Codeless Alexa Skill (Part 2) tutorial

Server Code Codeless
1

Hi Backendless community from Victoria BC Canada.

I’m working through the Codeless Alexa Tutorials - happily - with my brand new Echo Dot.

I made Tutorial Part 1 work; not Part 2 .

Tutorial:

My codeless logic and Alexa Developer Portal configurations match the tutorial.

The skill test is returning ‘false’ shown here:

If anyone can lend insight as to what I can change to get the correct results, it would be greatly appreciated.

Regards.

Rori

Are you looking for help?

This is a support forum for reporting issues related to Backendless services. Please note that due to our support policy we cannot provide you help with debugging your code, consulting in regards to any language or third-party library usage. For this kind of questions we recommend using more appropriate forums like Stack Overflow.

In order to suggest you a quality solution, we shall usually ask you to provide the details mentioned below first. Including them into your topic right away helps us to start investigating your issue much faster.

In case you have a suggestion or an idea, the details below are not always required, though still any additional background is welcome.

Backendless Version (3.x / 5.x, Online / Managed / Pro )

Client SDK (REST / Android / Objective-C / Swift / JS )

Application ID

Expected Behavior

Please describe the expected behavior of the issue, starting from the first action.

Actual Behavior

Please provide a description of what actually happens, working from the same starting point.

Be descriptive: “it doesn’t work” does not describe what the behavior actually is – instead, say “the request returns a 400 error with message XXX”. Copy and paste your logs, and include any URLs.

Reproducible Test Case

Please provide a simple code that could be run in a new clean app and reproduce the issue.

If the issue is more complex or requires configuration, please provide a link to a project on Github that reproduces the issue.

2

Try to use the print block in Codeless to print the req object. You will be able to see the value in the Rea-Time logging console (Manage > Logging > Real-Time). You can also pop out the real-time logging to make it more convenient.

Once you log/print req, it will tell you what alexa sends to Backendless. The intent value might be different than what you expect.

Cheers,
Mark

3

Thanks very much for the reply!

I’ve entered the print object and snapped the req object into it. As shown here.

By invoking ‘Super Demo’, Alexa returns, “I do not know”, with the the backendless print log reporting:

Mon May 18 2020 16:31:01 GMT-0700 (Pacific Daylight Time) | SERVER_CODE | INFO | [24716] Building ServerCode Model for path (/opt/backendless/repo/ee3aa188-1ce7-444f-fff7-b817c30aba00/marketplace/DEPLOYMENT_MODEL/market-C41D4AE8-5C36-7A7B-FFAA-82293FDFB600)

Mon May 18 2020 16:31:01 GMT-0700 (Pacific Daylight Time) | SERVER_CODE | INFO | [24716] ServerCode Model built in 15ms

Mon May 18 2020 16:31:01 GMT-0700 (Pacific Daylight Time) | SERVER_CODE | INFO | [24716] [E7ECDF5D-5C87-5EA7-FF44-7FB88BE20100] [INVOKE SERVICE] services.AlexaUtils.getIntentName

Mon May 18 2020 16:31:01 GMT-0700 (Pacific Daylight Time) | SERVER_CODE | INFO | [24716] Processing finished in 111.685ms

Mon May 18 2020 16:31:00 GMT-0700 (Pacific Daylight Time) | SERVER_CODE | INFO | [18462] Building ServerCode Model for path (/opt/backendless/repo/ee3aa188-1ce7-444f-fff7-b817c30aba00/files/servercode/CODELESS/AlexaService/PRODUCTION)

Mon May 18 2020 16:31:00 GMT-0700 (Pacific Daylight Time) | SERVER_CODE | INFO | [18462] ServerCode Model built in 16ms

Mon May 18 2020 16:31:00 GMT-0700 (Pacific Daylight Time) | SERVER_CODE | INFO | [18462] [79AC568F-30E9-CF0E-FF5A-CBACCB128000] [INVOKE SERVICE] services.AlexaService.handleRequest

