Alexa Sample: College Finder (Node.js)

This is a complex and useful Node.js sample skill with examples of DynamoDB integration, display templates, dialog management, state management, contextual help and errors, and entity resolution.

Getting Started

Data Source

This skill queries the College Scorecard API public dataset. For more information view the documentation on the College Scorecard site.

Environment Variables

The skill references environment variables in the config.js file for instance specific data. In order to successfully deploy and launch the skill you need to add the following environment variables to your deployment:

1. SKILL_ID - The application ID for the skill
2. API_KEY - Request a key for the College Scorecard api on the api.data.gov website.
3. MAIN_IMAGE, LIST_IMAGE, GRAD_IMAGE - These are all images that appear as backgrounds throughout the skill for devices with displays. You can find example images in the config.js file.

Deploy the skill

To deploy using the Alexa Skills Kit, issue the following ask command from the root of the skill. (Make sure you first configure the ask command line. Info here: https://developer.amazon.com/docs/smapi/quick-start-alexa-skills-kit-command-line-interface.html)

ask deploy --force

This will create a lambda function called ask-custom-University-Finder-default with an execution role of ask-lambda-University-Finder

Add the Environment variables to your Lambda function manually or run the below AWS command (Info on how to set up AWS CLI here: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/cli-chap-welcome.html)

aws lambda update-function-configuration --function-name ask-custom-University-Finder-default --environment Variables={SKILL_ID=YOURSKILLID,LIST_IMAGE=https://s3.amazonaws.com/YOURS3BUCKET/image.jpg,API_KEY=YOURAPIKEY,GRAD_IMAGE=https://s3.amazonaws.com/YOURS3BUCKET/image-2.jpg,MAIN_IMAGE=https://s3.amazonaws.com/YOURS3BUCKET/image-3.jpg}

Make sure to change the variables to match your environment

Then run this command:

ask deploy --force

to re-deploy the skill

You then need to add the following rights to the ask-lambda-University-Finder role.

CloudWatchFullAccess AmazonDynamoDBFullAccess

You can add them manually to the rol or run the following aws commands.

aws iam attach-role-policy --role-name ask-lambda-University-Finder --policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/CloudWatchFullAccess aws iam attach-role-policy --role-name ask-lambda-University-Finder --policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AmazonDynamoDBFullAccess

Then run this command:

ask deploy --force

to re-deploy the skill

Your skill should now be ready for testing.

Testing the Skill

Take a look at the unit-tests and end-to-end tests provided for this skill by Bespoken.

• The unit-tests ensure the code is working correctly
• End-to-end tests ensure the skill as a whole is working right
• Read more here

License

This sample is licensed under the Amazon Software License.