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Transactions

In the Google assistant ecosystem, transactions is a built-in feature to allow a streamlined, standardized way for chat and voice apps to make reservations and purchases of physical and digital goods.

Creating an OrderTurn#

Narratory supports this out of the box through a special bot turn, the OrderTurn. The OrderTurn comes with a few extra fields that it needs to present the order and receipts correctly to users.

The extra fields of an Orderturn are:

  • orderType: the type of order, used when Google assistant phrases the question "Are you ready to book?" in addition to showing buttons and suggestions on devices that have a screen. Accepted values are "BOOK" | "RESERVE" | "BUY" | "PLACE_ORDER" | "PAY" | "SEND" | "RESERVE" | "SCHEDULE" | "SUBSCRIBE"
  • name: the name of the order, for presentation to the user on graphical interfaces. See below for an example.
  • description: a description of the order, for presentation to the user on graphical interfaces. See below for an example.
  • confirmationText: the status of the order when completed, for presentation to the user on graphical interfaces. See below for an example.
  • merchantName: Optional. The name of the merchant conducting the order. If not set, it will use the agentName set in your Agent object.
  • onConfirmed: A BotTurn to be executed on a successful transaction. You likely want to use a DynamicBotTurn here to query some external order endpoint.
  • onDeclined: A BotTurn to be executed on a declined/unsuccessful transaction.

Note, like any BotTurn, onConfirmed and onCancelled support UserTurns and followup BotTurns.

An example of a BotTurn follows: 

const orderTurn: OrderTurn = {    orderType: "BOOK",    name: "A flight to _toCity",    description: "_tickets tickets to _toCity from _fromCity",    confirmationText: "Flight booked",    merchantName: "Amazing flight booker AB",    onConfirmed: {        say: "Awesome, order sent",        url: "https://url-to-some-external-order-api-where-you-might-send-a-confirmation-email-to-users",        params: ["toCity", "fromCity", "tickets"],    },    onCancelled: {        say: "Okay. Order cancelled"    }}
const confirmOrder: BotTurn = {    say: "So, a flight to _toCity from _fromCity for _noPeople people, does that seem right?",    user: [        { intent: Yes, bot: orderTurn},        { intent: No, bot: "Okay, no worries"}    ]}
const end = "Goodbye"
const narrative = [/* Other turns building up the order.. */, confirmOrder, end]

For a happyflow, the user experience on a voice-only device would be:

Bot: So, a flight to Paris from Stockholm for 2 people, does that seem right?User: Yes it doesBot: Alright. Are you ready to book?User: YesBot: Awesome, order sentBot: Goodbye

On a device with a screen, the user experience would be:

Bot: So, a flight to Paris from Stockholm for 2 people, does that seem right?User: Yes it doesBot: Here is your booking summary. Ready to book?<Booking summary shown>User: YesBot: Awesome, order sent<Booking confirmation shown>Bot: Goodbye

If the user declines the transaction, it will instead be

Bot: So, a flight to Paris from Stockholm for 2 people, does that seem right?User: Yes it doesBot: Alright. Are you ready to book?User: NoBot: Okay. Order cancelledBot: Goodbye

Important notes regarding transactions#

Currently transactions for Google assistant in Narratory is limited to reservations - i.e no payments. Additional support for physical paid transactions and digital transactions will be added shortly.

Important: in order for transactions to work for your Agent you have to enter the Deploy-settings in the Google Assistant console and make sure you both have checked the box allowing transactions AND that you have filled in a url to a privacy policy and terms of conditions. For testing purposes, i.e before you deploy your action, it is fine to just provide a temporary url, but for deployment this is a crucial step. Unfortunately, Google's error messages are very lacking but they do provide a page with troubleshooting help. Reach out to us if you face issues!

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