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Hyperlink Asserters

Chatbots are responding often with references to other sources. This might be just the link to a webpage, an image or a button. You don’t want to display the user an 404 page or an error. To cover if those links exist we created the HyperLinkAsserter. It automatically detects all links (Buttons, Cards, Images or simple references) and will check if those are reachable and delivering the correct http response code.

Chatbot Hyperlink Existence Asserter

Asserts the existence of hyperlinks in bot responses. This is preconfigured in Botium with HASLINK used as the reference code. You can find this configuration here Botium Tools & Settings > Settings > COMPONENTS > Chatbot Hyperlink Existence Asserter. (for arguments, see below)
Tip: If you want to disable this asserter, remove it from the Default Component Set by disabling the Include in Default Component Set switch, which is highlighted in the image below.


Example in the Convo Editor

In this example we are asserting that www.google.com and www.facebook.com exist in the bot response.
Note: If no hyperlinks are added, any hyperlink will be accepted.




Example Botium Script

#me
Give me some links

#bot
HASLINK www.google.com|www.facebook.com

Chatbot Hyperlink Response Asserter

Asserts that all HTTP(S) hyperlinks delivered by the bot are actually working (check HTTP(S) response code). This is preconfigured in Botium with CHECKLINK used as the reference code. You can find this configuration here Botium Tools & Settings > Settings > COMPONENTS > Chatbot Hyperlink Response Asserter
Tip: If you want to disable this asserter, remove it from the Default Component Set by disabling the Include in Default Component Set switch, which is highlighted in the image below.


Note:

Example in the Convo Editor

In this example we are asserting that all hyperlinks delivered by the bot are actually working.
Note: No argument is used for the response asserter. It will fail if there is no hyperlink present.


Example Usage of the Hyperlink Response Asserter

So, we've developed a new chatbot that provides us with links.
Give me links

#me
Hi

#bot
Goodday, How can I help you?

#me
Can you give me some links

#bot
Here you go: www.google.com, https://flippingbook.com/404 https://de.wikipedia.org
Easy, right? Everything works great, chatbot. Let’s go live with our amazing chatbot!

After 5 minutes, we encountered the first issue. Someone tried to visit: https://flippingbook.com/404. Oops! It's not there anymore.

Enter the HyperLinkAsserter

We can refer the asserter as an separate step in the convo file
restaurant

#me
Hi

#bot
Goodday, How can I help you?

#me
Can you give me some links

#bot
There you go: www.google.com, https://flippingbook.com/404 https://de.wikipedia.org
CHECKLINK 200
Now if we run this test again this will present an error so we can fix the link.
Error: Line 15: FAILURE: https://flippingbook.com/404 Not Found Actual: 404 Expected: 200
    at Promise.all.then.results 
    (/Users/stefan-sev/IdeaProjects/botium-box/packages/botium-asserter-hyperlink/src/HyperLinkAsserter.js:105:31)
    at process.internalTickCallback 
    (internal/process/next_tick.js:77:7)
    at ScriptingProvider.fail 
    (/Users/stefan-sev/IdeaProjects/botium-box/packages/botium-asserter-hyperlink/samples/sample1/node_modules/botium-core/src/scripting/ScriptingProvider.js:99:15)
    at scriptingEvents.assertConvoStep.then.then.catch 
    (/Users/stefan-sev/IdeaProjects/botium-box/packages/botium-asserter-hyperlink/samples/sample1/node_modules/botium-core/src/scripting/Convo.js:218:42)
    at process.internalTickCallback 
    (internal/process/next_tick.js:77:7)

Result

Great! Now we clearly see that our chatbot references a non existing page https://flippingbook.com/404. Once this link is removed our tests are passing again and your customer will get all the information they need.

This was a basic example for the usage of the hyperlink asserter. For more configuration options please read further.

Configuration Options

There is the possibility to reduce redundancy by defining global configurations. You can find this configuration here Botium Tools & Settings > Settings > COMPONENTS > choose the relevant hyperlink asserter you wish to edit.
Tip: By enabling the Register as Global Scripting Component option, all hyperlinks found in chatbot responses will be validated. Additionally, by enabling the Include in Default Component Set option, this asserter will be used in all test sessions. When both options are enabled, all hyperlinks will always be validated.
In the registered component view, you may add a JSON structure to the field Component Configuration (JSON-formatted) for the asserter. Find all the possible configurations in the table below the image:

Parameter Description Example
baseUrl If you test only links within your domain you can define a baseUrl. This will be concatenated with relative links in the response of the bot 
{
    "baseUrl": "https://www.botium.com"
}
If we get a response with <a href=”/img/logo.png”/> this will resolve to https://www.botium.com/img/logo.png
httpStatus this will set a list of valid HttpStatuses for the links 
{
    "httpStatus": [200, 204, 301]
}
HTTP statuses 200 (OK), 204 (No Content), and 301 (Redirect) are valid response codes in this example.
maxRedirects this is the depth of http redirects, which the hyperlink asserter is traversing. This might be handy if you are behind a corporate proxy. 
{
    "maxRedirects": 0,
    "httpStatus": [200, 204, 301]
}
If we get the link https://de.wikipedia.org we want redirect to https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Hauptseite. Instead we check the first response code, which is in this scenario 301 (redirect).
timeout HTTP request timeout in milliseconds (default: 10000 = 10 seconds) 
{
    "timeout": 30000
}

In case you expect slow network traffic, increase this timeout
extractFromSourceData Include “sourceData” structure for detecting hyperlinks (default: false). This is useful for custom chatbot implementations with custom information attached not part of the Botium structures (see How to develop your own Botium Connector). 
{
    "extractFromSourceData": false
}

Convo Settings

If you need specific settings to the convo step you can override the global settings and defaults with the convo settings.

Here are the possible convo settings:
Parameter Description Example
httpStatus Set the desired, valid http response codes for the links send by the bot

There are to options to configure this in the convo file

  1. Text based configuration:
    #bot
CHECKLINK 200 | 204 | 301
  2. Structured configuration:
    #bot
CHECKLINK {"httpStatus": [200, 204, 301]}

Both configurations will produce the same result: verifying that all links in the bot's response return HTTP status 200, 204, or 301.
maxRedirects Define the max depth of the redirects for links
For the maxRedirects there is just the structured configuration available.
#bot
CHECKLINK {"httpStatus": [301], "maxRedirects": 0}
In this example the bot response with an redirect, but we are not interested if the redirect is valid. So we are just checking if the first url return status code 301 (redirect)
timeout HTTP request timeout in milliseconds
Only structured configuration possible
#bot
CHECKLINK {"timeout": 30000}

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