Sequences

Configure and execute a serie of actions or sending messages, based on an event that occurred in the conversation.

All the sequences that are needed can be created, in any context of the conversation. But only one will remain active per user at any given time.

Can be very useful when it comes to sending reminder messages in the development of a sales funnels for instance.

Start a sequence

To start a sequence, the following method is used, which can be called within an action block or in a callback in the Conversation class:

start_sequence(context_route=String)

Start a sequence in the same context

start_sequence "sign_up_sequence"

Stat a sequence in a different context

start_sequence "profile/sign_up_sequence"

Executing actions

Sequences are defined within the sequences() method of a Context class by calling the following method:

sequence(sequence_name=String|Symbol, &block)

In turn, this will receive as parameters the name of the sequence and a block with one or several calls to the past() method, one for each action of the sequence.

past(time_elapsed=ActiveSupport::Duration, &block)

This last method will execute the code in the block argument, when the time defined in the time_elapsed argument has elapsed since the start of the sequence.

def sequences

  sequence :sign_up_sequence do
      
    past 20.minutes do
      logger.debug "This will executed 20 minutes after secuence_start(:sign_up_sequence) was called"
    end
    
    past 3.hours do
      logger.debug "This will executed 3 hours after secuence_start(:sign_up_sequence) was called"
    end 
    
    past 2.days do
      logger.debug "You've already got the idea ;)"
    end

  end

end

Stop a sequence

It will stop automatically after the execution of the last block in the sequence, but if it's necessary to stop it prematurely, the following method can be called:

stop_sequence(sequence_name=String|Symbol)

Full Example

The example below will attempt to get the user to complete the registration process by sending two reminders: one at 20 minutes and one at 3 hours.

In case the user does the registration process, we will stop the sequence prematurely.

class MainContext < Conversation

  def blocks

    intent :greeting do 
      @reply.text "Hello!"
      @rsp.quick_reply(
        "To start, please create an account",
        [
          {
            title: "Continue",
            payload: "sign_up"
          }
        ]
      )
      start_sequence :sign_up_sequence
    end
    
    postback :sign_up do 
      @reply.text "To create a new account please click in the button bellow."
      @reply.url(
        {
          title: "Create a new User",
          url: "https://kogno.io/sign_up"
        }
      )

      stop_sequence :sign_up_sequence
      
    end

  end
  
  def sequences
  
    sequence :sign_up_sequence do
    
      past 20.minutes do
        @rsp.quick_reply(
          "Don't forget to create your account.",
          [
            {
              title: "Create an Account",
              payload: "sign_up"
            }
          ]
        )
      end

      past 3.hours do
        @rsp.text "Did you know that by creatig an account with us you'll receive a gift?"
        @rsp.quick_reply(
          "Don't miss this oportunity",
          [
            {
              title: "Sign Up",
              payload: "sign_up"
            }
          ]
        )
      end
      
    end
    
  end
  
end

Sequence daemon

This functionality has a independent process that must be running by calling the following commands in terminal:

Foreground

kogno sequences fg

Background

kogno sequences start

With other Kogno's processes

It can also be started with the other Kongo daemons like http and schedule_messages by running:

kogno start

Logs

See the logs in logs/sequences.log.

Configuration

It could be the case when after the activation of a sequence, a user continues the conversation with the app and in between, receives a programmed message from an active sequence.

To avoid this problem, define the minimum time elapsed since the last message from the user, that the sequence must wait in order to execute the next block, by modifying the configuration file config/application.rb.

config.sequences.time_elapsed_after_last_usage = 900 # 15 minutes