Watson Assistant Chatbot saving user inputs in Slots

Question

I'm using Watson Assistant Chatbot..I want to save a variable from the user input by enabling Slots and system entities like @sys-number.. I can save number by choosing check for @sys-number, or saving date by choosing check for @sys-date... But for text/characters I can't find something like @sys-text or @sys-char..

I tried to save text while check for @sys-number, but the answer is not saved into the variable and the question keep repeating in th chatbot console.

So, how can I use Slots to save text from user input, I mean what should I put in "check for", please? Thanks,

Answer 1

Numbers are always numbers, no matter your language and context. Dates are always dates as well.

However, "texts" can mean many different things, and they depend on context. That's why you need to create a separate entity for each meaning in your context.

For IBM Watson Assistant, there is no reason to detect "any text" unless that text means something in your context.

Supposing you want to detect the word "smartphone". For Assistant, there is no reason to detect this word if it doesn't relate to any entity.

So, you need to create an entity (e.g. "@Product") and then give it a value named "smartphone". Then, whenever a user types "smartphone" in your Chatbot, Assistant will be able to recognize "@Product:smartphone".

In your Slots, in the "Check for" field, you can put "@Product". It means that if Chatbot doesn't detect any @Product (e.g. "smartphone"), it should repeat the question until it finds a valid product.