Working With Variables 
A set of variables is associated with every voice model. All these variables are stored in the Visual Composer voice kit repository known as the dataStore. The Visual Composer Voice kit provides you with a Variable Manager that you can use to add, delete, and rename variables in the dataStore. The values in these variables can in-turn be used in the voice entities or the non-voice entities. You can create variables with the following data types:
String
Boolean
Number
Date
Time
Record
Table
The dataStore also provides with a set of environment variables that are set at runtime. Developers can use these to check if the variables are set as expected at runtime.
To launch the Variable Manager work through the following steps:
In the workspace of a voice model, select dataStore.
Using the secondary mouse button, choose Define Data.
Table Data
Tables are multirow structures of fields. You can iterate through multiple rows of data in a voice application and present it to the caller. To do this, the Visual Composer voice kit provides a comprehensive set of functions to iterate and modify the table data. You retrieve data from the back-end systems and map it to the variables of the corresponding data type in the dataStore.
Note
You can map data from back-end systems to variables of single data type and not to variables of mixed data types.
For example, you cannot map data to a variable of data type Table that has a field of type Record.
Row Pointer
A row pointer is a cursor that treats a row as the current row. You can use this feature to refer to the fields in that row.
When you load data from the data service to a table in the dataStore, the row pointer points to the first row of the table. To iterate over data in the table add a Process Element to the voice model and use the set of actions provided in the Process Element.
The following table provides information on the actions that you can perform on a table:
Action |
Description |
|---|---|
Add row |
Adds a row to the table indicated by the position (After Current, Before Current, After Last, Before First) |
Delete row |
Deletes data in the current row |
Clear table |
Clears all the data in the table |
Find row |
Finds a row in the table that matches the Expression. The row pointer stops the search at the first match. |
Move to row |
Allows you to move the row pointer to either first, last, next, previous, or row positions. If you select row as the Position, then the row field is enabled, which allows you to enter a row number (rows are numbered starting at 1). |
Revert row |
Reverts the value of the field in a row. |
Set variable |
Overwrites the value of a field in a row. |
Shadow Variables of a Table
Every table contains a set of predefined read-only variables that reflect its status. These variables are referred to as shadow variables and are updated whenever a table operation takes place. The shadow variables can be used in expressions to help control the behavior of the dialog when working with tables.
The following list provides a brief description on each of the shadow variables:
_action returns the last attempted row pointer operation, such as first, last, next, previous, or row
_actionIgnored indicates whether the attempted operation was successful or not
_index contains the current row number
_isEmpty returns true if the current row is empty
_isFirst returns true if the row pointer points to the first row in the table
_isLast returns true if the row pointer points to the last row in the table
_isMiddle returns true if the row pointer points to the middle row in the table
_isSingle returns true if the table contains only one row in the table
_size contains the total number of rows of a table