Inspiration
I wanted to give users a nice way to find and learn about recipes. Great Recipes skill provides the same, easy to navigate UI as well as voice controls. It is also touch friendly.
What it does
When you launch the skill, you can either search for a recipe by saying the recipe name or you can tap any of the recipe categories that you might want to explore.
Both actions will take you to a recipe results search page of top rated recipes. You can tap, scroll or select the one you like to explore more.
Then you can either ask alexa to read the directions by saying "Alexa, directions" or explore the ingredients by saying "Alexa, Ingredients".
Dedicated pages will take you through directions/ingredients step by step during your cooking process.
How I built it
I built it using node.js and using latest Alexa APL.
Challenges I ran into
Lots.
- Gathering recipes from internet in an automated manner. Had to tune the web crawler to find the recipes in the right way.
- Learning APL Sequences had some challenges. I couldn't understand how to plugin the data inside a Sequence.
- I couldn't get SpeakItem command to work for some reason, due to which I had to use my own highlighter for the search results. I spent a lot of time debugging the speakItem, but not enough debug information available from Alexa it seems.
Accomplishments that I'm proud of
Finishing and publishing this skill!
What I learned
A lot! Learned most of the APL.
What's next for Great Recipes
I want to add personalized experience. Where users can open and see their previously bookmarked recipes, last made recipes, recipes they might like and a lot more. I also want to make it easier for users to receive these recipe directions/ingredients. For example, adding to shopping list would be nice, and sending a text with ingredients list. Setting timer is also another feature I would like to add.
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