Frequently Asked Questions

Alan Studio

How can I test my updated scripts in Alan Studio?

You can test your updated scripts using the Debugging Chat on the right side of the panel in Alan Studio. Be sure to save your changes using the ‘Save Changes’ button prior to testing.

When I add a premade script to my Alan Studio account, can I edit/delete it?

Yes, after adding premade scripts to your account you may edit or delete them as you’d like.

How many projects can I have in my Alan Studio account?

You may have an unlimited number of projects in your Alan Studio account.

Can I write scripts and make them available to other developers using Alan Studio?

Currently, Alan Studio does not support sharing scripts or script permissions, but each script can easily be exported from Alan Studio and shared between teams.

What is the QR code used for in Alan Studio?

With the QR code, you can test your Alan-integrated application on your mobile device.

Integration and Implementation

What platforms does Alan integrate with?

Alan integrates with any iOS, Android, or Web application. It also integrates with cross-platform apps like Flutter and Ionic.

How can I test my project on mobile?

There are two ways to test your Alan Studio project on a mobile platform: using Alan Playground or using your existing UI. With the Alan Playground app, you can scan the QR code of your project (found by clicking the “Playground” button in the Alan Studio header) and test the voice interface of your project. Alternatively, you could use your existing app if it already has an Alan button–press the Alan button and hold for eight seconds, then scan the QR code from the Alan Studio portal. You can now test your new Alan project.

What customization features does the Alan button support?

The Alan button colors are fully customizable with any graphic or application theme–developers can change the Alan button colors on Alan Studio.

Can I define my own entities in Alan?

In Alan, users can define their own entities from either discrete sets of data (i.e. days of the week), regular expressions, or through custom “fuzzy” variables, where entities can be constructed around “hard-to-pronounce” words or phrases.

What extra permissions do Alan apps need?

Applications which use Alan only need the user to grant Microphone access to work

Can I customize the “Hey Alan” wake word?

As of now, the “Hey Alan” wake word cannot be customized.

I do not see my Alan Button on my webpage

Check if you run the Alan Button in the browser that supports an Audio API.
If you use "http" run the page on the localhost (otherwise use "https").
Make sure that the Alan Button wasn't disabled in the Alan Studio Button Settings for your project.

How can I stop my Alan button?

To stop your Alan button, you can use the deactivate() method in the Alan API. Read more about it here: Alan Javascript API.

How can I disable my Alan button?

You can disable the Alan button through the Button Options section of the Alan Studio Embed menu.

Does the microphone usage with Alan drain the battery faster?

Battery consumption with Alan from the microphone is minimal. Our Alan SDKs have default settings that turn the microphone off automatically after a brief period of inactivity; however, this setting can be increased or decreased based on developer preference in Alan Studio.

What if I migrate my data from one service to another?

Your data can be hosted anywhere and still work with Alan

Is everything written in JavaScript

Commands and responses in Alan Studio must be written in JavaScript

How to pass parameters from iOS to Alan Studio?

You can do this in a few ways, 1) When you creating a connection, you can pass a JSON object. 2) You can also call a JS function with the parameters. 3) We have functionality to set visual context using the SDK.

How to pass POST parameters from Alan Studio?

In Alan Studio you can use the “request” library to do this as normal.

Does Alan Studio have different instances for Development, QA, and Production?

Alan Studio has two separate instances for you to use in any given project: Development, and Production

Is there an activation phrase?

Yes, "Hey Alan" is the activation phrase, sometimes called a wake word.

How is it better than Dialogflow?

Alan Platform offers very easy integration with web/mobile applications and more flexible way to create voice enabled applications by using Javascript language. This allows users to build a complex enterprise level application.

How much does it cost to get started?

Only $1 for developers!

Can I use any database or backend?

Yes, any database or backend can be used.

I saw the schematic of Alan Platform. What parts do I have to have?

You only need an application or device to run Alan

How to implement 'Add comment' flow using follow?

let commentContext = context(() => {
    follow(`$(I* (.+))`, async p => p.resolve(p.I))
});

intent(`(Add a comment|Comment|Add comment)`, async p=> {
         p.play("Okay, what comment would you like to add?");
         let comment = await p.then(commentContext);
         p.play(`Your comment is: ${comment}`);
});

What is does "p" mean in Alan Studio example scripts?

This is a variable name which reference to object which you can use to call Alan Studio SDK methods. It also contains data for user voice session and other contextual information. You can use any name for this variable. For example, this object has

values for intents and follows variables. For ex.,
intent("$(A cat|dog|pig)", p => p.play("You say " + p.A))
play - method to playback voice responses,
state - an object where user can store context’s data
userData - an object for storing user data during current dialog session
auth - an object which accepts configuration from client (mobile or web). Usually this is used for passing authorisation data for external services.
You can return a value from current context by calling p.resolve(value)

Security and Privacy

Does Alan record my conversations?

Alan does not record or store your conversations audio data. Alan does store the Speech to Text commands and responses from your app’s usage, which is entirely private to you and inaccessible to Alan employees and any third-party engines.

Alan Technologies

What is SLU?

Spoken Language Understanding (SLU) is a voice processing technology designed to work with the error-prone output of Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) instead of written text, like chatbots.

What is a Domain Language Model?

The Domain Language Model is a unique procedure Alan uses for training our Speech Recognition software to better recognize the specialized language of your application–dynamically adapting to the conversational style of your users.

What is an intent?

An intent is a voice command the user says to receive a voice response or specific functionality from an application.

What is an entity?

An entity is a specific part of speech or text holding data such as a name or height. Each entity is part of an intent and conveys a set of information to the developer, such as a name or date.

What is context?

A context is the situation in which a conversation occurs. Contexts are a cornerstone in Alan’s conversational design as they dictate the flow of the conversation–much like in the real world, where different contexts may provide different meanings to the same sentence. In Alan Studio, developers can create unique context functions to specify the steps of the dialogue and create interactive multi-stage conversations.

Tutorials

Guides

Additional