Using @parameters chip for testing in the Conversational Agents Console Simulator?

[Joe_McFadden]

Hi, 

In the preview of Conversational Agents there is now the ability to pass parameters and events into a agent when testing in the console simulator with the '@' symbol e.g.

This is potentially very useful feature to speed up testing, but I can't figure out how to include more than one parameter this way. Does anyone know how to add more than parameter here?

On a related note, the preview Test Agent Simulator would really benefit from the ability to see the current state of input / output parameters to a Playbook. The same way you can see parameter state within a DF CX flow when testing an agent flow. Hopefully this will be added when it goes GA. 

[dawnberdan · Accepted solution]

Hi @Joe_McFadden,

Welcome to Google Cloud Community!

The ability to pass parameters using the @ symbol in the Dialogflow CX Agent Simulator preview is a helpful feature for testing. However, the current implementation seems to only support passing a single parameter at a time using this method. There's no documented way to pass multiple parameters using the @ symbol in a single input field.

To pass multiple parameters during testing in the simulator preview, you will have to rely on other methods:

1. Multiple Test Runs: The simplest way to test with multiple parameters is to run multiple test simulations, each with a different parameter set provided using the @ symbol. This is less efficient for comprehensive testing but straightforward to implement.
2. Advanced Testing Methods (If Available): Check the Dialogflow CX documentation or release note for any advanced testing features or tools that might allow for the injection of multiple parameters. The preview version might provide a more extensive testing environment, which is not yet documented.
3. External Tools/Scripting: You could potentially build a small script or utilize an external testing tool that creates and sends test requests to the Dialogflow CX agent, passing multiple parameters in each request. This method requires more development effort but offers more control and efficiency for testing.

Regarding your request to see the current state of input/output parameters to a Playbook during testing, that's a valid suggestion for improvement. The current simulator's lack of this feature makes comprehensive testing of parameter passing more difficult. About this missing feature would be very useful, consider submitting a feature request so that our Engineering Team can look into it.

Was this helpful? If so, please accept this answer as “Solution”. If you need additional assistance, reply here within 2 business days and I’ll be happy to help.

[Joe_McFadden]

Thanks Dawn for your response. 

While multiple test runs could be fine as a workaround in some scenarios, my use-case requires the agent to make use of multiple parameter. So testing parameters 'one at a time' would not work for me. After checking there is also no other testing features mentioned in the documentation that would offer this feature. I could look into writing some automated testing scripts, and thought about using the runContinuousTest endpoint in the Environments API for Dialogflow CX. However from the docs it looks like this only supports testing flows, not playbooks. So there doesn't seem to be any supported solution to this at present.

I will alos make a feature request about the giving visibility to input / output parameters in the simulator. Just to note for anyone looking at this post, I think you included the wrong link to an internal google page for feature requests. The one that customers can use is I believe the Issue Tracker for Dialogflow CX.

Thanks
Joe

 

[dawnberdan]

Hello @Joe_McFadden, 

About this missing feature would be very useful, consider submitting a feature request so that our Engineering Team can look into it.

Hope it helps.

[Joe_McFadden]

Yes, I've submitted it as a feature request, thanks @dawnberdan