Virtual Alexa
Interact with skills intuitively and programmatically.

Virtual Alexa

Virtual Alexa allows for interacting with skills programmatically.

The core Virtual Alexa API provides several routines - the two most essential ones: * utter: Generates JSON as if the user said the given phrase * intend: Generates JSON as if the given intent was uttered

Why Do I Need This?

This library allows for easy testing of skills.

You can use it for:

1. Unit-testing - ensuring individual routines work correctly
2. Regression testing - ensuring the code as a whole works properly

How Do I Get It?

npm install virtual-alexa --save-dev

How Do I Use It?

Easy! Just add a line of code like so:

const va = require("virtual-alexa");
const alexa = va.VirtualAlexa.Builder()
    .handler("index.handler") // Lambda function file and name
    .intentSchemaFile("./speechAssets/IntentSchema.json") // Path to IntentSchema.json
    .sampleUtterancesFile("./speechAssets/SampleUtterances.txt") // Path to SampleUtterances
    .create();

alexa.utter("play").then((payload) => {
    console.log("OutputSpeech: " + payload.response.outputSpeech.ssml);
    // Prints out returned SSML, e.g., "<speak> Welcome to my Skill </speak>"
});

Here's a more in-depth example, in the form of a Jest unit test:

test("Plays once", (done) => {
    alexa.utter("get started").then((payload) => {
        expect(payload.response.outputSpeech.ssml).toContain("What is the search term for it");
        return alexa.utter("incorrect guess");

    }).then((payload) => {
        expect(payload.response.outputSpeech.ssml).toContain("Nice try");
        return alexa.utter("incorrect guess");

    }).then((payload) => {
        expect(payload.response.outputSpeech.ssml).toContain("That is not correct");
        return alexa.utter("incorrect guess");

    }).then((payload) => {
        expect(payload.response.outputSpeech.ssml).toContain("Goodbye");
        done();

    });
});

That's all there is to getting started. Take a look here for a full example:
https://github.com/bespoken/giftionary/blob/master/test/index.test.js

And read all the docs here:
https://bespoken.github.io/virtual-alexa/api/

How Do I Talk To You?

Easy, you can open an issue here, or find us on our Gitter.

We are also on the Alexa Slack channel - @jpkbst, @jperata, @chrisramon and @ankraiza.

We look forward to hearing from you!