Step 5: Specify alternatives and options¶
The phrase used to invoke a voice command is called a pattern. At present, our command is invoked
by one phrase: I want a pepperoni
. However, the users can give a voice command in different ways. For example:
I will take a pepperoni
Add a pepperoni
Add a pepperoni, please
Or just
Pepperoni
To be sure the voice command is invoked by any of these phrases, we can add alternatives and options to the command pattern.
To define alternatives, enclose all possible variants in brackets and use the
|
delimiter.To define optional parts of the user command, enclose these parts in brackets and add
|
at the end of them.
intent('(I want|I will take|Add|) (a|) pepperoni, (please|)', p => {
p.play('Adding pepperoni for you');
});
Now all the above phrases will work.
You can also specify a list of phrases with which your AI assistant will reply: add all variants to the p.play
function and separate them with a comma. When this command is invoked, Alan AI will pick one phrase at random and play it to the user.
intent('(I want|I will take|Add|) (a|) pepperoni, (please|)', p => {
p.play('Adding pepperoni for you', 'Sure', 'Here you go');
});