Alexa Module¶

Overview¶

The Alexa Auto SDK Alexa module provides interfaces for standard Alexa features. The Engine handles steps to send events and sequence directives so you can focus on using the provided AASB messages to interact with Alexa.

Configure the Alexa module¶

The Alexa module defines required and optional configuration objects that you include in the Engine configuration for your application. You can define the configuration objects in a file or construct them programmatically with the relevant configuration factory functions.

Your application must provide the aace.alexa configuration in the same format as the example specified below. Alternatively, use the AlexaConfiguration factory functions to generate individual elements of this configuration.

{
    "aace.alexa": {
        "alexaClientInfo": {
            "clientId": "${CLIENT_ID}",
            "productId": "${PRODUCT_ID}",
            "amazonId": "${AMAZON_ID}"
        },
        "avsDeviceSDK": {
            "libcurlUtils": {
                "CURLOPT_CAPATH": "${CERTS_PATH}"
            },
            "miscDatabase": {
                "databaseFilePath": "${DATA_PATH}/miscDatabase.db"
            },
            "certifiedSender": {
                "databaseFilePath": "${DATA_PATH}/certifiedSender.db"
            },
            "alertsCapabilityAgent": {
                "databaseFilePath": "${DATA_PATH}/alertsCapabilityAgent.db"
            },
            "notifications": {
                "databaseFilePath": "${DATA_PATH}/notifications.db"
            },
            "capabilitiesDelegate": {
                "databaseFilePath": "${DATA_PATH}/capabilitiesDatabase.db"
            },
            "deviceSettings": {
                "databaseFilePath": "${DATA_PATH}/deviceSettings.db",
                "defaultLocale":"en-US",
                "localeCombinations": [
                    ["{{STRING}}","{{STRING}}"],
                    ["{{STRING}}", "{{STRING}}"],
                    ...
                ],
                "defaultTimezone":"America/Vancouver"
            }
        },
        "requestMediaPlayback": {
            "mediaResumeThreshold": 20000
        }
    },
    "aasb.alexa": {
      "LocalMediaSource": {
        "types": ["FM_RADIO", "AM_RADIO","BLUETOOTH", "USB", "SATELLITE_RADIO",
                    "LINE_IN", "COMPACT_DISC", "DAB", "DEFAULT"]
      }
    }
}

The alexaClientInfo field contains the details of the Alexa client. The fields libcurlUtils, miscDatabase, certifiedSender, alertsCapabilityAgent, notifications, and capabilitiesDelegate specify the respective database file paths.

The deviceSettings field specifies the settings on the device. The following list describes the settings:

databaseFilePath is the path to the SQLite database that stores persistent settings. The database will be created on initialization if it does not already exist.
defaultLocale specifies the default locale setting, which is Alexa's locale setting until updated on the device. The default value of defaultLocale is “en-US”.
locales specifies the list of locales supported by the device. The default value is ["en-US","en-GB","de-DE","en-IN","en-CA","ja-JP","en-AU","fr-FR","it-IT","es-ES","es-MX","fr-CA","es-US", "hi-IN", "pt-BR", "ar-SA"].
localeCombinations specifies the list of locale pairs available on a device that supports multi-locale mode. Through the Dynamic Language Switching feature, Alexa can communicate with the user of such device in languages specified in the locale pairs. In each pair, the first value is the primary locale, which Alexa uses most often when interacting with the user. The second value is the secondary locale, which specifies an additional language that Alexa uses when responding to an utterance in the corresponding language. For example, if ["en-US", "es-US"] is declared in localeCombinations and the device specifies this pair as the current locale setting, Alexa primarily operates in English for the U.S. but can understand and respond to utterances in Spanish for the U.S., without requiring the device to update the locale setting.

By default, localeCombinations is a list of the following combinations, which are also the supported combinations as of 2021-02-02. It is possible for the default value to be different from the list of supported combinations in the future. For updates to the supported combinations, see the Alexa Voice Service documentation.
- ["en-US", "es-US"]
- ["es-US", "en-US"]
- ["en-IN", "hi-IN"]
- ["hi-IN", "en-IN"]
- ["en-CA", "fr-CA"]
- ["fr-CA", "en-CA"]
- ["en-US", "es-ES"]
- ["es-ES", "en-US"]
- ["en-US", "de-DE"]
- ["de-DE", "en-US"]
- ["en-US", "fr-FR"]
- ["fr-FR", "en-US"]
- ["en-US", "it-IT"]
- ["it-IT", "en-US"]
- ["en-US", "ja-JP"]
- ["ja-JP", "en-US"]
When a device operates in multi-locale mode, an application can select any locale pair in the list above as the locale setting if the following conditions are met:
- The device's primary locale setting is the first locale in the selected pair.
- The device also supports the secondary locale in the pair.
- The pair is specified in localeCombinations.
Note: Dynamic Language Switching is only available in online mode.

Use the Alexa module interfaces¶

Explore the following interfaces to learn how to integrate Alexa features in your application.

Invoke Alexa with SpeechRecognizer¶

Use SpeechRecognizer to capture the user's speech with the microphone when the user invokes Alexa.

SpeechRecognizer interface>>

Play Alexa speech to the user with SpeechSynthesizer¶

Use SpeechSynthesizer to provide an audio output channel for the Engine to play back Alexa's speech to the user.

SpeechSynthesizer interface>>

Track Alexa state changes with AlexaClient¶

Use the AlexaClient interface to observe changes in Alexa's connection and attention state when building the UI for your application.

AlexaClient interface>>

Start the out-of-box experience with DeviceSetup¶

Trigger an out-of-box introductory conversation with Alexa experience using the DeviceSetup interface.

DeviceSetup interface>>

Find things to try with FeatureDiscovery¶

Use FeatureDiscovery to display dynamic suggested utterances that help users discover new features.

FeatureDiscovery interface>>

Display cards on screen with TemplateRuntime¶

Provide a visual experience by building a UI based on the templates and media playback info provided by TemplateRuntime.

TemplateRuntime interface>>

Alexa Module¶

Overview¶

Configure the Alexa module¶

Use the Alexa module interfaces¶

Invoke Alexa with SpeechRecognizer¶

Play Alexa speech to the user with SpeechSynthesizer¶

Track Alexa state changes with AlexaClient¶

Start the out-of-box experience with DeviceSetup¶

Find things to try with FeatureDiscovery¶

Display cards on screen with TemplateRuntime¶

Stream Alexa media content with AudioPlayer¶

Press media playback control buttons with PlaybackController¶

Adjust equalizer settings with EqualizerController¶

Resume media playback at startup with MediaPlaybackRequestor¶

Control local media with LocalMediaSource¶

Deep link into external media apps with ExternalMediaAdapter¶

Control volume with AlexaSpeaker¶

Render notification indicators with Notifications¶

Block notifications with DoNotDisturb¶