/aplsnippets

Primary LanguageJavaScriptMIT LicenseMIT

APL snippets

This repo is a collection of snippets for developers building Alexa APL skills.

Goals:

Each snippet is a working APL document you can use to understand an APL feature. Use the snippet to explore the feature.

Non-goals:

  • This is not an introduction to APL. It is aimed at intermediate developers who are already familiar with the basics.
  • If you are just started, try the visual cakewalk course first.
  • The snippets are not clean (or polished) enough for copy/paste reuse. We kept them simple for easier learning.

Repo structure

This is a working Alexa skill. You can clone it and run it (see instructions below).

Here is the hierarchy, so you can navigate through the code:

  • <root>/lambda/custom/aplsamples/ Contains all the snippets. Each feature has their own subfolder with an APL document and a readme file. Most snippets are self-contained, you should be able to copy/paste the document contents to the APL editor. When the snippet requires a data source commands, the readme will call it out.

  • <root>/lambda/custom/skill Contains the files needed for the demo to load and display the snippets. It has the intent handlers for the voice interactions.

  • <root>/model/en-US.json Has the voice interaction model. Use it to extract the utterances supported by the skill.

Contents

[Will be updated to links soon]

Components:

  • Text
  • Image
  • TouchWrapper
  • Video
  • Pager
  • Sequence

Commands:

  • SpeakItem using speech
  • SpeakItem using transformers
  • SpeakList
  • OpenUrl

Features:

  • Profile
  • Animation
  • Databinding
  • Cached Pager
  • States
  • Environment
  • Transport controls

Scenario demos

  • Spinner
  • Tic-tac-toe

Deploying/testing the script

In a system with ASK CLI and AWS CLI installed:

  1. Clone this repo.

    git clone https://github.com/jaimerodriguez/aplsnippets

  2. Change directory to the root of the project.

    cd aplsnippets

  3. Associate the project with your Alexa developer account and your AWS account.

    ask init

  4. Deploy the project.

    ask deploy

  5. Go to the Alexa developer portal, click on the skill, and then go into the test tab and invoke the skill. Alternatively, you can invoke the skill on any Alexa-enabled devices that are tied to the same Amazon user account as your developer account.

  6. Having a local environment for debugging is super helpful. Follow this Alexa Blog to setup your local debug workflow.

Contributing to the sample (or the docs)

If you want to contribute a new snippet, or you want to contribute to the documentation, please submit a pull request.