[NO LONGER SUPPORTED] Ask Alexa

Was this running before and suddenly stopped, or is this a new installation? When does this happen? When Alexa is given a command verbally or are you in the simulator.

It APPEARS your OAuth is correct…It wouldn’t hurt, however, to reset your token (Settings Area) and then re-pasting it in your Lambda.

Let me know a bit more detail, including any errors from Live Logging as this appears to be an issue within your IDE.

For this Friday’s installment of “What is going on in Michael’s brain”, I have to say the Amazon hit a homerun with the Amazon Show. The more I play with this, the more I realize that this is almost the perfect home control terminal. While the original Echo ‘concept’ doesn’t need a screen, it is amazing how the screen ADDS to the experience, but doesn’t replace it. While I am not sure this was Amazon’s intention, one of the new Shows in the house has replace our bedside clock. Be sure to look under the settings are there is an auto ‘do not disturb’ that dims the screen and just puts a clock on the face without affecting the alarms. And, as a little self-promotion, be sure to update your Ask Alexa to the latest version to take advantage of the visual cards that are presented with the new Show.

While there is no Ask Alexa software updates this week, I plan a minor one next week. While minor, it adds some VERY powerful features to the WebCoRE integration that you can’t get anywhere else. With just a few tweaks to the code (and a few more utterances), @dham was able to build a dynamic television channel changer without having to purchase a Harmony. I think he might be an engineer, and he spent a considerable amount of time documenting it here: http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=Using_Parameters_with_Ask_Alexa_and_webCoRE

Anyway, these updates will be in the next version and allow anyone with a DIY program to possibly add voice simply with Ask Alexa and WebCoRE. All praise goes to @ady624 for producing something so powerful for the community.

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You were correct. I didnt update the url in the code variables. Thanks for the help!

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Great…sounds like it is working then? Great!

Heh, I still managed to be thoroughly confused for a moment there, but just had an AHA! moment when I finally noticed the voice reports button under extensions. Should be a breeze from there. Thank you sir!

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No worries…the documentation, while VERY comprehensive, is very long…so no harm no foul…At the end of the day if you get it going that is the most important part.

Hi and firstly a massive thank you for this MichaelS

I read through quite a lot of comments but there are many. im looking for a little help if possible peeps

i have followed to the best of my ability and gone over my steps but believe my issues lay within the github copy paste for the custom slots. I had issues like FTYPE not recognised and then had to delete out one or two lines from the utterrences for it to allow me to save.

i also have been away from ST for a while and may need a hint on what info i need to upload like logs etc.

basically im at the point of having the app installed with some menus missing i think and my kit not responding to the voice commands such as alexa ask ST blah blah etc

Thank you in advance! sorry had a long day but ill try my upmost to be assisted and give whatever details be needed.

Martin

I just got all of my old voice macros working again. Digging the aliases btw. I had a little more issues with Ask Alexa recognizing what I was saying than with built in Echo commands. That frustration was actually one of the reasons I hadn’t gotten around to doing the updates when it stopped working. Being able to plug in the things she’s mistakenly hearing when needed is fantastic.

Thanks again sir. And thanks for all the great work on this.

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Martin,

Ok…let;'s start with the app…when you say ‘menus are missing’…which ones? If you could send some screenshots that would help a bit on what you are seeing or not.

Regarding the FTYPE…are you seeing this in the developer area? There shouldn’t be anything with the label FTYPE in there.

Fortunately, the hardest part (getting the 3 areas setup) is done…I am betting you are close but will need a bit more data to assist.

Excellent…glad you got it working…And yes…the Aliases are probably the saving grace of all of this! If you read further up a person was saying goodnight, but Alexa was translating it to Good Night…technically two different sayings to her…setting up an alias allows you to get around the bipolar nature of Alexa sometimes…

Let me know if you run into any issues.

HI michael thanks for the fast response.

