In an action, dispatcher.utter_template does not utter the template immediately. It only dispatches at the end of the action. How can I force the bot to say a utter before the action is complete?
The reason why I want to force the bot to say something right away is that I want it to say something while it is calling an external API (which takes a while). In this way, the user at least has some feedback that the bot received a message
Thank you
Currently, we do not support something like this. All messages are uttered once the action is complete.
However, you could maybe split up the action. Letâs say your action is called action_make_request. Canât you do something like
* some_trigger_intent
- utter_might_take_a_while
- action_make_request
So you basically first perform an action to utter that the following request might take a while and then the actual action is performed. Does that work for you?
Hi @Tanja,
I recently read the chapter about Proactively Reach Out to the User either by calling a POST request to the endpoint or using the CallbackInput.
Couldnât that be a solution to use inside an action before actually executing the long running function if someone doesnât want to model the case inside the stories? I am asking because I didnât try that function yet but it may become important.
Regards Julian
Hi @JulianGerhard, thanks for pointing that out! Did not thought about that, but I guess you are right. It should work.
Thank you both! Iâll try this and get back to you 
Ok so basically I tried with the Callback input but Iâm not receiving the first message (âletâs see what optionsâŚâ) in my application. I think the reason is because it is creating a tracker. How do I avoid this?
Creating a new tracker for id 'default'.
2019-11-08 12:15:18 DEBUG rasa.core.tracker_store - Recreating tracker for id 'default'
2019-11-08 12:15:18 DEBUG rasa.core.processor - Action 'utter_options_available' ended with events '['BotUttered(text: Let\'s see what options we have available, data: {"elements": null, "quick_replies": null, "buttons": null, "attachment": "default", "image": "default", "custom": null}, metadata: {})']'
2019-11-08 12:15:18 DEBUG rasa.core.lock_store - Deleted lock for conversation 'default'.
2019-11-08 12:15:18 DEBUG rasa.core.tracker_store - Recreating tracker for id 'default'
2019-11-08 12:15:20 DEBUG rasa.core.processor - Action 'book_form' ended with events '['BotUttered(text: (....)']'
My application receives bot message by sending a post request to rasa with the user message.
Can you help me please?
If there is no tracker yet, Rasa will create one. This is a normal process. We need the tracker to keep track of all the incoming and outgoing messages.
Is there any error? Can you please paste the full log here?
2019-11-12 10:15:47 DEBUG rasa.core.policies.memoization - Current tracker state [None, None, None, {}, {'intent_book': 1.0, 'prev_action_listen': 1.0, 'entity_location': 1.0}]
2019-11-12 10:15:47 DEBUG rasa.core.policies.memoization - There is no memorised next action
2019-11-12 10:15:47 DEBUG rasa.core.policies.mapping_policy - There is no mapped action for the predicted intent, 'give_cabin_class'.
2019-11-12 10:15:47 DEBUG rasa.core.policies.form_policy - There is an active form 'book_form'
2019-11-12 10:15:47 DEBUG rasa.core.policies.two_stage_fallback - NLU confidence threshold met, confidence of fallback action set to core threshold (0.3).
2019-11-12 10:15:47 DEBUG rasa.core.policies.ensemble - Predicted next action using policy_3_FormPolicy
2019-11-12 10:15:47 DEBUG rasa.core.processor - Predicted next action 'action_listen' with confidence 1.00.
2019-11-12 10:15:47 DEBUG rasa.core.processor - Action 'action_listen' ended with events '[]'
2019-11-12 10:15:47 DEBUG rasa.core.lock_store - Deleted lock for conversation '123'.
