What is a Slot in Dialog Engine?
A slit or other narrow opening, especially one for receiving something, as a coin or a letter. Also, a place or position in a sequence or series: His show got the eight o’clock slot on Thursdays.
To slot is to put something into a space where it fits, as in He slid the money into the slot on the counter. To slot is also to occupy or assign a time or place: She was assigned the four o’clock slot for meetings.
Slot is a type of value in Dialog Engine that allows you to map an utterance to a specific outcome. For example, a slot might be used to match flight codes for a travel bot that needs to know the latest cancellations. To create a new slot, go to the Slot Types page and click Add. Then, select the desired regular expression and give it a name in the box that appears. You can also select the Allow Synonyms checkbox to allow the slot to recognize synonyms of the selected regular expression. Then, when the user says a phrase that matches the pattern, the slot will respond with the matching outcome. For example, if you add the keyword NYC to the slot, then the bot will respond to the phrase “I’m going to the airport” by saying “My flight to NYC is delayed”. This is an efficient way to handle cancellations at busy airports. It can reduce congestion and prevent repeated rerouting of flights.