ALAN STUDIO

Q) How can I test my scripts in the Alan Studio?

A) You can test your scripts with the Debugging Chat in the right pane of the
Alan Studio. Prior to testing, be sure to save your changes using the Save
Changes button.

Can I edit and delete predefined scripts added to my Alan Studio project?

Yes, after you add predefined scripts to your project, you can edit or delete them
as you’d like.

How many projects can I have in my Alan Studio account?

You can create as many projects as you need in your Alan Studio account.

Can I share my scripts with other developers using the Alan Studio?

Currently, the Alan Studio does not support sharing scripts or script
permissions. However, you can easily export scripts from the Alan Studio and
share them between teams, for example, send by email.

What is the QR code used for in the Alan Studio?

With the QR code, you can test an app integrated with Alan on your mobile
device. Download and install Alan Playground on your iOS or Android device,
scan the QR code with the device camera and tap the Alan button in the app to
start testing it.

What platforms does Alan integrate with?

Alan integrates with any iOS, Android or web app. It also integrates with cross-
platform apps like Flutter, Ionic and React Native.

How can I test my new Alan project on mobile?

There are two ways to test your Alan Studio project on the mobile platform:

With Alan Playground: In the Alan Studio, go to the Playground section — here
you will see the QR code. In Alan Playground, click Scan QR Code, scan the
QR code of the project with the device camera and test the voice interface of
your project on the device.
Using your app UI: if your app already has the Alan button, you can use it to
test a new Alan Studio project. Launch the app on mobile, tap the Alan button
and hold it for 8 seconds. In the Alan Studio, go to the Playground section and
scan the QR code with the device camera. You can now test your Alan project.

Can the Alan button be customized?

Developers can change the Alan button colors in the Alan Studio. The button
colors are fully customize to match any graphic or app theme.

Can I define my own entities in Alan?

In Alan, users can define their own entities from either discrete sets of data (for
example, days of the week), regular expressions or through custom slots with
fuzzy matching where entities can be constructed around 'hard-to-pronounce'
words or phrases.

What extra permissions do Alan apps need?

Apps that use Alan only need the user to grant microphone access to work.

Can I customize the 'Hey Alan' wake word?

As of now, the 'Hey Alan' wake word cannot be customized.

I do not see the Alan button on my webpage

Check if you run the Alan button in a browser that supports an Audio API.
If you use 'http', run the page on the local host (otherwise use 'HTTP).
Make sure the Alan button isn't disabled in the Alan Studio: check the button
settings in the Integrates section for your project.

How can I stop voice interaction?

To stop interacting with Alan, you can do one of the following:

Use the deactivate() method of the Alan API.

Tap the Alan button in the app
Say one of the following phrases:

Thanks Alan
Thank you Alan
Alan thank you
Alan thanks
Stop Alan
Alan stop

How can I disable my Alan button?

You can disable the Alan button through the button options in the Integrations
view of the Alan Studio.

Does the microphone usage with Alan drain the battery faster?

Battery consumption with Alan from the microphone is minimal. The Alan
SDKs have default settings that turn the microphone off automatically after a
brief period of inactivity; however, the microphone timeout can be increased or
decreased based on developer preferences in the Alan Studio.

What if I migrate my data from one service to another?

Your data can be hosted anywhere, you will still be able to work with Alan.

Is everything written in JavaScript?

Commands and responses in the Alan Studio must be written in JavaScript.

How to pass parameters from iOS to the Alan Studio?

You can do this in a few ways:

When you are creating a connection, you can pass a JSON object.
You can call a JS function with parameters.
We have functionality to set the visual context using the SDK.

How to pass POST parameters from the Alan Studio?

In the Alan Studio, you can use built-in JavaScript libraries to do this in a usual
way.

Does the Alan Studio have different instances for Development, QA and
Production?

The Alan Studio has three separate instances for you to use in any project:
Development, Testing and Production.

Is there an activation phrase?

Yes, 'Hey Alan' is the activation phrase, sometimes called a wake word.

How is it better than Dialog flow?

The Alan Platform offers very easy integration with web/mobile apps and a
more flexible way to create voice enabled apps by using the JavaScript
language. This allows users to build complex enterprise-level apps.

How much does it cost to get started?

Only $1 for developers!

Can I use any database or back end?

Yes, any database or back end can be used.

I saw the infrastructure scheme of the Alan Platform. What parts do I have to
deploy?
You only need an app or device to run Alan.

What is does 'p' mean in the Alan Studio example scripts?

This is a name of the variable that references an object you can use to call Alan
Studio SDK methods. It also contains data for a user voice session and other
contextual information. You can use any name for this variable.

This object has:

Slot values for intents and follows, for example: intent("$(A cat|dog|pig)", p =>
p.play("You say " + p.A)).
Play : a method to playback voice responses.
State : an object for storing context data.
User Data: an object for storing user data during the current dialog session.

Auth : an object that accepts configuration from the client (mobile or web).

Typically, it can be used for passing authorization data for external services.
You can return a value from the current context by calling p.resolve (value).
How do I catch unrecognized voice commands?
To see the list of commands that have not been recognized, do either of the
following:

Open the Alan Studio logs and click the Unrecognized filter option.

Go to the Analytics view and check the Interactions widget. Make sure the
unrecognized filter is on.
If you want to catch the utterance as the user pronounces it, you can use the
Record intent audio option. In the Alan Studio, go to the Integrations section
and in the button settings section, enable this option. With this option enabled,
you will see the play icon to next to an unrecognized command in the Alan
Studio logs. Click this icon to listen to the intent audio.

Security and privacy

Does Alan record my conversations?

Alan does not record or store your conversations audio data. Alan does store the
Speech to Text commands and responses from your apps usage, which is
entirely private to you and inaccessible to Alan employees and any third-party
engines.

Alan technologies

What is SLU?
Spoken Language Understanding (SLU) is a voice processing technology
designed to work with the error-prone output of Automatic Speech Recognition
(ASR) instead of written text, like chat bots.

What is the Domain Language Model?

The Domain Language Model is a unique procedure Alan uses for training our
Speech Recognition software to better recognize the specialized language of
your app, dynamically adapting to your users' conversational style.

What is intent?
Intent is a voice command the user says to receive a voice response or perform
some action in an app.

What is an entity?
An entity is a specific part of speech or text holding data such as name or
height. Each entity is part of intent and conveys a set of information to the
developer, for example, date, location and so on.
What is a context?
A context is the situation in which a conversation occurs. Contexts are a
cornerstone in Alan’s conversational design as they dictate the flow of the
conversation, much like in the real world, where different contexts may provide
different meanings to the same sentence. In the Alan Studio, developers can
create unique context functions to specify the steps of the dialog and create
interactive multi-stage conversations.

PREPARED BY

KANALA SATISH REDDY

Example

// {Name: SmallTalk}

// {Description: Gives responses to casual conversation.}

title('Small talk')

question(

'hello',

reply(

'Hello',

'Hi (there|)',

'Hi, what can I do for you?',

),

);

question(
 'java',

reply('java\'is a programming language it is platform independent'),

);