node AWS Lambda + twitter API: data is not defined - node.js

Question

I'm having fun with the Alexa API, so I downloaded a Hello World example from here
https://developer.amazon.com/appsandservices/solutions/alexa/alexa-skills-kit/getting-started-guide
I managed to made some minor changes and have Alexa say other things.
But now I want to have a real world example working, so I tried to get the latest tweet for user.
so I coded a twitter function and it works, I see the tweet on my console.
Besides, the downloaded example works just fine too.
But now, when I try to combine them by adding my twitter function into the Alexa example, it throws the following error when trying to print the value (if I don't print it, it doesn't break):
{"errorMessage": "Exception: ReferenceError: data is not defined"}
here is the code but the modified function is getWelcomeResponse()
// Route the incoming request based on type (LaunchRequest, IntentRequest,
// etc.) The JSON body of the request is provided in the event parameter.
exports.handler = function (event, context) {
try {
console.log("event.session.application.applicationId=" + event.session.application.applicationId);
/**
* Uncomment this if statement and populate with your skill's application ID to
* prevent someone else from configuring a skill that sends requests to this function.
*/
/*
if (event.session.application.applicationId !== "amzn1.echo-sdk-ams.app.[unique-value-here]") {
context.fail("Invalid Application ID");
}
*/
if (event.session.new) {
onSessionStarted({requestId: event.request.requestId}, event.session);
}
if (event.request.type === "LaunchRequest") {
onLaunch(event.request,
event.session,
function callback(sessionAttributes, speechletResponse) {
context.succeed(buildResponse(sessionAttributes, speechletResponse));
});
} else if (event.request.type === "IntentRequest") {
onIntent(event.request,
event.session,
function callback(sessionAttributes, speechletResponse) {
context.succeed(buildResponse(sessionAttributes, speechletResponse));
});
} else if (event.request.type === "SessionEndedRequest") {
onSessionEnded(event.request, event.session);
context.succeed();
}
} catch (e) {
context.fail("Exception: " + e);
}
};
/**
* Called when the session starts.
*/
function onSessionStarted(sessionStartedRequest, session) {
console.log("onSessionStarted requestId=" + sessionStartedRequest.requestId
+ ", sessionId=" + session.sessionId);
}
/**
* Called when the user launches the skill without specifying what they want.
*/
function onLaunch(launchRequest, session, callback) {
console.log("onLaunch requestId=" + launchRequest.requestId
+ ", sessionId=" + session.sessionId);
// Dispatch to your skill's launch.
getWelcomeResponse(callback);
}
/**
* Called when the user specifies an intent for this skill.
*/
function onIntent(intentRequest, session, callback) {
console.log("onIntent requestId=" + intentRequest.requestId
+ ", sessionId=" + session.sessionId);
var intent = intentRequest.intent,
intentName = intentRequest.intent.name;
// Dispatch to your skill's intent handlers
if ("MyColorIsIntent" === intentName) {
setColorInSession(intent, session, callback);
} else if ("WhatsMyColorIntent" === intentName) {
getColorFromSession(intent, session, callback);
} else if ("HelpIntent" === intentName) {
getWelcomeResponse(callback);
} else {
throw "Invalid intent";
}
}
/**
* Called when the user ends the session.
* Is not called when the skill returns shouldEndSession=true.
*/
function onSessionEnded(sessionEndedRequest, session) {
console.log("onSessionEnded requestId=" + sessionEndedRequest.requestId
+ ", sessionId=" + session.sessionId);
// Add cleanup logic here
}
// --------------- Functions that control the skill's behavior -----------------------
function getWelcomeResponse(callback) {
var twit = require('twitter'),
twitter = new twit({
consumer_key:'***',
consumer_secret:'***',
access_token_key:'***',
access_token_secret:'***'
});
//var count = 0;
var util = require('util');
params = {
screen_name: 'kilinkis', // the user id passed in as part of the route
count: 1 // how many tweets to return
};
// request data
twitter.get('https://api.twitter.com/1.1/statuses/user_timeline.json', params, function (data) {
console.log(util.inspect(data[0].text));
});
// If we wanted to initialize the session to have some attributes we could add those here.
