In this article we will talk about EDDI's httpCalls feature.

The httpCalls feature allows a chatbot to consume 3rd party APIs and use the JSON response in another httpCall (for authentication or requesting a token for instance) or directly print the results in chatbot's output; this means, for example, you can call a weather api and use the JSON response in your chatbot's output if the user asks about today's weather or the week's forecast!

We will emphasize the http call model and go through an example step by step, you can also download the example in POSTMAN collection format and run the steps.

The Model:

{
  "targetServer": "string",
  "httpCalls": [
    {
      "name": "string",
      "saveResponse": true,
      "responseObjectName": "string",
      "actions": [
        "string"
      ],
      "request": {
        "path": "string",
        "headers": {},
        "queryParams": {},
        "method": "string",
        "contentType": "string",
        "body": "string"
      },
      "postResponse": {
        "qrBuildInstruction": {
          "pathToTargetArray": "String",
          "iterationObjectName": "String",
          "quickReplyValue": "String",
          "quickReplyExpressions": "String"
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

Description :

an http call is mainly composed from the targetServer array of httpCalls, the latter will have request where you put all details about your actual http request(method,path,headers, etc..) and postResponse where you can define what happens after the httpCall has been executed and a response has been received; such as quick replies by using qrBuildInstruction.

You can ${memory.current.httpCalls.<responseObjectName>} to access your JSON object, so you can use it in output templating or in another http call, for example an http call will get the oAuth token and another http call will use in the http headers to authenticate to an api.

targetServer	(`String`) root/context path of the http call (e.g http://example.com/api)
httpCall.saveResponse	(`Boolean`) whether to save the json response into ${memory.current.httpCalls}
httpCall.responseObjectName	(`String`) name of the json object so it can be accessed from other http calls or outputsets.
httpCall.actions	(`String`) name of the output/behavior set mapped to this http call.
httpCall.request.path	(`String`) path of the http call (e.g /books)
httpCall.request.headers	(`String: key,value`) for each http call header
httpCall.request.queryParams	(`String: key,value`) for each http call query parameter
httpCall.request.method	(`String`) Http method of the http call (e.g GET,POST,etc...)
httpCall.request.contentType	(`String`) value of the `contentType` header of the http call
httpCall.request.body	(`String`) an escaped JSON object that goes in the http request body if needed.
httpCall.postResponse.qrBuildInstruction.pathToTargetArray	(`String`) path to the array in your JSON response data
httpCall.postResponse.qrBuildInstruction.iterationObjectName	(`String`) a variable name that will point to the `TargetArray`.
httpCall.postResponse.qrBuildInstruction.quickReplyValue	(`String`) thymeleaf expression to use as a quick reply value.
httpCall.postResponse.qrBuildInstruction.quickReplyExpressions	(`String`) expression to retreive a property from iterationObjectName.

The API endpoints :

HTTP Method	API Endpoint	Request Body	Response
DELETE	/httpcallsstore/httpcalls/{id}	N/A	N/A
GET	/httpcallsstore/httpcalls/{id}	N/A	http-call-model
PUT	/httpcallsstore/httpcalls/{id}	http-call-model	N/A
GET	/httpcallsstore/httpcalls/descriptors	N/A	list of references to http-call-model
POST	/httpcallsstore/httpcalls	http-call-model	N/A
GET	/httpcallsstore/httpcalls/{id}/currentversion	N/A	http-call-model
POST	/httpcallsstore/httpcalls/{id}/currentversion	http-call-model	N/A

Step by step example :

We will do a step by step example from scratch (chatbot creation to a simple conversation that uses http call)

For the sake of simplicity we will use a free weather API to fetch weather of cities by their names (api.openweathermap.org)

1 - Create regularDictionnary

More about regular dictionaries can be found here .

Creating the regular dictionary

Request URL
	POST	http://localhost:7070/regulardictionarystore/regulardictionaries

Request Body

{
  "words": [
    {
      "word": "weather",
      "exp": "trigger(current_weather)",
      "frequency": 0
    }
  ],
  "phrases": [
    {
      "phrase": "what is the weather",
      "exp": "trigger(current_weather)"
    },
    {
      "phrase": "whats the weather",
      "exp": "trigger(current_weather)"
    }
  ]
}

Response Body
	no content

Response Code
	201

Response Headers
{
  "access-control-allow-origin": "*",
  "date": "Sun, 13 May 2018 16:40:58 GMT",
  "access-control-allow-headers": "authorization, Content-Type",
  "content-length": "0",
  "location": "eddi://ai.labs.regulardictionary/regulardictionarystore/regulardictionaries/5af86a9aba31c023bcb9ef2b?version=1",
  "access-control-allow-methods": "GET, PUT, POST, DELETE, PATCH, OPTIONS",
  "access-control-expose-headers": "location",
  "content-type": null
}

2 - Create the behaviorSet

More about behaviorSets can be found here.

