Data-Driven Alexa Skills: Voice Access to Rich Data Sources for Enterprise Applications

Description

Design and build innovative, custom, data-driven Alexa skills for home or business. Working through several projects, this book teaches you how to build Alexa skills and integrate them with online APIs. If you have basic Python skills, this book will show you how to build data-driven Alexa skills. You will learn to use data to give your Alexa skills dynamic intelligence, in-depth knowledge, and the ability to remember. Data-Driven Alexa Skills takes a step-by-step approach to skill development. You will begin by configuring simple skills in the Alexa Skill Builder Console. Then you will develop advanced custom skills that use several Alexa Skill Development Kit features to integrate with lambda functions, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Internet data feeds. These advanced skills enable you to link user accounts, query and store data using a NoSQL database, and access real estate listings and stock prices via web APIs. What You Will LearnSet up and configure your development environment properly the first timeBuild Alexa skills quickly and efficiently using Agile tools and techniquesCreate a variety of data-driven Alexa skills for home and businessAccess data from web applications and Internet data sources via their APIsTest with unit-testing frameworks throughout the development life cycleManage and query your data using the DynamoDb NoSQL database engines Who This Book Is For Developers who wish to go beyond Hello World and build complex, data-driven applications on Amazon's Alexa platform; developers who want to learn how to use Lambda functions, the Alexa Skills SDK, Alexa Presentation Language, and Alexa Conversations; developers interested in integrating with public APIs such as real estate listings and stock market prices. Readers will need to have basic Python skills. Table of Contents About the Author About the Technical Reviewer Acknowledgments Introduction Part I: Getting Started Chapter 1: Voice User Interfaces Why Voice User Interfaces? A Brief History of VUIs Today’s VUI Landscape Smart Homes Why Voice? Why Alexa? Why Now? Summary Chapter 2: Routines and Blueprints What Is Alexa? Alexa Routines Alexa Blueprints Summary Chapter 3: The Developer Accounts Creating the Developer Accounts Amazon Account Alexa Developer Account AWS Developer Account IAM and Account Security GitHub Access Jira Account Summary Chapter 4: Creating the VUI for a Custom Data-Driven Skill Step 1: Create the Base Skill The Skill Builder Interface Step 2: Configure the VUI Invocation Name The Interaction Model Slots Creating the Custom Slot Values Configuring the Dialog Summary Chapter 5: Writing the Back-End Code Installing the Tools Installing the Python Modules Writing the Code The Code We Have in the Template The Lambda Function The Changes We Need to Make Changing the Launch Request Handler Creating the Helper Functions Creating the Calculate BMI API Handler The Complete API Handler Creating the Intent Handler The Complete Intent Handler The Calculate BMI Method Add the Request Handlers to the Skill Builder Testing the Completed Skill Setting Up the Debug Environment Testing the Skill Summary Chapter 6: Publishing an Alexa Skill The Process Distribution and Validation Skill Preview Privacy and Compliance Testing Instructions The Certification Checklist Alexa Policies Testing Your Custom Skill for Certification Availability Validation Submission Rejection? Now What? Summary Part II: Custom Skill Development Chapter 7: Custom Alexa Skills Alexa Hosted vs. Fully Custom Our New Skill The 90-Year Calendar VUI Design Creating the Alexa Skill DynamoDb S3 Storage Account Linking The Application Security Profile Configure Account Linking The Lambda Function Creating the Security Role Creating the Lambda Function Summary Chapter 8: Beyond Hello World VUI Design VUI Design with Botmock Launch Response Intents Happy Path The Over 90 Path Adding a Prompt Adding the No Intent Saying Goodbye What Do You Want to Do? Linked vs. Unlinked Accounts Getting the Event What Happens Next? Summary Chapter 9: Configuring the VUI Exporting the Botmock Diagram Creating the Skill Cleaning Up the Dialog Model Summary Chapter 10: Using APL to Present on Screens The APL Editor The 90-Year Calendar UI Configuring the Imports for the Document Drawing the Three Zones Parameterizing the Height and Width Scaling the Boxes and Rows to Fit The Finished APL Code Summary Chapter 11: Coding the Lambda Function Hook Up the VUI to the Lambda Function Creating the Intent Handlers The Structure of an Intent Handler Section A – The Can Handle Declaration Section B – The Handle Function Section C – Return a Response Building Out the Intent Handlers The Help Intent The Fallback Intent The Cancel and Stop Intents The Repeat Intent The Start Over Intent The Launch Request Handler The Session Ended Request Handler The Intent Reflector Handler The Catch-All Exception Handler The GiveBirthday Intent Handler Calculate 90-Year Calendar Values Define the Dataset for the 90-Year Calendar Scale the Visuals to the Current Screen Return the Rendered APL and Response Defining the Skill Builder Summary Chapter 12: Unit Testing an Alexa Skill Unit Testing the Lambda Function Unit Testing the Launch Intent Unit Testing the Give Birthday Intent Testing in the Alexa Simulator Testing Give Birthday in the Lambda Function Copying the APL Over to the Lambda Function Using the Utterance Profiler NLU Evaluation ASR Evaluation Summary Chapter 13: Storing the Data Account Linking and Access Tokens Linking Your Development Account Checking If an Account Is Linked Getting the Access Token Getting the User Profile from DynamoDB A Trio of Launch Request Handlers Adding the Yes Intent Handler Using Cards in the Response Saving the User’s Profile Adding the View Calendar Intent Testing the View Calendar Intent What You Can Do Next Summary Part III: Using APIs in Advanced Skills Chapter 14: A Personal Net Worth Skill Requirements VUI Design Creating the Personal Net Worth Skill Creating the Lambda Function The Give Address Intents The Give Stock Intent The Yes/No Intents The No More Intent Summary Chapter 15: The Real Estate API Application Programming Interfaces The Real Estate Valuation API Adding the Give Home Stats Intent Back to the Real Estate API Testing the API Call Summary Chapter 16: The Stock Market API The Yahoo Finance API The Alpha Vantage API The Stock API Module Adding a Delay to the For Loop The Completed GetStockValue Function Unit Testing the GetStockValue Function A missing profile["stocks"] dictionary An empty profile["stocks"] dictionary A profile with one stock with a valid (non-zero) quantity (to test the API request) A profile with an invalid stock ticker and a valid quantity (to test the error handling) A profile with one stock with a zero quantity (to test the  skip logic) A profile with three stocks, each with a valid quantity (to test the loop) A profile with three stocks, one of which has a zero quantity (to test the skip logic in the loop) A profile with twenty stocks (to test the delay properly) What Can I Do Next? Summary Chapter 17: What’s Next? Conclusion What’s Next? Index