Alexa-CatFacts

This is an Alexa skill to hear random facts about cats, built with the Alexa.Net library.

The Alexa skill is driven by a lambda function and reads facts from a DynamoDB table.

Much of the code in this project is adapted from the June λ# hackathon challenge to create an Alexa AdventureBot skill.

Setup

Pre-requisites

Make sure the following tools are installed on your computer.

• Install .NET Core 1.x
• Install AWS CLI

In addition, you will need both an Amazon Developer account and an AWS account.

Deploying the lambda function

NOTE: The AWS Lambda function for Alexa Skills must be deployed in us-east-1

Set up an alexa profile

This project uses a profile named alexa. Use the following steps to set up this profile, or modify the aws-lambda-tools-defaults.json file to use an existing profile.

1. Create an alexa profile: aws configure --profile alexa
2. Configure the profile with the AWS credentials you want to use

Create a role for the lambda function

Create an Alexa-CatFacts role from the AWS console. The role will need to have access to DynamoDB and CloudWatchLogs.

Set up the DynamoDB table

1. In the AWS developer console, create a DynamoDB table to hold your facts.
2. Add facts to your table.

Items can be batch loaded into the DynamoDB table from the a specifically-formatted JSON file via the AWS CLI using the following command:

aws dynamodb batch-write-item --request-items file://assets/cat-facts.json

Batch writes are limited to 25 table rows. Updates must be made using the update-item action instead. For more information, see the AWS CLI documentation.

Publish the lambda function

1. Navigate to the Lambda function directory: cd src/CatFacts
2. Restore solution packages: dotnet restore
3. Publish the lambda function: dotnet lambda deploy-function
4. Navigate to the published lambda function.
5. Under Code > Environment Variables
   1. Add key: catfacts_db
   2. Add the DynamoDB table name as the value
   3. Click 'Save'.
6. Under Triggers
   1. Click Add Trigger
   2. Select Alexa Skills Kit
   3. Click Submit (NOTE: if Submit is grayed out, select Alexa Smart Home trigger instead and then select Alexa Skills Kit trigger again)

Setting up the Alexa skill

1. Log into the Amazon Developer Console
2. Click on the ALEXA tab
3. Click on Alexa Skill Kit Get Started
4. Click Add a New Skill
5. Skill Information
   1. Under name put: CatFacts
   2. Under invocation name put: Cat Facts
   3. Click Save
   4. Click Next
6. Interaction Model
   1. Click Launch Skill Builder
   2. Click Discard to proceed
   3. Click </> Code in left navigation
   4. Upload assets/alexa-skill.json file
   5. Click Apply Changes
   6. Click Build Mode in the toolbar
   7. Click Configuration
7. Configuration
   1. Select AWS lambda ARN (Amazon Resource Name)
   2. Select North America
   3. Copy the AWS lambda function ARN from its page in the developer console, and paste it in the Alexa skill configuration: arn:aws:lambda:us-east-1:******:function:Alexa-CatFacts
   4. Click Next
8. Your Alexa Skill is now available on all your registered Alexa-devices, including the Amazon mobile app.
   • For Alexa devices, say: Alexa, open Cat Facts
   • For the Amazon mobile app, click the microphone icon, and say: open Cat Facts
   • Then say, Give me a cat fact, or any other custom and built-in intents.
   • Say quit to exit the skill.