APL Interface Reference

Note: Learn how to improve your skills with APL with Build visually rich experiences using APL at the Alexa Learning Lab.

The Alexa Presentation Language (APL) interfaces provide directives and requests for sending APL documents to Alexa and receiving APL requests from events that take place on the device. The following sections summarize the APL interfaces you can use in your skill code.

Alexa.Presentation.APL

Directives and requests for working with devices with screens. Use this interface with APL documents. For example, you use the RenderDocument directive in this interface to send an APL document to Alexa to display on the user's device.

For details about all the directives and requests in this interface, see Alexa.Presentation.APL Interface Reference.

Alexa.Presentation.APLA

Directives and requests for APL for audio. Use this interface with APLA documents. For example, you use the RenderDocument directive in this interface to send an APLA document to Alexa to play an audio response.

For details about all the directives and requests in this interface, see Alexa.Presentation.APLA Interface Reference.

Alexa.Presentation.APLT

Directives and requests for APL for character displays. Use this interface with APLT documents. For example, you use the RenderDocument directive in this interface to send an APLT document to Alexa to display text on a character display.

For details about all the directives and requests in this interface, see Alexa.Presentation.APLT Interface Reference.

Alexa.DataStore

Requests to notify your skill about updates to the data store on a device. The data store is an area installed locally to a device that contains data an Alexa Presentation Language (APL) document can access with data binding. Widgets use the data store to display content without sending requests to your skill and waiting on a response.

You use the Data Store REST API to push updates to the data store from requests sent to your skill and from outside of a skill session. Alexa sends your skill Alexa.DataStore requests if an error prevents your update from reaching a device, so that you can retry the update if necessary.

For details about the requests in this interface, see Alexa.DataStore Interface Reference.

Alexa.DataStore.PackageManager

Requests for managing APL packages on a device. A package is a set of resources with a specific structure. An APL package contains information required to make a widget available to users.

Use the Alexa.DataStore.PackageManager interface to manage a package on a device.

For details about the requests in this interface, see Alexa.DataStore.PackageManager Interface Reference. For more details about defining a package for use as a widget, see APL Package Reference.

When your skill includes a widget, a request sent to your skill might include additional information about that widget. The details in a given request depend on different factors, such as whether the widget is installed on the user's device and whether the widget is in view when the user made their request. The request never includes information about widgets that aren't associated with your skill.

For details, see Widget Information in the Skill Request

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Last updated: Nov 28, 2023