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Build An Alexa Meal Recommendation Skill

Setup w/ ASK CLI

About

This readme assumes you have your developer environment ready to go and that you have some familiarity with CLI (Command Line Interface) Tools, AWS, and the ASK Developer Portal. If not, click here for a more detailed walkthrough.

Pre-requisites

Installation

  1. Make sure you are running the latest version of the CLI

    $ npm update -g ask-cli

  2. Clone the repository.

    $ git clone https://github.com/alexa/skill-sample-nodejs-the-foodie/

  3. If it's your first time using it, initiatialize the ASK CLI by navigating into the repository and running npm command: ask init. Follow the prompts.

    $ cd skill-sample-nodejs-the-foodie
$ ask init

  4. Install npm dependencies by navigating into the /lambda/custom directory and running the npm command: npm install --save

    $ cd lambda/custom
$ npm install

Deployment

ASK CLI will create the skill and the lambda function for you. The Lambda function will be created in us-east-1 (Northern Virginia) by default.

  1. Navigate to the project's root directory. you should see a file named 'skill.json' there.

  2. Deploy the skill and the lambda function in one step by running the following command:

    $ ask deploy

  3. Once deployed, additional permissions need to be added to the AWS IAM role being used by the skill since it is persisting data in Amazon DynamoDB. Navigate to the AWS IAM console.

    Note: We are adding the full access policy here for convenience. For a production skill, you should use a more targeted policy restricting access to just the required resources. Refer to the DynamoDB documentation for more details.

    1. Locate the role for your skill (by default, it is named ask-lambda-<your skill name>). For example 'ask-lambda-the-foodie'. In browser reduce screen size to 75% to see all the AWS IAM role names.

    2. Click on the role, then click Attach Policy.

    3. Search for AmazonDynamoDBFullAccess and click the check box next to it.

    4. Click Attach Policy.

Testing

  1. To test, you need to login to Alexa Developer Console, and enable the "Test" switch on your skill from the "Test" Tab.

  2. Simulate verbal interaction with your skill through the command line (this might take a few moments) using the following example:

     $ ask simulate -l en-US -t "tell the foodie i am on the vegan diet"

 ✓ Simulation created for simulation id: 4a7a9ed8-94b2-40c0-b3bd-fb63d9887fa7
◡ Waiting for simulation response{
  "status": "SUCCESSFUL",
  ...

  3. Once the "Test" switch is enabled, your skill can be tested on devices associated with the developer account as well. Speak to Alexa from any enabled device, from your browser at echosim.io, or through your Amazon Echo and say : Alexa tell the foodie "i am on the vegan diet"

    In the Test area next microphone type

    tell the foodie "i am on the vegan diet"

    The reply will be "What time of day is it?"

    Type 12:00 in the Test box

    The reply is "Lunch, I love lunch I know quite a few great options...."

    Now reply to the questions, with your answers. To interupt say stop

  4. Eventaully you can change the responses the utterances. Remember to re-deploy when you make a major change with ASK-cli

Customization

  1. ./skill.json

    Change the skill name, example phrase, icons, testing instructions etc ...

    Remember than many information are locale-specific and must be changed for each locale (en-GB and en-US)

    See the Skill Manifest Documentation for more information.

  2. ./lambda/custom/index.js

    Modify messages, and data from the source code to customize the skill.

  3. ./models/*.json

    Change the model definition to replace the invocation name and the sample phrase for each intent. Repeat the operation for each locale you are planning to support.

$ cp en-US.json en-GB.json

  1. Remember to re-deploy your skill and lambda function for your changes to take effect.

    In ASK-cli

    $ ask deploy --force ** re-deploy needs the --force switch

Supporting other English Regions

  1. Make new region model

    In ASK-cli

  2. ./models/*.json

    $ cp en-US.json en-GB.json

  3. In ASK-cli force an update of above changes to Alexa development console

    $ cd ..

    $ ask deploy --force

Certification of other Languages and regions

  1. For other regions like Germany, India,Japan you must replace all the English utterances with local language.

    In Lamdba index.js create one Lambda Function for each Language.

    Set the defaults in the files ~/.aws/config, in skills.js, in en-DE.js to the local language.

  2. You will find it easier to make seperate directories and convert the files and make a skill for each local language.

  3. Beware that in there is only one allocated server per region, US, Europe, Asia capable of supporting Lambda.