@tulipnpm/livechat v1.7.4

LiveConnect Web Chat

This project hosts the JavaScript chat widget that connects customers using a web portal, to stores and associates using the Tulip LiveConnect on iOS. This feature is known as LiveConnect Web Chat.

Deployment

This widget can be installed either via npm, using Google Tag Manager, or linked in HTML.

Package Manager

Include the package in your project using npm:

npm i @tulipnpm/livechat@latest

Install on eCommerce using Google Tag Manager

Many e-commerce websites use Google Tag Manager to inject third-party JavaScript into their pages. This is the recommended distribution method of LiveConnect Web Chat.

• Open Google Tag Manager and select the e-commerce site's account.
• Create a new Tag of type Custom HTML.
• Paste the following code in the tag. Replace <INTEGRATION_ID> with your integration ID. Additional configurations can be made in the tlc_config object. To view the configuration list and instructions, refer to the Web Chat Configurations page.

<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@tulipnpm/livechat@latest/dist/tuliplivechat.min.js"></script>
<script>
    var tlc_config = {
        integrationId: '<INTEGRATION_ID>'
    };
    tuliplivechat.init(tlc_config);
</script>

• Create a Trigger for DOM Ready and link it to your Tag.
• Name and save the Tag. You can then preview and publish your changes.

This completes the setup process using Google Tag Manager.

Directly in HTML

Include Web Chat directly in the HTML of your web site.

<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@tulipnpm/livechat@latest/dist/tuliplivechat.min.js"></script>

Use the Widget

Initiate Web Chat with a configuration:

var tlc = tuliplivechat;
tlc.init({
    integrationId: '<INTEGRATION_ID>'
}).then(() => {
    // After init code goes here
});

Configuration

Configuration options are provided when inititalizing the widget with init({..})

The integrationId is also a configuration value. This value identifies your widget to Tulip. Tulip will provide you with this value when you purchase Tulip LiveConnect Web Chat.

This is an example configuration:

var tlc = tuliplivechat;
var config = {
    integrationId: '<INTEGRATION_ID>',
    displayStyle: 'button',
    imageUploadEnabled: true,
    fixedIntroPane: false,
    buttonIconUrl: 'https://retailer.com/logo.png',
    buttonWidth: '58px',
    buttonHeight: '58px',
    businessName: 'Retailer',
    businessIconUrl: 'https://retailer.com/logo.png',
    customColors: {
        brandColor: 'ee3d50',
        conversationColor: '151043',
        actionColor: '333333',
        contactUsButtonColor: '452BD6'
    },
    contactUsButtonUrl: 'https://retailer.com/contact',
};
tlc.init(config);

Configuration Options

LiveConnect Web Chat has many configuration options:

customColors

prechatCapture

Prechat Capture allows you to capture a user’s data, like name and email, before the start of a conversation.

When configured, the chat input is initially disabled and the user is greeted by a welcome message and a form asking for their name.

Once the form is successfully submitted, a thank you message is sent to the user and the conversation is then initialized, connecting the user to your business.

Options in prechatCapture

Configuration for prechatCapture.fields

Example of prechatCapture Configuration

config.prechatCapture: {
    enabled: true,
    enableEmailLinking: true,
    fields: [{
        type: 'email',
        name: 'email',
        label: 'prechatCaptureEmailLabel',
        placeholder: 'prechatCaptureEmailPlaceholder',
    }, {
        type: 'text',
        name: 'name',
        label: 'prechatCaptureNameLabel',
        placeholder: 'prechatCaptureNamePlaceholder',
    }, {
        type: 'select',
        name: 'country',
        label: 'prechatCaptureCountryLabel',
        placeholder: 'prechatCaptureCountryPlaceholder',
        options: [
            {
                name: 'us',
                label: 'United States',
            },
            {
                name: 'ca',
                label: 'Canada',
            },
        ],
    }]
}

Overriding default text

In order to override the text that you set in a prechatCapture configuration, you must have a customText configuration as well. Please see the String Customization section for more details here. The value of the label or placeholder must match the key of whatever is in the customText configuration for it to change.

