Sample Query – random gif

        

Assistants

  1. Ask SUSI to translate something for you

Sample Queries – What is * in french|french for * , What is * in german|german for *, What is * in spanish|spanish for *,  What is * in hindi|hindi for *

  1. Ask SUSI to search anything for you.

Sample Queries – search *|query *|duckduckgo *

        

To contribute to the above skills you can follow the tutorial here. To test or chat with SUSI you can go to chat.susi.ai

Continue Reading20 Amazing Things SUSI can do for You

Using Flux to embed SUSI’s API Service in a Chat System.

To embed SUSI’s API Service in a chat-like system, I needed a view which could populate the content dynamically and maintain the state of the Application at the same time. Flux follows a unidirectional data flow path and I used this feature to the advantage of the Chat Application to maintain the real time state of the Chat View.

A Flowchart model of Flux looks like

flux flowchart

 

src: https://github.com/facebook/flux

Flux uses a dispatcher service to render its views, thus making the data flow in a unidirectional path. When a user reacts with a React view (here through the TextArea in the chat system), the view propagates an action through the dispatcher service, to the various stores that hold the application’s data and finally update the views that are affected. Here’s another flowchart model from the website which helps one understand the model in a better way.

flux flow

For the current Chat Application, I used a single Message Store which contained all the event listeners to detect any change in the view. For example, when I send a “Hey” to SUSI, an action is called to Dispatch this message to the Message Store with an ActionType  “CREATE_MESSAGE”. This store then renders the message in the Message Section View.

Here is an example snippet from the Actions.js file which performs an action of type CREATE_MESSAGE and dispatches the messages to the MessageStore.js.

export function createMessage(text, currentThreadID) {
let message = ChatMessageUtils.getCreatedMessageData(text, currentThreadID);
ChatAppDispatcher.dispatch({
type: ActionTypes.CREATE_MESSAGE,
message
});
ChatWebAPIUtils.createMessage(message);
};

The response from the message is generated as soon as another ActionType named

“CREATE_SUSI_MESSAGE” is dispatched to the store, thereby rendering the SUSI’s response generated in the view.

The file ChatConstants.js which declares all the ActionTypes.

import keyMirror from 'keymirror';

export default {

  ActionTypes: keyMirror({
    CREATE_MESSAGE: null,
    RECEIVE_RAW_CREATED_MESSAGE: null,
    CREATE_SUSI_MESSAGE: null,
    RECEIVE_SUSI_MESSAGE: null,
    RECEIVE_RAW_MESSAGES: null
  })

};

To get the message up on the view, I have used the following utils to call the API, render the messages to the view and call the different actions. Here’s a code snippet from ChatMessageUtils.js

export function createMessage(message) {
  ChatExampleDataServer.postMessage(message, createdMessage => {
    Actions.receiveCreatedMessage(createdMessage, message.id);
  });
  ChatExampleDataServer.postSUSIMessage(message, createdMessage => {
    Actions.createSUSIMessage(createdMessage, message.threadID);
  });
};

To know more about the project join us on Gitter at gitter.im/fossasia/susi_webchat, or to contribute go to https://github.com/fossasia/chat.susi.ai/.

A demo application can be found running at http://chat.susi.ai.

Resources –

To know more about Flux you can visit the following websites.

Continue ReadingUsing Flux to embed SUSI’s API Service in a Chat System.