In this section, you will learn how to use the Jovo User class to persist user specific data and create contextual experiences for your voice apps.
The User object offers helpful features to build contextual, user specific experiences into your voice applications.
You can access the user object like this:
this.$userThere are certain configurations that can be changed when dealing with the user object. The following are part of the Jovo default configuration and can be changed in the config.js file:
// config.js file
user: {
updatedAt: false,
dataCaching: false,
implicitSave: true,
metaData: {
enabled: false,
lastUsedAt: true,
sessionsCount: true,
createdAt: true,
requestHistorySize: 4,
devices: true,
},
context: {
enabled: false,
prev: {
size: 1,
request: {
intent: true,
state: true,
inputs: true,
timestamp: true,
},
response: {
speech: true,
reprompt: true,
state: true,
output: true,
},
},
},
},The Jovo User object uses database integrations to persist data across sessions. By default, the file-based system will be used so you can start right away when prototyping locally.
Also, by default the framework will write to the database with every user interaction (request & response). To enable data caching, i.e. only write to the database if the state of it has changed between the request and the response, you have to add the following to your configuration file:
// @language=javascript
// src/config.js
module.exports = {
user: {
dataCaching: true
},
// ...
};
// @language=typescript
// src/config.ts
const config = {
user: {
dataCaching: true
},
// ...
};Below, learn more about operations you can do for user-specific data:
This will save data with your user's userID as a mainKey, and a key and a value specified by you.
this.$user.$data.key = value;
// Example
this.$user.$data.score = 300;After you saved data, you can use a key to retrieve a value from the database.
let value = this.$user.$data.key;
// Example
let score = this.$user.$data.score;This will delete your whole user's data (the mainKey) from the database.
this.$user.delete()
// Example
await this.$user.delete();The user object meta data is the first step towards building more contextual experiences with the Jovo Framework. If the feature is enabled, the following data is automatically stored inside your database:
| Meta Data | Usage | Description |
|---|---|---|
| createdAt | this.$user.$metaData.createdAt |
Timestamp: When the user first used your app |
| lastUsedAt | this.$user.$metaData.lastUsedAt |
Timestamp: The last time your user interacted with your app |
| sessionsCount | this.$user.$metaData.sessionsCount |
Timestamp: How often your user engaged with your app |
You can enable meta data like this:
// @language=javascript
// src/config.js
module.exports = {
user: {
metaData: {
enabled: true,
},
},
// ...
};
// @language=typescript
// src/config.ts
const config = {
user: {
metaData: {
enabled: true,
},
},
// ...
};You can also overwrite any other of the default configurations:
// @language=javascript
// src/config.js
module.exports = {
user: {
metaData: {
enabled: false,
lastUsedAt: true,
sessionsCount: true,
createdAt: true,
requestHistorySize: 4,
devices: true,
},
},
// ...
};
// @language=typescript
// src/config.ts
const config = {
user: {
metaData: {
enabled: false,
lastUsedAt: true,
sessionsCount: true,
createdAt: true,
requestHistorySize: 4,
devices: true,
},
},
// ...
};The user context is used to automatically store data from past interaction pairs (request and response) inside an array. To be able to use this feature, a database integration is required (data is stored in the FilePersistence db.json by default, but for e.g. AWS Lambda it is important to set up DynamoDB).
User context can be enabled like this:
// @language=javascript
// src/config.js
module.exports = {
user: {
context: {
enabled: true,
},
},
// ...
};
// @language=typescript
// src/config.ts
const config = {
user: {
context: {
enabled: true,
},
},
// ...
};This works like pagination. The most recent request and response pair is stored at this.$user.$context.prev[0].
Right now, the following data can be accessed (with index i):
| Category | Data | Usage | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Request | intent | this.$user.$context.prev[i].request.intent |
this.$user.getPrevIntent(i) |
String: Intent name |
| state | this.$user.$context.prev[i].request.state |
this.$user.getPrevRequestState(i) |
String: State name | |
| timestamp | this.$user.$context.prev[i].request.timestamp |
this.$user.getPrevTimestamp(i) |
String: Timestamp of request | |
| inputs | this.$user.$context.prev[i].request.inputs |
this.$user.getPrevInputs(i) |
Object: Contains all the slots (filled & unfilled). Example: You got a slot called city. Access the value with this.$user.getPrevInputs(i).city.value. |
|
| Response | speech | this.$user.$context.prev[i].response.speech |
this.$user.getPrevSpeech(i) |
String: Primary speech element |
| reprompt | this.$user.$context.prev[i].response.reprompt |
this.$user.getPrevReprompt(i) |
String: Reprompt element | |
| state | this.$user.$context.prev[i].response.state |
this.$user.getPrevResponseState(i) |
String: State name |
The default configuration looks like this:
// @language=javascript
// src/config.js
module.exports = {
user: {
context: {
enabled: false,
prev: {
size: 1,
request: {
intent: true,
state: true,
inputs: true,
timestamp: true,
},
response: {
speech: true,
reprompt: true,
state: true,
output: true,
},
},
},
},
// ...
};
// @language=typescript
// src/config.ts
const config = {
user: {
context: {
enabled: false,
prev: {
size: 1,
request: {
intent: true,
state: true,
inputs: true,
timestamp: true,
},
response: {
speech: true,
reprompt: true,
state: true,
output: true,
},
},
},
},
// ...
};You can freely adjust how many of these request-response pairs should be saved by changing the array size in your app's config to an Integer equal to or bigger than 0.
// @language=javascript
// src/config.js
module.exports = {
user: {
context: {
prev: {
size: 3,
},
},
},
// ...
};
// @language=typescript
// src/config.ts
const config = {
user: {
context: {
prev: {
size: 3,
},
},
},
// ...
};You can also decide what you want to save and what not. Simply change the value of the unwanted data to false:
// @language=javascript
// src/config.js
module.exports = {
user: {
context: {
prev: {
size: 1,
request: {
timestamp: false,
},
response: {
state: false,
},
},
},
},
// ...
};
// @language=typescript
// src/config.ts
const config = {
user: {
context: {
prev: {
size: 1,
request: {
timestamp: false,
},
response: {
state: false,
},
},
},
},
// ...
};The updatedAt column allows you to store the last time the database entry was updated at (String ISO 8601 format).
{
"userId": "...",
"userData": {
"..."
},
"updatedAt": "2019-04-03T10:54:54.191Z"
}The option is disabled by default, but you can enable it inside your config file the following way:
// @language=javascript
// src/config.js
module.exports = {
user: {
updatedAt: true
},
// ...
};
// @language=typescript
// src/config.ts
const config = {
user: {
updatedAt: true
},
// ...
};Returns user ID on the particular platform, either Alexa Skill User ID or Google Actions User ID:
this.$user.getId();This is going to return an ID that looks like this:
// @platform=Alexa
amzn1.ask.account.AGJCMQPNU2XQWLNJXU2K23R3RWVTWCA6OX7YK7W57E7HVZJSLH4F5U2JOLYELR4PSDSFGSDSD32YHMRG36CUUAY3G5QI5QFNDZ44V5RG6SBN3GUCNTRHAVT5DSDSD334e34I37N3MP2GDCHO7LL2JL2LVN6UFJ6Q2GEVVKL5HNHOWBBD7ZQDQYWNHYR2BPPWJPTBPBXPIPBVFXA
// @platform=Google Assistant
ARke43GoJIqbF8g1vfyDdqL_SffhNote: Google Action user IDs are generated by Jovo and stored in the Google Action user storage. Learn more about the process here.
Returns the platform's locale:
this.$user.getLocale();
// Alternatively, you can also use this
this.getLocale();