question

Solved it myself! From looking at the AWS Error Log on the app I was testing, this seems to be a default reply from the Echo for miscellaneous code errors. I had a keystroke error in my code and once that was resolved the app worked without throwing this message.

Good to know, but how did you find that typo? Is there a log somewhere that says error, line 12 character 20 (or whatever) d

Good to know, but how did you find that typo? Is there a log somewhere that says error, line 12 character 20 (or whatever) d

I've seen it do this for HTTP 500 response. Debugging Alexa apps has been very hard for me. Possibly because I don't even know where the find the log for an Amazon Web Service. I do as much as I can first with the Simulator ( https://github.com/jjaquinta/EchoSim). I can record and play back scripts to quickly re-create problems. And since I can run it against the local instance, it makes for quick iterative development. For debugging deployed services, I added a bunch of instrumentation to a jo.echo.util.BaseServlet class, that all my Echo servlets inherit from. It tracks all incoming intents, outgoing responses, and any exceptions thrown. It stubs out the GET on the servlet so all I have to do is browse to the end point and get a dump of what it's tracked. The code is up here: https://github.com/jjaquinta/EchoProofOfConcepts You're welcome to use it, enchance it, etc.

There are server-side logs, but in all honesty I located this one in the in-line AWS code editing window. You'll see an italicized letter "i" where there's an error that doesn't break the code but still isn't proper syntax, and a red box with a white letter "x" in it where there's an error that [i]does[/i] break the code. There's also the console log, but I've found that during the test phase sending test output to the Echo mobile app "cards" can be just as useful, and much more convenient.

April and jjaquinta, Thanks for your responses, glad to hear I'm not alone in struggling with this. While futzing around I did finally discover the red X's and the helpful bracket partner locator, still have not found my problem though. I'll have to experiment with the cards. Pretty sure I removed them from the sample app in an effort to de-clutter so I could wrap my head around the jscript which is new to me. I must say though, when I did get my Echo to reply to a launch event, it was one of the most exciting time in my very very long relationship with computers. It was pretty close to the feeling I got when I ran this: 10 PRINT "LOOK MA IT WORKS!" back in 1982 on a Radio Shack TRS 80. :D (I was 14 BTW) d