chatbotlib

Chatbotlib is a library that allows to define a chat (more to come...)

Prerequisites

• python 3+
• python pytohn-lxm

Installing

Download the source code or clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/rdorado/chatbotlib

Running the examples

To run the examples just type

path_to_chatlib>  python runbot.py -i botfile

Where path_to_chatlib is the root directory of the project and botfile is an xml file with the bot's logic.

Tutorial and Examples

A chatbot is defined in an xml file containing a set of states. A state is defined in a state element. A state element must contain an attribute called id, an start element, and an input element. The id of the state will serve as an identifier to perform transitions between states. The start allows to specify the output when entering the state. The input element specify different cases to move to the next state according to the input. To do that, a set of cases should be specified using the case and loopback elements.

The ouput of start, case, and loopback elements allows to specify different options to output text. The ouput is specified with a hierchical structure with the elements sentence, random, and sequence. A sentence specify a simple utterance to be displayed. A delay can be specified through the delay attribute. random and sequence elements are containers of sentence and containers, allowing to specify different effects. For example, the following start element will display a "Hello" message:

<start>
  <sentence>Hello</sentence>
</start>  

The following start element will select randomly between the sentences "Hi!" and "Hello!":

<start>
  <random>
    <sentence>Hi!</sentence>
    <sentence>Hello!</sentence>
  </random>   
</start>  

The examples can be found in the examples folder. These are the detailed explanation of each one of the examples:

Example 1: hello world

This example shows a definition of a very simple chatbot. It starts with a sentence, wait for the user's input, and finally says good bye and terminates.

<chatbot-def start="greeting">

  <state id="greeting">

    <start>
      <sentence>hello world! say something!</sentence>
    </start>   
   
    <input>
      <case type="pattern" pattern=".*">
        <sentence delay="1.3">Ok! good bye!</sentence>
      </case>
    </input>

  </state>

</chatbot-def>

To run this example execute:

path_to_chatlib>  python runbot.py -i hello_world.bot

Example 2: greeting

This example shows the selection of two different sequences randomly.

<chatbot-def start="greeting">

  <state id="greeting">

    <start>
      <random>
        <sentence>hi!</sentence>
        <sentence delay="1.5">hello!</sentence>
      </random>
      <random>
        <sentence>how are you?</sentence>
        <sentence delay="1.5">are you there?</sentence>     
      </random>
    </start>   
   
    <input>
      <case type="pattern" pattern=".*">
        <sentence delay="1.3">Ok! good bye!</sentence>
      </case>
    </input>

  </state>

</chatbot-def>

To run this example execute:

path_to_chatlib>  python runbot.py -i greeting.bot

Example 3: greeting 2

This example shows the usage of the loopback element to return to the same state. The bot will finish only if the user says "hi".

<chatbot-def start="greeting">

  <state id="greeting">

	   <start>
       <random>
	       <sentence>hi!</sentence>
	       <sentence>hello!</sentence>
       </random>
	   </start>  

	   <input>
       <case type="pattern" pattern=".*hi.*">
         <sentence>Have a nice day!</sentence> 
       </case>
       <loopback>
         <random>
           <sentence>Just say, hi</sentence>
           <sentence>It is rude not say hi</sentence>
           <sentence>You only need to say hi</sentence>
         </random>
       </loopback>
     </input>

  </state>

</chatbot-def>

To run this example execute:

path_to_chatlib>  python runbot.py -i greeting2.bot

Example 4: greeting 3

This example shows a complex randomization of a greeting.

<chatbot-def start="greeting" bot-prompt="me: " user-prompt="you: ">

  <state id="greeting">

    <start>
      <random>
        <sentence delay="0.4">hi!</sentence>
        <sentence delay="0.4">hello!</sentence>
      </random>
      <sentence delay="1.9">How are you?</sentence>
      <random>
        <sequence>
          <sentence delay="2.1">Are you ok?</sentence>
          <sentence delay="2.1">hello?</sentence>
        </sequence>
        <sequence>
          <sentence delay="2.1">Is this a good time?</sentence>
          <sentence delay="2.1">Seems your are busy....</sentence>
        </sequence>
      </random>  
    </start>   
   
    <input>
      <case type="pattern" pattern="(.*)">
        <sentence delay="1.4">Good bye!</sentence>
      </case>
    </input>
  </state>

</chatbot-def>

To run this example execute:

path_to_chatlib>  python runbot.py -i greeting3.bot

Example 5: survey

This example shows an application of a survey app, where the objectives are:

• Ask two questions to the user
• Give the user the option to 'quit' the test
• Force the user to answer only 'yes' or 'no' The example shows also how to use and to make transitions between states.

<chatbot-def start="greeting" bot-prompt="me: " user-prompt="you: ">

  <state id="greeting">

    <start>
      <sequence>
        <sentence>Welcome!</sentence>
        <sentence delay="2.5">Thank you, very much for taking our survey!</sentence>
        <sentence delay="2.5">You will have to answer two yes/no questions. Please type only 'yes' or 'no'.</sentence>
        <sentence delay="2.5">If you want to quit type 'quit', otherwise please tell us your name.</sentence>
      </sequence>
    </start>   
   
    <input>
      <case type="pattern" pattern="quit">
        <sentence delay="1.3">Ok! good bye!</sentence>
      </case>
      <case type="pattern" pattern="quit" next="end"/> 
      <case type="pattern" pattern=".*" next="q1"/>              
    </input>

  </state>


  <state id="q1">

    <start>
      <sentence delay="1.3">First question: do you smoke?</sentence>  
    </start>

    <input>
      <case type="pattern" pattern="yes" next="q2"/>
      <case type="pattern" pattern="no" next="q3"/>
      <loopback>
        <sentence delay="1.3">Please type only yes or no.</sentence>
      </loopback>  
    </input>   

  </state>


  <state id="q2">

    <start>
      <sentence delay="1.3">Do you want to quit?</sentence>  
    </start>

    <input>
      <case type="pattern" pattern="yes" next="end"/>
      <case type="pattern" pattern="no" next="end"/>
      <loopback>
        <sentence delay="1.3">Please type only yes or no.</sentence>
      </loopback>  
    </input>   

  </state>


  <state id="q3">

    <start>
      <sentence delay="1.3">Have you smoked in the last year?</sentence>  
    </start>

    <input>
      <case type="pattern" pattern="yes" next="end"/>
      <case type="pattern" pattern="no" next="end"/>
      <loopback>
        <sentence delay="1.3">Please type only yes or no.</sentence>
      </loopback>  
    </input>   

  </state>


  <state id="end">

    <start>
      <sentence delay="1.3">Thank you very much!</sentence>  
    </start>

  </state>

</chatbot-def>

To run this example execute:

path_to_chatlib>  python runbot.py -i survey.bot

Future developments

• Timeout feature
• Include the execution of other 'chatbots' inside the definition of a chatbot.
• Add entity extraction functionalities.
• Add a probabilistic model, where the random element allows a multinomial distribution with different probabilites for each sentences. It will allow also to 'learn' from the different executions.