I noticed that BigTalker is generating it’s own TTS files. Is it possible to tell when BigTalker has generated new ones? I haven’t got into the code that much, it’s large. There are 3-new devices causing errors due to the Amazon account outtage. If I could get a notification, I could run around the house and press all the buttons to generate new files.
Also, it appears LANnouncer is no longer compatible? I don’t see it in my device list and it is operating properly.
Awesome! I hope that 1.1.8a4 handles the evt.deviceName error for you and properly converts to evt.device.deviceName or evt.device.name on the fly as needed.
BigTalker relies on the SmartThings platform to generate the sound files that are used in musicPlayer mode (Sonos Support, VLCThing, etc). I currently have no way to know if a new file has been generated or if the SmartThings platform is using cached content.
LANNouncer is supported. I use it daily (albeit a personal version that I created to run on my Windows tablet, using the same API calls that LANNouncer uses for speech and alarms; This version isn’t for distribution though as I still have much work to do on it if I were to ever release it, including getting a code signing certificate, convert it to a Windows Service, etc. The Android version will always be easier for the end-user, this one was just a hobby to see if I could mimic it). LANNouncer is a speechSynthesis device and therefore it will only show up when the app is running in speechSynthesis mode. Either musicPlayer or speechSynthesis mode is selected upon install and this tells the app which devices to display as speech devices. I hope to support both within the same app in the next major release 2.0.
%devicename2% and %devicename3% were in the last beta release for testing purposes only.
Try with simply %devicename% which now has error controls to failover and find the correct method to call your device name (hopefully).
It looks like I’ll need to add some error detection and control for invalid phrase tokens in 1.1.8a5 to fix this error for you. I’ll get that out tomorrow night. If you still have the code for 1.1.8.a2, you could switch back to that temporarily or like I said I’ll get a fix for you tomorrow (Friday afternoon/night)
That worked. Everything appears to be working properly. I have no idea what went wrong but my code was the same version as that which was posted. I re-copy-pasta’d it into the IDE and it works now.
I purchased a cheap Kindle Fire and mounted it to the wall, so the kids can set up the colors of lights in their room. I removed all the bloat, and set it up with SmartThings and Lannouncer. I’d like to use Lannouncer with it. Any idea how to get Lannouncer working as you stated here? [OBSOLETE 1.1.6 5/25/16] Big Talker - Talk when events occur
Please launch BigTalker and go to the Status page.
What does it show under “Speech Device Mode”?
For LanNouncer, it must say “speechSynthesis”. This mode is only selected during install of the app. If your app says “musicPlayer”, you can go back to the MarketPlace and install another instance of BigTalker and switch the option slider to the off position when asked for speechSynthesis or musicPlayer mode (off = speechSynthesis; on = musicPlayer). Unfortunately, this means that you will need to duplicate the events if you want LANnouncer to speak the same things as say a configured Sonos. Note voices will be different as musicPlayer’s voice is from the SmartThings text-to-speech (TTS) engine and speechSynthesis’s voice is from each independent device’s built-in TTS engine.
Thanks. That makes total sense. I will apply that.
BTW. I just set up two more VLCThings with Raspis to work with Big Talker. I thought you might find this interesting. $65 Home Automation Announcer . I’m setting up zones so there is one master that says everything in my office. The rest announce nearby where the action occurred.
Any chance of a second zone for A/C? I have two units.
Hi @rayzurbock, today I noticed that Google’s Text-to-Speech was updated on my device and I also noticed that LanNouncer stopped converting. I can see where the commands show up from my configured events, but nothing is spoke. The connection is fine and other sounds work, so could Google’s latest update cause a problem?
Possibly. When using LANnouncer, text is sent to your android device via Big Talker and SmartThings and the speech processing is done within the devices text-to-speech engine itself. It’s possible you could try changing to a different TTS engine in the Android OS to see if another engine works (ie: is it just the Google TTS engine broken?). This is usually found under Settings > Accessibility (varies where under here depending on the device; mine is at Settings > Accessibility > Vision > Text-To-Speech > Preferred TTS engine).
Also, make sure that your android device hasn’t changed it’s IP address from the one you have configured in SmartThings for your LANdroid device (open LANdroid to see what it shows as your IP; in SmartThings go to My Home > Things, locate your LANdroid device and tap on it > tap the gear and check Android IP Address and Android Port ). If your IP differs, change the settings in SmartThings for your LANdroid device to match the IP and Google how to set a static IP address in your router for your LANdroid device.
If your IP is still correct and changing TTS engines doesn’t work, you might head over to the LANdroid page and ping @NWTony to see if he knows anything about the mentioned update breaking LANdroid. Android as a Speech/Alarm Device released! And Updated!
I believe that I have squashed a couple of bugs that may have missed playback or caused playback that wasn’t desired for musicPlayer devices (Sonos, etc).
There is a new %description% token that you can use for a description of the event which occurred via device-specific text. Ex: %description% becomes ‘Front door is closed’ (Thanks for the idea STCommunity: adamoutler).
The %devicename% token now does error control to find the next best device name rather than crashing the app if the expected call fails. The calls try in the following order: evt.displayName, evt.device.displayName, and finally evt.device.name - One of these will return something; the order is to try to make sure it’s the user defined name. (Thanks STCommunity: adamoutler).
Changes default volume applied if in musicPlayer mode and musicPlayer device volume is less than 50% and a desired volume is not configured then device will bump up to 50% to speak and should return to the user configured volume on resume (was originally set to 75% if device was at 50 or below).
Development release 1.1.8a4 has been out for a month with no further issues reported; therefore I am moving it to release as 1.1.8.
I will wait a few days, maybe a week or so before I fly the X on the 1.1.7 version’s icon to notify users in-app that an update is available. Please report any observed issues (hopefully none) here so I can keep track of them and hopefully resolve them: https://github.com/rayzurbock/SmartThings-BigTalker/issues
First off, great work on the app.
Unfortunately I seem to not get it to work properly. I correctly installed everything, and started testing a few scenarios, but I am having the following issues:
My Samsung R6 speakers get triggered correctly, but with a delay of 20-30 seconds. The door is long closed after the “Door has been opened” announcement comes out.
After having set this first rule, I dont know how to remove it. When I select “configure”, the app looks like nothing has been configured in the first place (even tho the door rule above still runs), so effectively I find no way to remove it.
@rayzurbock - I just upgraded from my hacked 1.1.8a2 (to stop music resume bug) to 1.1.8 final but soon enough a door opening and closing right away caused music to start playing on my dedicated BigTalker Sonos. Is there anything I can provide you to figure out what is going on?
Can you enable debug logging in the app, then pull up live logging in the IDE and reproduce the issue then send me the Big Talker logs in a private message?
