Features and configurations of Chat flow components - Chat App Message Service

A component is the smallest unit in a flow. You can add and configure multiple components to create an automated flow. This topic describes Chat Flow components and configurations.

Components

The Configuration column in the following table briefly introduces how to configure each component. For more information, see the topics provided in the References column.

Icon	Name	Description	Configuration	References
	Send a Viber Message	Sends a Viber message to an end user. The end user can reply to the message by using the specific features of Viber.	Supported actions: From/To Reply Supported message types: Transaction Marketing Note From/To indicates that the message sender and recipient are fixed. You can select a channel or variable to specify the sender, and enter a phone number or select a variable to specify the recipient.	Send a Viber Message
	Send an Instagram Message	Sends Instagram messages. Users can use specific Instagram features to reply to such messages.	Supported actions: From/To Reply Supported message types: Text: Variables are supported. Image: You can send images. Variables are supported. Quick reply: Variables are supported. Template message: You can add images and specify the message title, subtitle, reply button, URL button, button title, and button URL. Variables are supported.	Send an Instagram Message
	Send a Messenger Message	Sends Messenger messages. Users can use specific Messenger features to reply to such messages.	Supported actions: From/To Reply Supported message types: Text: Variables are supported. Media: You can send images, audio, videos, and files. Variables are supported. Quick reply: Variables are supported. Template message: You can add images and specify the message title, subtitle, reply button, URL button, button title, and button URL. Variables are supported.	Send a Messenger Message
	Send an SMS Message	Sends SMS messages.	After you enter a sender ID, you can specify the message type. Supported message types: Verification code Notification Promotional message	Send an SMS Message
	Send a WhatsApp Message	Sends WhatsApp messages. Users can use specific WhatsApp features to reply to such messages.	Supported actions: From/To Reply Supported message types: Text: Variables are supported. Media: You can send images, audio, videos, files, and locations. Variables are supported. Interactive: Interactive messages contain buttons or lists. Variables are supported. Product: Single-product messages and multi-product messages are supported. Variables are supported. Template: You can send WhatsApp template messages. The template that you select must be approved.	Send a WhatsApp Message
	Send a WhatsApp Typing Indicator	Displays the "Typing..." indicator in the current session to let the user know that a response is forthcoming.	No configuration required. It applies only to WhatsApp messages. It must be used together with Send a WhatsApp Message or Wait for a WhatsApp Response component.	Send a WhatsApp Typing Indicator
	Wait for a WhatsApp/Viber/Instagram Response	Awaits WhatsApp/Viber/Instagram user replies.	You can specify a wait time for a user response. You can turn on Timeout Branch. If the user does not respond within the specified time frame, the flow can proceed with the Not replied path. You can also customize output variables that can be used by subsequent components.	Wait for a WhatsApp/Viber/Instagram Response
	HTTP Request	Sends an HTTP request to the specified URL.	Valid values of the Request Method parameter: GET POST You can turn on Failure Branch and then specify different actions for request success and request failure scenarios.	HTTP Request
	Set Variables	Configures custom variables for subsequent steps.	You can add a variable for reference in subsequent steps. The value is optional.	Set Variables
	Jump to Another Step	Jumps to any other step in the flow.	You can specify the component to jump to and the maximum number of jumps. When the flow reaches this step, the flow automatically jumps to the specified component. After the maximum number of jumps is reached, the flow proceeds to the next step, instead of jumping to the specified component.	Jump to Another Step
	Wait	Waits for a period of time.	You can specify a wait time. The flow proceeds to the next step when the wait time is reached.	Wait
	Branching by Conditions	Adds multiple branches based on conditions. This allows different actions to be performed based on specified rules.	You can add rules or rule groups for branches to determine which branch to enter based on specified condition rules. And: The flow enters a branch when all rules for the branch are met. Or: The flow enters a branch when one of the rules for the branch is met. Supported variables: incomingMessage: the MO message from a user. wabaId: the ID of a WABA. You can obtain the WABA ID on the WhatsApp channel details page. wabaPhoneNumber: the phone number added to a WABA. The phone number is used to send messages to users. customerPhoneNumber: the phone number of a user. customerName: the name of a user. Supported condition operators: dateEquals dateGreaterThan dateLessThan numberEquals numberGreaterThan numberLessThan stringContains stringEquals stringStartsWith stringlsBlank stringlsNotBlank stringEntireMatchesRegex stringAnyMatchesRegex	Branching by Conditions
	Branching by Date/Time	Adds multiple branches based on time. The flow enters different branches based on time conditions.	You can specify a time condition by date, time range, and day of the week. You can also specify a time zone.	Branching by Date/Time
	Random Branch	Controls the flow to enter a randomly selected branch based on probability. It can be used to send diverse messages or conduct A/B testing.	You can set the probability for each branch. The total probabilities must equal 100%.	Random Branch
	Recognize Entities in Text	Automatically identifies entities in text. The identified data can be reused in subsequent steps.	You can select a value from the Recognize Name drop-down list to specify the recognition text, and then configure the Variable and Entity parameters to specify the entity to be identified. Only phone numbers and email addresses can be identified.	Recognize Entities in Text
	Recognize Language from Text	Identifies the language of a message and converts the language into a variable for reference in subsequent steps.	This component can automatically identify the languages of the MO messages from users and convert the languages into variables.	Recognize Language from Text
	Call a Function	Invokes the custom function that you create in Function Compute. This component allows you to implement custom business logic in the flow, such as data processing, remote service calls, message delivery, and data storage.	Before you use this component, you must activate Function Compute and create and design a custom function in the Function Compute console.	Call a Function
	Recognize a Phone Number	Identifies the dialing code and alpha-2 code from a phone number.	This component can convert the identified dialing codes or alpha-2 codes into variables for reference in subsequent steps. This component supports multiple branches with different configurations. If the phone number is 8613012345678, the output dialing code is 86 and the output alpha-2 code is CN.	Recognize a Phone Number
	Forward to Flow	Jumps from the current flow to another selected flow and ends the current flow.	You need to select another flow that has been created and published.	Forward to Flow
	Sentiment/Topic Classification	Classifies text based on custom or preset sentiment or theme tags.	This component analyzes input variables or text, and determines which branch to enter based on custom or preset sentiment or theme tags. You can configure different sentiment or theme tags for different branches. The component must work with Alibaba Cloud Model Studio.	Sentiment/Topic Classification
	Natural Language Generation	Uses large language models for multi-round conversations, knowledge retrieval, and content generation	You can set a model or application for natural language generation.	Natural Language Generate
	Subscribe to Group	Adds a user to a user group.	This component adds the phone number and name of a user to the specified user group.	Subscribe to Group
	Unsubscribe from Group	Removes a user from a user group.	This component removes a user from the specified user group.	Unsubscribe from Group
	Send an Email	Sends an email.	You can select an Email channel and a message template to send an email.	Send an Email