frontend: Webchat
Frontend supports the HMPO webchat at /government/organisations/hm-passport-office/contact/hm-passport-office-webchat. A JS module embedded in the page updates the page contents on the client side based on whether the service is open and/or advisers are available.
How it works
/app/controllers/webchat_controller.rb - sets up the model /app/models/webchat.rb - contains the urls for the availability endpoint and the link to open a webchat. /app/views/webchat/show.html.erb - urls/links are inserted into the view as data attributes, along with the collection of possible status messages. /app/assets/javascripts/modules/webchat.js - in the client, calls the availability endpoint and then updates the status message blocks based on the returned value.
How to update the webchat provider
You will need to edit the following values in /app/models/webchat.rb:
@availability_url
This URL is used to check the availability of agents at regular intervals.
| Function | Required |
|---|---|
| Request Method | GET |
| Response Format | JSON/JSONP (Default to JSONP) |
| Request Example | {"status":"success","response":"BUSY"} |
| Valid statuses | ["BUSY", "UNAVAILABLE", "AVAILABLE","ONLINE", "OFFLINE", "ERROR"] |
@csp_connect_src
For a webchat provider to integrate with GOV.UK it needs permissions from the Content Security Policy.
This will be set-up for a provider by the csp_connect_src option which configures the connect-src directive, however other providers may need additional configuration, such as script-src. This configuration should be done in the same manner as csp_connect_src to only affect resources that embed webchat. This should be in the form of a hostname, ideally with a scheme.
@open_url
This url is used to start a webchat session. It should not include session ids or require anything specific parameters to be generated.
@redirect_attribute
By default the chat session would open in an a separate browser window. Setting this to true keeps it in the current window.