Comma in Alexa skill certification test utterance

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NewUser-3849345c-9444-4949-9f22-8a230fcb5a66 asked · Nov 13, 2019 at 10:52 AM

Comma in Alexa skill certification test utterance

In the Alexa skill certification test, the test utterance(in written form) is:
"Alexa, ask <product_name> for <something>"

When I type this into the Test tab of Alexa console, I get the response
Hmm, I don't know that one.

But if I type it without the comma, or just speak it via microphone, the input translate into the same sentence without a comma and the skill works
"Alexa ask <product_name> for <something>"
"here are the results ..."

My questions are:

1. For Alexa skill to pass certification. Do I need to care about the comma in the test example utterance?

2. If so, any tips on how to handle/differentiate/test the comma?

3. In real world usage, under what conditions can a spoken utterance result in a sentence with punctuation?

Thanks

alexa skills kit alexa certification certification test case

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Axeman72 · Nov 13, 2019 at 02:38 PM

The "Alexa" part probably doesn't even reach your skill on a real device (it's used locally to put the device in listen mode). You can't do much about that. Actually, in the test tool you don't need the wake word at all (just "ask <product name> for <something>)

But test tool is quite broken. It doesn't even return consistent results using the same phrase twice in a row. Often the second time, an intent totally unrelated to the phrase is invoked.

If Amazon people use the test tab to certify skills, instead of real devices, we're doomed (but this could spread a little light about some of the certification process hickups I faced)

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RokasV Axeman72 · Nov 13, 2019 at 09:55 PM

Didn't have too much trouble with dev console lately. Are you sure you don't have another skill with same invocation name enabled or something? Are you sure that after 'ciao' you close the session?

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Axeman72 RokasV · Nov 14, 2019 at 08:54 AM

Hi RokasV, and thanks.

Yes, I'm sure that I have no kind of invocation names collision, an that after the "Ciao" the session is closed (I can see attention led disappear on a real device). Moreover the last answer ("Mi spiace, ma non posso etc..." is actually sent from my skill code. But from an intent that does not have anything in common with the phrase.

When I ask "la piedinatura del due n due due due due" for the first time, the intent selected is the one with sample utterance "la piedinatura del {query}". {query} is an AMAZON.SearchQUery slot. Spot on!.

The second time, the intent selected (seen in json) is the one with sample utterance "calcola {firstval} {firstunit} {secondval} {secondunit}", where firstval/secondval are AMAZON.numbers, and firstunit/secondunit are custom list of electrical measure units (ohm, volts, watts, with or without suffix... nano, micro, kilo etc...).

In this invocation, slots are empty or with random content. My backend code does not expect "not numbers" and "not list items" in those slots, so a generic error handler gets triggered, and the error handler says "Mi spiace".

(standard acts of despair already tried... like changing browser, clearing cache, anonymous browse, even using another computer)

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Answer 1 · 2019-11-13T21:54:02Z

RokasV answered · Nov 13, 2019 at 09:54 PM · ACCEPTED ANSWER

Ignore commas and 'alexa' invocation name as they are not needed in the console and request will never come with any sort of punctuation. My best guess, someone who was writing documentation, added coma, just so that it is grammatically correct sentence.

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NewUser-3849345c-9444-4949-9f22-8a230fcb5a66 · Nov 14, 2019 at 12:12 AM

Thanks for clearing things up RokasV.

I was confused because my certification was rejected and the reject reason came with a sample utterance which contains punctuations. When I copy and pasted what I thought was their "test condition" into the Test console and it failed, I thought it was a bug in my code.

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Comma in Alexa skill certification test utterance

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