Pandorabots Initial Bot Message - aiml

Question

In "Chat Widget" for website I can write "Initial Bot Message" but it's not clear how to create in AIML file reaction for the visitor's response to this Initial Message.
As an example I added in "Initial Bot Message" the question "Would you like to see live samples?"
It's implied that there are two possible responses - "yes" or "no".
But the code:
<category>
<pattern>YES</pattern>
<that>WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE LIVE SAMPLES</that>
<template>Answer YES</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>NO</pattern>
<that>WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE LIVE SAMPLES</that>
<template>Answer NO</template>
</category>
doesn't work.
How to make the bot could react on the responses?
Is it possible to initiate "Initial Bot Message" from the code? For example I want to create a question with buttons - how to do it?

Answer 1

Yes you can do this. First, you need to create a category that you want your bot to welcome your visitor with. I've made one called "Initial Bot Message" with your welcome message and two buttons.
<category>
<pattern>INITIAL BOT MESSAGE</pattern>
<template>
Would you like to see live samples?
<button>
<text>Yes</text>
<postback>AnswerYES</postback>
</button>
<button>
<text>No</text>
<postback>AnswerNO</postback>
</button>
</template>
</category>
Now you need to amend your chat widget code to replace the conversationOpener part with this:
greetingPattern: "initial bot message",
Now the bot won't say a welcome message, it will call your category and allow you to work with <that> etc