Entities
In Tovie DialogStudio, an entity is a part of the client request that can be singled out from a phrase as some language-independent piece of data.
Date&Time, Number, Phone number, or City are all examples of entities that Tovie DialogStudio can find in the client’s phrase.
What entities are there in Tovie DialogStudio
In Tovie DialogStudio, we have both system (out-of-the-box) and custom entities.
How do entities work
Every time the bot reacts to a client’s phrase, it is trying to single out the entities that the phrase contains. As soon as it finds one, it creates a new variable with a descriptive name and saves the previously found entity into it.
For example, a template says that the client’s phrase should include a number. In Tovie DialogStudio, there is the NUMBER system entity which can recognize numbers. In this case, when the client writes the phrase with a number, the bot will get a number from the phrase and create a $NUMBER variable. The $NUMBER variable will have an integer in it even if the client has written it in words (e.g., “eleven”).
After this is done, you can use this variable the same way as any other variable. For example, use it in conditions or HTTP requests.
How to get an entity from the phrase
For a bot to find an entity in the client’s phrase, you have to add it to the list of examples in your intent.
For example, you want your bot to recognize the phrase “book a table for two” and at the same time to find the number of guests in it. So you have to add the following as an example:
Book a table for $NUMBER
When the client writes a similar phrase, the bot will single out the number of guests from it and add it to the $NUMBER variable.
How do I create my own entity?
To create your own entity, go to the Entities tab in the bot editor. Here you can create and manage entities to use them in the script later.
