Parameters are now a string rather than an object with name property

[georgeduckett]

According to the APL documentation, parameters now seem to be simple strings, rather than an object with a name property. Could the json serialization for them be updated to reflect this?

[stoiveyp]

Hi @georgeduckett - the documentation around parameters still says that although you can create parameters this way, it's not recommended:
https://developer.amazon.com/docs/alexa-presentation-language/apl-layout.html#parameters

For convenience, a simple parameter name may be used instead of the parameter object (such as "title" instead of { "name": "title", ... }. This format is not recommended, but it does allow compact layout definition for those cases where no type coercion or default values are required

This is why I've left parameters the way they are currently. I will look at making an implicit conversion to make it easier to deserialize from a simple string though.

[stoiveyp]

I've raised the issue with the Alexa team at https://forums.developer.amazon.com/questions/211862/correct-apl-parameter-format.html to get clear confirmation too 👍

[georgeduckett]

Ahh ok, that makes sense thanks. It is frustrating when things get inconsistent between the APL designer, devices and different areas of the documentation. Thanks for raising the issue with them!

[stoiveyp]

Hi @georgeduckett

Further update. I had some downtime this afternoon and I've put the code change in v4.1 https://www.nuget.org/packages/Alexa.NET.APL/4.1.0

What this now does is only output the full expanded parameter object if there's a property other than "name" in use, otherwise it just outputs the name as a string. This is both for layout and command parameters. Should give you the output you need and still allow both formats to be deserialized from JSON.

Hope this helps

[georgeduckett]

Thanks for the incredibly quick turnaround for this and #54! 👍 👍