Flow basics

Introduction

The Flow is the design of a dialogue between an end-user and the Conversational AI application; usually a Flow covers a specific topic or use case and contains at lease one User Intent trigger and a Bot Output, but the Flow can be designed to call external Integrations, link to other Flows, or contain Script nodes which execute when the Flow is triggered and the Script node reached.
This pages presents the basics related to working in a Flow, for specifics on the implementation of particular Flow node or element, please find the relevant page via the left-hand menu.

TODO label

"TODO" labels are shown in the Flow editor when an implementation is still pending, allowing the solution designer to sketch the Flow by creating the global structure before specifying the details such as the Match(es) or Output answers.
The "TODO" labels do not affect the functionality of the solution at execution time, the only purpose of the labels is to remind the solution developer of the pending implementation(s).
User Intent triggers or transitions which are input consuming but with no defined Match(es) will never match an input and hence will not be triggered.

Open

To open a Flow in read only mode, either:

Double-click the wanted Flow in the Solution Explorer view
Select the Flow and click Open in the top ribbon
Right-click the Flow and select Open in the context menu

Activate edit mode in the opened Flow by clicking Edit in the top ribbon of the Flow

To open a Flow in edit mode, either:

Press the Alt key while double-clicking the wanted Flow in the Solution Explorer view
Select the Flow and click Edit in the top ribbon
Right-click the Flow and select Edit in the context menu

Create

To create a new Flow in Teneo Studio, follow the below steps:

Go to the Solution Explorer in the main Teneo Studio window (Home tab)
Optionally, select the folder, or alternatively create a new folder, where the Flow should be added
In the New area of Teneo Studio's top ribbon, click the Flow button
Clicking the lower part of the button allows to select Sub-flow or Prompt Flow while clicking the top part of the button creates an Intent trigger Flow
The Flow window opens on the Properties tab:
- Give the Flow a Name
- Optionally, add a Description and add a Resume Prompt
Click the green Play icon or the back-arrow in the top left corner to go to the main view
Select the Trigger node to define the trigger properties
- Give the trigger a Name and a Description
- Add Positive and Negative Examples of User Intent
- Add the required Match(es)
- Define any needed After Match(es)
Select the Output node:
- Give the Output node a Name
- Optionally, add a Description and Hyperlink
- Click the Answer text field to write the answer text
- Optionally, select an Emotion in the drop-down menu (only available if Emotions have previously been added to the solution)
Save the Flow to preserve the changes.

Edit

After opening the Flow in edit mode, the user is able to work on the Flow; below please find an overview of the available options.

Flow: top ribbon

The Flow top ribbon provides a wide range of buttons and options for working with the Flow, in the below table the different buttons are listed and, when relevant links to more information are provided.

Section	Button	Comment	More information
Flow	Close	Close the Flow window
	Save	Save the Flow in the current state; clicking the lower part of the button allows the user to save the Flow with or without a comment
	Enable/disable	Enable or disable the Flow	Enable or Disable documents
Edit	Undo/redo	Undo/redo changes performed in the Flow
	Delete	Delete a selected Flow node
View	Zoom to fit	Allows to fit the Flow editor in the Flow window
	Refresh	Refresh the Flow
	Top to Bottom/Left to Right	Allows to view the Flow editor from (default) top to bottom or left to right
Flow Entry	Add trigger	Add a new Intent trigger	Intent trigger
	Add Prompt	Add a new Prompt trigger	Prompt trigger
	Sub-flow	Convert the Flow into a Sub-flow	Sub-flow
	Set Start Node	Set the selected Flow node as the start node of the Flow (after the trigger)
Add Node	Output	Add an Output node	Bot Output
	Script	Add a Script node	Script node
	Flow (Link)	Add a Flow Link node	Flow Link
	Junction	Add a Junction node
	Integration	Add an Integration previously defined in the Integration manager	Integration node
Stable Version	Set/Unset	Set the current version of the Flow as stable or unset it	Version flag
Branching	Include/Exclude	Include or Exclude the Flow from branching when working in a Localization setup	Localization setup

Flow tab

The backstage of a Flow (Flow tab in the top of the Flow window) contains the below mentioned menu items.

Menu item	Comment	More information
Properties	Allows to edit the name of the Flow, the description or add a Resume Prompt
History	Lists the history or version created each time the Flow was saved, comments added at saving are displayed here. Open a previous version by clicking the version number; restore a previous version by opening the specific version and clicking Restore in the top ribbon	Version flag
Metadata	Allows to set Metadata values at Flow level, by clicking Add and selecting the Metadata and it's value	Metadata
Variables	Allows to add Flow Variables which are only accessible in the Flow in which they are declared	Variables
Listeners	Allows to add Flow Post-Listeners which only listens when the Flow is activated	Listeners
Scripts	Add a script (Groovy) which is executed when the Flow reaches the top of the Flow stack or when it is dropped
Auto-test	Test the performance of the Flow by either selecting Run Flow test or Run Test using Flow scope	Auto-test

Flow editor

Plus icons are displayed in the Flow editor indicating where more options (nodes) can be added and - when clicked - displays the available options for that particular place in the dialogue; depending if a Plus is clicked just after the first User Intent or further down in the Flow editor the displayed options will therefore differ.

