Alex skills

SmartApps & Automations
1

Could someone help please.
I’d like to create a skill that asks Alexa some preset questions and have her respond like a briefing.
simple things like “what time does lidl close today ?”
Is there a blueprint for this ?
Also, can you program an alexa skill to do math calculations by her prompting for a number of inputs and then doing the calculation ?

as you can see i’m really new to this and struggling to get going.

best regards
Al

2

Not sure about your math calculations, but my Alexa will tell me open and close times of most any local business without having to set anything up except specifying your location in Alexa settings. Don’t have to do any thing but ask…"Alexa, what time does Home Depot close. " You can even ask for nearby areas, like "what time does Home depot in Lynnwood close. Perhaps I misunderstand your question though…

3

Again, not sure what you are looking for in the math department, but Alexa will do many math calculations. I just asked, and got appropriate responses to , “Alexa, what is the area of a 6 inch diameter circle” , and “What is the volume of a 6 inch cube”

4

hi thanks for the reply.
I was thinking more of questions that the answers could change during the day and so you would need to ask multiple time a day.
Adding them to one skill would save asking them over and over.
like
what’s in my calender next ?
what’s the share price for ???
and so on.
I also find Alexa struggles with my accent so having some questions pre-typed in a skill could save me repeating things.

thanks
Al

5

for the maths thing it would be to save me typing in numbers on a spread sheet.
If I could ask Alexa to run a skill that prompted her to as for inputs and then calculate the result it could save me a lot of time.
some thing like
“Alexa True position”
alexa would prompt for X & Y input then calculate the result
A formula would need to be added so that’s what I’m looking to find out. if it’s possible or not.

thanks again
Al

6

Ahh…got it. I would suggest looking through the Alexa skills on Amazon to see if you can find one to suit your needs. https://www.amazon.com/alexa-skills/b?ie=UTF8&node=13727921011 I see several for stock prices and many calendar skills, but you’ll need one that links up to whatever calendar you are using

7

Also, just a friendly reminder :sunglasses: , although it never hurts to ask, keep in mind this is a SmartThings forum and not an Alexa forum

8

I will do, thanks.
I was just hoping someone could tell me if it’s possible or if I’m wasting my time. :slight_smile:

regards
Al