Alexa Skill - Trump101

Introduction

Click here to watch the skill Live in Action.

This is an Alexa skill which gives you a quote by the POTUS Donald Trump, developed using Lambda service in AWS and ASK client. It can also be used a a boilerplate for building alexa skills.

How does it work?

Workflow

You can test out this skill using an Amazon Echo device or at Echosim. The workflow is as follows:

• You invoke the skill saying "Alexa, entertain me."
• Alexa will give you a random quote using REST API and ask if you want more.
• If you say yes, it would again give you a yoda quote and ask if you want more. If you say no, it will exit out of the skiil.
• If you say Help, it gives a summary of what the skill can do ,with a set of instructions.

Internal Implementation

• REST API Used : https://api.tronalddump.io/random/quote

This skill is written in Node.JS using the ASK(Alexa-Skills-Kit) library. The Implementation is as follows:

• When you invoke the skill, one of the quotes is fetched from the REST Response and spoken out by Alexa along with a question if you want more of such quotes.
• If you say yes, first step repeats.
• If you say no, Alexa echoes "Bye" and exits out of the skill.

How to get it up and running?

The skill templates for Amazon Alexa are designed to be used with the Alexa Skills Kit Command-Line Interface . So to use them, you'll need the following.

• An Amazon developer account. Register at developer.amazon.com
• An AWS account. Signup at aws.amazon.com
• Node.JS installed.
• The Alexa Skills Kit CLI.

Deployment

This skill gets deployed instantly. Just run the following commands to deploy your skill.

(Make sure you have hasura-cli)

$ hasura quickstart utkarsh/alexa-skill-trump101
$ cd alexa-skill-trump101
$ git add . && git commit -m "Initial Commit"
$ git push hasura master

How to add the skill to your Amazon account?

To link it with your Amazon Echo Device, go to your Amazon developer console.

1. Create a new skill. Call it XYZ. Give the invocation name as entertain me , or any other . Click next.

2. Add an intent schema, see below for reference:

{
  "intents": [
    {
      "intent": "TrumpSays"
    },
    {
      "intent": "YesIntent"
    },
    {
      "intent": "AMAZON.NoIntent"
    },
    {
      "intent": "AMAZON.StopIntent"
    },
    {
      "intent": "AMAZON.CancelIntent"
    },
    {
      "intent": "AMAZON.HelpIntent"
    }
  ]
}

Leave custom slot types empty. Add the sample utterances, use below as reference:

TrumpSays say a Trump quote
TrumpSays What all has Trump said during his presidency
YesIntent Yes
YesIntent Yo
AMAZON.NoIntent No
AMAZON.NoIntent Nope
AMAZON.StopIntent Stop
AMAZON.CancelIntent Cancel
AMAZON.HelpIntent Help
AMAZON.HelpIntent Whats this skill about

Click next.

3. For the service endpoint, check the AWS Lambda ARN (Amazon Resource Name) radio button.

   Put the default URL as the ARN hosting the Lambda code in AWS.

   Click next.

4. Your skill is live on the ECHO device associated with your account. Test it by saying Alexa, entertain me. And Alexa will get to work.

How to use it as a boilerplate?

The source code lies in the microservices/www/app/src directory. This is a simple application, so the entire code lies in server.js.

You might want to go through the ASK Documentation . Also, Alexa Skills Kit SDK for NodeJS.

Support

If you happen to getstuck at any point, feel free to mail me at utkarsh_garg@live.com.Also, if you find an error or a bug, please raise an issue [here] (https://github.com/utk1801/AlexaSkill-Trump101) .