Can we use the sdk without lambda?

[ancashoria]

Hi, I'm trying to use the sdk outside lambda but I get this error: Cannot read property 'locale' of undefined

Here's my code:

router.post('/alexa_webhook', (req, res) => {
  const { context, request, session } = req.body
  const alexa = Alexa.handler(request, context)
  alexa.appId = APP_ID
  alexa.registerHandlers(handlers)
  alexa.execute()
})

The code that works on lambda is almost the same except for the objects passed to Alexa.handler()

Here it is:

exports.handler = function (event, context) {
    const alexa = Alexa.handler(event, context);
    alexa.APP_ID = APP_ID;
    alexa.registerHandlers(handlers);
    alexa.execute();
}

Am I doing something wrong, or it's not possible to use this sdk outside of lambda?

[dman777]

I am having this issue with "locale": "en-US" in my request. I checked my linux server and that locale is selected and available. Any ideas?

[dman777]

Same question here....looking at the source code. It looks like it only deals with lamba in which the request is mutated and not one to one of a request of a normal node server(ie: it doesn't not look for locale on body.request.locale for value).

Anyone know????

[ghost]

Hi Ancashoria, A normal lambda event will have a json body similar to the following:

{
  "version": "1.0",
  "session": {
    "new": true,
    "sessionId": "amzn1.echo-api.session.[unique-value-here]",
    "application": {
      "applicationId": "amzn1.ask.skill.[unique-value-here]"
    },
    "attributes": {
      "key": "string value"
    },
    "user": {
      "userId": "amzn1.ask.account.[unique-value-here]",
      "accessToken": "Atza|AAAAAAAA...",
      "permissions": {
        "consentToken": "ZZZZZZZ..."
      }
    }
  },
  "context": {
    "System": {
      "device": {
        "supportedInterfaces": {
          "AudioPlayer": {}
        }
      },
      "application": {
        "applicationId": "amzn1.ask.skill.[unique-value-here]"
      },
      "user": {
        "userId": "amzn1.ask.account.[unique-value-here]",
        "accessToken": "Atza|AAAAAAAA...",
        "permissions": {
          "consentToken": "ZZZZZZZ..."
        }
      },
      "apiEndpoint": "https://api.amazonalexa.com"
    },
    "AudioPlayer": {
      "playerActivity": "PLAYING",
      "token": "audioplayer-token",
      "offsetInMilliseconds": 0
    }
  },
  "request": {}
}

Inside the sdk, there's a HandleLambdaEvent() method in which the sdk is trying to retrieve locale using this.locale = this._event.request.locale;. SDK is written under assumption that event object will have a similar structure as above.

It seems that in your code, only request is passed into Alexa.handler(). which will cause this.locale = this._event.request.locale; to fail.

Hope this helps!

[feedm3]

The question was already answered in another issue: https://github.com/alexa/alexa-skills-kit-sdk-for-nodejs/issues/72

[carterw]

I disagree, it was not actually answered.

[ciberado]

Maybe this is what you are looking for? https://github.com/alexa/alexa-skills-kit-sdk-for-nodejs/issues/263#issuecomment-355988626

It works very nicely in conjuction with the is-lambda package (https://www.npmjs.com/package/is-lambda).