FINALLY! HomeSeer => IFTTT => ALEXA!

[JimSpy]

It's about time. Check out Thomptronics new Alexa skill, "Notify Me." It purports to transmit TTS phrases received from IFTTT (and therefore Homeseer) to your Alexa, so that she can actually make announcement unprompted. So I'm guessing that whatever comes out of your HomeSeer speaker can now also be said by Alexa.

I'm just now seeing this; has anyone tried it?

[TC1]

Unless I'm missing something, this relies on a round-trip through the Internet?
I guess I'll never get the HS event announcement that Internet connectivity is down....

[mikee123]

Or it could be delayed by hours. IFTTT is not reliable or quick in my experience. Not something I would consider.

[TC1]

mikee123 , agreed. The main driver for me choosing HS for my HA controller is that at its core functionality doesn't depend on the Internet. I try to stay away from any Internet integrations that support real-time activity. If I ever do decide on TTS functionality for my house I'll stick to solutions that deliver over the local LAN, like the chromecast, HS Speaker Client, or SqueezePlayer solutions.

Just my strategy, everyone has different needs and priorities.

[MattL0]

I can imagine that type of situation:


tts from cloud to alexa:

-Kids wake up it’s time to go to school.

-they arrive at school at 1 pm

[tenholde]

I use the NotifyMe Alexa skill with HS very successfully. It does not, however, announce things via Alexa. It sends a notification to all of your Alexa Devices, similar to when a package arrives from Amazon (if enabled). The lights on the various Alexa devices turn on indicating you have a notification. You must ask Alexa to tell you what notifications are waiting for you.

This is, however, very useful for my house. I use it for the following for example: Remember to take the trash to the street (every Thursday at 6pm) The garage door is open (if door has been open for more than 30 minutes) Don't forget to water the flowers (every 8am).

I do not use IFTTT (which is terribly unreliable), but send a web request to the NotifyMe skill. It has been very reliable and responsive for me.

It is easy to register and enable the Notify Me skill, and it took me 20 minutes to write the HS script to send notifications to Notify Me. I'd be glad to share the script if anyone is interested.

[gelessor]

Sounds like a nice clean solution. Can you share the script? I'd certainly like to try it.

Thanks

[tenholde]

Public Sub Main(ByVal Parms As Object)
Dim ParmArray(10) As String
'' Extract script parameters into ParmArray()
ParmArray(0) = ""
If Parms.ToString.Contains("|") Then
ParmArray = Parms.ToString.Split(Convert.ToChar("|"))
Else
ParmArray(0) = Parms.ToString
End If
Dim Key As String = "amzn1.ask.account.xxxxxQWJWV7U7QA6FYWRNMCOSON3HQ2UMARJATSSQ H6ZES22AQFF54XTMQQXPAJJOJ753TFERFHWNUSOGxxxxxxxxxxJYGHHBXEZY3MA TXIM6NGV4BLVMS5ABPVNICO3S5LWLSOCF5URVQFSAGMOQULQOH34Y6QSIWM4 XPKFL6HAK4AZR4RL2247U55O6DQPRHCHKNGD23T2Exxxxxxxx"
Dim Notification = ParmArray(0)
Dim host As String = "https://api.notifymyecho.com"
Dim path As String = "/v1/NotifyMe?notification=" & Notification & "&accessCode=" & Key
Dim r As String
r = hs.GetURL(host, path, True, 443)
hs.WriteLog("SendToAlexa", r)
End Sub

Change Key to your own personal key

[JimSpy]

It does not, however, announce things via Alexa. It sends a notification to all of your Alexa Devices, similar to when a package arrives from Amazon (if enabled). The lights on the various Alexa devices turn on indicating you have a notification. You must ask Alexa to tell you what notifications are waiting for you.

"Oh. Well that's DIFFERENT!

Never mind."

--Emily Litella

[JimSpy]

By the way, I've been using Alexa -> IFTTT to trigger HS Events, without the slightest delay - ever. It's been very reliable, and when it hasn't been, it's always been because of some kind of problem with the MyHS server.