For example: if you wanted to change the name object in the fields list of a prechatCapture config and you wanted to customize the label's text in two different languages, you would have an additional config that would look like:

config.customText: {
    'en-US': {
        prechatCaptureNameLabel: 'this is an overridden name label',
    },
    'fr': {
        prechatCaptureNameLabel: 'ceci est une étiquette de nom remplacée',
    }
}

Please note that the key prechatCaptureLabel is the same as the value in the config.preCapture object for the name label. If they do not match, it will display the text of whatever the value is in the prechatCapture object. If they match, then the text will be customized based on what language the user is in.

Default prechatCapture Configuration

{
    enabled: true,
    fields: [{
        type: 'text',
        name: 'name',
        label: 'prechatCaptureNameLabel',
        placeholder: 'prechatCaptureNamePlaceholder'
    }]
}

Custom Prechat Capture

If you do not want to use the default Tulip Prechat Capture form, you have the ability to capture your user's information before initializing the widget. All that is required to bypass the default Prechat Capture form is setting the firstName property on the user object. To do this, you can use the following methods.

Changes made to the user properies after initializing the widget will be applied on the application after the user sends their next message.

setUser

Asks as a bulk setting method for the user object. Takes an object with the keys being the property names and sets the object properties to their respective values. The only required field from this list will be firstName in order to bypass the default Prechat capture form.

tuliplivechat.setUser({
    firstName:            'Thomas',
    lastName:             'Hanks',
    email:                'thomas.hanks@movie.ca',
    firstOutboundMessage: 'Hello, I am looking for a bag, do you know where I can find one?'
});

setFirstOutboundMessage

Sets the user firstOutboundMessage property. This must be done before the widget is initialized. If this value is set, we will send a message to the application on behalf of the user.

tuliplivechat.setFirstOutboundMessage('Hello, I am looking for a bag, do you know where I can find one?');

sendFirstOutboundMessage

Sends the first outbound message set to the application on behalf of the customer. This must be done after the widget is initialized and will not send if there has already been a message sent from the user to the application.

tuliplivechat.init({...}).then(() => {
    tuliplivechat.setFirstOutboundMessage('Hello, I am looking for a bag, do you know where I can find one?');
    tuliplivechat.sendFirstOutboundMessage();
})

awayMode

When enabled, away mode will display a message to the user informing them that there are no associates able to chat currently after a certain period of time without a response. Away mode takes in two object arguements: pooledConversations and assignedConversations. The split in configurations is to allow for different behaviour between conversations that are assigned to an associate and ones that have not been accepted by anyone.

The customer can also be prompted to transfer the conversation to a third party integration. This will allow the conversation to continue off of the web chat. If a conversation is switched to a third party channel, the away messages will not be sent.

Example of Away Mode Configuration

awayMode: {
    pooledConversations: {
        enabled: true,
        unresponsiveTime: 60,
        showChannelSwitchPrompt: true
    },
    assignedConversations: {
        enabled: true,
        unresponsiveTime: 600,
        showChannelSwitchPrompt: false
    }
}

Browser Storage

By default, LiveConnect Web Chat will store the identity of users in the localStorage of the browser. Using localStorage will persist the user identity throughout browser sessions (including page reloads and browser restarts).

To clear the user identity once the browser is closed, use sessionStorage instead. Learn more.

Embedded Mode

To activate the embedded mode, simply call the embed method after running your init function with the embedded configuration set to true. This method accepts the DOM ID of the element which will be used as the container where the widget will be rendered. The embedded widget will take full width and height of the container.

tuliplivechat.init({
    integrationId: '<integration-id>',
    embedded: true
});

tuliplivechat.embed('chat-container');

CSS Overwrite

To apply your own custom CSS to our default elements, we allow for passing in a URL to a hosted CSS file using the cssOverwritePath configuration. This CSS file will be added to the styles used on the widget as well as the chat window. Changes to the styling can be made by using the classes and IDs on the HTML elements that already exist and modifiying the properties.

For example, if you wanted to make the chat window have no border radius you could apply the following to your hosted CSS file.