Creating the behaviorSet

Request URL
	POST	http://localhost:7070/behaviorstore/behaviorsets
Response Body
	no content
Response Code
	201

Request Body

{
  "behaviorGroups": [
    {
      "name": "",
      "behaviorRules": [
        {
          "name": "Ask for City",
          "actions": [
            "ask_for_city"
          ],
          "children": [
            {
              "type": "inputmatcher",
              "values": {
                "expressions": "trigger(current_weather)"
              },
              "children": []
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "Current Weather in City",
          "actions": [
            "current_weather_in_city"
          ],
          "children": [
            {
              "type": "inputmatcher",
              "values": {
                "expressions": "trigger(current_weather)",
                "occurrence": "lastStep"
              },
              "children": []
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Response Headers
{
  "access-control-allow-origin": "*",
  "date": "Sun, 13 May 2018 16:45:52 GMT",
  "access-control-allow-headers": "authorization, Content-Type",
  "content-length": "0",
  "location": "eddi://ai.labs.behavior/behaviorstore/behaviorsets/5af86bc0ba31c023bcb9ef2c?version=1",
  "access-control-allow-methods": "GET, PUT, POST, DELETE, PATCH, OPTIONS",
  "access-control-expose-headers": "location",
  "content-type": null
}

3 - Create the httpCall

Note that we can pass user input to the http call using [[${memory.current.input}]]

Creating the httpCall

Request URL
	POST	http://localhost:7070/httpcallsstore/httpcalls

Request Body
{
  "targetServer" : "https://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/weather",
  "httpCalls" : [ {
    "name" : "currentWeather",
    "saveResponse" : true,
    "responseObjectName" : "currentWeather",
    "actions" : [ "current_weather_in_city" ],
    "request" : {
      "path" : "",
      "headers" : { },
      "queryParams" : {
        "APPID" : "c3366d78c7c0f76d63eb4cdf1384ddbf",
        "units" : "metric",
        "q" : "[[${memory.current.input}]]"
      },
      "method" : "get",
      "contentType" : "",
      "body" : ""
    }
  } ]
}

Response Body
	no content

Response Code
	201

Response Headers
{
  "access-control-allow-origin": "*",
  "date": "Sun, 13 May 2018 19:13:52 GMT",
  "access-control-allow-headers": "authorization, Content-Type",
  "content-length": "0",
  "location": "eddi://ai.labs.httpcalls/httpcallsstore/httpcalls/5af88e70ba31c023bcb9ef2e?version=1",
  "access-control-allow-methods": "GET, PUT, POST, DELETE, PATCH, OPTIONS",
  "access-control-expose-headers": "location",
  "content-type": null
}

4 - Create the outputSet

More about outputSet can be found here.

httpCall note

When you set "saveResponse" : true in http call then you can use [[${memory.current.httpCalls.<responseObjectName>}]] to access the response data and use thymeleaf( th:each ) to iterate over JSON arrays if you have them in your JSON response.

Creating the outputSet

Request URL
	POST	http://localhost:7070/outputstore/outputsets

Request Body
{
  "outputSet": [
    {
      "action": "ask_for_city",
      "timesOccurred": 0,
      "outputs": [
        {
          "type": "text",
          "valueAlternatives": [
            "Which City would you like to know the weather of?"
          ]
        }
      ],
      "quickReplies": []
    },
    {
      "action": "current_weather_in_city",
      "timesOccurred": 0,
      "outputs": [
        {
          "type": "text",
          "valueAlternatives": [
            "The current weather situation of [[${memory.current.input}]] is [[${memory.current.httpCalls.currentWeather.weather[0].description}]] at [[${memory.current.httpCalls.currentWeather.main.temp}]] °C"
          ]
        }
      ],
      "quickReplies": []
    }
  ]
}

