Muutke küpsiste eelistusi

Build Talking Apps for Alexa: Creating Voice-First, Hands-Free User Experiences [Pehme köide]

  • Formaat: Paperback / softback, 300 pages
  • Ilmumisaeg: 14-Jul-2022
  • Kirjastus: The Pragmatic Programmers
  • ISBN-10: 1680507257
  • ISBN-13: 9781680507256
  • Formaat: Paperback / softback, 300 pages
  • Ilmumisaeg: 14-Jul-2022
  • Kirjastus: The Pragmatic Programmers
  • ISBN-10: 1680507257
  • ISBN-13: 9781680507256

Voice recognition is here at last. Alexa and other voice assistants have now become widespread and mainstream. Is your app ready for voice interaction? Learn how to develop your own voice applications for Amazon Alexa. Start with techniques for building conversational user interfaces and dialog management. Integrate with existing applications and visual interfaces to complement voice-first applications. The future of human-computer interaction is voice, and we'll help you get ready for it.

For decades, voice-enabled computers have only existed in the realm of science fiction. But now the Alexa Skills Kit (ASK) lets you develop your own voice-first applications. Leverage ASK to create engaging and natural user interfaces for your applications, enabling them to listen to users and talk back. You'll see how to use voice and sound as first-class components of user-interface design.

We'll start with the essentials of building Alexa voice applications, called skills, including useful tools for creating, testing, and deploying your skills. From there, you can define parameters and dialogs that will prompt users for input in a natural, conversational style.

Integrate your Alexa skills with Amazon services and other backend services to create a custom user experience. Discover how to tailor Alexa's voice and language to create more engaging responses and speak in the user's own language. Complement the voice-first experience with visual interfaces for users on screen-based devices. Add options for users to buy upgrades or other products from your application. Once all the pieces are in place, learn how to publish your Alexa skill for everyone to use.

Create the future of user interfaces using the Alexa Skills Kit today.

What You Need:

You will need a computer capable of running the latest version of Node.js, a Git client, and internet access.

Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
1 Alexa, Hello
1(30)
How Alexa Works
2(1)
Dissecting Skills
3(3)
Installing the ASK CLI
6(3)
Creating Your First Alexa Skill
9(16)
Deploying the Skill
25(3)
Wrapping Up
28(3)
2 Testing Alexa Skills
31(26)
Considering Skill Testing Styles
31(2)
Semi-Automated Testing
33(5)
Automated Testing with Alexa Skill Test Framework
38(4)
Automated Testing with Bespoken's BST
42(13)
Wrapping Up
55(2)
3 Parameterizing Intents with Slots
57(26)
Adding Slots to an Intent
57(5)
Fetching Entity Information
62(7)
Creating Custom Types
69(2)
Extending Built-in Types
71(1)
Enabling Flexibility with Synonyms
72(6)
Handling Multi-Value Slots
78(4)
Wrapping Up
82(1)
4 Creating Multi-Turn Dialogs
83(22)
Adding Dialogs and Prompts in the Interaction Model
84(1)
Eliciting Missing Slot Values
85(5)
Validating Slot Values
90(4)
Confirming Slots
94(4)
Explicitly Handling Dialog Delegation
98(5)
Wrapping Up
103(2)
5 Integrating User Data
105(26)
Accessing a User's Amazon Info
105(14)
Linking with External APIs
119(11)
Wrapping Up
130(1)
6 Embellishing Response Speech
131(30)
Getting to Know SSML
131(1)
Testing SSML with the Text-to-Speech Simulator
132(2)
Changing Alexa's Voice
134(8)
Adjusting Pronunciation
142(5)
Inserting Breaks in Speech
147(2)
Adding Sound Effects and Music
149(1)
Applying SSML in Skill Responses
150(3)
Escaping Reserved Characters
153(2)
Writing Responses with Markdown
155(5)
Wrapping Up
160(1)
7 Mixing Audio
161(34)
Introducing APL for Audio
161(1)
Authoring APL-A Templates
162(2)
Making a Sound
164(6)
Combining Sounds
170(10)
Applying Filters
180(7)
Defining Custom Components
187(2)
Returning APL-A Responses
189(5)
Wrapping Up
194(1)
8 Localizing Responses
195(18)
Translating the Interaction Model
195(7)
Localizing Spoken Responses
202(4)
Testing Localization
206(2)
Fixing Language Pronunciation
208(2)
Using Language-Specific Voices
210(2)
Wrapping Up
212(1)
9 Complementing Responses with Cards
213(10)
Embellishing Responses with Cards
213(1)
Returning Simple Cards
214(4)
Rendering Images on Cards
218(2)
Wrapping Up
220(3)
10 Creating Visual Responses
223(22)
Introducing the Alexa Presentation Language
223(5)
Creating a Rich APL Document
228(4)
Applying Styles
232(2)
Defining Resource Values
234(3)
Injecting Model Data
237(3)
Handling Touch Events
240(3)
Wrapping Up
243(2)
11 Sending Events
245(22)
Publishing Proactive Events
245(11)
Sending Reminders
256(10)
Wrapping Up
266(1)
12 Selling Stuff
267(22)
Creating Products
267(7)
Handling Purchases
274(7)
Upselling Products
281(2)
Refunding a Purchase
283(4)
Wrapping Up
287(2)
13 Publishing Your Skill
289(26)
Tying Up Loose Ends
289(3)
Completing the Skill Manifest
292(11)
Submitting for Certification and Publication
303(4)
Promoting Your Skill with Quick Links
307(1)
Gathering Usage Metrics
308(5)
Wrapping Up
313(2)
14 Defining Conversational Flows
315(28)
Introducing Alexa Conversations
315(4)
Starting a New Alexa Conversations Project
319(1)
Getting to know ACDL
320(2)
Defining the Conversation Model
322(10)
Simplifying the Conversation Model
332(1)
Defining Response Templates
333(3)
Handling the Action Request
336(2)
Deploying and Testing the Conversation
338(3)
Wrapping Up
341(2)
A1 Running and Debugging Skill Code Locally
343(4)
Deploy Your Skill
343(1)
Running Skill Code Locally
344(1)
Debugging Skill Code
345(2)
A2 Troubleshooting Your Skill
347(6)
"Hmmm. I don't know that one." or "Hmmm. I have a few skills that can help"
347(1)
A Skill Other Than the One You Expect Is Launched
347(1)
An Utterance Is Handled by the Wrong Intent Handler
348(1)
You See "<Audio Only>" in the Response
349(1)
There was a problem with the requested skill's response
350(1)
"You just triggered {Some Intent}"
350(1)
Skill ID Not Found when Deploying a Skill
350(1)
"Sorry, I had trouble doing what you asked. Please try again"
351(2)
Index 353
Craig Walls is a principal software engineer at Pivotal, a popular author, an enthusiastic supporter of Spring Framework and voice-first applications, and a frequent conference speaker.