Setting Alexa AppId using Node.js - echo

Question

I'm having difficulty testing my Alexa skill using the Service Simulator. If I set the appId, the skill doesn't work. Here is the relevant code:
'use strict';
const Alexa = require('alexa-sdk');
var APP_ID = "amzn1.ask.skill.[my skill ID]";
exports.handler = function(event, context, callback) {
var alexa = Alexa.handler(event, context);
alexa.appId = APP_ID;
alexa.registerHandlers(handlers);
alexa.execute();
}
When I run this code in the service simulator, I get the response "The remote endpoint could not be called, or the response it returned was invalid." and error messages in the CloudWatch logs:
The applicationIds don't match: applicationId and amzn1.ask.skill.[my skill id]
"errorMessage": "Invalid ApplicationId: amzn1.ask.skill.[my skill id]"
If I comment out setting the appId
//alexa.appId = APP_ID
the simulator appears to return a valid response, but I see this warning in the logs:
"Warning: Application ID is not set."
Here is the Lambda Request sent by the simulator:
{
"session": {
"sessionId": "SessionId.bb263d3e-2018-4aab-a0df-f945b3a25bf9",
"application": {
"applicationId": "amzn1.ask.skill.[my skill ID]"
},
"attributes": {},
"user": {
"userId": "amzn1.ask.account.[accountID]"
},
"new": true
},
"request": {
"type": "LaunchRequest",
"requestId": "EdwRequestId.d8b56c7f-63ea-48e8-8816-9b7c036d5816",
"locale": "en-US",
"timestamp": "2017-07-12T12:06:11Z"
},
"version": "1.0"
}
Some online examples suggest that the appId property should be APP_ID:
alexa.APP_ID = APP_ID;
but this doesn't appear to be correct. According to the alexa-sdk source code (and trying it anyway), the property needs it to be appId as I implemented.
It looks like the problem is more related to the json lambda request created by the Amazon simulator. To be clear, this is the simulator on the Amazon Alexa developer's portal, not the test function on the AWS lambda test event interface.
The odd thing is, if I cut and paste the lambda request from the Amazon simulator and run it from the AWS test interface, it works fine.

Answer 1

I also had this problem these two days. I believe it's their end problem. I saw this on amazon forum.
Amazon changed something over the weekend which affects the JSON
request received by Lambda from the simulator and breaks verification.
Here are two threads regarding this, which include workarounds to
allow it to work:
https://forums.developer.amazon.com/questions/78391/application-id-verification-issue-with-nodejs-and.html
https://forums.developer.amazon.com/questions/78393/my-alexa-skill-is-not-returning-a-lambda-response.html
So far there has been no update from Amazon, or even an acknowledgment
of the issue.
--- GadgetChannel