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Displaying Read-Only Variables Before User Input Fields in VA Conversational Catalog

N_Snow
Tera Expert

3 weeks ago

Hello Team,

I am currently working on making a catalog item conversational in Virtual Agent Conversational Catalog. 
 
The catalog item contains both read-only variables and user input variables. I have configured the read-only variable with the lowest order so that it appears before the user input fields. However, during the conversation flow, the read-only variables are not displayed at the beginning. Instead, they appear only at the end, just before the form submission step.
 

Has anyone encountered this behavior before? Is there a way to display read-only variables earlier in the conversation, before prompting the user for input, or is this the expected behavior of Conversational Catalog?

Any guidance or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.


Thank you in advance!

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Vikram Reddy
Tera Guru

3 weeks ago

Hey @N_Snow,

 

Check whether that read-only variable has a default value populated on the variable record, that's what's actually driving this, not the Order field. Conversational Catalog Request skips any question that already has a default value set and moves it to the form summary screen shown right before submission, where the user can still edit it. Read-only variables almost always get their value through a default, or through a reference qualifier or before-query script that populates one, so they land in that same "already answered" bucket no matter where you put them in Order.

A few things to verify:

  • Confirm the variable has a Default value set, that presence is the actual condition that triggers the skip-to-summary behavior
  • If you need that content visible at the start of the conversation instead of the end, move it out of the variable list and put it in the catalog item's Description field, Virtual Agent renders that as the opening message before it starts asking questions
  • Avoid OnLoad() UI policies to force mandatory, visible, or read-only, set those attributes directly on the variable, it behaves more predictably in the conversational flow

Order only decides the sequence among variables that actually get asked as questions. It has no effect on variables the engine has already decided to skip.

 

Thank you,
Vikram Karety
Octigo Solutions INC

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