2019-11-12 10:15:53 DEBUG rasa.core.tracker_store - Recreating tracker for id '123'
2019-11-12 10:15:53 WARNING root - Could not parse timestamp 6bd9a488f5eb4e6eb0fb89a86a7026e7. Instead current UTC time will be passed to duckling. Error: invalid literal for int() with base 10: '6bd9a488f5eb4e6eb0fb89a86a7026e7'
2019-11-12 10:15:53 DEBUG rasa.core.processor - Received user message 'arrive faster' with intent '{'name': 'arrive_fast', 'confidence': 0.9331502318382263}' and entities '[]'
2019-11-12 10:15:53 DEBUG rasa.core.processor - Logged UserUtterance - tracker now has 101 events
2019-11-12 10:15:53 DEBUG rasa.core.policies.memoization - Current tracker state [None, None, None, {}, {'intent_book': 1.0, 'prev_action_listen': 1.0, 'entity_location': 1.0}]
2019-11-12 10:15:53 DEBUG rasa.core.policies.memoization - There is no memorised next action
2019-11-12 10:15:53 DEBUG rasa.core.policies.form_policy - There is an active form 'book_form'
2019-11-12 10:15:53 DEBUG rasa.core.policies.two_stage_fallback - NLU confidence threshold met, confidence of fallback action set to core threshold (0.3).
2019-11-12 10:15:53 DEBUG rasa.core.policies.ensemble - Predicted next action using policy_3_FormPolicy
2019-11-12 10:15:53 DEBUG rasa.core.processor - Predicted next action 'book_form' with confidence 1.00.
2019-11-12 10:15:53 DEBUG rasa.core.actions.action - Calling action endpoint to run action 'book_form'.
2019-11-12 10:15:53 DEBUG rasa.core.tracker_store - Creating a new tracker for id 'default'.
2019-11-12 10:15:53 DEBUG rasa.core.tracker_store - Recreating tracker for id 'default'
2019-11-12 10:15:53 DEBUG rasa.core.processor - Action 'utter_options_available' ended with events '['BotUttered(text: Let\'s see what options we have available, data: {"elements": null, "quick_replies": null, "buttons": null, "attachment": "default", "image": "default", "custom": null}, metadata: {})']'
2019-11-12 10:15:53 DEBUG rasa.core.lock_store - Deleted lock for conversation 'default'.
2019-11-12 10:15:53 DEBUG rasa.core.tracker_store - Recreating tracker for id 'default'
2019-11-12 10:15:56 DEBUG rasa.core.processor - Action 'book__form' ended with events '['BotUttered(text: .........']'
This is the only time in the middle of the conversation where it creates a new tracker.
My POST request looks like this:
def say_options_available(self):
headers = {
'Content-Type': 'application/json',
}
data = '{"name":"utter_options_available"}'
response = requests.post('http://localhost:5005/conversations/default/execute', headers=headers, data=data)
print(response)Hi @teresalazar13,
if I am not wrong, you need to use the right conversation_id - otherwise it would create the new (mentioned) tracker. You execute:
http://localhost:5005/conversations/default/execute
which means that the conversation_id is default (maybe you got that from the example).
If am right, you already have however created a tracker:
2019-11-12 10:15:47 DEBUG rasa.core.lock_store - Deleted lock for conversation '123'.
Can you please try to send the POST request to the ârunningâ conversation and see if your expected behaviour happens?
Regards Julian
Thank you @JulianGerhard
If I change the POST request to:
def say_options_available(self):
headers = {
'Content-Type': 'application/json',
}
data = '{"name":"utter_options_available"}'
response = requests.post('http://localhost:5005/conversations/123/execute', headers=headers, data=data)
print(response)
I get errors saying:
2019-11-14 14:13:48 DEBUG rasa.core.lock_store - Failed to acquire lock for conversation ID â123â. Retrying⌠2019-11-14 14:13:49 DEBUG rasa.core.lock_store - Failed to acquire lock for conversation ID â123â. RetryingâŚ
Can you help me please?
This error makes sense. You cannot modify a conversation (by sending a message to the user) when you are currently already modifying the same conversation (through the custom action). Same as @Tanja Iâd suggest to
How do I split the actions if this is a slot of a FormAction?
How are you currently running your (long-running) backend request to retrieve the information?
In a loop I:
I canât record and receive the bot message at the same time
@Tobias_Wochinger ârun the api request asynchronously and return the âmessage receivedâ notification with the custom actionâ â how/where do I return the message notification with the custom action? In my backend application or in rasa itself?
Thank you
In a loop I:
But how would âresponding immediatelyâ then work? Rasa would be required to return multiple responses to your POST request?
You want to do this, right?
Yes, thatâs right!