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Calling a custom extension

Calling a custom extension

An extension is an integration with an external service. By calling an extension from an action, your assistant can send requests to the external service and receive response data it can use in the conversation.

For example, you might use an extension to interact with a ticketing or customer relationship management (CRM) system, or to retrieve real-time data such as mortgage rates or weather conditions. Response data from the extension is then available as action variables, which your assistant can use in the conversation.

For information about how to build a custom extension, see Build a custom extension.

Calling the extension from a step

To call a custom extension from an action:

  1. In the action editor, create or open the step from which you want to call the extension.

  2. Optional: In the Assistant says field, type a message to be shown to the customer before the extension is called (for example, Please wait while I retrieve your account balance...).

    The output from this step is sent to the channel with the global context variable skip_user_input set to true. This variable tells the channel to display the message but not to prompt the customer for a reply. Instead, the channel sends an empty message, enabling the assistant to proceed with the call to the extension.

    All built-in channel integrations (such as the web chat) respect the skip_user_input context variable. If you are using the API to develop a custom client, it is your responsibility to include logic checking for this variable. For more information, see Processing user input.

  3. In the step editor, click And then.

  4. Click Use an extension.

  5. In the Extension setup window, specify the following information:

    • In the Extension field, select the extension you want to call.

    • In the Operation field, select the operation you want to perform. (An operation is a method or function supported by the extension.)

  6. Specify values for each of the required input parameters. A parameter is an input value sent to an operation, such as the ID of a customer record you want to retrieve or the location to use for a weather forecast.

    To assign a value to a parameter, click the input field for the value. You can then select from the list of available variables or write an expression to specify the value.

    Setting a parameter value

    Each parameter has a data type (such as number or string). The variable you select must be compatible with the data type of the parameter; for more information, see Compatible variables for parameters.

    You must specify values for all required parameters before you can proceed.

  7. If you want to specify a value for any optional parameters, click Optional parameters. You can then repeat this process for each optional parameter you want to use.

  8. Click Apply. (If the Apply button is not available, check to make sure you have specified values for all required parameters.)

The And then section of the step editor now shows an overview of the call to the extension:

Overview of configured call to extension

If you need to make changes, click Edit extension to reopen the Extension setup window.

Compatible variables for parameters

To pass an input parameter value for an operation, you must select a compatible action variable or session variable.

An action variable contains a value that is based on a customer response in a previous step. A session variable might have a value based on a customer response or a value defined by an expression. (For more information about action variables and session variables, see Using variables to manage conversation information.)

When you assign a value to a parameter, the variable you choose must be compatible with the data type of the parameter. (For example, a number parameter must be assigned a numeric value rather than text.)

The following table shows the possible customer response types and the parameter data type compatible with each.

Compatible response types for parameters
Customer response type Compatible data types Notes
options string A selected option is always treated as a string, even if it is a numeric value.
number number
integer		 A floating-point number passed as the value for an integer parameter might cause an error, depending on the behavior of the REST API.
date string Dates are rendered as YYYY-MM-DD.
time string Times are rendered as HH:MM:SS in 24-hour format, converted to the user's time zone.
Currency number
integer
Percent number
integer		 A percent value is passed as an integer (so 75% becomes 75).
Free text string
Regex string

Arrays

In addition to the supported customer response types, a variable can also contain an array value. If you need to pass an array parameter to an operation, you must create an array session variable:

  1. Create a new session variable, either using Set variable values in the step editor or from the Variables > Created by you page. (For more information about how to create a session variable, see Creating a session variable.)

  2. In the Type field, select Any.

  3. In the Initial value field, click the Use expression toggle to enable it. Enter an expression that defines an array value (such as ["New York", "London", "Tokyo"], [123, 456, 789], or []).

Because this variable contains an array value, your actions can use expressions with array methods to access or modify the array values. For example, you might want to create a variable that initially contains an empty array ([]) and then use the add() method to build a list one element at a time. For more information about the array methods you can use in expressions, see Array methods.

You can now select this variable as the value for a parameter that requires an array.

Accessing extension response data

After you call an extension, values from the response data are stored in special action variables that you can access in subsequent steps.

You can access these variables in the same way you access other action variables. You can reference it in the Assistant says text, evaluate it as part of a step condition, or assign it to a session variable so other actions can access it. The response variables are shown in the list of available variables, categorized under the name of the extension and the step from which it was called:

Referencing a response variable

Each call to an extension creates a separate set of response variables. If your action calls the same extension multiple times from different steps, make sure you select the variables from the correct step.

Each variable represents a value from the response body. To make it easy to access these values, data is extracted from complex, nested objects and mapped to individual response variables. The name of each variable reflects its location within the response body (for example, body.name or body.customer.address.zipcode).

For example, this action step uses an expression to check the availability property in an extension response:

Extension variable in step condition

If a response variable contains an array, you can write an expression that uses array methods to access the elements of the array. For example, you might use the contains() method in a step condition to test whether the array contains a particular value, or the join() method to format data from the array as a string you can include in an assistant response. For more information about array methods, see Array methods.

