Alan Electron Framework¶

Integrating with Alan¶

To integrate an Electron app with Alan:

Add the Alan Web SDK to your app. You can do it in two ways:
- With the npm package
- In the browser library mode
NPM package
To install the Alan Web SDK with the npm package:
1. In the Terminal, run the command:
  Terminal¶
  
  npm install @alan-ai/alan-sdk-web --save
2. Include the following <script> tag in the index.html file:
  Client app¶
  
  <script src="node_modules/@alan-ai/alan-sdk-web/dist/alan_lib.min.js"></script>
Browser library mode
To load the Alan Web SDK in the browser library mode, add the alan_lib.min.js library to the index.html file using the <script> tag:
Client app¶
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://studio.alan.app/web/lib/alan_lib.min.js"></script>

Add the Alan button to the index.html file:

Client app¶

<script>
  var alanBtnInstance = alanBtn({
    key: 'YOUR_KEY_FROM_ALAN_STUDIO_HERE',
    onCommand: (commandData) => {
      if (commandData.command === 'go:back') {
        // Call the client code that will react to the received command
      }
    },
  });
</script>

Note

Regularly update the @alan-ai/alan-sdk-web package your project depends on. To check if a newer version is available, run npm outdated. To update the alan package, run npm update @alan-ai/alan-sdk-web. For more details, see npm documentation.

Specifying the Alan button parameters¶

You can specify the following parameters for the Alan button added to your app:

Name	Type	Description
`key`	string	The Alan SDK key for a project in Alan Studio.
`authData`	JSON object	The authentication or configuration data to be sent to the dialog script. For details, see authData.
`rootEl`	HTMLElement	The element where Alan button will be added. If no `rootEl` is provided, the Alan button is added to the `body`.
`showOverlayOnMicPermissionPrompt`	Boolean	The property signaling whether the overlay fade effect must be used when the microphone permission prompt in the browser is displayed. The overlay effect makes the prompt more noticeable and helps make sure users provide microphone access to the in-app assistant.
`onCommand`	function	A callback for handling commands from the Alan dialog script. In this callback, you can set up logic on how your app must react to commands received from the dialog script. For details, see onCommand handler.
`onButtonState`	function	A callback for receiving the connection state of the Alan button. For details, see onButtonState handler.
`onConnectionStatus`	function	A callback for receiving the connection state of the virtual assistant project run in the Alan Cloud. For details, see onConnectionStatus handler.
`onEvent`	function	A callback responsible for handling events received from Alan. For details, see onEvent handler.

Changing the Alan button position¶

By default, the Alan button is placed in the bottom right corner of the window. To change the Alan button position, you can use the following options for the alanBtn variable:

left: sets the Alan button position from the left edge
right: sets the Alan button position from the right edge
top: sets the Alan button position from the top edge
bottom: sets the Alan button position from the bottom edge
zIndex: sets the z-order of the Alan button

Client app¶

alanBtn({
   key: 'YOUR_KEY_FROM_ALAN_STUDIO_HERE',
   bottom: '50px',
   left: '50px',
   zIndex: 10
});

Using client API methods¶

You can use the following client API methods in your Electron app:

setVisualState()
callProjectApi()
playText()
sendText()
playCommand()
activate()
deactivate()
isActive()
remove()

setVisualState()¶

Use the setVisualState() method to inform the in-app assistant about the app’s visual context. For details, see setVisualState().

Client app¶

alanBtnInstance.setVisualState({data:"your data"});

callProjectApi()¶

Use the callProjectApi() method to send data from the client app to the dialog script and trigger activities without voice commands. For details, see callProjectApi().

Dialog script¶

projectAPI.setClientData = function(p, param, callback) {
  console.log(param);
};

Client app¶

alanBtnInstance.callProjectApi("setClientData", {value:"your data"}, function (error, result){
  // Handling error and result
});

playText()¶

Use the playText() method to play specific text in the client app. For details, see playText().

Client app¶

alanBtnInstance.playText("Hi! I am Alan");

sendText()¶

Use the sendText() method to send a text message to Alan as the user’s input. For details, see sendText().

Client app¶

alanBtnInstance.sendText("Hello, Alan, can you help me?");

playCommand()¶

Use the playCommand() method to execute a specific command in the client app. For details, see playCommand().

Client app¶

alanBtnInstance.playCommand({command:"navigate", screen: "settings"});

activate()¶

Use the activate() method to activate the Alan button programmatically. For details, see activate().

Client app¶

 alanBtnInstance.activate();

deactivate()¶

Use the deactivate() method to deactivate the Alan button programmatically. For details, see deactivate().

Client app¶

alanBtnInstance.deactivate();

isActive()¶

Use the isActive() method to check the Alan button state: active or not. For details, see isActive().

Client app¶

alanBtnInstance.isActive();

remove()¶

Use the remove() method to remove the Alan button from the parent element. For details, see remove().

Client app¶

alanBtnInstance.remove();

Using handlers¶

You can use the following Alan handlers in your Electron app:

onCommand handler
onButtonState handler
onConnectionStatus handler
onEvent handler

onCommand handler¶

Use the onCommand handler to handle commands sent from the dialog script. For details, see onCommand handler.

Client app¶

alanBtn({
  key: 'YOUR_KEY_FROM_ALAN_STUDIO_HERE',
  onCommand: (commandData) => {
    if (commandData.command === 'go:back') {
      // Call client code that will react to the received command
    }
  },
});

onButtonState handler¶

Use the onButtonState handler to capture and handle the Alan button state changes. For details, see onButtonState handler.

Client app¶

alanBtn({
  key: 'YOUR_KEY_FROM_ALAN_STUDIO_HERE',
  onButtonState: function (e) {
    console.info('onButtonState', e);
  },
});

onConnectionStatus handler¶

Use the onConnectionStatus handler to capture and handle the connection status for the virtual assistant project. For details, see onConnectionStatus handler.

Client app¶

alanBtn({
  key: 'YOUR_KEY_FROM_ALAN_STUDIO_HERE',
  onConnectionStatus: function(status) {
    console.log("The status is " + status);
  },
});

onEvent handler¶

Use the onEvent handler to capture and handle events emitted by Alan: get user’s utterances, assistant responses and so on. For details, see onEvent handler.

Client app¶

alanBtn({
  key: 'YOUR_KEY_FROM_ALAN_STUDIO_HERE',
  onEvent: function (e) {
    console.info('onEvent', e);
  },
});

What’s next?¶

Example apps

Find and explore examples of voice-enabled apps on the Alan AI GitHub repository.

View on GitHub