Alexa sdk getslotvalue

Malaga · December 14, 2018, 1:07pm

Hello,
i’m trying to use backendless alexa sdk for building a skill and i have a problem with getSlotValue method.
When i try to use it i get this:

Cannot read property ‘prototype’ of null

and this is the JSON i got:

{
“header”: {
“namespace”: “SkillDebugger”,
“name”: “CaptureDebuggingInfo”,
“messageId”: “7244ed5f-3350-4f59-aa25-a4aacfafd185”
},
“payload”: {
“skillId”: null,
“timestamp”: “2018-12-14T11:26:00.594Z”,
“dialogRequestId”: “20872743-b779-4afd-8caf-db8e0c83976d”,
“skillRequestId”: null,
“type”: “ConsideredIntents”,
“content”: {
“intents”: [
{
“name”: “fare”,
“confirmationStatus”: “NONE”,
“slots”: {
“giorno”: {
“name”: “giorno”,
“value”: null,
“confirmationStatus”: “NONE”
}
}
}
]
}
}
}

This is what i did on codeless: Take screenshots in Firefox | Firefox Help
and this is the intents and slots in alexa: Take screenshots in Firefox | Firefox Help

Am i missing something?
My idea is to get the name of the day that alexa service listen ( “lunedì”, “martedì”…created with that slot type) and do something against that, like ( if it return “lunedì” then do “works”, if it return “martedì” then do “go ride in bike” ).
Hope you can help sort out how to solve my problem, thanks in advice.

mark-piller · December 14, 2018, 2:42pm

Hi Andrea,

I’ll be happy to look into it. Could you please let me know your application ID?

Regards,
Mark

Malaga · December 14, 2018, 3:52pm

it’s not yet published, edited

mark-piller · December 14, 2018, 4:03pm

I actually need your Backendless application ID, it is a value you can get from the main dashboard screen in Backendless console.

Malaga · December 14, 2018, 4:15pm

it’s 0C15A418-38D9-AE58-FFB5-393C82A8BD00
sorry for the misunderstanding

p.s. i’m doing some changes to try to find a way that fit my needs…if needed i’ll revert back my changes.

mark-piller · December 14, 2018, 4:26pm

No problem. I am looking at the JSON you posted and it doesn’t look like a valid Alexa request. Could you try the following please:

Login to Alexa developer console and select your skill
Switch to the Test tab and enable the skill for testing
Type in what the user would say to trigger a request
When you see the actual JSON request, please share it here so we can also test it on our side

Alexa%20Developer%20Console%202018-12-14%2010-24-151449×706 481 KB

Malaga · December 14, 2018, 4:47pm

sure, here it is:

{
“version”: “1.0”,
“session”: {
“new”: true,
“sessionId”: “amzn1.echo-api.session.366ffa9a-5b7d-4ab2-9c47-0664f0f510ba”,
“application”: {
“applicationId”: “amzn1.ask.skill.fd951174-aeb6-4818-9a30-b284f3d619b0”
},
“user”: {
“userId”: “amzn1.ask.account.AHI5XHSA5TCOOTYPWA6Y25BEHS6FXDASXMOKYAJ4MLHNDPX76LLNLNYZTBQKUYJ7MBPLDUKAZP7Z2BWTKM33BNURZL5E2VFUKOI62RSJHV2KRQI6CXM2WY3KNXSCJN6EHVK4WAAINZHPTQKGBZXBEMU6ZOXU5JENTDQO6J3EO53M7P546L7QV3DPQAEJIPFCAYWSFXJE3PAZUXQ”
}
},
“context”: {
“System”: {
“application”: {
“applicationId”: “amzn1.ask.skill.fd951174-aeb6-4818-9a30-b284f3d619b0”
},
“user”: {
“userId”: “amzn1.ask.account.AHI5XHSA5TCOOTYPWA6Y25BEHS6FXDASXMOKYAJ4MLHNDPX76LLNLNYZTBQKUYJ7MBPLDUKAZP7Z2BWTKM33BNURZL5E2VFUKOI62RSJHV2KRQI6CXM2WY3KNXSCJN6EHVK4WAAINZHPTQKGBZXBEMU6ZOXU5JENTDQO6J3EO53M7P546L7QV3DPQAEJIPFCAYWSFXJE3PAZUXQ”
},
“device”: {
“deviceId”: “amzn1.ask.device.AEJTBKRJJK4LXCBASDZQ7C6S37VIZQ3AVUTYMM2QPUJHKB5XHOIQZFPOFF6LD2U65473HGEL2HT2ATTHDUVL6I3THKVUZSNXGVJOP77Z4TCWH6GXI2KLZLUCKV4JHHEK4674YW4PLYC5T5N242MRCT57MY3LXBAEU27WNRPJ3JR3Z3OOIVVDE”,
“supportedInterfaces”: {}
},
“apiEndpoint”: “https://api.eu.amazonalexa.com”,
“apiAccessToken”: “eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiIsImtpZCI6IjEifQ.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.a6FC6AsfQNf1Tl8XmxH2I_MnsIEkzEhgUNs3nHPHfCvap8uH-43P8mbqvI1M0VrmT-ApoxTyaNGouCX0cTN9TyUg358V8MIfuj5sZO_tzOoT1TMsimY_DyfRDP5kTEDSxHJ7eEa4sYFPRHCKUDHgMPZTFoql7EM-OZlPKB_bTWOj_qSSW9Ab7ABdCiRZXSw_94TeiuiykQSjwRYMzriCBmG2xZtF-VJVoPfj1VGJDh-oWVdEL5SJ4QrmcLd2fOw8uwd_wg9Y-O9DmYZSwYAH2g2Q4lGmyrGTUqx6VLDuICTwSIFEQzAPfSkpvsB3Ixib6nwHmlyEoZDgVnaFnogibQ”
},
“Viewport”: {
“experiences”: [
{
“arcMinuteWidth”: 246,
“arcMinuteHeight”: 144,
“canRotate”: false,
“canResize”: false
}
],
“shape”: “RECTANGLE”,
“pixelWidth”: 1024,
“pixelHeight”: 600,
“dpi”: 160,
“currentPixelWidth”: 1024,
“currentPixelHeight”: 600,
“touch”: [
“SINGLE”
]
}
},
“request”: {
“type”: “IntentRequest”,
“requestId”: “amzn1.echo-api.request.e5231815-2740-4f3e-a1e7-4ff181bb0d20”,
“timestamp”: “2018-12-14T16:46:41Z”,
“locale”: “it-IT”,
“intent”: {
“name”: “fare”,
“confirmationStatus”: “NONE”,
“slots”: {
“giorno”: {
“name”: “giorno”,
“confirmationStatus”: “NONE”
}
}
}
}
}