Please find an overview below of the option groups available throughout a Flow via the plusses and the implementation possibilities they provide; links to more information is provided where relevant.

Option group	Sub-group/Option	Option	Comments
Trigger	Trigger based on end user Intent in the input		Adds a new User Intent trigger to the Flow; option only available before the raise label
	Trigger after the input is processed to Prompt the user		Adds a new Prompt trigger to the Flow; option only available before the raise label
Match	Generate a draft implementation from the examples of User Intent		Only available when examples of User Intent are added to the User Intent node and the Tryout engine is running Generate the implementation of the Match; read more
	when a given Class is predicted for the input		Adds a Class Match
	when an Entity is recognized in the input		Adds an Entity Match
	when a Language Object matches the input		Adds a Language Object Match
	when a TLML syntax rule matches the input		Adds a Syntax Match
	when a Scripted Context state is active		Adds a Context Match
	when a Flow Variable matches a given script		Adds a Flow Variable Context Match
	when a Global Variable matches a given script		Adds a Global Variable Context Match
	when a Script returns true		Adds a Script Match
After Match	extract the value of an Entity variable (if present in the input)		Adds an Entity After Match
	extract the value of a Language Object variable (if it matches the input)		Adds a Language Object After Match
	store the words which matched as a variable		Adds a Script After Match
	execute a script when the input matches an additional TLML Syntax rule		Adds a Listener After Match
Continue With	a Transaction to recognize Intent and Give a Response		Adds a Give Response label, User Intent and Bot Output
	a transaction element to interact with the end user	expect an end user Intent	Adds a User Intent to the transition
		queue an Output to be given to the end user	Adds an Output node
		give all pending outputs as a Response	Adds a Give Response label
	an Integration to query or control another system		Integrations available in the solution are listed, select the wanted integration to add it
	a Flow Link to pass the dialogue to another flow		Adds a Flow Link
	a Script to execute an action		Adds a Script node
	a Junction to split or re-join the dialogue path		Adds a Junction node
Split Path *	to a Transaction to recognise Intent and Give a Response		Adds a Give Response label, User Intent and Bot Output
	to a transaction element to interact with the end user	queue an Output to be given to the end user	Adds an Output node
	to an Integration to query or control another system		Integrations available in the solution are listed, select the wanted integration to add it
	to a Flow Link to pass the dialogue to another flow		Adds a Flow Link
	to a Script to execute an action		Adds a Script node
	to a Junction to split or re-join the dialogue path		Adds a Junction
Fork To	multiple complete Transactions to recognise Intents and Give Responses		Selecting the number of times to fork the element allows to add a Give Response label and the selected number of User Intents and Bot Outputs in one go
	multiple transaction elements to interact with the end user	queue an Output to be given to the end user	Selecting the number of times to fork the element allows to add the selected number of Bot Outputs in one go

* Split Path creates a new path in the Flow; a junction is inserted if splitting directly after the Raise label

Right-side panel

Depending on the selected node in the Flow editor, different options are available in the right-side panel of the Flow window for the developer to implement specific behaviors. The right side panel is usually opened automatically when selecting a new node in the Flow, but can also be opened manually by clicking any of the buttons available in the far right side of the Flow window after selecting a Flow node (again, the option may vary depending on the selected Flow node).

Save

To save a Flow with a comment follow the below steps:

Click Save in the top ribbon of the Flow
In the dialogue box (optionally) write a comment
Click OK

To save directly and bypass the comment, press the Alt key while clicking the Save button.

Keyboard shortcuts:
Ctrl+S: save with a comment
Ctrl+Alt+S: save without a comment

Close

To close a Flow, either:

Click the X in the top, right corner of the Flow window
Click the Close button available in the top ribbon
In the Flow backstage, click Close in the left-side menu

Should there be unsaved changes, Teneo Studio prompts the user to Save or Close without saving.

Delete

To delete a Flow from the solution, follow the below steps:

Select the Flow in the Solution Explorer
In the top ribbon of Teneo Studio, click Delete
A confirmation message will be displayed, click Delete again
If the Flow is in use, an Item in Use message will appear, click Select All to delete anyhow or Continue to cancel deletion (the user can also click the X in the box to cancel the deletion).

For more information, please see Delete documents.