[tenholde]

MyHs is the weak link

[RogerL]

Hi tenholde, you seem to have a great grasp on this Alexa skill,.
I have an odd question..... so I just started using the NotifyMyEcho skill, like you said the notifications have to be asked for and not just announced, which I like for reminders and such in case I don't hear just a random announcement.... but anyway I was looking at the script you are using over the standard script provided by Thomptronics.

Sub Main(ByVal notification As String)
  dim accessCode = "ACCESS_CODE"
  dim host = "https://api.notifymyecho.com"
  dim path = "/v1/NotifyMe?notification="+notification+"&accessCode="+accessCo de
  dim result = hs.GetURL(host, path, TRUE, 443)
  hs.WriteLog("msg", result)
End Sub

and does your version allow the use of multiple parameters separated by a pipe? does this allow the use of replacement variables?
if not, what are you using the multiple parameters for?

I am hoping to find away to put in dynamic content for the notification. like say a temperature or humidity level.
I know in a speakevent or whatever i can use $$DSR:409: (current thermostat temperature for example) and get the numerical result.
How would I get the numerical value passed to the notification string?

thanks in advance for any help.

[tenholde]

Hi tenholde, you seem to have a great grasp on this Alexa skill,.
I have an odd question..... so I just started using the NotifyMyEcho skill, like you said the notifications have to be asked for and not just announced, which I like for reminders and such in case I don't hear just a random announcement.... but anyway I was looking at the script you are using over the standard script provided by Thomptronics.

Sub Main(ByVal notification As String)
dim accessCode = "ACCESS_CODE"
dim host = "https://api.notifymyecho.com"
dim path = "/v1/NotifyMe?notification="+notification+"&accessCode="+accessCo de
dim result = hs.GetURL(host, path, TRUE, 443)
hs.WriteLog("msg", result)
End Sub

and does your version allow the use of multiple parameters separated by a pipe? does this allow the use of replacement variables?
if not, what are you using the multiple parameters for?

I am hoping to find away to put in dynamic content for the notification. like say a temperature or humidity level.
I know in a speakevent or whatever i can use $$DSR:409: (current thermostat temperature for example) and get the numerical result.
How would I get the numerical value passed to the notification string?

thanks in advance for any help.

The code I posted uses a generic sequence to handle parameters. It then only references the first parameter, so no, it does not use multiple parameters. In my events that I call the script, I just send it a single string.

[tenholde]

Hi tenholde, you seem to have a great grasp on this Alexa skill,.
I have an odd question..... so I just started using the NotifyMyEcho skill, like you said the notifications have to be asked for and not just announced, which I like for reminders and such in case I don't hear just a random announcement.... but anyway I was looking at the script you are using over the standard script provided by Thomptronics.

Sub Main(ByVal notification As String)
dim accessCode = "ACCESS_CODE"
dim host = "https://api.notifymyecho.com"
dim path = "/v1/NotifyMe?notification="+notification+"&accessCode="+accessCo de
dim result = hs.GetURL(host, path, TRUE, 443)
hs.WriteLog("msg", result)
End Sub

and does your version allow the use of multiple parameters separated by a pipe? does this allow the use of replacement variables?
if not, what are you using the multiple parameters for?

I am hoping to find away to put in dynamic content for the notification. like say a temperature or humidity level.
I know in a speakevent or whatever i can use $$DSR:409: (current thermostat temperature for example) and get the numerical result.
How would I get the numerical value passed to the notification string?

thanks in advance for any help.

Please see: https://forums.homeseer.com/forum/de...-runs-a-script to help you add a call within your script to process replacement variables

[RogerL]

The code I posted uses a generic sequence to handle parameters. It then only references the first parameter, so no, it does not use multiple parameters. In my events that I call the script, I just send it a single string.

Ok, i guess i was confused by the pipe references and the array.

thanks for clarifying that