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Records Chat Component

The capabilities described on this page are included in Appian's premium capability tier. Usage limits may apply.

Tip:  This component supports US English text only.

Function

a!recordsChatField( label, labelPosition, instructions, additionalInstructions, helpTooltip, initialMessage, suggestedQuestions, recordType, identifier, fields, relatedRecordData, showWhen, height, buttonStyle )

Creates a chatbot for chatting on a record summary view.

This component uses Appian AI Copilot to answer questions about a record and related record data, enabling users to interact with conversational AI to get quick insights. This component requires no third-party integration to get started. All you need to do is configure the parameters to begin chatting with your data fabric.

See also:

Parameters

Name Keyword Types Description

Label

label

Text

Text to display as the field label.

Label Position

labelPosition

Text

Determines where the label appears. Valid values: "ABOVE" (default), or "COLLAPSED".

Instructions

instructions

Text

Supplemental text that appears for the user when the component is rendered.

Additional Instructions

additionalInstructions

Text

Provide optional instructions asking the model to return output specific to your business's preferred format, logic, or other requirements. Maximum 5,000 characters.

Help Tooltip

helpTooltip

Text

Displays a help icon with the specified text as a tooltip. The help icon does not show when the label position is "COLLAPSED".

Initial Message

initialMessage

Text

Initial message shown to the user from the chatbot. This will be the beginning of the chat conversation. Default: "Hi! I'm an AI-powered chatbot who can give you more information on this record. What would you like help with?"

Suggested Questions

suggestedQuestions

Text

Displays up to three questions the user can choose from when first interacting with the chatbot. Default: "What questions can you answer?"

Record Type

recordType

Record Type

A reference to a record type, configured using the recordType! domain. For example, recordType!Case.

Identifier

identifier

Any Type

The record ID (identifier) identifies the individual record within the record type.

Fields

fields

Any Type

The record type's fields to be sent to the chatbot. Use a list of record field or related record field references defined with the recordType! domain. When this parameter is null, only record fields from the specified record type are returned. Learn more about using the fields parameter.

Related Record Data

relatedRecordData

Any Type

When selecting one-to-many related record data, use a!relatedRecordData() to filter, sort, and limit the related record sets. The maximum number is 100. Learn more about using the relatedRecordData parameter.

Visibility

showWhen

Boolean

Determines whether the component/layout is displayed on the interface. When set to false, the component /layout is hidden and is not evaluated. Default: true.

Height

height

Text

height (Text): Determines the layout height. Valid values: "SHORT", "MEDIUM", "TALL", "AUTO" (default).

Button Style

buttonStyle

Text

Determines the style of the chat send button. Valid values: "NORMAL" Displays the label and border in the accent color. "PRIMARY" (Default) Displays the label in white on an accent color background. "LINK" Displays the label in the accent color and has no border until focused.

Usage considerations

Mobile devices

This component is supported on mobile devices when accessed via web browsers, but not supported on Appian Mobile.

Reliability of responses

As with any generative AI feature, this component may produce invalid or undesirable answers. Generative AI models sometimes produce "hallucinations," or responses that contain inaccurate information. Users should verify information in chat responses for accuracy.

This component may not provide consistent answers. In other words, the response the component provides today might differ from an answer to the same question with the same data tomorrow.

Note:  AI tools are designed to assist with language-based tasks, such as generating text, answering questions, or providing insights. They are not optimized for performing precise mathematical calculations or solving complex equations. We do not recommend using AI Copilot for calculations or scenarios that require numerical accuracy.

Compliance

The Records Chat component is powered by private AI, meaning that your inputs and outputs are protected and remain within the boundaries of your Appian Cloud site at all times.

This component is available only on Appian Cloud. Customers will need to contact Appian Support to enable this feature, but should review its compliance to ensure it aligns with your organization's security requirements before doing so.

You will receive the following error until the feature is enabled on your site: This function is currently unavailable. Please contact your system administrator if this problem persists. Self-managed and Appian Government Cloud customers don't have access to this feature.

Additionally, this feature is available for environments in these regions:

  • US East (N. Virginia)
  • US West (Oregon)
  • Europe (Frankfurt)

If your Appian environment isn't in a supported region listed above, you can elect to use Records Chat sending your data to a supported region. This doesn't change your environment's region. Contact Appian Support to learn more.

Security

This function returns data according to record-level security you have configured.

Compatibility

This component can't be used in a Side by Side layout.

Using the additionalInstructions parameter

Depending on where you plan to make records chat available to your users, you may want to control the component's output. You can do this by including your requirements in the additionalInstructions parameter. The text included in this parameter is sent to the model as part of the prompt.

For example, if your users will be interacting with records chat in a dashboard designed for executives, the users will probably want short and succinct replies to their questions. As the developer, you can specify that you want short replies in the additionalInstructions parameter so the model powering the component knows what an appropriate response would be in that context.

Use this parameter to specify other logic, format, or other requirements you want the model to apply in the model output.

Using the fields parameter

By default, this function will return the fields from the base record type. If you also want to return related record fields, you can reference the fields or the relationship in the fields parameter.

To return… Use… Example fields value
A record field The recordType! domain to reference a record field. recordType!Case.fields.description
All record fields No reference. If you don't include the fields parameters, the function will return all record fields from the selected recordType. N/A
A related record field The recordType! domain to reference a relationship and related record field. recordType!Customer.relationships.cases.fields.status
All related record fields from a relationship The recordType! domain to reference a relationship. recordType!Customer.relationships.cases

If you are querying a one-to-many relationship, a maximum of 100 related records will be returned. For example, when querying customers and their related support cases, the query will return up to 100 related support cases for the customer.

Using the relatedRecordData parameter

The relatedRecordData parameter allows you to filter, sort, and limit related record data from a one-to-many relationship using the a!relatedRecordData() function.

For example, let's say you're querying the Customer record type and you only want to return the last three cases associated with each customer. Since a customer can have many cases, by default, the query will return up to 100 cases related to each customer. In the relatedRecordData parameter, you could use the a!relatedRecordData() function to limit the result to three and sort the cases so the most recent appears first.

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a!recordsChatField(
  recordType: recordType!Customer,
  identifier: ri!id,
  fields: {
      recordType!Customer.id,
      recordType!Customer.firstName,
      recordType!Customer.lastName,
      recordType!Customer.relationships.case.id,
      recordType!Customer.relationships.case.title,
      recordType!Customer.relationships.case.description,
      recordType!Customer.relationships.case.createdOn,
      recordType!Customer.relationships.case.createdBy,
  },
  relatedRecordData: a!relatedRecordData(
    relationship: recordType!Customer.relationships.case,
    limit: 3,
    sort: a!sortInfo(
      field: recordType!Case.fields.createdOn,
      ascending: true
    )
  )
)

When applying a filter or sort to a!relatedRecordData(), your record field or related record field reference must start from the related record type specified in the relationship parameter. See additional usage considerations for using the a!relatedRecordData() function.

The a!aggregationFields() function is not supported with a!recordsChatField().

If you need to aggregate related record data, use a!queryRecordType() instead.

Feature compatibility

The table below lists this component's compatibility with various features in Appian.
Feature Compatibility Note
Portals Incompatible
Offline Mobile Incompatible
Sync-Time Custom Record Fields Incompatible
Real-Time Custom Record Fields Incompatible

Custom record fields that evaluate in real time must be configured using one or more Custom Field functions.

Process Reports Incompatible

Cannot be used to configure a process report.

Process Events Incompatible

Cannot be used to configure a process event node, such as a start event or timer event.

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