no problem! It happened to my buddy who was using his personal account for all his development stuff. When he got shut down they literally shut down EVERYTHING, like even Google Wallet so he couldn’t pull money out. It was really messed up to basically lock him out of Google. Took a few months just to find out what happened too.
I don’t have an Echo, and wont have Google Home for a while by the looks of it… I’m based in the UK so we don’t have a launch date for Home and I’ve been instructed not to buy any tech before Christmas as I’m a difficult person to buy presents for 
However my excitement for Home is exploding, and may have to ask Santa for an Echo Dot to tide me over until Google pull their finger out in the UK! Just wanted to say that although I’m not using your app yet, that I really appreciate what you have done so far! Also if there is anything that can be done to make moving from one to the other easier then that would be awesome! (Although appreciate that ST functional limitations may make this impossible)
Can’t wait to have a play, as I’m also writing a Smart Home app mainly for my own benefit, (but will release on here once I think it’s consumer friendly), but the API element interests me, and I guess trying to keep this consistent across both would be beneficial (if possible). I wont ask any questions on the API yet as I need to read an understand what is currently capable, and not sure if you have opened outside of CoRE, if not I guess a generic API to interface to other apps would be appreciated. I understand you are busy so no need to respond to this, need to do my homework first, just really wanted to show appreciation for a well polished SmartApp! 
Jake,
Thanks for the note! I have been told I am difficult to buy for as well, and tech is usually a good call (or more specifically, gift cards to Amazon or some other high tech place).
Anyway, to answer your question, there is really no ‘cross over’ between Alexa and Google Home. Each will use a different philosophy to control your home. Alexa will be based on the actual names of the switches in your SmartThings environment. Google Home Helper, on the other hand, will allow you to create virtual switches to do the work, so you will reference those when speaking to the Home device. I am not sure what you mean by API in this context; I have created a way that other apps can talk to Ask Alexa, and in the case of CoRE, Ask Alexa can run a CoRE piston. The APIs you might be talking about are how Ask Alexa speaks to SmartThings, but that is simply OAuth. You may be thinking of remote control of a location, which Ask Alexa can do as well, along with my Cloud Interface program.
Either way, I look forward to you getting your Dot as I think you will find it a nice start to voice control for your home.
Thanks for taking the time to reply… For the above, I’m referring to the pseudo “API” you have in place between CoRE and Ask Alexa, my hope would be to substitute CoRE in this instance with my own SmartApp, I believe currently it may be the case that other apps can speak to Ask Alexa, but I think that Ask Alexa also speaks to CoRE?
Sorry I may be talking complete rubbish as I have only briefly looked at this in passing, while looking at some of the CoRE code and a brief look at the wiki/threads on both… sorry going slightly off topic… happy to pick this up later on another thread once I’ve had time to properly read the docs (RTFM) 
EDIT: So to answer my own question, looks like I just need to define a macro in AskAlexa and listen for the event in my App, seems simple enough. And I would assume something similar would be available in the Google Echo system, hopefully also allowing real time push as well, rather than having to queue, not that you can do that with a ChromeCast as it stands 
This is less of an IP and more of a ‘common event parameter’ that two programs can update/subscribe to that allow for cross-app communication. If your app simply wants to send a message to the message queue of Ask Alexa, that is easy enough to do. If you want do anything else, you and I would have to work together to get a specific communication protocol to work.
The Google Home does not yet allow for direct communications, so my new app is more of a proxy to create virtual switches that, when triggered, perform a set of actions. These virtual switches can be seen by Google Home to activate. So, outside of the IFTTT integration where you can personalize the output, Google Home Helper will not be able to do anything other that turn on or off switches, or set a dimmer level.
Does that all make sense?
Perfect sense thanks and as switch activation is already in my app would drop directly in anyway, although I can see virtual switches mounting up, which I was trying to avoid as part of my app, but i guess removing the virtual switches i have already will make space for some more
For echo… I’ll carry this discussion on in your echo thread, so not to derail this thread any more!
No worries…glad I can help.
1 Like
For those of you that haven’t donated but still were wondering about the status of this, I have delivered the first version today to the beta testers. If you would like to participate, please see the instructions above or simply send something to https://paypal.me/mstruck and I will get you the file.
Thanks!
I’m in. How do I donate?
You can donate here: https://paypal.me/mstruck As soon as I get it I will send you the e-mails I have sent to testers so far…I expect another release this weekend.
I’m really new to gHome and SmartThings, but as a software developer myself, I appreciate the time you are putting into whatever it is that I will probably use in the near future. Just sent you a small donation, just enough to buy you lunch at Subway. Hope this app is as useful as it seems, I think, it will.
No problem…got it and added you to the beta list if you are interested…
Thank you for the donation!
I’m interested in beta testing, but not sure how much value you will get out of me. Full time programmer, and fuller time dad to a 7 year old and 2 year old twins leaves me with not as much free time as I you would like. I browsed through your wiki and book marked it. Had a few drinks with my wife tonight so I’m going to divert more attention to it until I have a clearer mind.
And “you are welcome” for the donation. A foot long Cold Cut Combo on Italian Herb and Cheese is nothing compared to the time you have put into this.
Hi Michael.
I’m in UK and have just had my shiny new GH arrive,
I’ve been playing and am liking it so far.
I do not have an Echo so have no idea of the capabilities of your app.
Can you give me a brief description of what your app will give.
I’m interested in getting the most out of my GH and if that means your app, I’m in.
1 Like
Bob,
The app, by itself, just ‘sits in the middle’ and listens for you to change one of its virtual switches…When this happens, it runs a ‘scenario’ that changes groups of lights, changes modes, runs routines, etc. It can also give you a bit more granular control over thermostats and allows you to control speakers external to the google home (i.e. Sonos).
Hope that helps…
I’m kind of on the same boat… never messed with the Amazon hardware, and right now although the ST integration with Google Home is “meh” at best, it appears to be good enough for me.
I don’t know what the whole “Alexa Helper” thing was about, but this thread is certainly light on the details.
Hopefully @MichaelS can take that as constructive criticism though… I’m not knocking your efforts, just mentioning that for someone walking in without previously using your other software, it’s very unclear what this software can do.
No offense taken…I don’t have any control over the Google Home integration and I agree that simple turning on or off a light is really ‘meh’…The beauty of home automation is doing a ‘sequence’ of things, which my app allows you to do…When I tell Google Home “good night” it locks the doors, turns off the lights, and sets the alarm…that is where home automation shines.
I am at the point where I am ready to let everyone see more about this…here is the instruction manual…and the app should be released sometime in the next week or so…
http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=Google_Home_Helper
Please note the actual app is not yet available except to beta testers…the manual is just for reference.
1 Like
Donated but forgot the email in the Notation. I will PM it to you.
Created a few switches and routines to open and close my garage door for now. Working Great.
@michaels, i may have skipped past this, but will your app be compatible with the google assistant on pixel phones or will it only work with google home?