Changing speechText in the LaunchRequestHandler breaks Alexa skill - alexa

Question

I am not entirely sure if I'm doing something incorrectly or I've encountered a bug. Anyways, I created a skill. Going to the "Test" tab, I open said skill and get a standard default invocation message,
Welcome, you can say Hi or Help. Which would you like to try?
Everything good so far. My lambda function is as follows:
// This sample demonstrates handling intents from an Alexa skill using the Alexa Skills Kit SDK (v2).
// Please visit https://alexa.design/cookbook for additional examples on implementing slots, dialog management,
// session persistence, api calls, and more.
const Alexa = require('ask-sdk-core');
const LaunchRequestHandler = {
canHandle(handlerInput) {
return handlerInput.requestEnvelope.request.type === 'LaunchRequest';
},
handle(handlerInput) {
const speechText = 'Welcome, you can say Hello or Help. Which would you like to try?';
return handlerInput.responseBuilder
.speak(speechText)
.reprompt(speechText)
.getResponse();
}
};
const HelloWorldIntentHandler = {
canHandle(handlerInput) {
return handlerInput.requestEnvelope.request.type === 'IntentRequest'
&& handlerInput.requestEnvelope.request.intent.name === 'HelloWorldIntent';
},
handle(handlerInput) {
const speechText = 'Hello World!';
return handlerInput.responseBuilder
.speak(speechText)
//.reprompt('add a reprompt if you want to keep the session open for the user to respond')
.getResponse();
}
};
const HelpIntentHandler = {
canHandle(handlerInput) {
return handlerInput.requestEnvelope.request.type === 'IntentRequest'
&& handlerInput.requestEnvelope.request.intent.name === 'AMAZON.HelpIntent';
},
handle(handlerInput) {
const speechText = 'You can say hello to me! How can I help?';
return handlerInput.responseBuilder
.speak(speechText)
.reprompt(speechText)
.getResponse();
}
};
const CancelAndStopIntentHandler = {
canHandle(handlerInput) {
return handlerInput.requestEnvelope.request.type === 'IntentRequest'
&& (handlerInput.requestEnvelope.request.intent.name === 'AMAZON.CancelIntent'
|| handlerInput.requestEnvelope.request.intent.name === 'AMAZON.StopIntent');
},
handle(handlerInput) {
const speechText = 'Goodbye!';
return handlerInput.responseBuilder
.speak(speechText)
.getResponse();
}
};
const SessionEndedRequestHandler = {
canHandle(handlerInput) {
return handlerInput.requestEnvelope.request.type === 'SessionEndedRequest';
},
handle(handlerInput) {
// Any cleanup logic goes here.
return handlerInput.responseBuilder.getResponse();
}
};
// The intent reflector is used for interaction model testing and debugging.
// It will simply repeat the intent the user said. You can create custom handlers
// for your intents by defining them above, then also adding them to the request
// handler chain below.
const IntentReflectorHandler = {
canHandle(handlerInput) {
return handlerInput.requestEnvelope.request.type === 'IntentRequest';
},
handle(handlerInput) {
const intentName = handlerInput.requestEnvelope.request.intent.name;
const speechText = `You just triggered ${intentName}`;
return handlerInput.responseBuilder
.speak(speechText)
//.reprompt('add a reprompt if you want to keep the session open for the user to respond')
.getResponse();
}
};
// Generic error handling to capture any syntax or routing errors. If you receive an error
// stating the request handler chain is not found, you have not implemented a handler for
// the intent being invoked or included it in the skill builder below.
const ErrorHandler = {
canHandle() {
return true;
},
handle(handlerInput, error) {
console.log(`~~~~ Error handled: ${error.message}`);
const speechText = `Sorry, I couldn't understand what you said. Please try again.`;
return handlerInput.responseBuilder
.speak(speechText)
.reprompt(speechText)
.getResponse();
}
};
// This handler acts as the entry point for your skill, routing all request and response
// payloads to the handlers above. Make sure any new handlers or interceptors you've
// defined are included below. The order matters - they're processed top to bottom.
exports.handler = Alexa.SkillBuilders.custom()
.addRequestHandlers(
LaunchRequestHandler,
HelloWorldIntentHandler,
HelpIntentHandler,
CancelAndStopIntentHandler,
SessionEndedRequestHandler,
IntentReflectorHandler) // make sure IntentReflectorHandler is last so it doesn't override your custom intent handlers
.addErrorHandlers(
ErrorHandler)
.lambda();
Now here's where it gets weird. Changing the speechText in the invocation handler (even slightly) and there's a huge issue. The skill is unable to start. Here is the slightly updated Lambda function:
// This sample demonstrates handling intents from an Alexa skill using the Alexa Skills Kit SDK (v2).
