Dialogflow CX | How to close/reset a conversation

Question

How can I close or reset a conversation programmatically from Java app?. According to Dialogflow CX documentation "A session remains active and its data is stored for 30 minutes after the last request is sent for the session."

I want to keep the session active for less time. For example, if I want the session to be active for 5 minutes, when user sends a message 5 minutes or more after last message, conversation must start again and previous flows must be closed and context parameters must be deleted.

With Dialogflow ES it is posible using ContextsClient, however new version does not offer ContextsClient class.

Answer 1

Dialogflow CX uses State Handlers to control conversation paths, unlike Dialogflow ES which uses Contexts.

For Dialogflow CX, you can end the current session by using the END_SESSION symbolic transition target. Once the END_SESSION transition target is invoked, it clears the current session and the next user input will restart the session at the start page of the Default Start Flow.

To achieve your desired use case, you’ll have to create your own implementation for it. Note that the solution below will only work if you integrate your Dialogflow CX agent to a custom front-end.

First, you should add an Event Handler to all of your Pages - so that the Event Handler will be accessible in any part of the conversation flow. In this Event Handler, define a custom event - for example: clearsession. Then, set its Transition to End Session Page. Once the clearsession event is invoked, it will end the current session.

Then, using your own business logic, you can create a custom function that could act as a timer for each user query. Once the timer reaches 5 minutes, your custom application should send a detectIntent request to your CX agent programmatically. This detectIntent request must contain the current session ID and the custom event (from the previously created Event Handler).

Here’s a sample detectIntent request that invokes a custom event using the Java Client Library:

// [START dialogflow_cx_detect_intent_event]
 
import com.google.api.gax.rpc.ApiException;
import com.google.cloud.dialogflow.cx.v3.*;
import com.google.common.collect.Maps;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Map;
 
public class DetectIntent {
 
    // DialogFlow API Detect Intent sample with event input.
    public static Map<String, QueryResult> detectIntentEvent(
            String projectId,
            String locationId,
            String agentId,
            String sessionId,
            String languageCode,
            String event)
            throws IOException, ApiException {
        SessionsSettings.Builder sessionsSettingsBuilder = SessionsSettings.newBuilder();
        if (locationId.equals("global")) {
            sessionsSettingsBuilder.setEndpoint("dialogflow.googleapis.com:443");
        } else {
            sessionsSettingsBuilder.setEndpoint(locationId + "-dialogflow.googleapis.com:443");
        }
        SessionsSettings sessionsSettings = sessionsSettingsBuilder.build();
 
        Map<String, QueryResult> queryResults = Maps.newHashMap();
        // Instantiates a client
        try (SessionsClient sessionsClient = SessionsClient.create(sessionsSettings)) {
            // Set the session name using the projectID (my-project-id), locationID (global), agentID
            // (UUID), and sessionId (UUID).
            SessionName session = SessionName.of(projectId, locationId, agentId, sessionId);
            System.out.println("Session Path: " + session.toString());
 
            EventInput.Builder eventInput = EventInput.newBuilder().setEvent(event);
 
            // Build the query with the EventInput and language code (en-US).
            QueryInput queryInput =
                    QueryInput.newBuilder().setEvent(eventInput).setLanguageCode(languageCode).build();
 
            // Build the DetectIntentRequest with the SessionName and QueryInput.
            DetectIntentRequest request =
                    DetectIntentRequest.newBuilder()
                            .setSession(session.toString())
                            .setQueryInput(queryInput)
                            .build();
 
            // Performs the detect intent request.
            DetectIntentResponse response = sessionsClient.detectIntent(request);
 
            // Display the query result.
            QueryResult queryResult = response.getQueryResult();
 
            System.out.println("====================");
            System.out.format(
                    "Detected Intent: %s (confidence: %f)\n",
                    queryResult.getIntent().getDisplayName(), queryResult.getIntentDetectionConfidence());
 
 
        }
        return queryResults;
    }
 
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String projectId = "<project-id>";
        String locationId = "<location-id>";
        String agentId = "<agent-id>";
        String sessionId = "<current-session-id>";
        String languageCode = "<language-code>";
        String event = "clearsession";
        try{
            detectIntentEvent(projectId,locationId,agentId,sessionId, languageCode, event);
        } catch (IOException e){
            System.out.println(e.getMessage());
        }
    }
}
// [END dialogflow_cx_detect_intent_event]