Alexa does not accept audio commands while playing

Question

I'm playing around with the Alexa-SDK for NodeJS and ran into trouble with the AudioPlayer and its controls.

The Problem:

When I start an audio stream with the following code snippet, it starts playing (as intended), but there is no chance of stopping the playback again with the built-in "AMAZON.StopIntent" or any other intent available.

Alexa answers with something like: "An error occurred while handling a request within your service." and keeps playing until the track was played to the end.

this.response.audioPlayerPlay(behavior, url, token, expectedPreviousToken, offsetInMilliseconds)
this.emit(':responseReady');

Here are my handlers for a better overview. I took the structure from the skill-sample-nodejs-audio-player:

var stateHandlers = {
  startModeIntentHandlers : Alexa.CreateStateHandler(constants.states.START_MODE, {
      'LaunchRequest': function() {
          this.handler.state = constants.states.PLAY_OCCASION_MODE;
          this.emit(':ask', 'Welcome, say yes to start the playback.','Say yes to start the playback');
      },
      'AMAZON.StopIntent': function() {
          this.response.audioPlayerStop();
          this.emit(':tell', 'See you next Time!');
      },
      'AMAZON.CancelIntent': function() {
          this.emit(':tell', 'See you next Time!');
      },
      'SessionEndedRequest': function () {
          this.emit(':tell', 'See you next Time!');
      }
  }),

  playOccasionModeIntentHandlers : Alexa.CreateStateHandler(constants.states.PLAY_OCCASION_MODE, {
      'LaunchRequest': function () {
          this.emit('LaunchRequest'); // Uses the handler in newSessionHandlers
      },
      'AMAZON.YesIntent': function() {    
          this.handler.state = constants.states.PLAY_OCCASION_MODE;
          this.response.speak('Lets go. Here comes your Podcast.');
          this.response.audioPlayerPlay('REPLACE_ALL', 'https://feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/274166909-amazon-web-services-306355661-aws-podcast-episode-139.mp3', 'earlybird', null, 0);
          this.emit(':responseReady');
      },
      'AMAZON.NoIntent': function() {
          this.emit(':tell', 'See you next Time!');
      },
      'AMAZON.StopIntent': function() {
        this.response.audioPlayerStop();
        this.response.speak('See you next Time!');
        this.emit(':responseReady');
      },
      'AMAZON.CancelIntent': function() {
          this.emit(':tell', 'See you next Time!');
      },
      'SessionEndedRequest': function () {
          this.emit(':tell', 'See you next Time!');
      },
      'Unhandled': function() {
          this.emit(':tell', 'See you next Time!');
      }
  }),
};

EDIT:

If I add an "Unhandled" Function to the START_MODE state, Alexa will always answer with this one and ignores the StopIntent completely.

It's a first workaround, but when it comes to more advanced functions like playing the next song or pausing the playback the problem comes back.

'Unhandled': function() {
    this.response.audioPlayerStop();
    this.response.speak('Unhandled!');
    this.emit(':responseReady');
 }

EDIT2:

A Solution seems to be found. I have not added the AMAZON.PauseIntent which takes also "Alexa, stop" commands. By just adding it, it seems to work more or less right now.

'AMAZON.PauseIntent' : function () {
     this.response.audioPlayerStop();
     this.response.speak('Paused. See you next time!');
     this.emit(':responseReady');
 },

Answers belong in answers, not in questions. Self-answering a question is perfectly ok, and the correct approach :) — Dave Newton

user2490325 user2490325 · Accepted Answer · 2018-07-12T08:47:55

-1

votes

You should set this.handler.state='_PLAY_MODE', then it will apply the playmodeIntentHandler.

Alexa does not accept audio commands while playing

1 Answers