// Please visit https://alexa.design/cookbook for additional examples on implementing slots, dialog management,
// session persistence, api calls, and more.
const Alexa = require('ask-sdk-core');
const LaunchRequestHandler = {
canHandle(handlerInput) {
return handlerInput.requestEnvelope.request.type === 'LaunchRequest';
},
handle(handlerInput) {
const speechText = 'Welcome, you can say Hi or Help. Which would you like to try?';
return handlerInput.responseBuilder
.speak(speechText)
.reprompt(speechText)
.getResponse();
}
};
const HelloWorldIntentHandler = {
canHandle(handlerInput) {
return handlerInput.requestEnvelope.request.type === 'IntentRequest'
&& handlerInput.requestEnvelope.request.intent.name === 'HelloWorldIntent';
},
handle(handlerInput) {
const speechText = 'Hello World!';
return handlerInput.responseBuilder
.speak(speechText)
//.reprompt('add a reprompt if you want to keep the session open for the user to respond')
.getResponse();
}
};
const HelpIntentHandler = {
canHandle(handlerInput) {
return handlerInput.requestEnvelope.request.type === 'IntentRequest'
&& handlerInput.requestEnvelope.request.intent.name === 'AMAZON.HelpIntent';
},
handle(handlerInput) {
const speechText = 'You can say hello to me! How can I help?';
return handlerInput.responseBuilder
.speak(speechText)
.reprompt(speechText)
.getResponse();
}
};
const CancelAndStopIntentHandler = {
canHandle(handlerInput) {
return handlerInput.requestEnvelope.request.type === 'IntentRequest'
&& (handlerInput.requestEnvelope.request.intent.name === 'AMAZON.CancelIntent'
|| handlerInput.requestEnvelope.request.intent.name === 'AMAZON.StopIntent');
},
handle(handlerInput) {
const speechText = 'Goodbye!';
return handlerInput.responseBuilder
.speak(speechText)
.getResponse();
}
};
const SessionEndedRequestHandler = {
canHandle(handlerInput) {
return handlerInput.requestEnvelope.request.type === 'SessionEndedRequest';
},
handle(handlerInput) {
// Any cleanup logic goes here.
return handlerInput.responseBuilder.getResponse();
}
};
// The intent reflector is used for interaction model testing and debugging.
// It will simply repeat the intent the user said. You can create custom handlers
// for your intents by defining them above, then also adding them to the request
// handler chain below.
const IntentReflectorHandler = {
canHandle(handlerInput) {
return handlerInput.requestEnvelope.request.type === 'IntentRequest';
},
handle(handlerInput) {
const intentName = handlerInput.requestEnvelope.request.intent.name;
const speechText = `You just triggered ${intentName}`;
return handlerInput.responseBuilder
.speak(speechText)
//.reprompt('add a reprompt if you want to keep the session open for the user to respond')
.getResponse();
}
};
// Generic error handling to capture any syntax or routing errors. If you receive an error
// stating the request handler chain is not found, you have not implemented a handler for
// the intent being invoked or included it in the skill builder below.
const ErrorHandler = {
canHandle() {
return true;
},
handle(handlerInput, error) {
console.log(`~~~~ Error handled: ${error.message}`);
const speechText = `Sorry, I couldn't understand what you said. Please try again.`;
return handlerInput.responseBuilder
.speak(speechText)
.reprompt(speechText)
.getResponse();
}
};
// This handler acts as the entry point for your skill, routing all request and response
// payloads to the handlers above. Make sure any new handlers or interceptors you've
// defined are included below. The order matters - they're processed top to bottom.
exports.handler = Alexa.SkillBuilders.custom()
.addRequestHandlers(
LaunchRequestHandler,
HelloWorldIntentHandler,
HelpIntentHandler,
CancelAndStopIntentHandler,
SessionEndedRequestHandler,
IntentReflectorHandler) // make sure IntentReflectorHandler is last so it doesn't override your custom intent handlers
.addErrorHandlers(
ErrorHandler)
.lambda();