View source for Authenticating users to interact with web chatbots

{{Design pattern|Title=Authentication in Web Chatbot|Description=Authentication in Intelligent Virtual Assistant for Web Chatbot|Version=8.5|Applications=Pega Platform|Capability Area=Conversational Channels|Owner=Gawel, wojciech}}

By building Pega Intelligent Virtual Assistant (IVA) for Web Chatbot you can embed a chatbot on your website using the Pega Web Mashup mechanism, so that users can interact with your application. The system must authenticate the user before it can display the application mashup on an external web page. For more information about implementing an IVA for Web Chatbot, see [https://community.pega.com/knowledgebase/articles/conversational-channels/85/creating-web-chatbot-channel Creating a Web Chatbot channel].

== Configuration ==
The Web Chatbot channel has a similar configuration to the other conversational channels, for example, the Unified Messaging channel. However, the Web Chatbot channel configuration contains the additional '''Mashup''' tab, on which the system displays the current Web Chatbot server URL and the generated mashup HTML code. You can copy and paste the generated HTML code on an external webpage so that users have access to your IVA for Web Chatbot and can begin a conversation with the chatbot from this webpage.

[[File:Web Chatbot snippet.png|center|1000x1000px]]

In the sample snippet, for the <code>data-pega-url</code> attribute, you define a URL that references our Authentication Service rule, which you set in the <code>servlet</code> definition in the <code>web.xml</code> file. Currently, for the IVA for Web Chatbot, you define the <code>PRChat</code> servlet for the  <code>PRChatAuthentication</code> service.<syntaxhighlight lang="xml" line="1">
<servlet>
    <servlet-name>PRChat</servlet-name>
    <display-name>PRChat</display-name>
    <description>Web Chat component, using custom authentication techniques</description>
    <servlet-class>com.pega.pegarules.internal.web.servlet.WebStandardBoot</servlet-class>
    <init-param>
        <param-name>PegaEtierClass</param-name>
        <param-value>com.pega.pegarules.session.internal.engineinterface.service.HttpAPI</param-value>
    </init-param>
    <init-param>
        <param-name>AuthenticationType</param-name>
        <param-value>PRCustom</param-value>
    </init-param>
    <init-param>
       &nbsp<param-name>RuntimeServletName</param-name>
       &nbsp<param-value>PRChat</param-value>
    </init-param>
    <init-param>
        <param-name>AuthService</param-name>
        <param-value>PRChatAuthentication</param-value>
    </init-param>
</servlet>

<servlet-mapping>
    <servlet-name>PRChat</servlet-name>
    <url-pattern>/PRChat</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>
<servlet-mapping>
    <servlet-name>PRChat</servlet-name>
    <url-pattern>/PRChat/*</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>
</syntaxhighlight>

== '''Authentication Service algorithm''' ==
The figure shown below describes how the authentication service works for an IVA for Web Chatbot:
[[File:Web Chatbot authentication diagram.png|center]]

== '''Authentication API''' ==
[[File:Web Chatbot authentication API.png]]
* ''pyChatAuthentication'' – The main activity that is referenced in the ''PRChatAuthentication'' rule. This rule describes the entire logic for the authentication process for the chatbot. 
* ''pyPopulateOperator'' - The system starts this activity in order to setup a newly created operator in the ''pxChannelAuth'' activity. The ''pxChannelAuth'' activity immediately creates a Pega Platform operator and then adds a mapping to an external channel user identifier.
* ''pyPostPopulateOperator'' – The system starts this activity after the system creates a new operator.