Step 2: Install, Build, and Deploy the Reference Video Skill (VSK Echo Show)

Implement the Reference Video Skill onto Echo Show

STEP 1:
Configure Developer Account Settings

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STEP 2:
Install, Build, and Deploy the Skill

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STEP 3:
Test Your Skill on Echo Show

Follow these steps to install all the necessary components for building and deploying the reference video skill.

Step 2.1: Download the Multi Modal Reference Software Project
Step 2.2: Build the Project
Step 2.3: Use the CLI Tool
- Your Content and Video Skill
Next Steps

Clone the project's GitHub repo located at https://github.com/alexa/alexa-video-multimodal.

Step 2.2: Build the Project

Before you proceed, make sure that your computer environment meets all the necessary requirements. Then, follow these steps:

On your computer, navigate to your project's folder.
In that folder, open PowerShell (Windows) or a terminal (macOS) as administrator.
Run cd infrastructure.
Run npm run release.

Note: This command installs dependencies, cleans up the project, runs unit tests, and compiles the code. The output is written to the ./dist folder with the following contents:

./dist/bin/alexa-video-infrastructure-cli which is the CLI tool itself
./dist/doc/index.html which is autogenerated documentation of the code
./dist/coverage/index.html which is an HTML code coverage report

Tip: If you run into critical errors during installation, first check your environment settings against the configurations listed here.

Step 2.3: Use the CLI Tool

Run this CLI command in your PowerShell (Windows) or terminal (macOS). Depending on your OS, copy, paste and run one of the following:
- Windows
- macOS
Windows
```
node ./dist/bin/alexa-video-infrastructure-cli --init
```
macOS
```
./dist/bin/alexa-video-infrastructure-cli --init
```
Go through the prompts:
- Use a project name, such as testskill.
  
  Note: The project name is used to name the AWS resources. Some AWS resources such as the S3 bucket names and the Cognito user pool domain name have to be globally unique so these specific resources also have a UUID appended to them.
- Enter a skill name, such as test skill echo show. (This can be different than your project's name).
- Use the arrow keys to pick a distribution country, such as United States, and press enter.
- Use space to select one or more locales, for example en-US.
- Press enter to proceed.
- Enter the path to the project's root folder.
- Enter your security profile client id.
- Enter your security profile client secret.
- Enter your AWS Access Key ID.
- Enter your AWS Access Secret Access Key.
- Copy and paste the provided url to your browser to get an authorization code.
  Note: This step generates an OAuth access and refresh token. The token is used to authenticate your Alexa developer account for API calls. It expires eventually, so if it expires, you will be prompted to create a new token.
- If needed, use your credentials to the developer console and allow access to sign in to your security profile if requested.
- Paste back the authorization code to the PowerShell or terminal.
  
  Note: If you have multiple vendor Ids associated with your ASK account, you get an additional prompt to select the one you would like to apply. You can always retrieve this data from this page on the developer console.
To deploy the video skill, run your second CLI command in your PowerShell or terminal:
- Windows
- macOS
Windows
```
node ./dist/bin/alexa-video-infrastructure-cli --deploy
```
macOS
```
./dist/bin/alexa-video-infrastructure-cli --deploy
```

Important: During deployment, the sample video content is copied from an Amazon resource and stored in your S3 bucket, meaning that is explicitly hosted in your user's S3 bucket. The catalog of this project is rich; however, the reference software provides you with only a couple of video files to help you get started.

Your Content and Video Skill

If you want to have a look at the video content, go to your S3 buckets in the AWS console and navigate to the one that was created most recently. You can view the sample video content under the content folder.

You might also want to have a look at your newly created skill in the Alexa developer console.

Your video skill in Alexa developer console

Click Edit to see its settings. You might also want to update the background and the Logo image, under the Language Specific Configuration section.

Your video skill Logo and Background Image

Next Steps

Go on to the final step: Step 3: Test Your Reference Video Skill on an Echo Show Device.

Last updated: Oct 29, 2020