#container #wrapper {
	border-radius: 0px !important;
}

Exposed Methods

openChatWindow

Opens the conversation widget. This method takes an optional boolean parameter. If the parameter is true, we will open the chat window and if it is false, we will close the chat window.

tuliplivechat.openChatWindow();
tuliplivechat.openChatWindow(true);
tuliplivechat.openChatWindow(false);

closeChatWindow

Closes the conversation widget.

tuliplivechat.closeChatWindow();

removeChatWidget

Removes the chat widget from the DOM. Will need to be re-initalizated if needed again.

tuliplivechat.removeChatWidget();

hideChatBubble

Hides the chat widget from the DOM by changing the display on #web-messenger-container.

tuliplivechat.hideChatBubble();

showChatBubble

Shows the chat widget to the DOM by changing the display on #web-messenger-container to block. Does not make the chat widget appear after running removeChatWidget. This method takes an optional boolean parameter. If the parameter is true, we will show the chat bubble and if it is false, we will hide the chat bubble.

tuliplivechat.showChatBubble();
tuliplivechat.showChatBubble(true);
tuliplivechat.showChatBubble(false);

isConversationActive

Returns a boolean whether the current conversation is active or not. When run before the init method, this method checks localStorage and sessionStorage for an existing conversation, as well as if it is ended or not.

tuliplivechat.isConversationActive();

setChatWindowStyle

Takes in an object of CSS key to value pairs and applies the styles to the chat window.

tuliplivechat.setChatWindowStyle({
    'height': '90%',
    'padding-left': '10%'
});

checkForAvailableAssociates

Use this method for checking available associates in your region. The availabilityConfigurations option has to be set in config before using the method. The chat widget should have access to geolocation definition otherwise it returns an error. The method returns a promise and gives opportunity to do some actions after getting a result.

config.availabilityConfigurations: {
    project: '<PROJECT_DOMAIN>',
    apiKey: '<AVAILABILITY_AUTH_TOKEN>'
};

tuliplivechat.checkForAvailableAssociates().then((result) => {
    // do some code
}).catch((error) => {
    // do some code
});

The method can also be set by passing your project domain and availability auth token as parameters. An optional third parameter allows for the widget to continue or stop checking if no location exists. By default, this is set to true meaning it will continue with checking for available associates if no location exists. For example, a location would not exist if the user were to deny location permissions from their browser.

tuliplivechat.checkForAvailableAssociates('<PROJECT_DOMAIN>', '<AVAILABILITY_AUTH_TOKEN>').then((result) => {
    // do some code
}).catch((error) => {
    // do some code
});

Customize Strings (Display Text)

Below is the list of localizable text strings that can be modified.

If an option is not given a custom string, the default value will be used.

Localization

Customizable strings in customText can be localized. They are contained in an object that has the locale as its key.

var textValues = {
    'en-US': {
        headerText: 'Hello!'
    },
    'fr-FR': {
        headerText: 'Bonjour!'
    }
};

The browsers language (navigator.language) is used to determine which translation to provide. en-US is the fallback default.

Supported Languages

Modifiying Supported Languages

By default, all the languages above are supported by the web chat widget. If you only want to support a specific set of languages, simply include the supportedLanguages field with an array of the language codes you want to continue to support. If the customer's browser is not in a language that is supported, the widget will default to the fallbackLanguageCode.

NOTE: The fallback language code must be included in the supported languages array

tuliplivechat.init({
    integrationId: '<INTEGRATION_ID>',
    fallbackLanguageCode: 'fr',
    supportedLanguages: ['fr', 'it', 'de']
});

String Customization Example

var textValues = {
    'en-US': {
        prechatCaptureGreetingText: 'Please fill out the form to get connected with a fashion advisor.',
        prechatCaptureConfirmationText: 'Thanks for that, so good. We are attempting to find a fashion advisor for you.',
        headerText: 'Haute Couture Inc.'
    }
};

tuliplivechat.init({
    integrationId: '<INTEGRATION_ID>',
    customText: textValues
});

E-Commerce Page Tracking

In the latest version, we've added support for tracking the page a conversation was initialized. This captures the URL and title of the current page the user is on when they send their first message to LiveConnect, and displays it within the application.

In order to track the user's browsing when the widget is hosted in the EU, we require their consent via cookies. To enable this feature on your e-commerce site, we require a cookie with the key tulipLiveChatAllowPageTracking to be set to true. This can be added into your site's standard cookie policy.

In order to populate the image icon on the LiveConnect application, you need to provide the pageReferenceImageSelector configuration init your widget's configurations. This value should be a DOM selector string that represents the single image object that you want to have selected. The src property of the found object will be used on the LiveConnect application in the E-Commerce Page tracking element. If multiple elements are found on the DOM from the selector or no elements are found, no image will be used.

