PearlEngine

A rails engine which handles Pearl conversation logic.

Installation

Add this gem to the Gemfile of the API:

gem 'pearl_engine', :git => 'git://github.com/openpearl/PearlEngine.git', :branch => 'master' 

Then, install the engine by calling:

bundle install 

For Developers:

Creating New Plugins

Plugins are the "brains" of a Pearl conversation, and typically address a specific user concern (for example an eat plugin might focus on a user's eating habits). They are composed of two parts - a plugin model and a conversation tree json file associated with the plugin. When creating a new plugin, you need to create both parts.

Creating the Conversation Tree

Use the pearl storyboarding tool to help you easily create the conversation tree in json format.

Creating the Plugin

To make the process of creating a new plugin easier, a custom pearl plugin generator is included with the engine. Let's say you wanted to make a new Foo plugin. To start, make sure you have already cloned PearlEngine. Then, open up a terminal window and cd into the root directory of PearlEngine. Finally, simply run:

Example: creating a Foo plugin

rails generate pearl_plugin foo

This will generate both the ruby file for the plugin as well as its associated json file:

# app/models/pearl_engine/plugins/foo_plugin.rb

module PearlEngine
  module Plugins
    class FooPlugin < PearlEngine::PearlPlugin
    ...
    end
  end
end

# lib/pearl_engine/json_files/foo.json

Simply paste the json storyboard created using the pearl storyboarding tool into lib/pearl_engine/json_files/foo.json, and then flesh out the method stubs in app/models/pearl_engine/plugins/foo_plugin.rb as needed.