Using custom action to set slot value

Rasa Open Source
1

I’m having a few problems getting a custom action to work and add the result as a slot.

It looks like the action is being called, but SlotSet() doesn’t seem to update the required slot (the required string is returned from the api and . No error messages apparent. I’ve written other actions for filling in forms that have worked ok.

I want to update a slot called result with some string information that comes back from an api call. I’

The key aspects are as follows:

Grateful for any help with troubleshooting, as I’m out of ideas.

I’m using rasa==1.3.9 but have tried 1.4.0 too.

in domain.yml:

entities:
  result
slots:
  result:
    type:text
templates:
  utter_result:

- text: Result - {result}
  actions:
- action_check_result

actions.py:

from typing import Dict, Text, Any, List, Union, Optional
from rasa_sdk import Tracker
from rasa_sdk.executor import CollectingDispatcher
from rasa_sdk.forms import FormAction
from rasa_sdk import Action
from rasa_sdk.events import SlotSet

class ActionCheckResult(Action):
    def name(self) -> Text:
        return "action_check_result"

    def run(self,
            dispatcher: CollectingDispatcher,
            tracker: Tracker,
            domain: Dict[Text, Any]) -> List[Dict[Text, Any]]:
        curr_dict = tracker.slots
        curr_json = json.dumps(curr_dict)
        headers = {'Content-type': 'application/json', 'Accept': 'text/plain'}
        r = requests.post(RES_URL, data=json, headers=headers)
        result = r.text
        #tried setting slot in code and returning it, neither works.
        #SlotSet("result", str(result))
        dispatcher.utter_template('utter_result', tracker)
        return [SlotSet("result", result)]

stories.md:

## happy path
* greet
    - action_check_result
2

In your stories.md file you have action_check_diagnosis, but in the rest of the code you have action_check_result. Also, the return of the run method should be a list:

return [SlotSet("result", result)]
3

Thanks, I’ve tried with the result as a list, but still not working.

When I debug the code the return [SlotSet("result", result)] line seems to just get skipped over?

the action_check_result was just a mistake in my example, have amended now - good spot.

4

That’s weird. Maybe you have an error obtaining the result. Try a placeholder value.

5

I’ve tried just setting result = "placeholder", but still get the same behavior.

In debugging, the api was definitely returning a string value too.

Are from rasa_sdk import Action from rasa_sdk.events import SlotSet the correct imports? I’ve found it difficult to find an up to date tutorial on custom actions

6

finally solved this after coming back to it.

The slot type for result should be type: unfeaturized

Looking back at the documentation for slots - type: text :

Results in the feature of the slot being set to 1 if any value is set. Otherwise the feature will be set to 0 (no value is set).

unfeaturized allows the actual text for result to be stored.