Its just the sub menus for the child programmes i seem to miss. I did installl them but not published as told. This probably isnt important at the mo.
i can see amazon alexa uk in ST logging but not ask alexa. Maybe this is due to no commands being executed so far.
Yes the FTYPE was in the amazon dev site as i inputed the schema and slot types. I did them as ordered on the wiki. Ill have to post up some shots now

Ok…all of this is rather strange, but I may simply have issues visualizing what you are seeing. Some important notes:

  1. For the things like Voice or Weather reports you DO need to load in the code to the IDE…while I recommend not publishing them, I also ‘don’t follow my own advice’ and still publish this…this only makes a difference in the SmartThings marketplace…it will not show unpublished items, but even if you publish it you can’t install it from there…only the main app uses the child apps.
  2. Based on your screenshots, the issue is probably in your intent file…I stand corrected from above there is a variable called FTYPE, but it requires the slot LIST_OF_FOLLOWUPS…Do you have slots set up? If not, you will need to do that per this section: http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=Ask_Alexa#Custom_Slot_Information

Let me know as you get further.

Thanks

i used the url from my app for the token id etc and double checked these. I found the 8 slots you spoke of in my page and inputted these complete with the fields needed or ‘none’ where applicable.

I definitely believe the intent file is the issue and possibly others on that page. I did the schema followed slots and so on. Im unsure if i will get get conflicts now so may delete it and start again for the dev page.

The ftype is from the raw wiki data links. I dont have a list of followups. ill upload my slots and data screengrab here

If this is a first time install, it is intents, slots, then utterances…However, a tip if it works is to save after the intents before you add anything else…

Otherwise starting over at this point will clear the slate and hopefully make it go smooth.

Can i just confirm Michael… i use the raw data for intent, my slots from url and raw data for the utterances please?

Or is this why my intent doesn’t line up with the slots if that makes sense

edit: I have deleted the skill in amazon dev age and installed new with new data. i pasted the raw intent data, inserted my 8 slots with sub data and paste the raw utterances. here is the outcome

Error: There was a problem with your request: Unknown slot type ‘LIST_OF_FOLLOWUPS’ for slot ‘FType’

my alexa app is set to uk english and the dev skill set to uk english with destination ireland. i didnt see the nee for another language setup unless im wrong.

Thank you so much for persevering with me!

Let’s start from the beginning:

Be sure you are using the correct Intent. Copy this: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MichaelStruck/SmartThingsPublic/master/smartapps/michaelstruck/ask-alexa.src/Intent%20Schema

Paste it in the correct area at the top of the developer’s section. The slots will come from the URL that the app produces. I recommend doing this on a computer instead of your handheld if you aren’t doing that…Create the slots ONE AT A TIME…be sure to hit UPDATE every single time you go to another slot. Then simply paste the utterances from here: https://github.com/MichaelStruck/SmartThingsPublic/blob/master/smartapps/michaelstruck/ask-alexa.src/Sample%20Utterances

If this doesn’t work send me a PM…If you get frustrated with it I can do it with your login information, but that is a last resort as I don’t like having that information as I get blamed later when their lights go on and off at night :slight_smile:

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Quick question, is it possible to modify how Alexa speaks mid announcement? For example, have you noticed how creepy Alexa sounds when she whispers? I have a sleep macro I run at night and I have a custom acknowledgement that says “Good night, sleep tight. I promise not to kill you in your sleep tonight.” Think about how creepy it would sound she said the first sentence normal and the second in whisper mode…

I keep getting 'STapp" is not defined. I’m not sure what is going on. I’ve recopied the code numerous times and the area where this is suppose to be is not on line 26 where it shows in the wiki. Am I suppose to take something else out?

I created several random responses so I could use the %random1% variable. Where will I see the custom Text Field variables? They aren’t listed in the custom slot information and the incredibly helpful wiki doesn’t say.

Still trying to get a sense of the extensions.

You need to remove the // in front of it…technically, you should have pasted everything between the breaks but it appears you overwrote them and ended up remarking out the STAppID.