question

Justin Rodino asked Dec 8, '15

Alexa hears the right words, test shows it should work, Alexa shuts down

Is there any further way to debug Alexa when creating a skill? I created a skill that takes an input and the slot is returning it properly in the test code and the JSON returned is correct, however when I try it on Alexa, she hears the exact thing I typed in to the test , yet she simply turns off and doesn't do anything. Is there any further way to test to see if she's trying to do something? I don't see her hitting my end point albeit she should be invoking the skill...

alexa skills kit submission testing certification

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Galactoise answered Dec 8, '15

The Service Simulator in the "Test" tab of your skill (in the developer console) is a nice intermediate for testing of this nature.

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Justin Rodino answered Dec 9, '15

I tried the tester. The challenge is the tester doesn't actually look for specific words like "about". If you make the trigger word "snow report" and in the tester put the custom context words and not the word about, the sentence makes sense. If you say the same sentence "Alexa ask snow report conditions at XYZ" she just shuts down. However, when you say "Alexa, ask snow report ABOUT conditions at XYZ" she'll return the result. It'd be nicer if it was pointed out somewhere why she "fails". There are no logs anywhere to track down why she "disregards" the request...

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justin answered Dec 9, '15

Hi Justin, Are you using Lambda for this skill? This would be the best place to debug your issues. 1) Use the Alexa Skill Simulator to invoke a phrase that you know fails. 2) Copy JSON from output. 3) Navigate to your Lambda skill function and click Actions / Configure Test Event. 4) Delete the existing content and paste yours. 5) Click Test, and check for syntax errors at the bottom of the page. It's important to note that performing a Save and Test when uploading new builds seems inconsistent on it's testing data, so you'll want to manually click the Test button each time you've uploaded a new version. Additionally, we highly recommend you monitor the phrases that Alexa is actually hearing by visiting http://alexa.amazon.com/#settings/dialogs You'll want to make sure you're logged in prior, but this will display what she's heard. Thanks!

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Justin Rodino answered Dec 9, '15

Unfortunately I'm not using Lambda, rather it's an external web service. Also, I do monitor what she says (via the app) and that is what was confusing. It boiled down to the second "parse" word ABOUT in this case.

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Nick Gardner answered Dec 9, '15

Thanks for letting us know what the issue is. In the future, you can also directly debug web services by turning off signature checking and then using cURL to send and check the json replies from the service. You can use the service simulator to get the JSON to send to your web service as well. -Nick

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