Helvia.ai Release 5.46.0

20 December 2023

1. New 'HTTP Request' node for more powerful callbacks

A new 'HTTP Request' node has been added to the list of available nodes in the flow editor. With this new node, bot authors can now make more powerful callback requests by calling APIs and providing a configurable request body. This feature supports various request methods such as GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, and DELETE. Additionally, users can define request headers and query parameters for the API request, making it more customizable and flexible.

Example: Let's say you have an e-commerce chatbot that allows users to place orders for products. With the JSON Request node, you can configure your chatbot to call your e-commerce platform's API to place the order. For example, you can provide a request body that includes the user's name, shipping address, payment details, and the items they want to purchase. The API will then process the order and return a response indicating whether the order was successful or not.

2. Channel Actions for webchat user input control

Bot authors can now exercise greater control over the user input box in webchat deployments with the enhanced 'Channel action' node. This feature enables the built-in function of webchat to either enable or disable the user input box.

You can use the 'Channel action' node at any part of the flow to customize the bot's behavior. By clicking in the name field, you will see suggestions with a dropdown menu so that you can easily select the "Disable Input" or "Enable Input" webchat functions.

With this added functionality, bot authors can tailor the user experience to match their specific use cases and preferences.

3. Improved Activity/Automated Answer management with 'Updated at' column

A new column has been added to the view of both Activities and Automated Answers, which shows when each Activity/Automated Answer was last updated. With this enhancement, users can quickly and easily see when each record was last updated, providing greater transparency and visibility into changes made. Additionally, we've prioritized the 'Updated at' column over the Created column, hiding the latter on smaller screens to ensure the most important information is always visible.

4. Expanded text limit for Broadcasts

Broadcast now have an increased character limit from 600 to 2000. This update provides greater flexibility and allows users to craft longer, more detailed messages to be broadcasted.

5. Viewing user information in Chat Sessions

Admins can now access more user information in chat sessions. The "Contact Name" column has been renamed to "Contact" and now displays the user's full name and email address. If only one of these is available, it will display that information instead. Additionally, when opening session details, admins can now view the user's full name and email address, with custom data to be added in a future iteration.

6. Importing and exporting Knowledge Base articles

Bot authors can now easily export and import KB articles as CSV files. The export function preserves all information including tags, groups, formatting (markdown, newlines, etc.), and the import function allows for upload of manually crafted KB articles using commonly used formats like XLS and CSV.

7. LiveChat updates

7.1 Redesigned space in LiveChat tabs

The empty spaces in LiveChat "New" and "Open" tabs features a new design to improve UX. The sidebar on the right will be hidden if no conversations or requests are available, and alternative images/text combos will be implemented and shown at random. The input field will also be hidden if there are no conversations available.

7.2 Displaying Agent's avatar in LiveChat conversations

The avatar of the LiveChat Agent will be displayed in the conversation, if it has been set, to provide better UX.