Text List

The Alexa text list template (AlexaTextList) displays a scrolling list of text-based list items. This is a full-screen template that can include the header and background. You provide a set of text-based items to display in the list. You can configure the appearance of the list, such as including dividers and whether items should be numbered. You can also provide the command to run when a user selects an item from the list. You can configure the list to let users swipe items.

Import the alexa-layouts package

To use AlexaTextList, import the alexa-layouts package.

The latest version of the alexa-layouts package is 1.6.0. AlexaTextList was introduced in version 1.1.0.

AlexaTextList Parameters

All parameters except type are optional.

Name Type Default Description Version added

backgroundAlign

String

center

Image or video alignment to apply to the background image or video.

1.1.0

backgroundBlur

Boolean

false

When true, display the provided background image with a blur effect. Applies when backgroundImageSource contains a value.

1.1.0

backgroundColor

Color

—

Color to use as a background color. Used when neither backgroundImageSource or backgroundVideoSource contain values.

1.1.0

backgroundColorOverlay

Boolean

false

When true, apply a scrim to the background to make it easier to read the text displayed over the image or video.

1.1.0

backgroundImageSource

String

—

URL for the background image source. Used when backgroundVideoSource isn't provided.

1.1.0

backgroundOverlayGradient

Boolean

false

When true, apply a gradient to the background.

1.1.0

backgroundScale

String

best-fill

Image or video scaling to apply to background image or video.

1.1.0

backgroundVideoAudioTrack

String

foreground

Audio track to play on when playing the video. Can be foreground | background | none.

1.1.0

backgroundVideoAutoPlay

Boolean

false

When true, the video begins playing automatically when the document renders on the device. Applies when backgroundVideoSource contains a value.

1.1.0

backgroundVideoSource

Video source

—

The background video source. Provide a source in the same format shown for the source property of the Video component.

1.1.0

entities

Array

[]

Array of entity data to bind to this template.

1.2.0

headerAttributionImage

String

—

URL for attribution image source. Displays when headerAttributionPrimacy is true, or on a device that shows Title/Subtitle and Attribution.

1.1.0

headerAttributionOpacity

Number

0.8

The opacity of the attribution text and attribution image in the header. Set to a number between 0 and 1.

1.3.0

headerAttributionPrimacy

Boolean

true

When true, display the headerAttributionImage on devices that display a single element due to screen size. When false, display the headerTitle and headerSubtitle.

1.1.0

headerAttributionText

String

—

Attribution text to render in the header. Shown when headerAttributionImage doesn't have a value and headerAttributionPrimacy is true, or on a device that shows both Title/Subtitle and Attribution.

1.1.0

headerBackButton

Boolean

false

When true, display a back button in the header.

1.1.0

headerBackButtonAccessibilityLabel

String

Back

An accessibility label to describe the back button to customers who use a screen reader.

1.1.0

headerBackButtonCommand

Command

{"type":"SendEvent","arguments":["goBack"]}

Command to run when the user selects the back button.

1.1.0

headerBackgroundColor

String

transparent

Optional color value to use as the background color for the Header.

1.1.0

headerSubtitle

String

—

Secondary text to render in header.

1.1.0

headerTitle

String

—

Primary text to render in header.

1.1.0

hideDivider

Boolean

false

When true, hide the horizontal divider displayed below each item in the list.

1.1.0

hideOrdinal

Boolean

false

When true, don't display the number next to each list item.

1.1.0

lang

String

${environment.lang}

The language for the text displayed in the template. This language determines the default font used for the text. For example, when set to ar-SA, the component uses Arabic fonts when available on the device. Set to a BCP-47 string.

For more about language-specific fonts for responsive components, see Language-specific fonts in the components and templates.

1.4.0

layoutDirection

String

${environment.layoutDirection}

Specifies the layout direction for the content. Set this property to either LTR (left-to-right) or RTL (right-to-left). This property doesn't inherit the layoutDirection from the component's parent container. Therefore, explicitly set this property when needed.

For more about support for right-to-left languages in the responsive components, see Support for Right-to-left Languages.

1.4.0

listId

String

An identifier to assign to the Sequence component used for the list. Set listId to a value to enable voice-based scrolling with the built-in intents. Also set this parameter to an ID if you need to target the list for commands, such as the SpeakList command.

1.2.0

listItems

Array of listItems

Array of text list items to present in list.

1.1.0

onSwipeDone

any

Command to run when the user completes the swipe action.

1.2.0

optionsButton1Command

any

Command to bind to the first button in the options list. Used only for TV devices.

1.2.0

optionsButton1Text

string

Text for the first button in the options list. Used only for TV devices.

1.2.0

optionsButton2Command

any

Command to bind to the second button in the options list. Used only for TV devices.

