Configuration options for Dialog State Display
Various configuration options are available for Dialog State Display.
Consider the following example to better understand the configuration options available to you.
Assume a travel site with the following dialogs,
- Flight booking (dialog D1) consists of the following steps Passenger information(p1), Calendar(p2), Destination(p3), Route (p4) and Airlines (p5).
- Car booking(dialog D2) consists of the following steps Renters information (p10), Calendar (p11), and Vehicle type (p12).
- Hotel booking (dialog D3) consists of the following steps Customer information (p20), Calendar (p21), and Room type (p22).
- Billing (dialog D4) consists of the following steps Account information (p30), Shopping cart (p31), and Check out (p32).
Previous Steps display preferences
You can influence how previous steps processed before the currently active step are displayed
from the uppermost menu. The following are the available configuration options:
- Display All Steps
- All steps that are processed before the currently active step, are displayed without omitting one or more of them.
- Display Custom Number of Steps
- Displays the exact number of n steps that was processed most recently before the currently active step.
Next Steps display preferences
You can also influence how the steps that are to be processed after the currently active step are
displayed from the second menu. The following are the available configuration options:
- Display All Steps
- All steps even those steps that are found on branches that can potentially be processed after the currently active step are being displayed without omitting one or more of them.
- Display Custom Number of Steps
- A definable number of steps even those steps that are on branches that can potentially be
processed after the currently active step are being displayed. Note: The number of steps is counted independently for each single branch.
Nested Dialog Display Preference
With the Nested Dialog Display Preference option, you can control how a nested non-active dialog
is displayed. The following options are provided:
- Display Nested Dialog Steps in Breadcrumb
- With this option selected the single steps part of a nested dialog are represented as they are.
They are not replaced by a single node that represents an entire nested dialog and all of its steps.
For example, the following steps are displayed.
Passenger information → Calendar → Destination → Route → Airlines Renters information → Calendar → Vehicle type Customer information → Calendar → Room type Account information → Shopping cart → Check out
- Display Nested Dialog as Single Step
- With this option selected the single steps part of a nested dialog are represented by a single
placeholder node. This single node is supposed to represent an entire nested dialog and all of its
steps. For example, the following steps are displayed.
Passenger information → Calendar → Destination → Route → Airlines Car booking Hotel booking Billing
Buttons to Display preference
With the check box underneath the label Buttons to Display, you can control whether extra Suspend and or Cancel buttons are to be displayed. These buttons provide the option to cancel and suspend the current dialog the same way as in Dialog Stack.
Note: Though Dialog State Display can be used in a production scenario, it has more or less the
character of a sample implementation. Depending on various factors such as the complexity of your
dialogs, page design and layout, different visualizations or implementations might better satisfy
your needs. Therefore, you can create your own custom, DSD implementation based on the APIs tailored
to your requirements.