A question recently asked was “How can I get Watson Conversation to repeat what I last asked it”? There are a couple of approaches to solve this, and I’d thought I would blog about them. First here is an example of what we are trying to achieve. 

One thing to understand when going forward. Everything you build should be data driven. So while there are valid use cases where this is needed, it doesn’t mean it is needed for every solution you build, unless evidence exists otherwise. 

Approach 1. Context Variable.

In this example we create a context variable at every node where we want the system to respond, like so: 

This works but prevents easily creating variations of the response. On the plus side you can give normal responses, but when the user asks to repeat, it can give a fixed custom response. 

Approach 2. Context variable everything!

Similar to the last approach except rather than creating the context variable in the context area, you build on the fly. So something like so:

This allows you to have custom responses. A disadvantage (all be it minor) is you are increasing the chance of a mistake in your code happening. Each response is adding 4 bytes to your overall skill/workspace size. This means nothing for small workspaces, but when you are enterprise level you need to be careful. 

I’ve attached a sample of above. 

Approach 3. Application layer.

With this method your application layer keeps a previous snapshot of the answer. Then when a repeat intent is detected, you just return the saved answer. 

I’ve seen some crazy stuff of resending question, modifying node maps, but really this is the simple option.