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Integrate actions skill with dialog skill

  • 1.  Integrate actions skill with dialog skill

    Posted Thu June 17, 2021 11:05 AM
      |   view attached
    Hi

    I am new to IBM Watson but have been following the tutorials on building assistants. I have managed to build and deploy an assistant on my website built with the dialogs skill I have also created an assistant from actions skill,  which in the preview field, works as planned for basic q&a .

    However I have been searching all of the documentation on IBM and the web and I am unable to find how to:
    • Integrate the assistant built on actions within the assistant already created with a dialog skill. ( How to call an action from a dialog node)  (Reference  image attached   from Building A Chatbot Using Actions In IBM Watson Assistant  
    • I also have found this, IBM Cloud Docs Under the Adding Actions> Defining Session Variables but it does not explain how to add my actions to my dialog.  
    • Alternatively can I  deploy an actions skill only assistant to my website, without integrating it into a dialog  ( no API info or how to deploy the actions only in the documentation). IBM Cloud Docs
    Any help on where to find a step by step explanation on this would be greatly appreciated!!!

    Thanks,

    Kristina


    Reference Image: 
    Image 1.

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    Kristina Tool
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    #WatsonAssistant


  • 2.  RE: Integrate actions skill with dialog skill

    Posted Thu June 17, 2021 12:39 PM
    The documentation you mentioned seems to give the explanation. I have created this image showing how elements connect. Seems like you call the action skill just like you are calling a dialog skill, there is no difference. Mind you, action skills cannot detect other system entities (like dialog skills can) and they don't support calling webhooks from a node (but they do support web hooks before and after every message).
    Calling action skill just like a dialog skill


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    Antonel Neculai
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  • 3.  RE: Integrate actions skill with dialog skill

    Posted Thu June 17, 2021 04:43 PM
    Thanks so much Antonel for your image and explanation! However the problem I am having is that I do not have the option to call to an action skill. In  the screen shot attached, (Looking for action_01) I am working with the child node to "actions test".

    I have the "If assistant recognizes" field but below that, instead of having an option to call out to a skill, I only have the choice of how the assistant responds. I have clicked on each of these to see if there was something about calling out an action, and there was not.  

    Scrolling down( Looking for action_02)  I have the chance to have the assistant "wait for reply" or "jump to" but neither offers a way to call out an action.  What am I missing??? 

    Thanks very much for any help!

    Kristina


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    Kristina Tool
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  • 4.  RE: Integrate actions skill with dialog skill

    Posted Mon June 21, 2021 03:40 PM

    Kristina, I am so glad Mitch gave us all an update on the situation with the skills and actions!

    Antonel






  • 5.  RE: Integrate actions skill with dialog skill

    Posted Tue June 22, 2021 09:04 AM
    Thanks yes, appreciative of all the responses, and glad to see the updates have made it easier to understand how to use, I was going crazy searching for how to integrate actions with dialog!

    Kristina

    --
     
    +(39) 320 077 3216 mobile
    skype  knt_milan
    twitter: kristinatool & montanarilife





  • 6.  RE: Integrate actions skill with dialog skill

    Posted Fri June 18, 2021 11:19 AM

    Unfortunately this feature was causing more complexity than value add, so it has been removed for the time being. We hope to allow the combination of all skill types again in the future.

    Actions was actually released as generally available today, and you can easily just add it to an assistant and deployed via web chat. There are no direct API integrations to the action skill just yet, but you can also use the v2 /message when an action skill is connected to your assistant.



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    Mitch Mason
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  • 7.  RE: Integrate actions skill with dialog skill

    Posted Fri June 18, 2021 11:48 AM
    Hi Mitch

    Thanks for your reply,

    If I understand it correctly, than I should not attempt to add an actions skill to a dialog node as that feature no longer functions.
    But it seems I can still add actions to my assistant built with dialog skills in some other way,  but I am still missing how to do this. I am unable to find in the actions documentation how to add it to my assistant that I have deployed on my website. Could you please provide a link to the documentation that explains this?

    Thank you,

    Kristina

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    Kristina Tool
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  • 8.  RE: Integrate actions skill with dialog skill

    Posted Fri June 18, 2021 12:18 PM
    You can only add an Action OR a Dialog skill at this time. You cannot add both or call an actions skill from a dialog skill. It is one or the other.

    Deploying an action skill to your site is the same as deploying a dialog skill.

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    Mitch Mason
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  • 9.  RE: Integrate actions skill with dialog skill

    Posted Tue June 22, 2021 09:01 AM
    Thanks Mitch

    I see everything has changed when I log into my account now and it is now much easier to see how to choose actions OR dialog, seems to be much easier now. :-)

    thanks for your response.

    Kristina

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    Kristina Tool
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  • 10.  RE: Integrate actions skill with dialog skill

    Posted Tue April 05, 2022 09:18 AM
    Hi Mitch,
    I just started looking at Actions recently and really the most important reason for doing so was my understanding that I could use Actions to quickly add value to my existing dialog skills. What is the plan for re-adding dialog/actions integration in the future?
    Thanks

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    Stefan Nachev
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  • 11.  RE: Integrate actions skill with dialog skill

    Posted Thu April 07, 2022 02:38 PM
    Hi Stefan,

    We recently added a new feature called 'Coexistence'. The feature will allow you to import your existing Dialog Skill into the new Watson Assistant experience, and then be able to call out to an Action from within it.

    Most likely you'll have to go through a path similar to this:

    1. Export your current dialog skill in the classic Watson Assistant experience
    2. Switch from the classic experience to the new Watson Assistant experience
    3. Activate Coexistence 
    4. Navigate to the newly visible Dialog panel, where you can import and view your dialog skill
    5. Set up your Dialog to call out to an Action
    6. Preview your Assistant with both Dialog+Actions on the Preview Page 

    I hope the above helps, along with the provided documentation!

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    SABTAIN KHAN
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