Tasker, NFC, Voice Control Project

General Discussion
1

For those of you who may be interested, I’ve started a project to outline the steps for getting Tasker, NFC and Voice control working with SmartThings on Android.

I’d love to hear your feedback about what you could see doing with this functionality. The sky is really the limit when it comes to Tasker integration.

And before someone says it…yes, I’m aware it would be awesome to get this to work with sensors as well…I just don’t know if I have the ability to make that happen. I’m happy to help where I can, though, just let me know what I can do.

BTW, thanks to @johnessey for pushing me to get this tutorial done. It’s been on my to-do list for a while now. :slight_smile:

2

Great write up, thanks. I remember seeing somewhere how to add smart app endpoints into the mix, but can’t find it now.

3

@coryds if you find it, let me know and I’ll add it to the project.

4

@csader Ha. I was hoping you’d know. Also, I just noticed you can string voice commands together…that is awesome!

5

@coryds, yeah sorry I don’t remember. Last thing I remember was @megapixel saying “Yes, you can” but I don’t remember him outlining how to do it.

6

Wow is this cool. I’ve authorized every switch and plug in my house as an end point. After setting this up I can now voice control individual lights, rooms and even my fireplace. Now my wife and kids finally think this is cool :slight_smile:
Cheers,
Scott

7

@av8rdude, glad you were able to get it setup! Once you’ve had some time to think about use-cases, let me know what you come up with.

8

@csader One issue I’m having problems with is one command I have setup to turn off 3 different switches. One of the switches always fails to turn off. At first I thought it was maybe because it was sending the commands one after the other too quickly so I put in a one second wait between each one, but no luck.

9

Hmmm @coryds, is it always the same one? I’ve never had any issues with it, and I tried it with 6 or 7 lights and my door locks all in one task.

10

@csader It seems to be which ever one I put at the bottom of the task list. This only seems to happen when I have them all on the same task. If I seperate them into 3 tasks and say “Lights 1 Lights 2 Lights 3” for example it works as expected.

11

@coryds Weird. Can you try adding a 4th and see if the first 3 successfully turn off, but the 4th doesn’t?

12

Hmm, good idea. I’ll give it a shot.

13

No idea why that would work. Just grasping at straws.

14

Well, I wasnt able to test that because it randomly started working. Hopefully it’s not an inconsistent problem…I hate troubleshooting those.

15

After setting up all my things in Tasker with an On, Off and Toggle tasks I have found an easier way. Instead of going through the lengthy process of cutting and pasting, etc inside tasker you can make a new virtual switch in smartthings to control groups of lights.

  • Make a new device (on/off switch tile). This will show up as a normal switch at your location.
  • Then use the app virtual 3 way to control the real items you want.
  • Authorize the endpoint for the virtual switch.
  • Setup the On, Off and Toggle for the virtual switch in Tasker.

This is much easier than setting up every switch in tasker. Just setup a few virtual switches and modify them in STs.

Cheers,
Scott

16

Great idea @av8rdude!

17

Has anyone made any headway with Tasker and ST? I would really like to see some apps that I can add to ST’s that take advantage of Tasker.

18

I’ve used takser in conjunction with the api endpoint to do basic controls (on/off/toggle). You can also use virtual switches with the endpoint to do other things. I have a virtual switch that turns all my lights on/off. You should also be able to create a virtual switch to change modes as well

19

What about using it other than using it with endpoints? Like perhaps an actual app that is customizable through ST app?

20

@csader, do you happen to have a new link to your tutorial, because your current link seems to be dead? Thanks.