Free YouTube Courses
Dialogflow CX Beginner Course
Since Dialogflow CX uses a state machine based approach to building your chatbot, it actually helps to build an actual state machine – the vending machine – using CX as you get started learning the topic.
Once you learn what a state machine is and how to build a simple one using CX, you will find that it is much easier to build more complex bots using Dialogflow CX.
In this course, I explain how to build a vending machine bot using Dialogflow CX.
Dialogflow ES vs Dialogflow CX
A simple way to compare the features of Dialogflow ES and Dialogflow CX is to build the same chatbot using both.
In this course, I build a very simple decision tree chatbot in ES first, and then explain how to build it in CX. While this covers only the basics of ES and CX, it is a very good way to think about the state machine in CX and compare it with the implicit state machine in ES.
Better Dialogflow ES Bots
The simplest way to build better Dialogflow ES bots is to understand the CTFS framework.
It explains candidate intents and how you can design your ES bot so that your conversation flow is more predictable.
In this course, I explain the CTFS framework.
Dialogflow Flowcharts
I have a chatbot on my website which asks people which tool they use to design their Dialogflow flowcharts.
Most people reply “I don’t” 🙂
My view is that you will be able to build your ES bot a lot more quickly if you use a flowcharting tool like Mindomo.
Here is what a client of mine had to say about using my flowcharting process.
Take the time to learn the workflow/concepts he presents in his flowcharting tutorial. (This workflow is far superior to the approach suggested in the official DialogFlow documentation.) Using Aravind’s flowcharting approach you’ll be amazed at how quickly a functional prototype can be put together.
There is an additional benefit to using this flowcharting process for building your ES bot. You will be able to then migrate your bot to CX more easily.
In this course, I explain how to use Mindomo to design your ES bot so you can build it more quickly.
Debugging your Dialogflow ES bot using CTFS
If the wrong intent gets mapped in Dialogflow ES, it would be a good idea to inspect which intents are candidate intents at that point in the conversation. This process will give you a good insight into the inherent state machine of your ES bot.
In addition, understanding the CTFS framework will also allow you to design your CX bot more easily if you decide to migrate to ES.
In this course, I explain how to use the CTFS framework to debug your bot.