The Canned Chat Responses for Flex plugin helps demonstrate how Agents can select from a pre-determined list of chat responses from the Chat widget or CRM panel within Flex. The canned responses are returned from a Twilio Serverless function, which was developed and deployed within the /functions directory using the Twilio CLI.

To deploy this plugin, you will need:

• An active Twilio account with Flex provisioned. Refer to the Flex Quickstart to create one.
• npm version 5.0.0 or later installed (type npm -v in your terminal to check)
• Node.js version 12 or later installed (type node -v in your terminal to check)
• Twilio CLI along with the Flex CLI Plugin and the Serverless Plugin. Run the following commands to install them:

  # Install the Twilio CLI
  npm install twilio-cli -g
  # Install the Serverless and Flex as Plugins
  twilio plugins:install @twilio-labs/plugin-serverless
  twilio plugins:install @twilio-labs/plugin-flex

Before we begin, we need to collect all the config values we need to run this Flex plugin:

The Canned Chat Responses for Flex plugin can add the fetched responses beneath the chat input text field or into the CRM Panel on the righthand side.

When added beneath the chat input text field, a button labeled PRE-CANNED CHAT RESPONSES appears when an Agent enters into a chat session. When the button is clicked, a dropdown appears with the chat responses sorted by category. If a message is clicked, the text will be placed into the chat input field, allowing the Agent to edit or send the message. Any selection from the dropdown will overwrite the current text in the input field (i.e. clicking another canned response).

When added to the CRM Panel, the responses are displayed within categories. Under each response, there is a Send button that will automatically send the response to the customer, and an Insert button that will place the text in the chat input field. Similar to the Chat Widget Dropdown functionality, the Insert button will overwrite the current text in the input field (i.e. clicking another canned response).

The placement of the responses is currently controlled by a boolean value named crmPanelView within /src/ChatMessageCannedResponsePlugin.tsx.

If this value is set to true, the canned responses will render to the CRM Panel:

const crmPanelView = true;

If this value is set to false, the canned responses will render in the Chat widget beneath the text input field:

const crmPanelView = false;

By default, crmPanelView is set to false.

After the above requirements have been met:

1. Clone this repository.

   git clone [email protected]:mschmitt19/flex-plugin-chat-canned-reponses.git

2. Install dependencies.

   npm install

3. Rename and create the appConfig.js file:

   cd public && cp appConfig.example.js appConfig.js

4. Deploy your Twilio Function.

5. Run the application.

   twilio flex:plugins:start

6. Navigate to http://localhost:3000.

You need to deploy the function associated with the Canned Chat Responses plugin to your Flex instance. The function is called from the plugin you will deploy in the next step and returns a JSON payload containing the chat response options. For further information on the technical functionality, please review ./functions/functions/chat-responses.js.

1. Change into the functions directory, install package dependencies, and then rename .env.example.

   # Install required dependencies
   npm install
   # Rename example env file
   cd functions && cp .env.example .env

2. Open .env with your text editor and set the environment variables mentioned in the file.

   TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID=ACXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
   TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN=9yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
   

3. Deploy the Twilio function to your account using the Twilio CLI:

   cd functions && twilio serverless:deploy
   
   # Example Output
   # Deploying functions & assets to the Twilio Runtime
   # ⠇ Creating 1 Functions
   # ✔ Serverless project successfully deployed
   
   # Deployment Details
   # Domain: https://demo-chat-responses-functions-xxxx-dev.twil.io
   # Service:
   #    demo-chat-responses (ZSxxxx)
   # ..

4. Copy and save the domain returned when you deploy a function. You will need it in the next step.

If you forget to copy the domain, you can also find it by navigating to Functions > API in the Twilio Console.

Debugging Tip: Pass the -l or logging flag to review deployment logs.

Once you have deployed the function, it is time to deploy the plugin to your Flex instance.

You need to modify the source file to mention the serverless domain of the function that you deployed previously.

1. In the main directory rename .env.example.

   cp .env.example .env

2. Open .env with your text editor and set the environment variables mentioned in the file.

   # Paste the Function deployment domain
   REACT_APP_SERVICE_FUNCTION_URL=https://demo-chat-responses-xxxx-dev.twil.io/chat-responses
   

3. When you are ready to deploy the plugin, run the following in a command shell:

   twilio flex:plugins:deploy --major --changelog "Initial Canned Chat Responses Plugin" --description "Pre-canned Chat Responses in Flex"

After running the suggested next step with a meaningful name and description, navigate to the Plugins Dashboard to review your recently deployed and released plugin. Confirm that the latest version is enabled for your contact center.

You are all set to test the Canned Chat Responses plugin on your Flex application!

April 26, 2022

• Updated README with instructions and screenshots.

This software is to be considered "sample code", a Type B Deliverable, and is delivered "as-is" to the user. Twilio bears no responsibility to support the use or implementation of this software.