Returning All Query Results to Alexa Skill

Question

I am developing a Web Service using python that would operate as the backend logic for a custom Alexa Skill. I am using the flask, flask-ask(Alexa Skill Kit), and MySQL extensions to develop this Web Service.

This Alexa Skill would allow users to reserve parking spots, check if lots are full, and find parking spots.

I also have a local database where all parking related information is stored.

I'm having an issue where I am only able to return the first result of a query.

Here is the code for one of my intents:

'''This is a Web Service for the *** Parking skill'''
author__ = '*****'

import logging
from flaskext.mysql import MySQL
from flask import Flask, render_template
from flask_ask import Ask, statement, question

mysql = MySQL()

app = Flask(__name__)
app.config.from_object(__name__)
app.config['MYSQL_DATABASE_USER'] = '*****'
app.config['MYSQL_DATABASE_PASSWORD'] = '*****'
app.config['MYSQL_DATABASE_DB'] = '*****'
app.config['MYSQL_DATABASE_HOST'] = '*****'
mysql.init_app(app)

ask = Ask(app, "/")

logging.getLogger("flask_ask").setLevel(logging.DEBUG)   

@ask.intent('AvailableParking')
def available(occupancy):
    #converts the inputted occupancy variable into all caps, to match the DB schema
    occupancy = occupancy.upper()

    #creates cursor variable that connects to DB
    cursor = mysql.connect().cursor()

    #connects to db and executes SQL query that displays all garages where the OCCUPANCY field matches the users slot input (OPEN OR CLOSED)
    cursor.execute("SELECT GARAGE_NAME FROM GARAGES WHERE OCCUPANCY = %s", (occupancy,))

    #returns the first row of the query results
    data = cursor.fetchone()
    data = data[0]
    return statement(data)

This works as intended. Alexa says "Lot A" when triggering the intent, even thought there are 3 parking lots in total.

I thought to use the MySQL method cursor.fetchall() in place of cursor.fetchone, like so:

data = cursor.fetchall()
return statement(data)

But I receive the error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/flask/app.py", line 2309, in __call__
    return self.wsgi_app(environ, start_response)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/flask/app.py", line 2295, in wsgi_app
    response = self.handle_exception(e)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/flask/app.py", line 1741, in handle_exception
    reraise(exc_type, exc_value, tb)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/flask/app.py", line 2292, in wsgi_app
    response = self.full_dispatch_request()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/flask/app.py", line 1815, in full_dispatch_request
    rv = self.handle_user_exception(e)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/flask/app.py", line 1718, in handle_user_exception
    reraise(exc_type, exc_value, tb)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/flask/app.py", line 1813, in full_dispatch_request
    rv = self.dispatch_request()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/flask/app.py", line 1799, in dispatch_request
    return self.view_functions[rule.endpoint](**req.view_args)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/flask_ask/core.py", line 767, in _flask_view_func
    result = self._map_intent_to_view_func(self.request.intent)()
  File "/home/ngrok/ngrok/FETCHALLRETURN", line 46, in available
    return statement(data)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/flask_ask/models.py", line 188, in __init__
    super(statement, self).__init__(speech)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/flask_ask/models.py", line 51, in __init__
    'outputSpeech': _output_speech(speech)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/flask_ask/models.py", line 402, in _output_speech
    xmldoc = ElementTree.fromstring(speech)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/xml/etree/ElementTree.py", line 1311, in XML
    parser.feed(text)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/xml/etree/ElementTree.py", line 1651, in feed
    self._parser.Parse(data, 0)
TypeError: Parse() argument 1 must be string or read-only buffer, not tuple
{"context": {"System": {"apiAccessToken": "eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiIsImtpZCI6IjEifQ.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.WPKBopJc_WAxHJdHsYg6bgqYhEahsIzwCsBm3EUPWdKmqzSmjPTudJH-58a0VndsGc32CxARDhmShy1RxsSGUwacXr-Hb1sMlkHcrKV-I6dUFA9JXgGOHP92WyDBe4NcmZd2evEHGSAlWr7mW3cPpjUKax7INsSWqbziNGneP5DWV7T6FA6S3G-h5BBiX5rVx2SBcfYZ-1ixCom5GvQa8Xe77CGg2zwugd9oIvib6Q9JLfYQrmWcg9qBYfnKfaQsQNYg6I_OJ5fL5YcCmfq5FtfPpPL-k3UWvSiZwFqwch-AUNzu35csmLw9BF3JbVXPxPr-o70OlVWxmOeVEnYAzA", "apiEndpoint": "https://api.amazonalexa.com", "application": {"applicationId": "amzn1.ask.skill.f645ba81-6f3d-46e6-8035-2510ea8983db"}, "device": {"deviceId": "amzn1.ask.device.AHEG7OCDK7MS6GEZHXMISRQWFCMNKJULGNMFNGRTYVHY4XVLJEVS4YLQFJ5EH5QGF2DEXA5UV24S2G4RMSKXXZGV6ED64FKIZJGUT2YDUFVYO5KUFKHCCS5OYGOL275E5B4FEMWNNUEP3RLOHCE74TU7KH6A", "supportedInterfaces": {}}, "user": {"userId": "amzn1.ask.account.AH4OQYIPRCSQTFZGZHZEQHZBSTHH25UA62624V5Y7CY7BK6CYOQZ7I7PLWK4O74DZUK4A2L42ZPR4PWYEFRHW662TOVUD3PBOW4RLQJ3EHZUZYSO36VC46C3EWGOVODYUISV73OETGRBDRASF744H7TW2GJX3ME7I2YSFBAS63NQAF73BUBGRTRINYCKH3GOZ6YV3UKKQ3LY2QI"}}}, "request": {"error": {"message": "An exception occurred while dispatching the request to the skill.", "type": "INVALID_RESPONSE"}, "locale": "en-US", "reason": "ERROR", "requestId": "amzn1.echo-api.request.a7699e3a-71b3-4cf5-8d23-63e45c86a957", "timestamp": "2018-07-09T15:20:12Z", "type": "SessionEndedRequest"}, "session": {"application": {"applicationId": "amzn1.ask.skill.f645ba81-6f3d-46e6-8035-2510ea8983db"}, "new": false, "sessionId": "amzn1.echo-api.session.7c96f3f4-c78f-4c10-9535-9e1e9fe8a21e", "user": {"userId": "amzn1.ask.account.AH4OQYIPRCSQTFZGZHZEQHZBSTHH25UA62624V5Y7CY7BK6CYOQZ7I7PLWK4O74DZUK4A2L42ZPR4PWYEFRHW662TOVUD3PBOW4RLQJ3EHZUZYSO36VC46C3EWGOVODYUISV73OETGRBDRASF744H7TW2GJX3ME7I2YSFBAS63NQAF73BUBGRTRINYCKH3GOZ6YV3UKKQ3LY2QI"}}, "version": "1.0"}
{}
127.0.0.1 - - [09/Jul/2018 15:20:12] "POST / HTTP/1.1" 200 -

Query results are returned in a tuple which apparently is not able to be returned straight to Alexa without some formatting.

Does anyone know how I can return ALL results of a query to Alexa ?

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 10 '18 at 16:16

I'm writing an app with same extensions as you except for sqlalchemy and using sqlite. My queries come back as objects so I either :

Have a method that loops through the query object to construct a statement for alexa (great for complex msg)
Pass the object to the flask-ask templates.yaml and use a jinja for loop (good for a simple query)

Returning All Query Results to Alexa Skill

1 Answers1