[NO LONGER SUPPORTED] Ask Alexa

Looking at this code, it appears it uses the standard thermostat commands…so there is actually no reason it shouldn’t work.

In your settings section, do you have the Nest functionality turned on? It shouldn’t matter, but I would give that a try if you haven’t yet. It obviously has to do with the device type as it worked well before…Can you go back and just verify? Either way I would recommend going to the newer device handler…it has a nicer interface and is based on the code you sent me (but does give temp readings).

Oh I am sure I did something stupid that screwed things up. Everything worked, I could asked for the status of the thermostat no issue, the only problem was the voice report it didn’t announce the temperature of the thermostat.

I installed the new device type you recommended. Again it works great except for the voice report. Now it’s even more catastrophic: “The target Lambda application returned a failure response”

I deleted and recreated the voice macro getting the same error… :frowning:

Hmmm…do you have the latest Ask Alexa code (2.1.6a)? Not sure what keeps messing with this, but unless you changed the code for either of these it sounds like more of an issue either with DTH or Amazon…these errors just don’t start because you create a macro.

That being said, send a screenshot of the voice macro you are having issues with and I can test it on my system.

I have released version 2.1.7, which includes among other things, the ability to use flash briefings with Ask Alexa.

I have updated the docs here with instructions on setting up the flash briefing skill:
http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=Ask_Alexa#Flash_Briefing

So I finally broke down and went through the steps to install this the other night. I just wanted to be able to ask Alexa what the Ecobee temperature was now instead of guessing at how much I had to adjust the temperature to make it kick on. Once I discovered the Macros section, this application is both incredibly simple to work with and incredibly robust. I’ve already decided I need to throw together a quick HTML doc or something that I can easily access which has a list of my echo commands now. Very impressive work.

One peculiarity I’ve noticed that I haven’t been able to find a reason for yet though. When I say, “Alexa, ask Jarvis to color the living room lights purple”, it does perform the exact action I’m expecting. But the voice feedback from the command says something along the lines of “I’m setting the living room lights to purple at a brightness of zero percent”

I can’t figure out where that zero is coming from. They seem to come on at their previous brightness setting, which of course is usually 100%. Is this just a default piece of feedback on it that it expects both a color setting and a brightness setting within the context?

This is what I’ve done with mine… which is horribly out of date…

I found that this weekend and will be posting a new version by Friday…

Also, regarding the HTML doc, this is the second time I have heard that this week…I am curious what everyone would like to see on that, as it would be a rather simple exercise to have another API rest point gather the information from the SmartApp and ‘publish’ a cheat sheet…Let me know some examples and I will code that in…either on this release or the next one.

Does AskAlexa work with honeywell Evohome? Is it possible to query the temperature of rooms with this as you can with the ecobee? I havent spent much time over the last couple of weeks on home automation as Ive had outdoor projects needing done before the winter, I think Ill need to revisit and reinstall the latest versions.

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If the thermostat integrates with SmartThings and uses standard calls to its device handler (Like setpoints, or temperature) then Ask Alexa should be able to read them.

Thanks Michael, Just gone looking for integration of Evohome into smartthings, and although it appears it (evohome) is officially supported, I can’t find it in the marketplace so I assume it may only be supported in the US…

Yeah…it has to integrate into SmartThings for Ask Alexa to see it. However, you might check native integration (via the Alexa app…not in SmartThings) to see if it is supported as well.

It is supported natively through Alexa, but no querying as far as Im aware. I can set temperatures, but not receive them, or indeed do any of the fancy stuff that having smartthings and your app would allow me to do. Im sure it may come eventually, but it can be like pulling teeth waiting for stuff to make it to the UK that is already working just fine in the US. (IFTTT on echo for example).

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On the HTML doc, my thought was just the convenience of having a full collection of commands, for native Alexa communication, as well as all installed skills in a single organized place. I just bought my echo maybe three weeks ago and remembering the impressive list of things it can do is a bit overwhelming, especially when adding in multiple new skills and then custom commands with Ask Alexa. (Plus I’m certain my girlfriend who isn’t involved at all in setup of any of this stuff is pretty behind the curve on what works)

It would definitely be a win if the most complex of those skills could pull its own commands list for reference. Would make a great starting point for a total home automation reference list.

I am looking into this…thanks for the direction on what you see this as.

Let me ask this…I know the advantage of the a personalized lists…but what if this was used in combination with the documentation: http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=Ask_Alexa#Ask_Alexa_Usage

Would that work?

In my case it’s entirely about the personalization. I was planning something like this before I’d ever discovered Ask Alexa, which just cemented my need for it. I imagine for the typical user, using what you already have put together would be great.

I actually spent some time putting in a cheat sheet option which I will release tomorrow…It will allow for some of what you are looking for, I hope…either way it is a good reference for what is in your environment.

I have been spending days trying to update Ask Alexa to the latest version.

I keep getting the same error: “Access token not defined. Ensure OAuth is enabled in the SmartThings IDE.”

I re-enabled OAuth, deleted the app and reinstalled it and enabled OAuth, still getting the same error…

I did updated the lambda code with the new STappID and STtoken

Any idea what else I missed?

Awesome :grinning:

Go into the about section of the app…Do you see that error there or do you see both the access token and Oauth?