Get User Input (SDK v1)

Make Alexa skills interactive using behaviors from the Alexa sdk.

Speak, Listen & Reprompt

Lesson 1 of 2

1
In this lesson, you will learn the fundamentals of generating dialogue using the Alexa SDK to create the following conversation: Alexa: Hello, welcome to Codecademy. What do you think is Codecadem…
2
Let’s walk through the Lambda function for an example Popular Language skill. The index.js file to the right contains a Lambda function with empty handlers for the initial speaking portion…
3
Like we said in the last exercise, .speak() generates a response and then ends the session, so we’re never capturing the response from the user. Currently, our skill is set up so that Alexa asks t…
4
Currently, the Lambda function for our Popular Language skill responds with the welcome message, waits for the next user utterance and then sends the LanguageIntent response. Although this is…
5
You have learned a number of methods in this lesson to control how Alexa interacts with a user. - this.response.speak() sets up a response to the user and ends the session. - Chaining .listen() to…

1
In this lesson, you will add slots to a skill so a user’s response can be captured and evaluated by Alexa. A slot is an argument to an intent that gives Alexa more information about that request…
2
In this lesson, you will create a skill that accepts a language user input, interprets it, and responds accordingly. There are two possible dialogues, but each will start with: Alexa: What is Code…
3
Now that we have a programmingLanguageType slot, we need to link it to our LanguageIntent. Imagine if our utterances were hard-coded names of common guesses, such as: - Is it Ruby - _Is it Pyt…
4
With the slot now defined as part of the utterance, let’s see how it is passed to the Lambda function. Recall that Alexa operates on JSON objects. Using the simulator on the right, we can see the u…
5
We saw how slots are sent within the JSON request from Alexa to the Lambda function. Now we need to modify our Lambda function to read the slot values. Within the Alexa-SDK, the request JSON is a…
6
We now have access to the slot within the Lambda function. The only thing left to do is respond appropriately. If the user guesses correctly (“python”), we can congratulate them on getting it corre…
7
You have learned how to use slots to pass a user response to our skill’s Lambda function. - Slots are used like variables in user utterances. - There are two types of slots: built-in and custom. - …

What you'll create

Portfolio projects that showcase your new skills

Stress-test your knowledge with quizzes that help commit syntax to memory