deeheber / pittsburghese-translator-alexa-skill Goto Github PK

Make welcome message smarter to not go through all of the instructions if the user has recently logged in.

Got the idea from this post.

Looks like Amazon attempted to deprecate this slot type, so in order to future proof this if they want to try to do that again...move over to a custom slot type instead for grabbing the phrase to translate.

Directions here

Not seeing it a ton, but have noticed this error a few times in the Lambda logs. Looks like we need to fallback to empty String if the phrase is undefined.

{
    "errorMessage": "Cannot read property 'split' of undefined",
    "errorType": "TypeError",
    "stackTrace": [
        "module.exports (/var/task/util/translator.js:2:24)",
        "Object.Translate (/var/task/index.js:46:24)",
        "emitNone (events.js:106:13)",
        "AlexaRequestEmitter.emit (events.js:208:7)",
        "Object.TranslateIntent (/var/task/index.js:42:10)",
        "emitNone (events.js:106:13)",
        "AlexaRequestEmitter.emit (events.js:208:7)",
        "AlexaRequestEmitter.EmitEvent (/var/task/node_modules/alexa-sdk/lib/alexa.js:216:10)",
        "AlexaRequestEmitter.ValidateRequest (/var/task/node_modules/alexa-sdk/lib/alexa.js:181:23)",
        "AlexaRequestEmitter.HandleLambdaEvent (/var/task/node_modules/alexa-sdk/lib/alexa.js:126:25)"
    ]
}

Currently whenever a the lastTranslation session attribute is not set, it defaults to something like "I don't have a translation to repeat."

Improve this to state that there isn't a translation and launch something similar to the HelpIntent to provide better guidance to users as to what they can do.

1. Use a CF parameter instead of referencing the parameter store
2. Add TTL to DDB items
3. Use ARM Lambda (might not make it cheaper, but worth a try)

Currently after a translate, repeat, or repeat/slow down result happens...Alexa asks the user if they want her to do anything else. Figure out a way to make this less annoying/repetitive.

Potentially use the re-prompt object: https://developer.amazon.com/docs/custom-skills/request-and-response-json-reference.html#reprompt-object

Looks like SAM now has native TypeScript support available in preview: https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2022/02/typescript-native-support-aws-serverless-application-model-cli-esbuild-public-preview/

Note: We probably want to wait until this is out of preview, just putting this here so it's not forgotten.

...also check package.json dependencies that might be out of date.

https://developer.amazon.com/blogs/alexa/post/decb3931-2c81-497d-85e4-8fbb5ffb1114/now-available-version-2-of-the-ask-software-development-kit-for-node-js

remove all mentions of Stackery and get it workin'

Explore what storing the translation in dynamo DB looks like to see if it might be a better option than a global variable in the index.js file.