Response Body
	no content

Response Code
	201

Response Headers
{
  "access-control-allow-origin": "*",
  "date": "Sun, 13 May 2018 16:48:37 GMT",
  "access-control-allow-headers": "authorization, Content-Type",
  "content-length": "0",
  "location": "eddi://ai.labs.output/outputstore/outputsets/5af86c65ba31c023bcb9ef2d?version=1",
  "access-control-allow-methods": "GET, PUT, POST, DELETE, PATCH, OPTIONS",
  "access-control-expose-headers": "location",
  "content-type": null
}

5 - Creating the package

More about packages can be found here.

package note

ai.labs.httpcalls & ai.labs.output must come after ai.labs.behavior in order of the package definition
ai.labs.templating has to be after ai.labs.output

Creating the package

Request URL
	POST	http://localhost:7070/packagestore/packages


Request Body
{
  "packageExtensions": [
    {
      "type": "eddi://ai.labs.parser",
      "extensions": {
        "dictionaries": [
          {
            "type": "eddi://ai.labs.parser.dictionaries.integer"
          },
          {
            "type": "eddi://ai.labs.parser.dictionaries.decimal"
          },
          {
            "type": "eddi://ai.labs.parser.dictionaries.punctuation"
          },
          {
            "type": "eddi://ai.labs.parser.dictionaries.email"
          },
          {
            "type": "eddi://ai.labs.parser.dictionaries.time"
          },
          {
            "type": "eddi://ai.labs.parser.dictionaries.ordinalNumber"
          },
          {
            "type": "eddi://ai.labs.parser.dictionaries.regular",
            "config": {
              "uri": "eddi://ai.labs.regulardictionary/regulardictionarystore/regulardictionaries/{{dictionary_id}}?version=1"
            }
          }
        ],
        "corrections": [
          {
            "type": "eddi://ai.labs.parser.corrections.stemming",
            "config": {
              "language": "english",
              "lookupIfKnown": "false"
            }
          },
          {
            "type": "eddi://ai.labs.parser.corrections.levenshtein",
            "config": {
              "distance": "2"
            }
          },
          {
            "type": "eddi://ai.labs.parser.corrections.mergedTerms"
          }
        ]
      },
      "config": {}
    },
   
    {
      "type": "eddi://ai.labs.behavior",
      "config": {
        "uri": "eddi://ai.labs.behavior/behaviorstore/behaviorsets/{{behaviourset_id}}?version=1"
      }
    },
    {
      "type": "eddi://ai.labs.httpcalls",
      "config": {
        "uri": "eddi://ai.labs.httpcalls/httpcallsstore/httpcalls/{{httpcall_id}}?version=1"
      }
    },
    {
      "type": "eddi://ai.labs.output",
      "config": {
        "uri": "eddi://ai.labs.output/outputstore/outputsets/{{outputset_id}}?version=1"
      }
    },
     {
      "type": "eddi://ai.labs.templating",
	  "extensions": {},
	  "config": {}
	}
  ]
}
Response Body
	no content

Response Code
	201

Response Headers
{
  "access-control-allow-origin": "*",
  "date": "Sun, 13 May 2018 19:26:36 GMT",
  "access-control-allow-headers": "authorization, Content-Type",
  "content-length": "0",
  "location": "eddi://ai.labs.package/packagestore/packages/5af8916cba31c023bcb9ef2f?version=1",
  "access-control-allow-methods": "GET, PUT, POST, DELETE, PATCH, OPTIONS",
  "access-control-expose-headers": "location",
  "content-type": null
}

6 - Creating the bot

Creating the chatbot

Request URL
	POST	http://localhost:7070/botstore/bots

Request Body
{
  "packages" : [
    "eddi://ai.labs.package/packagestore/packages/{{package_id}}?version=1"
  ],    "channels" : []
}

Response Body
	no content

Response Code
	201

Response Headers
{
  "access-control-allow-origin": "*",
  "date": "Sun, 13 May 2018 21:18:16 GMT",
  "access-control-allow-headers": "authorization, Content-Type",
  "content-length": "0",
  "location": "eddi://ai.labs.bot/botstore/bots/5af8ab98ba31c023bcb9ef32?version=1",
  "access-control-allow-methods": "GET, PUT, POST, DELETE, PATCH, OPTIONS",
  "access-control-expose-headers": "location",
  "content-type": null
}

7 - Deploy the bot

Deploying the chatbot

Request URL
	POST	http://localhost:7070/administration/restricted/deploy/<bot_id>?version=1&autoDeploy=true

