Anyway to use "And" with alexa for multiple device on/off in one command

@tpip

I definitely see your points with what you are saying. Maybe I’ll just change mine to house also. That doesn’t sound as stupid. haha

@bamarayne

Do you know more than you are wanting to say… haha

@MichaelS

Oh wow. You’re the one that wrote what I am using (“AskAlexa”)

I am so impressed with what you have built. It is helping me get around some of the quirkiness with my smart home system.

Thank you for all of the hard work you have shared with all of us. I am so thankful.

Also, I see your idea and I could see the idea of room control being more “elegant”. I guess I feel like there are alot of instances where I am wanting to turn on or off a few devices throughout my house that really have little relationship to each other. And most “non techies” don’t want to use specific routine names/ group names because they can’t remember all of the different possibilities that could exist. (Makes the smart home less friendly, I guess is what I’m trying to say)

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@bamarayne

So echosistant can handle the “and” operator to seperate 2 devices and do the corresponding command?

I completely get it. That is really why Ask Alexa exists…I (a techie) was frustrated by the limited power of the native integration. I built it, first and foremost, for myself, but found thousands who also installed it and enjoyed it as well.

Yes, I know way more than I’m saying… Lol… Maybe. Some here would argue I’m clueless… But I did write EchoSistant…

Anyway, what you’re talking about above is the exact reason that EchoSistant was born. Who wants to remember what to say? Not this guy!

The free speech engine in EchoSistant allows you to talk to Alexa the way you talk. There is not a rigid format, or specific phrases… Just talk.

Alexa, it’s too dark in the kitchen
Alexa, make it brighter in the kitchen
Alexa, turn on the lights in the kitchen
Alexa, turn the lights on in the kitchen

All of those work… They turn on the lights.
And the best part, you don’t have to create a bunch of macros to make it work. Just create the kitchen profile and skill, and you’re done.

These speech patterns have been copied, but even then you have to remember the exact phrases you had to configure. While it may sound the same, it’s not even close.

You want things to just work. So do I.

Follow the link below and watch the videos in the second post. Those videos are about 5 months old and they show what ES could do then… .

No, the current version does not. Sorry… But it may be possible in the near future.

@Wtstreetglow

Not sure if I mentioned this or not , but in EchoSistant you have no invocation, per se…

Instead of…
Alexa, ask smartthings to turn on the kitchen lights…

You say…
Alexa, turn on the lights in the kitchen.

No flash briefing needed. Plus, you can set up your room to do all kinds of things… Turn things on and off, set modes, lock doors… Whatever you want.

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@bamarayne

Hmmm. Interesting. I will give all of those videos a watch. Is there an easy way to be updated when you drop a update that just “may” include such a feature. Haha. I guess I can subscribe to the post you linked.

I’m about to release version 4.5. It’s a major update to 4.0.

EchoSistant version 5 is in work, and has been for about 4 months. Our very skilled team is working daily to bring an experience you’re not going to believe.

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So are Echosistant and Ask Alexa the same thing, but Echosistant doesn’t require the extra “ask” in your command?

No, they are not the same thing. They may look similar because of the end result, but EchoSistant gives the user a freedom over how they talk to Alexa. It’s designed so the user is required to spend a minimum amount of time in the mobile app and they gain the maximum out of Alexa. That is why we keep the app very utilitarian. No need for pretty graphics when the user doesn’t need them.

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@bamarayne
I really like the idea of no invocation.
I started into this whole situation due to my garage door, when using the default integration, started making me say “Alexa, turn on/ off the garage door” which makes no sense in natural language. It used to work fine when saying “Alexa, open/ close the garage door” and then one day it started only accepting the on/ off commands.

This problem is what has led me to community created solutions such as yours and Michael’s.

The icing would be to issue “and” commands so that this truly would be a more natural language.- Or a series (3 or more devices-- but maybe that’s a little much. haha)

Again, any custom app within Alexa has to have an invocation word to run the skill. However, what hasn’t been mentioned is the fact you only have to open the app once…so your conversation could go like this…

Alexa, open Smart things
Open the Garage
Turn off the patio
Unlock the door

Since you have Ask Alexa already installed you can do this today. Just modify your continuation commands in the Settings area…might eliminate the need for the “and” here…

@MichaelS

Yeah, I didn’t know I could do that… That would work for me. I didn’t think about doing it that way. Thank you for your response!! You have been so helpful to me!!

@MichaelS
I notice you said that invocation was necessary when using a custom skill with Alexa. I thought the same. But in a post a few up from this one

It seems otherwise, but maybe I just don’t understand what I am reading. It sounds like he’s saying echosistant doesn’t have to use invocation?

Actually, EchoSistant does use an invocation.

Kitchen is the invocation. I designed ES to be user friendly and work the way we want it to.

Also, EchoSistant does continued commands, and there is no need to go in the app to set it.

Sometimes you want it and sometimes you don’t. Do you want to go into the app every time to turn that on and off?

In EchoSistant you just say…

Alexa, stop the conversation in the kitchen.
Or
Alexa, start the conversation.

What’s the point of voice control if you can’t use just your voice?

Jason is correct. While I use “Smartthings” in all of the documents as the invocation word, you can use practically any word you want. You can also add it to the end and use “ask” or “tell”. All of these have the same result:

Ask Smartthings to turn on the light
Tell Smartthings to turn on the light
Turn on the light using Smartthings
Turn on the light with Smartthings

@MichaelS

I follow you now I believe. So Jason’s invocation word changes based on the Room the devices are in and yours is a single set word or words.

No. Just different philosophies. Ask Alexa can also be set up with multiple skills just like Jason’s and you can use the room concept as the invocation word. That works but adds extra effort as you have to create multiple Alexa skills.

I have an extension I will be releasing this week that will allow the room concept with a single skill name. So you would control the aspects of a room instead of individual devices. So the command would be like:

Alexa, tell Smartthings to turn on the {room name}
Alexa, ask Smartthings to lock the {room name}
Etc

You would still invoke the skill but now you can do neat things on a room basis.

And I did look at the compound (and) command and this is easily done with my current code structure. Will just need to make a minor tweaks and will include it in the version after next.