AlexaWebService

Framework for building an Alexa skill.

Add this line to your application's Gemfile:

gem 'alexa_web_service'

And then execute:

$ bundle

Or install it yourself as:

$ gem install alexa_web_service

The Alexa Web Service gem handles the JSON requests and responses that constitute an Alexa "Skill." For general information on creating an Alexa skill as a web service, look here: https://developer.amazon.com/public/solutions/alexa/alexa-skills-kit/docs/alexa-skills-kit-interface-reference#Introduction

Alexa will send your web service JSON in an HTTP POST request, like so:

{
  "session": {
    "sessionId": "SessionId.abc12d34-12ab-1abc-111-a12c3456d7ef9",
    "application": {
      "applicationId": "amzn1.echo-sdk-ams.app.xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx"
    },
    "attributes": {},
    "user": {
      "userId": "amzn1.account.AHHLP1234ABC5DEFG6HIJK7XLMN"
    },
    "new": true
  },
  "request": {
    "type": "LaunchRequest",
    "requestId": "EdwRequestId.xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx",
    "timestamp": "2016-06-17T21:07:57Z",
    "locale": "en-US"
  },
  "version": "1.0"
}

The Alexa Web Service framework will automatically verify that the request comes from Amazon, as outlined here

The AlexaVerify class takes two parameters: the request body sent by the client, and the raw environment hash. So if you're setting up a Sinatra server, you can verify the request like so:

# If the request body has been read, like in the Eight Ball example,
# you need to rewind it.
request.body.rewind

# Verify the request.
verified = AlexaWebService::Verify.new(request.env, request.body.read).verify_request
halt 400, "#{verified}" unless verified == "OK"

Create an instance of the AlexaRequest class to provide some convenience methods for handling the JSON request:

@echo_request = AlexaWebService::Request.new(request_json)

@echo_request.intent_name
@echo_request.slots
@echo_request.slots.myslot
@echo_request.launch_request?
@echo_request.intent_request?
@echo_request.session_ended_request?
@echo_request.session_new?

Your skill provides different responses (see next section) depending on the the type/name/slot values of the request:

if @echo_request.launch_request
  # have alexa say hello
elsif @echo_request.intent_name == "InformationRequest"
  # ask use for what kind of information she wants
elsif @echo_request.slots.time
  # tell user the time
end

(Take a look at eight_ball.rb for some further examples.)

The AlexaResponse class generates the proper JSON to make Alexa responses.

Create a new response object:

response = AlexaWebService::Response.new

Then, define the response attributes:

response.end_session = true
response.spoken_response = "This is what Alexa will say to you"
response.reprompt_text = "This is what she'll say if she doesn't hear your response the first time."

You can use SSML:

response.speech_type = "SSML"
response.text_type = "ssml"
response.spoken_response = "<speak>Here is a word spelled out: <say-as interpret-as="spell-out">hello</say-as></speak>"

Alexa uses a "session attribute" to persist data within a session. (It's the empty "attributes" hash in the sample JSON request above.) The #add_attribute adds key:value pairs to that attributes hash.

response.add_attribute("favorite_color", "blue" )

AlexaWebService supports directives: hint and display directives (for Alexa devices with screens), and progresssive response. They work a little differently.

Display Directive Please see the Amazon docs. Display Directives are a bit involved. First, create the directive:

display = AlexaWebService::DisplayDirective.new(
  type: "Body Template Type", token: "Your Token", title: "Your Title"
  )
display.add_text(primary_text: "first text", secondary_text: "second_text", tertiary_text: "third text")
display.add_background_image("title", url)
display.add__image("title", url)

then, add it to your response:

response.add_directive(display.directive)

Hint Directive

hint = AlexaWebService::HintDirective.new("Buy low, sell high!")
response.add_directive(hint.directive)

Progressive Response These are a bit different than other directives. They are not sent with your response, but are sent before. They take two parameters, the entire request object, and the text you'd like Alexa to speak.

progressive_response = AlexaWebService::ProgressiveResponse.new(request, "Hang on, looking up information.")

Then send it....

progressive_response.post

You can also send a card to the Alexa app: AlexaWebService supports four kinds of cards:

• Plain Text
• Image
• Linking
• Permissions

First, create a card:

card = AlexaWebService::Card.new

Then add the card attributes you want (text, image, or permissions if sending a permissions card):

card.title = "My Alexa Card"
card.content "Formating is really limited to: \nline breaks"
card.small_image = "https://your_small_image_url.jpg"
card.large_image = "https://your_large_image_url.jpg"

Finally, add the card to your response, specifying the kind of card you created:

response.add_card(card.with_image)

other possibilities:

# text only
response.add_card(card.with_text)    

# permissions
response.add_card(card.with_permissions)

If you create a skill that uses account linking

# linking
response.add_card(card.linking)

Finally, post your response

response.post

1. Fork it ( https://github.com/[my-github-username]/alexa_web_service/fork )
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b my-new-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -am 'Add some feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin my-new-feature)
5. Create a new Pull Request