JSON Output is:

{
“body”: {
“version”: “1.0”,
“response”: {
“outputSpeech”: {
“type”: “SSML”,
“ssml”: “Cannot read property ‘prototype’ of null”
},
“directives”: ,
“shouldEndSession”: true
}
}
}

mark-piller · December 14, 2018, 4:58pm

This is because the slot value for the giorno slot is not filled. The value is not in the request. This tells me there is a problem with the slot/intent definition. The error you get in backendless happens because the following block returns undefined for the reason I just described:

Malaga · December 14, 2018, 5:02pm

i quite don’t understand, i’ve filled
https://d.pr/free/i/9iT46U
and slot type with:
https://d.pr/free/i/BDDf6w

am i missing anything?

p.s. if you need, i can translate to english.

“giorno” is day
value on slot types like “lunedì” etcetc are the day’s name ( Monday…)

mark-piller · December 14, 2018, 5:08pm

What I am saying is when you submit an utterance, Amazon doesn’t put the slot value into the request. Here’s what it looks like (from what you sent earlier):

  "request": {
    "type": "IntentRequest",
    "requestId": "amzn1.echo-api.request.e5231815-2740-4f3e-a1e7-4ff181bb0d20",
    "timestamp": "2018-12-14T16:46:41Z",
    "locale": "it-IT",
    "intent": {
      "name": "fare",
      "confirmationStatus": "NONE",
      "slots": {
        "giorno": {
          "name": "giorno",
          "confirmationStatus": "NONE"
        }
      }
    }

As you can see, there is no value for the giorno slot.

Regards,
Mark

Malaga · December 14, 2018, 10:08pm

Well, i think i discovered what is wrong.
I dont’ have to use the Object slot ( Get Object Count, table name ), in that case i got:

Table not found by name ‘Table not found by name ‘rome’. Make sure the client class referenced in the API call has the same literal name as the table in Backendless console’

To get the value of my slot type i have to modify as this image:
https://d.pr/free/i/QfNhOO

After that i get the value “rome”

https://d.pr/free/i/Nby0A6

JSON Output

{
“body”: {
“version”: “1.0”,
“response”: {
“outputSpeech”: {
“type”: “SSML”,
“ssml”: “"bologna"”
},
“directives”: ,
“shouldEndSession”: true
}
}
}

mark-piller · December 14, 2018, 10:10pm

I am glad you found the issue. Are you able to move forward with your implementation? Any blockers now?

Malaga · December 14, 2018, 10:33pm

hahaha, i spent hours for this, for a single word
Anyway, i’m blocked cause of Alexa Simulator, it’s broken as of now ( here in Italy ) and i didn’t get any written answer, only audio response text.
If i test it on my phone it replies the city name correctly…
But it’s not my idea to receive an alexa response with the slot value, but use that value for other purposes.
Beside this alexa issue, i wish to read the data in a table i made…and if it can be fullfilled by a form, like a php form, a google doc module, or something like this. Users should be able to compile it.
Or, as an alternative, read and append from an XML or JSON file.
So with an association with slot value and a key i get the data that i want, this time as an alexa response.

mark-piller · December 14, 2018, 10:39pm

That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind

You can apply the logic in Codeless to manipulate the data you get from the Alexa request and execute it against the table, files, users - pretty much anything available in Backendless. You can also read the data from your table with our APIs in a webform, Android/iOS/JS app. Same goes for working with XML or JSON files.

Malaga · December 15, 2018, 10:45am

Thanks, i’ll look into it.
I was considering using a mongodb db, but after using backendless i’ll try its data capabilities…and to avoid possible timeouts, i see that using the handlerequest from the api services it tooks a bit compared to lambda, at least at first invocation. Maybe cause i’m in Italy, dunno.
I’m a bit off topic regarding the getslotvalue, but…is it possible to use the built-in alexa service to play an audio or a streaming( m3u8 )?

mark-piller · December 15, 2018, 4:44pm

Yes, I believe it should be possible to play audio. What should be in the response to do that? A file URL?

Malaga · December 15, 2018, 5:27pm

yes, an URL pointing to an MP3 or m3u8 file