[NO LONGER SUPPORTED] Ask Alexa

Are you talking about the SIP based device to device calling via the app. If so I have tried. But on the app they detect carrier and location based on SIM and disable the service. So I need to try and spoof which is on my to do list but haven’t done it yet. Any specific reason for the ask
And I tested the http and it works. Thanks so much. I haven’t got http to work when user and password authentication is required. Trying different formats of entering the user info in the app but haven’t nailed it yet. Any ideas?
Thanks

Did you have to do anything to get the icon to show in the middle of the app. I read that when you launch the app it just does it. I’m not sure I have the right version as I had to download the apk. Not available in Canada store.

Can you share a screenshot of which icon you are referring to?

I can’t. It only shows if you have the features. It’s the middle icon for messaging and calls.

Confirmed in our PM this is in the Alexa (Amazon) app…thanks!

Welcome to another Friday. Hope everyone survived the Amazon outage last night. I was a little paniced when I went to the Lambda site to only find my code gone (technically unavailable). Gotta love cloud computing!

There are no Ask Alexa updates this week, but I do want to address a couple items. First, partner updates…

Most people on the forum know Yves Racine (@yvesracine). He was one of the first developers that worked with me on direct integration with his Ecobee devices. He has added messaging queue capabilities to his other apps, including Ecobee Stats Generation, MyNeurio & MyNeurioAppliance Service Managers and MyAutomatic Service Manager. All of these apps will be Alexa output compatible as soon as Amazon releases their push notification. This brings Ask Alexa to over 15 integrations! What a great community!

Second is a question I got a lot regarding the video features of the new Amazon Show (shipping next week!!!). First, here is the annoucement: https://www.geekwire.com/2017/amazon-says-echo-show-will-connect-nest-ring-security-cameras-via-alexa/

So, the question is, how will this affect Ask Alexa…It won’t…I have done my research and unless I am missing something this is more about VENDORS of cameras being able to create skills that allow you to view the camera feeds. This will be NATIVE integration. If I were to add this to Ask Alexa, I am not sure how much value it would add…Just to have another way of viewing the stream? A LOT of this is speculation until I get the device in my hands.

However, I WILL be releasing an update to Ask Alexa when the Show is released on features I KNOW I can include…Most of these are less about FUNCTION and more about FIT/FINISH. For example, if any of you have watched your Amazon app you know there are the Skills cards that pop up. MOST skills out there do nothing more than just give you the detail that was spoken. As on version 2.2.6 I have included a nice little icon to “brand identify’ the Ask Alexa card from the other cards you may see. I expand on this with the next version by having each function have a different icon to signify WHAT was referenced. So, activating switch will show a different icon than a macro execution.

Again, not world changing, but visually appealing. The other feature has to do with video, but I will hold off on giving much more information as I need to get the Show in my hands to test its functionality.

Have a great weekend and enjoy!

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Did you get chance to have a look at passing variables? Only reason i ask is i’m holding off creating a load of macros and pistons for all the commands i want to be able to ask Alexa, channels, by name and number, mute, guide etc etc…

I think i can do this with four or five macros if i can get parameters to the pistons, vs maybe 30 odd without.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Oh, I CAN pass them…I am waiting for Adrian to come back to me with a confirmation on if he agrees with my approach. They will basically be in the data field and categorized like they are internally to the app (i.e. Command, Parameter, etc).

I guess I am not understanding, however, the use case you will be using this for…why pass them when you can set them up to perform functions directly in Ask Alexa?

I’ve written a piston which would take the parameter, which could be a channel number or name, and then from that convert into a channel number (if name provided) and then from the number create the json for the IR commnads to be sent to the IRcontroller web server. For example channel 111 would be the following

http://192.168.1.5/json?&plain=[{“type”:“panasonic”,“data”:“1000809”,“length”:48,“address”:16388},{“type”:“panasonic”,“data”:“1000809”,“length”:48,“address”:16388},{“type”:“panasonic”,“data”:“1000809”,“length”:48,“address”:16388}]

So the Ask Alexa macro would pass 111 from the skill, which would be converted into the above. If there is a way to do this in Ask Alexa it would save me doing in a piston.

The trick with making the channel number codes if there are so many combinations as there are so many channels, i think i would have to have a macro for each channel, plus a macro for channel names if i wanted them as well.

You might want to look at the Send HTTP commands in the control macro. If it is a simple REST API you are sending to that might do it for you. There is currently a bug in the code but I fixed that. If you want to test that route I recommend using this code: https://github.com/MichaelStruck/SmartThings/blob/master/Other-SmartApps/test/227b

Just curious what command you are using to send 111 to Ask Alexa…is there some custom text you are sending? That is already in the code (or should be) and you could just parse your code to look for numbers. This is a hack, but might work as well.

Getting the numbers to Ask Alexa would be easy as you say, but i think i’d have to have a macro for each channel wouldn’t I? Each channel number is a different series of codes

Ok…but again, how are you commanding Alexa? In other words, where is the 111 coming from? I need to know what form they will come in so I can export them properly.

I’ve added to the list macros ‘channel’ and it passes the number as a MPARAM.

So I say, 'Alexa ask kitchen tv to change the {channel} to {MParam}

Which means i would need to add all the channel numbers, but they would come through to Ask Alexa. I think if I added another utterance to be MacroOperation change {Macro} to {MNum} it would pass the numbwer without needing params?

Still learning here!

Are you looking to change my code to get this to work? The issue with that is every time I update you will have to find the lines of code and ‘fix’ them. Unfortunately, I am always going through my code and may change the function that may negatively affect you. In other words, are you looking for a ‘stock’ way to do this? Right now I am not 100% sure you will get what you are looking for with the code I have…most MNums will be filtered down to 0-100 and just adding an utterance doesn’t make this work (usually it does, but may not in this case). It also isn’t clear above what your macro name is (I assume it is Kitchen TV)…but again, an utterance just won’t give you what you are looking for,.

There are ways to do this but I would have to rework some of the inputs to get them to work with your use case AND to keep the other pieces functional as well.

Let’s work offline as I still don’t get what happens after you do this…You are looking to send it to WebCoRE, and that is fine, but if we can do this internally it would certainly be an interesting use case. Is the real solution the have Harmony controls within Ask Alexa?

Let’s talk…send me a PM with your total workflow and I am sure we can figure this out…either as a hack or fully supported.

I’ve attached a copy of the piston, the idea it accepts the parameter number or name (requestedChannel in this piston) and determines what commands to send.

I’ve not filled in all the button codes as yet, and still wip. Again might not be the best way to achieve.

Crossed posts with my piston code. In effect, yes Harmony type functionality through Ask Alexa. Will put something together to try and explain through a sort of flow diagram and PM you. Thanks

How many channels are you looking to add? Quite honestly I have hundreds of channels, but I really only utilize a handful. If that is the case there might be a way to do this with a handful of macros and then a single piston that parses the actual name (instead of a number) to the channel.

I was thinking I would have a number of favourites by name, and then the option to say a number, which the piston deals with. I might have to ditch the numbers idea and stick with favourites.

Eh…if we solve this for one number, the rest will be easy if you have a WebCoRE piece to handle it.

If that’s the best way yep. I will PM you when i’ve put something together that covers it end to end.