Response Body
	no content

Response Code
	202

Response Headers
{
  "access-control-allow-origin": "*",
  "date": "Sun, 13 May 2018 21:21:54 GMT",
  "access-control-allow-headers": "authorization, Content-Type",
  "content-length": "0",
  "access-control-allow-methods": "GET, PUT, POST, DELETE, PATCH, OPTIONS",
  "access-control-expose-headers": "location",
  "content-type": null
}

8 - Create the conversation

Creating the conversation

Request URL
	POST	http://localhost:7070/bots/<env>/<bot_id>

Response Body
	no content

Response Code
	201

Response Headers
{
  "access-control-allow-origin": "*",
  "date": "Sun, 13 May 2018 21:30:45 GMT",
  "access-control-allow-headers": "authorization, Content-Type",
  "content-length": "0",
  "location": "eddi://ai.labs.conversation/conversationstore/conversations/5af8ae85ba31c023bcb9ef35",
  "access-control-allow-methods": "GET, PUT, POST, DELETE, PATCH, OPTIONS",
  "access-control-expose-headers": "location",
  "content-type": null
}

9 - Say weather

Creating the conversation

Request URL
	POST	http://localhost:7070/bots/<env>/<bot_id>/<conversation_id>?returnDetailed=false&returnCurrentStepOnly=true

Request Body
	{
		"input":"weather"
	}

Response Body
{
    "botId": "5af8b075ba31c023bcb9ef3b",
    "botVersion": 1,
    "environment": "unrestricted",
    "conversationState": "READY",
    "redoCacheSize": 0,
    "conversationSteps": [
        {
            "conversationStep": [
                {
                    "key": "input:initial",
                    "value": "weather"
                },
                {
                    "key": "actions",
                    "value": [
                        "ask_for_city"
                    ]
                },
                {
                    "key": "output:text:ask_for_city",
                    "value": "Which City would you like to know the weather of?"
                }
            ],
            "timestamp": 1526247548410
        }
    ]
}

Response Code
	200

Response Headers
{
  "access-control-allow-origin": "*",
  "date": "Sun, 13 May 2018 21:35:15 GMT",
  "content-type": "application/json;resteasy-server-has-produces=true",
  "access-control-allow-headers": "authorization, Content-Type",
  "content-length": "325",
  "access-control-allow-methods": "GET, PUT, POST, DELETE, PATCH, OPTIONS",
  "access-control-expose-headers": "location"
}

10 - Say "Vienna"

Creating the conversation

Request URL
	POST	http://localhost:7070/bots/<env>/<bot_id>/<conversation_id>?returnDetailed=false&returnCurrentStepOnly=true

Request Body
	{
		"input":"Vienna"
	}

Response Body
{
    "botId": "5af8b075ba31c023bcb9ef3b",
    "botVersion": 1,
    "environment": "unrestricted",
    "conversationState": "READY",
    "redoCacheSize": 0,
    "conversationSteps": [
        {
            "conversationStep": [
                {
                    "key": "input:initial",
                    "value": "Vienna"
                },
                {
                    "key": "actions",
                    "value": [
                        "current_weather_in_city"
                    ]
                },
                {
                    "key": "output:text:current_weather_in_city",
                    "value": "The current weather situation of Vienna is clear sky at 17.68 °C"
                }
            ],
            "timestamp": 1526247618080
        }
    ]
}

Response Code
	200

Response Headers
{
  "access-control-allow-origin": "*",
  "date": "Sun, 13 May 2018 21:35:15 GMT",
  "content-type": "application/json;resteasy-server-has-produces=true",
  "access-control-allow-headers": "authorization, Content-Type",
  "content-length": "325",
  "access-control-allow-methods": "GET, PUT, POST, DELETE, PATCH, OPTIONS",
  "access-control-expose-headers": "location"
}

Full example :

If you would like to run the full example through postman , you can download and import the collection below.

E.D.D.I

HttpCalls (Calling other JSON APIS)

The Model:

Description :

The API endpoints :

Step by step example :

1 - Create regularDictionnary

2 - Create the behaviorSet

3 - Create the httpCall

4 - Create the outputSet

5 - Creating the package

6 - Creating the bot

7 - Deploy the bot

8 - Create the conversation

9 - Say weather

10 - Say "Vienna"

Full example :