[NO LONGER SUPPORTED] Ask Alexa

Hello this is my first post and I had a questions that I couldn’t find an answer to. I have been trying to set a pin when arming or disarming my system but i can’t seem to figure it out. Can anybody please advise On how to do that. I have already completed setting up the password and included a pin on the ask alexa app but whenever I say “Alexa ask smartthings security disarm” it will go ahead and disarm the system instead of asking me for the password and avoid disarming the alarm. If this is working as expected then this is a huge hole as anybody could disarm your system at any time. Thanks in advance for any help on this.

There are two areas required for security…setting up the pin then under Mode/SHM/Routines you must turn on the use of the PIN on the specific function. This was put in as a PIN shouldn’t be enabled forced to be used for all items. Just the ones you want.

Let me know if that works for you.

For anyone that saw the schedules code change color in your IDE, I have updated it to B revision. Simply misspelling, but putting it out there just for those curious on why the color changed :smiley:

Well, thanks to Amazon I will be releasing a version of Ask Alexa this Friday that will implement virtual switch control over macros. This basically allows Ask Alexa to be equivalent to Alexa Helper, which is actually getting to be more relevant with Amazon releasing its Routines addition.

Don’t worry…Ask Alexa is still here and continues to evolve for those power users that don’t mind invocation words; I am just attempting to bridge a gap that is now solvable with routines.

Because of this change I will move the compound commands to the next release as those require a LOT more utterances and I hate releasing apps that are half baked.

Look forward to Friday!

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Michael, do I overwrite the test version I have? Also never got the Slack request. Thanks.

Yes…when Friday rolls around you will overwrite the version you have.

You should see the invite today.

Thank you got the invite.

Sneak preview of how I have been using the new version of Ask Alexa and the routines. Basically, depending on the day of the week I set a mode so the house knows if it needs to wake me up in the morning or allow me to sleep in. Before I would say “Alexa, tell SmartThings GoodNight” to do this. Now it is simple “Alexa, Good Night”.

http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=Ask_Alexa#Good_Night_Weekdays.2FWeekends_.28Native.2C_Non-Invocation.29

At this time I have a Routine in Alexa called Security which activates a momentary button in SmartThings. This button controls a WebCoRe Piston which has a number of lights in it. I also have a room in Ask Alexa called security with the same lights in it. How would I convert this to your second method and not use the WebCoRe Piston? Of course using the new app when released? I looked at the WiKi and got a little confused.

Quite honestly, you may not need to change a thing; I am not attempting to position Ask Alexa like WebCoRE. If you didn’t have WebCoRE I would say you would create a macro with the switches you want to turn on and simply trigger that using the virtual switch. However, unless your objective is to eliminate the need for WebCoRE, I would say if it works, keep it!

The main objective of the next app is to allow you to use the routines to possibly run items more efficiently using the native tools. However, you will NEVER get the power of Ask Alexa with the native tools directly…especially the reporting. However, for me, the “Ask SmartThings” invocation sometimes got in the way of accomplishing some simple stuff…Using the example from the wiki I can now shutdown my house at night and still have the convenience of having the mode set based on the current day.

Hope that all makes sense.

OK I don’t want to use WebCoRe so I created a Macro, but how do I point it to the virtual switch?

You can’t…sorry I wasn’t clear but THAT is the functionality that comes Friday…I tend to write my documentation before I release something :smiley:

Sorry Michael, you were clear, but I tend to ask my questions early. I like to plan.

hehe…no worries…Glad you are asking the questions!

@MichaelS

Loving Ask Alexa! It’s the best thing since sliced bread (yeah, I’m old…)!

A couple of issues that I am having and am wondering whether it’s a bug or something I configured wrong.

The first (top) issue is that when I ask for the thermostat status, it gives the humidity twice and mispronounces the second Humidity (humdity).

The second issue (bottom) is when a door is open, it spells the door that’s open instead of just saying it That’s really annoying! :wink:

Can you tell me what I’m doing wrong or is it a bug?

Thanks for all your hard work on Ask Alexa!

Mike

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@runner1717 Thanks for the comments! Love it!

Regarding your items:

Yep…found this myself and it will be fixed tomorrow!

That one is rather strange. I THINK I know what is happening, but need to be sure…Can you send a screenshot of the page where you have the West Garage Door Set up and I will try to reproduce it and fix it before the release tomorrow?

Thanks!

@MichaelS

You da man!

I think I “fixed” the second issue. I had the “West Garage Door” configured in the Smartapp as an “open/close/status” sensor. I moved both doors to “Door Controls (Open/Close/Status)” and now it works properly. Not sure if sensors are still supposed to “spell” instead of “pronounce” though, so if you want to reproduce it, put something in the “open/close sensor” field.

A dumb question, when you do make a revision, is it to the Lambda code or the smart app itself? If you were to update the smartapp, how do I upgrade that? Or is it automatic?

Thanks for the help! Looking forward to getting rid of Humdity… :wink:

Mike

It is not supposed to spell it no matter what, but I was just looking at the code and THINK I know what was causing it. If you can, please send me a screenshot from your app of the config that was forcing it to spell and I can get it fixed.

It depends…most of the ‘logic’ is in the smartapp…so that is what gets changed the most. Lambda only changes when there is a significant update to the input voice (i.e. adding more items or combinations of nouns and verbs). The update tomorrow is JUST IDE components.

@MichaelS

Duh, I forgot the smartapp came from the code in IDE. Brain fart…

Not sure if this is the screen shot you want. This configuration works. When I had it under door controls, it didn’t.

Let me know if you need anything else.

Mike

Sent you a PM…need you to try some modified code.