1.2.0

optionsButton2Text

string

Text for the second button in the options list. Used only for TV devices.

1.2.0

primaryAction

Array of Command

—

The action to trigger when the user selects an item from the list.

1.1.0

speechItems

any

[]

An array of speech items. The template assigns each item in this array to the speech property of the corresponding list item. Use this property when you want to use the SpeakList command to speak the list items.

1.2.0

swipeActionIcon

string

The source for a custom icon to show during the swipe. When swipeActionIconType is AVG, set this property to the name of the graphic as defined in the graphics property or in an imported package. When swipeActionIconType is image, provide the URL of the image to display.

1.2.0

swipeActionIconBackground

Color

Color to use for the background color displayed behind the action icon when the user swipes the item.

1.2.0

swipeActionIconForeground

string

Color to use for the action icon shown when the user swipes the item.

1.2.0

swipeActionIconType

string

The type of graphic to use for the custom swipeActionIcon. Set to AVG or image. When set to image, provide a URL for the image in swipeActionIcon. When set to AVG, define an AVG in the graphics property of your document or use graphics defined in an imported package, and then set swipeActionIcon to the name of the graphic.

1.2.0

swipeDirection

string

None (no swipe gesture)

The direction of the swipe gesture to use for items in the list. Set to backward or forward to let users swipe items in the list. For backward compatibility, you can also set this property to left or right.

theme

String

dark

Set the dark or light color theme. The selected theme controls the colors used for the template.

1.1.0

touchForward

Boolean

false

When true, assume the user is close enough to touch the screen (3 foot viewing distance) and format the list items with a smaller font size. When false, assume the user isn't close enough to touch the screen ("voice-forward") and use a larger font size.

1.1.0

type

String

—

Always set to AlexaTextList.

1.1.0

Provide the list items

The AlexaTextList layout expects an array of items in the listItems property. Each item is an object with the properties defined in the AlexaTextListItem or AlexaSwipeToAction responsive component.

For example, you could define an array of items like this:

{
  "listItems": [
    {
      "primaryText": "First item primary text",
      "secondaryText": "This is the secondary text",
      "secondaryTextPosition": "bottom",
      "tertiaryText": "This is the tertiary text",
      "tertiaryTextPosition": "bottom",
      "ratingNumber": 2,
      "imageThumbnailSource": "https://d2o906d8ln7ui1.cloudfront.net/images/md_brie.png",
      "hideOrdinal": true,
      "touchForward": true
    },
    {
      "primaryText": "Second item in the list.",
      "secondaryText": "Secondary text for the second item",
      "imageThumbnailSource": "https://d2o906d8ln7ui1.cloudfront.net/images/md_gruyere.png",
      "tertiaryText": "Tertiary text",
      "tertiaryTextPosition": "bottom",
      "ratingNumber": 0
    },
    {
      "primaryText": "Third item in the list.",
      "imageThumbnailSource": "https://d2o906d8ln7ui1.cloudfront.net/images/sm_blue.png"
    },
    {
      "primaryText": "Fourth item in the list"
    },
    {
      "primaryText": "Fifth item in the list"
    },
    {
      "primaryText": "This list might have many more items"
    }
  ]
}

You can provide this array in the listItems array parameter of AlexaTextList, or in a separate data source.

The specific list item parameters available depends on the version of AlexaTextListItem. For example, the properties to display a rating require the 1.2.0 or later version of the alexa-layouts package. For the full set of properties, see:

Specify the action for each list item

AlexaTextList is interactive. Users can select items on the list. Set the primaryAction property to the command you want to run when the user selects an item.

When you set primaryAction on the AlexaTextList component, AlexaTextList passes the command to each item on the list.

To override command for an individual list item, set the primaryAction property on the list item itself.

The following example shows how you to use the SendEvent command to send your skill a UserEvent request. This passes the number representing the selected item as part of the SendEvent.arguments array.

{
  "primaryAction": {
    "type": "SendEvent",
    "arguments": [
      "ListItemSelected",
      "${ordinal}"
    ]
  }
}

Let users swipe the list items

To let users swipe the list items to take actions, set the swipeDirection property to one of the following values:

  • backward
  • forward
  • left (provided for backward compatibility)
  • right (provided for backward compatibility)

Then, set the other swipe-related properties as needed. These properties correspond to AlexaSwipeToAction properties:

  • swipeActionIcon
  • swipeActionIconType
  • swipeActionIconForeground
  • swipeActionIconBackground
  • onSwipeMove
  • onSwipeDone
  • optionsButton1Text
  • optionsButton1Command
  • optionsButton2Text
  • optionsButton2Command

For details about swipe actions and an example of using AlexaSwipeToAction within a text list, see AlexaSwipeToAction within an AlexaTextList.

AlexaTextList example

A simple AlexaTextList
A simple AlexaTextList