Example:

<div>
    <img src="http://images.liveconnect/123.png" id="tulip-e-commerce-tracking-image">
</div>

tuliplivechat.init({
    ...,
    pageReferenceImageSelector: '#tulip-e-commerce-tracking-image'
})

Note: You do not have to include the 'img' tag in your selector.

Deleting Messages

In order to have your customers have the ability to delete messages they have sent, you must add the following configuration to your widget's initialization configurations. Once set, all messages sent from the customer will be able to be deleted.

tlc.init({
    integrationId: '<INTEGRATION_ID>',
    userCanDeleteSentMessages: true
});

In order to delete a message, a customer will right-click (longpress on mobile devices) on a message. A trash can icon will appear to the left of the message. Once pressed, there will be a confirmation dialog asking the use to confirm the deletion of this message. If the customer confirms, the message will be deleted on both the widget and the LiveConnect application.

Confirmation text can be customized using the deleteConfirmation key.

Widget Event

If you would like to trigger your own events on events within the widget, you can do that by defining your own methods to run during a tuliplivechat.on call. The method takes two parameters, the trigger and callback.

Triggers

conversation:start

This event triggers when a new conversation is started within the widget. Data passed in is a conversationObject.

tuliplivechat.on('conversation:start', (conversationObject) => {
    console.log('A new conversation was started', conversationObject);
});

conversation:end

This event triggers when a conversation ended by the customer or the associate. Data passed in is a conversationObject.

tuliplivechat.on('conversation:end', (conversationObject) => {
    console.log('A conversation was end', conversationObject);
});

message:sent

This event triggers when a user sends a message from the widget to the associate. Data passed in is a messageObject.

tuliplivechat.on('message:sent', (messageObject) => {
    console.log('A message was sent', messageObject);
});

message:received

This event triggers when a user receives a message from the associate. Data passed in is a messageObject.

tuliplivechat.on('message:received', (messageObject) => {
    console.log('A message was received', messageObject);
});

widget:opened

This event triggers when the widget is opened.

tuliplivechat.on('widget:opened', () => {
    console.log('The widget was opened');
});

widget:closed

This event triggers when the widget is closed.

tuliplivechat.on('widget:closed', () => {
    console.log('The widget was closed');
});

Event Objects

These are samples of the objects returned to the Widget Events

conversationObject

{
    conversationId: "cb4605c1be77e3dd7187f252"
    timestamp: 1632798135213
}

messageObject

// Type = text
{
    conversationId: "cb4605c1be77e3dd7187f252"
    id: "61524c86a5663b00daaa24b0"
    text: "Hello"
    timestamp: 1632797894134
    type: "text"
}

// Type = image
{
    altText: "image.jpg"
    conversationId: "cb4605c1be77e3dd7187f252"
    id: "61524cfa1d129100d9fb499c"
    mediaSize: 14687
    mediaType: "image/jpeg"
    mediaUrl: "https://media.smooch.io/apps/5f58f0194d4f27000e26fe2f/conversations/cb4605c1be77e3dd7187f252/4qLuTy1La2VkKTXpKMSTIg0D/download.jpg"
    text: undefined
    timestamp: 1632798012693
    type: "image"
}

// Type = video
{
    altText: "TestVideo.mov"
    conversationId: "cb4605c1be77e3dd7187f252"
    id: "61524d39a84d1100daf360df"
    mediaSize: 993303
    mediaType: "video/quicktime"
    mediaUrl: "https://media.smooch.io/apps/5f58f0194d4f27000e26fe2f/conversations/cb4605c1be77e3dd7187f252/0HKUYvKvVvX9KoZRvwU7N7Rg/TestVideo.mov"
    text: undefined
    timestamp: 1632798073454
    type: "video"
}

Web Widget Tab Accessibility

If you would like to open or close the widget via the keyboard, these actions can now be done through the use of using the tab and enter keys.

Opening the Widget

To open the widget, you must press tab until the widget is highlighted. Once highlighted, the user must press enter which will open the chat window up.

Typing in the Widget

The user can get to the input field in the chat window without needing a mouse by tabbing over to it until the field is active. Once active, the user can type.

Closing the Widget

To close the widget, you must press tab until the "X" button is highlighted in the chat window. Once that occurs, the user will need to press the enter key to close the widget.