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YAML dictionaries

tip
YAML dictionaries are used for storing various structured data relevant to the project.

Sample use cases of YAML dictionaries:

  • You can transfer the texts of your bot’s replies to a YAML dictionary in order to store them in one place and maintain them separately from the code.
  • Separate dictionaries should be created for bot configuration properties which are referenced often and are liable to be changed, such as external API keys, counter thresholds, etc.

Format​

YAML dictionaries are placed in files with the .yaml or .yml extension.

YAML is a simple format for storing typed values and standard data structures, such as sequences and key–value pairs of arbitrary depth. This is an example YAML dictionary:

start:
  id: 1
  summary: Greeting
  answers:
    - Hello, {{$client.name}}!
    - {{$client.name}}, nice to meet you!

# ...

catchAll:
  id: 99
  summary: Unrecognized input
  answers:
    - Sorry, I didn’t catch that.
    - Could you rephrase your question?
tip
If you want to use strings from a YAML dictionary after reaction or action tags, they can include string interpolations. The {{}} brackets can contain any valid JavaScript expression. It will be resolved and interpolated into the string during bot runtime.

Import​

To import a YAML dictionary into the script, use the require tag with a var parameter:

require: states.yaml
    var = states
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After being imported, the dictionary will be transformed into the equivalent JavaScript object. It can be referenced from the script by the name provided after var.

How to use​

Let’s use the dictionary defined and imported above to send a random reply to unrecognized input. Note the use of $reactions.random to generate a random number.

state: CatchAll
    event!: noMatch
    script:
        $temp.index = $reactions.random(states.catchAll.answers.length);
    a: {{states.catchAll.answers[$temp.index]}}