Mon May 18 2020 16:31:00 GMT-0700 (Pacific Daylight Time) | SERVER_CODE | INFO | [18462] { version: ‘1.0’, session: { new: true, sessionId: ‘amzn1.echo-api.session.1e472fb3-f15c-44a3-a524-dc05af26803f’, application: { applicationId: ‘amzn1.ask.skill.54c6a1db-18b9-4246-a2d7-fbe69456c6bb’ }, user: { userId: ‘amzn1.ask.account.AE2TBQZOMGAFX2MBO6IWSJN3O7URSUTTKPJHA6TLELZS7HT7XTBRH2GYQBVWRCUF5I7FAOHWNZLIQQQW2UGF5IN7GC7H37USGMRL3WEVK7VMB55IOQJ6HKKEUVIFRSXYEZRKLT2MBFFRNIYJQEGRJTT2FCIP6ZTPC5GJOZNBT6Q4DTCGLAW3GKJKKPQZPFHIUSMPT7VZJMO4BVQ’ } }, context: { System: { application: [Object], user: [Object], device: [Object], apiEndpoint: ‘https://api.amazonalexa.com’, apiAccessToken: ‘eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiIsImtpZCI6IjEifQ.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.KbhxKURCBzW_HvJHVJEfJrBfkDcKpPebxB2fz-V4TWwvq6whur696owEmYrMbL0MNAK_blbqvbAeLZnrk_AkuxP4E02FSSNoN7Qm2mc7RG0bIE-IN3wuOmI_HnXXa-2ynrr9bmsvlTYKHJ8sD9UnW17EmMH4dGDK1kBMt7FEpqO-belP_jDp_M6-xadQcdz-ttQgd-dvHsk9GP1iHbSIP0LVS3UkVfDVTfk4h3aElAtXhjKC8pqcE5-lvHOFe0I-XCZBNjmLQu_3o8gP7cEsfwFdSLaPPlPvaawDMqQElEBwNePxL1fqlTKOLWQZ-tTm1niX7zYBlVwlGIAA_UziJQ’ } }, request: { type: ‘LaunchRequest’, requestId: ‘amzn1.echo-api.request.4e1d8c14-dbe8-48be-b77e-be2eb11355f0’, timestamp: ‘2020-05-18T23:31:00Z’, locale: ‘en-CA’, shouldLinkResultBeReturned: false } }

Mon May 18 2020 16:31:01 GMT-0700 (Pacific Daylight Time) | SERVER_CODE | INFO | [18462] Processing finished in 997.605ms

Mon May 18 2020 16:31:01 GMT-0700 (Pacific Daylight Time) | SERVER_CODE | INFO | [18474] Building ServerCode Model for path (/opt/backendless/repo/ee3aa188-1ce7-444f-fff7-b817c30aba00/marketplace/DEPLOYMENT_MODEL/market-C41D4AE8-5C36-7A7B-FFAA-82293FDFB600)

Mon May 18 2020 16:31:01 GMT-0700 (Pacific Daylight Time) | SERVER_CODE | INFO | [18474] ServerCode Model built in 16ms

Mon May 18 2020 16:31:01 GMT-0700 (Pacific Daylight Time) | SERVER_CODE | INFO | [18474] [56056E72-0312-6CA4-FFBD-BCDFC929E800] [INVOKE SERVICE] services.AlexaUtils.sendAlexaResponse

Mon May 18 2020 16:31:01 GMT-0700 (Pacific Daylight Time) | SERVER_CODE | INFO | [18474] Processing finished in 95.820ms

4

The log indicates you’re getting a LaunchRequest. Here’s how Alexa docs describe it:

Specifically:

A LaunchRequest is an object that represents that a user made a request to an Alexa skill,
but did not provide a specific intent.

Your code is looking for an intent, but the intent is not there, this is explains why you’re getting that response.

Regards,
Mark

5

So great. Thank you for that. Lots to learn here.