Why aren't products and categories displayed to the agents in the chat alert notification window?

Environment:

Chat, Configuration Settings

Issue:

I have configured the CHAT_ALERTFORM_DISPLAY configuration setting so that it displays products and categories, but when the chat comes in the products and categories are not displayed to the agent.

Resolution:

If you encounter this issue, ensure that the product/category IDs are being passed in with the chat. If there is no product/category input widget on your chat_launch page and you are setting the value with a workflow or rule, there will be no category or product ID associated to the chat when the alertform is displayed to the agent. If the product/category value is set by a workflow or rule that is triggered when the editor opens, this will not occur until after the agent accepts the chat. The Product/Category label does not appear in the alertform if there is no value.

You will find this same behavior in all of your standard fields in the CHAT_ALERTFORM_DISPLAY configuration setting. Only the standard fields that have a value at the time the alertform is displayed with appear there. Fields whose values are set via your workflow or rules after the chat request has been accepted will not display in the alertform, since they have no value to display.