Help Your Skill Remember with Attributes Manager

Welcome to Module 5 of the beginner workshop about how to build an engaging Alexa skill. In this module, you'll learn how to help your skill remember information with persistent attributes.

Time required: 30-40 minutes

What you'll learn:

  • How to use session attributes to save information during the game
  • How to use persistent attributes to save information between games
  • How to use a Request Interceptor to make your skill's access layer more efficient

At the end of this module, your Cake Time skill will be able to check answers, keep score, and welcome players back.

What are attributes?

Attributes are types of memory available to your skill. The following list shows the three types:

  • Request attribute: Information stored for the duration of a request so it can be shared between handlers and interceptors and the like.
  • Session attribute: Information stored by the Alexa system for the duration of the customer's session with your skill, but "forgotten" once the session ends. You use these attributes frequently.
  • Persistent attribute: Information stored in another service like Amazon DynamoDB or Amazon S3 and managed with persistence adapters, which make it simple to store and retrieve the data.

Attributes work as key-value pairs, as you'll see demonstrated in this module.

Step by Step: Help your skill remember with attributes manager

To complete this module, you need to sign in to the Alexa developer console with your Amazon developer account, and then open the Cake Time skill.

If you aren't signed in already, open the Alexa developer console Sign-In page, enter your Amazon developer account credentials, and then click Sign-In.


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