How to understand and use Dialog Studio
To use Dialog Studio effectively, it helps to think like a bot. Dialog Studio builds conversation flows from raw materials, such as intents and entities, which are then assembled into a complete flow using nodes and connections.
Dialog Studio
As shown in the figure, the navigation pane on the left contains five menus: Intent List, Entity List, Global Variables, Global Configuration, and Test Window.
The second column from the left categorizes the seven available nodes:
User says: User Input Node.
Robot thinks: Judgement Node, Service Invocation, Function Node, and Assignment Node.
Robot answers: Response Node.
System capabilities: Slot Filling Node.
The center area is the canvas. You can drag and drop nodes to create a layout and use keyboard shortcuts, such as Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, and Delete, to copy and paste nodes.
In the upper-right corner, you can use the node locator to find the currently selected node in one click. The locator also lists all nodes in the current conversation flow.
The editing interface is on the far right and opens when you double-click a node.
Basic conversation elements
Assembling a conversation flow mirrors the simple question-and-answer format of a user-bot interaction. The system abstracts this interaction into three basic elements: the entry node, the function node, and the response node.
Slot filling principle
The slot filling node is a pre-built component provided by the platform that combines these three basic node types. The basic principle of slot filling is as follows:
Configuration result
The final configuration creates a conversation flow. This flow appears simple to the end user, but its underlying structure is clearly displayed on the canvas.
