Using Placeholders

This article shows you how to use placeholders. A placeholder is a tool that collects information from a user and then recalls that information in the Chatbot.

Example

The image below shows a placeholder in action. The Chatbot collects the user’s first name and then repeats the first name in a new message line.

Types of placeholders

There are 8 types of placeholders. These options are shown in the image below.

Placeholders work when there is a matching user response. So for instance, if you have a user response asking for a full name, then you would use the Full Name placeholder code.

If the user response does not match the placeholder code, the Chatbot won’t work properly.

1 Creating a user response

Inserting a placeholder in a Chatbot is a two-step process:

• create a user response in one Message block
• insert the matching placeholder code in a different Message block

Several articles show you how to create a user response in a Message block. For more information, see:

• Text Input
• Time Picker
• Date Picker

The image below shows one example of a user response.

1. Beside Input Type, select Text. The Type box displays.
2. Click Type and a drop-down menu with Text options displays.
3. Select First Name.
4. Click Continue and then Save.

We have now placed one user response in one Message block. It’s not possible to add a second user response, so we have to insert the matching placeholder in a new Message block.

2 Inserting a placeholder

1. Go to the Builder page of the Bot.
2. Click Add New Block. A new Message block displays on the blue workspace.
3. Click the new Message block. The Message block settings panel displays.
4. Change the block name to First Name.
5. In the message line, type Hi and then hit Enter once.
6. Click the User Placeholder button. The options panel displays.
7. Locate First Name and then click Copy.
8. Click Close. The Message block panel displays.
9. Click the message line once.
10. Right click the message line and paste the First name code.
11. Click Save.

3 Linking blocks

If blocks are not linked, the Chatbot flow won’t work.

1. On the blue Builder page, click the node on the bottom of the Intro block and drag it to the top of the First Name block.
2. Click Preview in the menu.