Checking success or failure

You might want your assistant to be able to handle errors that occur when calling a custom extension. You can do this by checking the Ran successfully response variable that is returned along with the response from the call to the extension. This variable is a boolean (true or false) value.

If you define step conditions that check the Ran successfully variable, you can create steps that enable your assistant to respond differently depending on whether the call to the extension succeeded. (For more information about step conditions, see Step conditions.)

The following example shows a step condition that checks for a failure from an extension in step 3. By using this condition, you can create a step that tells the customer there was an error, and perhaps offers to connect to an agent for more help.

Step condition checking for extension failure

Conditioning on HTTP status

In addition to the Ran successfully variable, you might also want to create a step condition based on the HTTP status of the response. By doing this, you can create steps that handle the situation differently depending on the cause of the failure. For example, if the call failed because of a timeout error (HTTP status 408), you might want to retry the call.

There are many possible HTTP status codes, and different methods use different status codes to indicate various types of success or failure. To condition on the HTTP status, you need to know what HTTP status codes the external service returns, and under what circumstances. These status codes are typically specified in the OpenAPI document that describes the external API.

To create an step condition based on the HTTP status code, follow these steps:

  1. For the value you want to test, click Expression.

  2. In the expression field, type a dollar sign ($) to show the list of available variables.

  3. Select any variable that is a response value from the extension. (It doesn't matter which variable you select, as long as it is an extension response variable).

    The expression is automatically updated to show a reference to the variable you selected, in the format ${step_xxx_result_y.body.variablename}. For example, if you selected a response variable called body.id, the reference might be ${step_596_result_1.body.id}.

  4. Inside the curly braces, ({}), edit this reference to remove .body.variablename. You should be left with something like ${step_596_result_1}.

  5. After the closing curly brace (}), add .status. The resulting reference identifies the status code returned from the call to the extension (for example, ${step_596_result_1}.status).

    For more information about writing expressions, see Writing expressions.

  6. Complete the expression by adding an operator and a comparison value, so the expression evaluates to a Boolean (true/false) value. For example, the following expression tests for HTTP status 408, which indicates a timeout error:

    ${step_549_result_1}.status==408

Debugging failures

If your calls to an extension are failing, you might want to debug the problem by seeing detailed information about what is being sent to and returned from the external API. To do this, you can use the extension inspector in the Preview pane:

  1. On the Actions page, or in the action editor, click Preview to open the Preview pane.

    You cannot access the extension inspector from the assistant preview on the Preview page, which shows only what a customer would see. Instead, use the preview feature that is part of the Actions page, which gives you access to additional information.

  2. Interact with your assistant as a customer would.

  3. Each time an extension is called, the preview pane shows a message giving you access to detailed information:

    Extension message in the Preview pane

    Click Inspect to see details about the call to the extension.

    You can also click the Extension inspector icon icon to show or hide the extension inspector. However, you must click Inspect in the preview pane to show information about a particular call to an extension.

    The Overview tab of the extension inspector shows the following information about a call to an extension:

    Extension
    The name of the extension, as specified in the extension settings.
    Operation
    The operation that was called.
    Status
    The HTTP status code from the response. This code can help you determine if an error is being returned from the external service.
    Request parameters
    The input parameters that were sent to the external API as part of the request.
    Response properties
    The values of all properties included in the response from the external API. These are the values that are mapped to action variables after the call to the extension completes.

    In the Request parameters and Response properties tables, long property names might be truncated to show only the last part of the JSON path. To see the complete path and property name, hover the mouse pointer over the property name in the table.

  4. Click the Advanced tab in the extension inspector if you want to see the raw request and response data:

    • The request is shown as a cURL command, which you can run at a command prompt or import into a tool such as Postman. (For security reasons, the content of any Authorization header is not included.)
    • The response is shown as the complete JSON data returned from the external API.

Reconfiguring a missing extension

An extension might become unavailable if someone removes it from the assistant on the Integrations page, or if the action is exported and then imported to a different assistant where the required extension is not configured. If this happens, any action step that calls the extension becomes invalid.

To correct the problem, follow these steps:

  1. If necessary, recreate the extension using the same OpenAPI specification that was used before. (For more information, see Building a custom extension.)

  2. Make sure the extension has been added to the assistant. (For more information, see Adding an extension to your assistant.)

  3. In the action editor, edit the action step that calls the extension and check whether the call to the extension is correctly configured. If watsonx Assistant recognizes the required extension, the extension configuration is automatically restored.

    If you see the message Extension not fully configured, this means that watsonx Assistant did not find the required extension. Click Edit extension.

  4. In the Extension setup window, select the extension you want to call.

    If watsonx Assistant recognizes an available extension that was built using the same OpenAPI document, a message appears suggesting that you select this extension. However, you can select any available extension.

  5. Verify that the correct values are specified in the Operation and Parameters fields.

  6. Click Apply.

  7. If you selected an extension that is not identical to the one that was used to build the action, you might need to modify subsequent steps that access the extension response properties. Check any later steps that refer to the response properties and make sure the references are still valid and correct.