var sessionAttributes = {};
var cardTitle = "Welcome";
/*var speechOutput = "Welcome to the Alexa Skills Kit sample, "
+ "Please tell me your favorite color by saying, "
+ "my favorite color is red";*/
//var speechOutput=util.inspect(data[0].text);
var speechOutput=data[0].text;
// If the user either does not reply to the welcome message or says something that is not
// understood, they will be prompted again with this text.
var repromptText = "Please tell me your favorite color by saying, "
+ "my favorite color is red";
var shouldEndSession = true;
callback(sessionAttributes,
buildSpeechletResponse(cardTitle, speechOutput, repromptText, shouldEndSession));
}
/**
* Sets the color in the session and prepares the speech to reply to the user.
*/
function setColorInSession(intent, session, callback) {
var cardTitle = intent.name;
var favoriteColorSlot = intent.slots.Color;
var repromptText = "";
var sessionAttributes = {};
var shouldEndSession = false;
var speechOutput = "";
if (favoriteColorSlot) {
favoriteColor = favoriteColorSlot.value;
sessionAttributes = createFavoriteColorAttributes(favoriteColor);
speechOutput = "I now know your favorite color is " + favoriteColor + ". You can ask me "
+ "your favorite color by saying, what's my favorite color?";
repromptText = "You can ask me your favorite color by saying, what's my favorite color?";
} else {
speechOutput = "I'm not sure what your favorite color is, please try again";
repromptText = "I'm not sure what your favorite color is, you can tell me your "
+ "favorite color by saying, my favorite color is red";
}
callback(sessionAttributes,
buildSpeechletResponse(cardTitle, speechOutput, repromptText, shouldEndSession));
}
function createFavoriteColorAttributes(favoriteColor) {
return {
favoriteColor: favoriteColor
};
}
function getColorFromSession(intent, session, callback) {
var cardTitle = intent.name;
var favoriteColor;
var repromptText = null;
var sessionAttributes = {};
var shouldEndSession = false;
var speechOutput = "";
if(session.attributes) {
favoriteColor = session.attributes.favoriteColor;
}
if(favoriteColor) {
speechOutput = "Your favorite color is " + favoriteColor + ", goodbye";
shouldEndSession = true;
}
else {
speechOutput = "I'm not sure what your favorite color is, you can say, my favorite color "
+ " is red";
}
// Setting repromptText to null signifies that we do not want to reprompt the user.
// If the user does not respond or says something that is not understood, the session
// will end.
callback(sessionAttributes,
buildSpeechletResponse(intent.name, speechOutput, repromptText, shouldEndSession));
}
// --------------- Helpers that build all of the responses -----------------------
function buildSpeechletResponse(title, output, repromptText, shouldEndSession) {
return {
outputSpeech: {
type: "PlainText",
text: output
},
card: {
type: "Simple",
title: "SessionSpeechlet - " + title,
content: "SessionSpeechlet - " + output
},
reprompt: {
outputSpeech: {
type: "PlainText",
text: repromptText
}
},
shouldEndSession: shouldEndSession
}
}
function buildResponse(sessionAttributes, speechletResponse) {
return {
version: "1.0",
sessionAttributes: sessionAttributes,
response: speechletResponse
}
}
Can some one please guide me on what's wrong? it's probably a scope issue, I'm not sure.

Answer 1

Move your call back inside the twitter get function. Then your callback will be called on a successful get from the twitter api. Also you will have access to the data object. You will probably want to add a failure case as well and include a context.fail().
If you need to, you can also update the timeout parameter under the configuration tab of the AWS console. Its under advanced settings. Also, Its often useful to take Alexa out of the equation when debugging and just get the twitter api piece working first.
// request data
twitter.get('https://api.twitter.com/1.1/statuses/user_timeline.json', params, function (data) {
console.log(util.inspect(data[0].text));
// If we wanted to initialize the session to have some attributes we could add those here.
var sessionAttributes = {};
var cardTitle = "Welcome";
var speechOutput=data[0].text;
var repromptText = "";
var shouldEndSession = true;
callback(sessionAttributes,
buildSpeechletResponse(cardTitle, speechOutput, repromptText, shouldEndSession));
});