[NO LONGER SUPPORTED] Ask Alexa

Hi,

I am a new user of Ask Alexa.
It is really a very good addition (replacement ?) to Alexa-Smartthings integration.

There’s just one problem I have;
I have a macro group consisting of 2 voice reports. It is named "all report"
When I say “Alexa, ask smartthings all report” it responds "I ran 2 macros in this macro group"
But it does not say the output of these 2 reports. How can I make it run them and say the results ?

Also, what is the purpose of “flash briefing” if I can use a macro group instead ?

There are options at the bottom of the Group Macros that allow the reports to ‘accumulate’ the outputs of the other macros and then combine them into one report. Have you adjusted those values?

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Hi Michael,

Just received a Echo Dot not long ago and have it set up. I found your Ask Alexa Skill and went through the set up. When testing I get the response that “the remote endpoint could not be called, or the response it returned was invalid”. I have enabled the Oauth in the IDE. When I ask Alexa to perform a task such as “Alexa ask Smartthings for Living Room status” the app card says “Skill response was marked as failure”. I am not able to see the live logging in the IDE for some reason either. Any suggestions. Did I leave a step out when setting up the skill? The skill does show up in the your skills area of the Alexa app.

Thanks Bob

Did you add the 3 required lines to the lambda code? These will be your OAuth and token id and allow Amazon to speak to SmartThings

I did but entered it in manually. I assume this would need to be exact. I can go back and revisit it.

Yeah. I would do a straight copy/paste on a computer to ensure you got it all.

Let me know your results and happy new year!

Thanks. Happy New Year to you too.

Thanks Bob

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Michael…that was the problem, program working great. Thanks for your help.

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well, I can’t find that “accumulate” option under the macro group setting.
Where is it exactly ?
there’s the macro name, macro type (macro group(run/Execute)) , then macro settings.
and then "post to notification feed"
nothing else …

It is within the group macro settings where you list the macros…
Starts with “Append default…”

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Hello, thank you for the Ask Alexa App! Sorry for the noob question but I am currently ‘building’ my coding skills. When I test the code in the Amazon developer console I get the following error: ‘The remote endpoint could not be called, or the response it returned was invalid.’ I am assuming my issue is with the 3 lines of inserted code in Lambada, but for the life of me I can’t figure out what I am not doing correct. I have read the instructions several times and I know I am missing something but I guess I need some direction on what that is. This community is great and thank in advance for the assistance.

Joe

No problem…We all have to start at the noob level. That error is definitely related to the Oauth and token…Be sure you have done the following:

Go to help and see if the Oauth and token are listed there
Be sure to use a real computer to copy/paste the setup variables to the Lambda code
Say “Alexa, ask SmartThings Help” to see if that works…If it doesn’t then watch the live logging to give you clues to what might be wrong…If you see nothing it is the Oauth or Token or you have the ARN incorrect in the developer site.

sorry to be dense but where do I copy the 3 lines of code from? The Oauth and token are not listed in the Help section of the Ask Alexa smart app.

In the live logging I get the following error: params: [ts:number removed, stateID:number removed, _:number removed, appId:‘number removed’, param1:ping, action:[GET:executeSmartAppGet, POST:executeSmartAppPost, PUT:executeSmartAppPut, DELETE:executeSmartAppDelete, OPTIONS:executeSmartAppOptions], controller:smartAppApi, access_token:XXX-XXX]

it appears I do not have an access token

Under Setting and Setup Variables…These will be copied to the lambda code per the instructions here:

http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=Ask_Alexa

Under
Finalizing The Function Code

I have found it and got the Lambada code updated. Thank you!!

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Hi,

I am using ask Alexa to give me a status report of open/close, door lock, and lights left on.
It was reading everything as expected.
Few days ago it started spelling the garage door instead of saying "garage door is open"
All other devices are still working normally.
The Garage Door is spelled correctly.
Any idea why all of a sudden it started spelling the garage door instead of saying it?

Thanks,
Ron

You can thank the ‘devop’ mentality of Amazon…they push out code all of the time with only a bit of testing, so issues like this creep into the system. It WILL correct itself, but I also recommend you mention it to Amazon through the Echo app…that will give them notice that there is an issue.

I am stuck on the interaction model in the developer console. I pasted the Intent Schema and then clicked on the “add slot type” first slot type “CANCEL_CMDS” and entered a value of None, clicked on save and it hangs on “Please wait while this Alexa skill is updated…” Am I missing something?

Thanks,
Nate

This is a function of Amazon…this happens occasionally can not much you can do except to clear your cache and possibly use an different browser…

Different browser did the trick.
Thanks,
Nate

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