thebestdarngirls

Contains code for The Best Darn Girls movie review alexa app

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thebestdarngirls

This code will create a movie review app for an Alexa skill

Motivation

To create an Alexa skill to coincide with my website, thatdarngirlmovie.reviews. User will get the last 5 reviews for movies that are In The Theater, Made for TV, Video on Demand, and Must Buy.

Technology Used

Built with

Features

When this code is git push'ed to master branch, it triggers your CodePipeline to build the code in the Development Lambda Function. Once built, it waits for the user to manually test in the Alexa Development Console. If the test is labeled successful, the CodePipeline will build the code in the Production Lambda Function. This will change the skill to all production customers.

Releases

Code

  • Data Folder
    • inTheTheater.js - contains data for the In The Theater section
    • madeForTV.js - contains data for the Made For TV section
    • mustBuy.js - contains data for the Must Buy section
    • videoOnDemand.js - contains data for the Video On Demand section
  • Helpers Folder
    • getCardInfo.js - returns information about a specific movie for the Alexa Skills Card
    • getList.js - returns the json for Alexa devices with screens
    • getOptions.js - creates a string for Alexa to say
    • getReview.js - returns the review in the data file
  • JSON Folder
    • background.json - sets background images for APL design. If you change the image here, it will change everywhere
    • movieoptions.json - set up APL design for the movie options section
    • review.json - sets up APL design for the movie review
    • welcome.json - sets up APL deign for the home, help, and goodbye screen
  • index.js
    • This contains the code with helper functions for each Intent listed in the next section.

Installation

First, you must have an account on the Alexa Developer Console. Then create a new skill. The following are the Intents, followed by their sample utterences, and their slots. Also, you need a a development and production Lambda function for the system to call. And you need the images in a public S3 bucket with CORS turned off.

Intent Sample Utterances Slot Name Slot Type
Commands {command}
Please {command}		 command USER_COMMAND
MenuSelection {menu} menu MENU_OPTIONS
MovieChoices show me {choice}
tell me about {choice}
select {choice}
i choose {choice}
{choice}		 choice LETTER_CHOICE
Slot Types Value
USER_COMMAND main menu
movie options
repeat
good bye
MENU_OPTIONS Video on Demand
Must Buy
Made for TV
In The Theater
LETTER_CHOICE 1 through 5

Test

First, you must have an account on the Alexa Developer Console to test. Open your Alexa skill and click the "Test" tab. To start, say the following invocation "Open [Invocation of your choice]". Then follow the prompts. Listen for grammar and spelling errors.

How to use

Create an account on the Alexa Developer Console and the AWS Management Console. In the Alexa Developer Console, create a skill with the above mention intents, sample utterances, and slots. In the AWS Management Console, create 2 Lambda functions with

  • Trigger: Alexa Skills Kit
  • Resources: Amazon CloudWatch Logs
  • Runtime: Node.js 8.10
  • Code entry type: Upload a .zip file

Create a CodePipeline. The CodeCommit should use your GitHub Repo with this code. The CodeBuild should run the following steps

cd lambda
npm install
zip -r ../OOOOOOO.zip *
cd ..
aws lambda update-function-code --function-name DDDDDDD  --zip-file fileb://OOOOOOO.zip

Replace the DDDDDDD with your Lambda Dev function name. Replace the OOOOOOO with your desired zip file name. Add a manual Testing step to the CodePipeline. The Test section above will explain how to use the Alexa Developer Console to test. Finally, add a CodeBuild step to push your code to production. 

cd lambda
npm install
zip -r ../OOOOOOO.zip *
cd ..
aws lambda update-function-code --function-name PPPPPPP  --zip-file fileb://OOOOOOO.zip

Replace the PPPPPPP with your Lambda Prod function name.

Suggestions

To make suggestions for code changes, fixes, or updates, please email thebestdarngirls@gmail.com

Credits

That Darn Girl

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