Alexa - How to accept free text as input / slot. Is there any way apart from using a custom slot and providing a huge list?

Question

How to accept free text as input / slot? Is there any way apart from using a custom slot and providing a huge list? Since Literal slot types are deprecated, how to provide a free text/string input to alexa?

score 9 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 06 '18 at 08:55

9

For a slot that accepts a free text you can use the Slot-type: AMAZON.SearchQuery

answered Nov 06 '18 at 08:55

Vas Giatilis

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this should be marked as the right response as SearchQuery is the closest you can get to the deprecated LITERAL – German Nov 11 '18 at 20:21

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 10 '17 at 14:43

No, just custom slots or the literal type. You're question is addressed in this Amazon blog post:

Why a Custom Slot is the Literal Solution https://developer.amazon.com/blogs/post/Tx3IHSFQSUF3RQP/why-a-custom-slot-is-the-literal-solution

But note the recent update "Based on developer feedback we will not remove the LITERAL slot type and you can continue to submit skills that include its functionality."

But the literal type was never supported outside EN-US (US customers) and I imagine that will remain the case which limits its usefulness.

Alexa - How to accept free text as input / slot. Is there any way apart from using a custom slot and providing a huge list?

2 Answers2