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Triggering EVENTS with Alexa

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    #16
    I have Echo triggering events using the virtual device "turn on" command and it works quite well. Is there any progress on getting HomeSeer to speak through Echo. I'm in a remote location 6 months of the year with my Echos and want to hear HomeSeer responses. If I'm connected with HS3Touch with my smart phone I get HomeSeer reponses through my phone.

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      #17
      I actually like using virtual devices to trigger events. I think it gives you much better control. You can somewhat pass a button select to a virtual device but you can't to and event since events don't allow a conditions to be passed. However there are some issues that would need to be addressed.

      Right now I can say think like, "Alexa, Office On" or "Alexa, Office Off" but I can't say "Alexa Office Cleanup" even though my "Office" virtual device has an On, Off and Cleanup button. I'm fairly sure that Alexa can handle this since I've seen other Hubs be able to use a device with more than an Off or On.

      Actually we have the same problem with "Last" when you try to say something like, "Alexa, Ceiling Light Last" when you can say "Alexa, Ceiling Light On" or "Alexa, Ceiling Light Off". We're also going to need the option to set colors on lights using Alexa and we know she can since she does it with Phillip Hues.

      You can do this with the native HS voice control since it looks at whatever you enter into the button names but Alexa Smart Home is not looking at that field but is looking at the Control Use field and we can't do anything with it so we're stuck with it's limited options.

      Hopefully HS has addresses this in HS3 update for Alexa version 3.
      HomeSeer Version: HS3 Standard Edition 3.0.0.548
      Linux version: Linux auto 4.15.0-72-generic #81-Ubuntu SMP Tue Nov 26 12:20:02 UTC 2019 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
      Number of Devices: 484 | Number of Events: 776

      Enabled Plug-Ins: 3.0.0.13: AirplaySpeak | 2.0.61.0: BLBackup
      3.0.0.70: EasyTrigger | 1.3.7006.42100: LiftMaster MyQ
      4.2.3.0: mcsMQTT | 3.0.0.53: PHLocation2 | 0.0.0.47: Pushover 3P
      3.0.0.16: RaspberryIO | 3.0.1.262: Z-Wave

      Z-Net version: 1.0.23 for Inclusion Nodes
      SmartStick+: 6.04 (ZDK 6.81.3) on Server

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        #18

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          #19
          I wish it supported 'toggle'.

          Please tell me I am missing this functionality.

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            #20
            If you click "add voice command" in the event options it will show up as an alexa scene. Much easier than creating a bunch of virtual switches.

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              #21
              Hi guys. New here, so bear with me.

              I managed to make Alexa work with my lights and receptacles, but I would like to use events, of course. My question is:

              1) After more than two years since the last post, I assume a lot may have changed, so is there a way to call an event like using on and off? Is it possible to make an event and it would work like a switch on and off?. Example: when I want to watch a movie, lights go dim, projector turns on, receiver turns on, thermostat goes on etc. This is an event ON. The event OFF would turn everything off. When I used VeraPlus, I had a scene controller that with a push of a button would do all that. HS does not support it. But Alexa would be more handy than the scene controller.

              What you guys more experienced would recommend?

              Thanks a lot for any clues here.

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                #22
                Originally posted by Alcaloide View Post
                Hi guys. New here, so bear with me.

                I managed to make Alexa work with my lights and receptacles, but I would like to use events, of course. My question is:

                1) After more than two years since the last post, I assume a lot may have changed, so is there a way to call an event like using on and off? Is it possible to make an event and it would work like a switch on and off?. Example: when I want to watch a movie, lights go dim, projector turns on, receiver turns on, thermostat goes on etc. This is an event ON. The event OFF would turn everything off. When I used VeraPlus, I had a scene controller that with a push of a button would do all that. HS does not support it. But Alexa would be more handy than the scene controller.

                What you guys more experienced would recommend?

                Thanks a lot for any clues here.
                I create virtual devices to trigger HS events with Alexa. For example I may create a virtual device called "Movietime". I'd create a corresponding event that is triggered when the device "Movietime" is changes to "on". Then I can tell Alex,"turn on Movietime" to trigger the event.

                You can go a step further and create a routine in Alexa to customize the verbiage. You can use "Alexa, it's time to watch a movie" to trigger the "Movietime virtual HS device which in turn triggers the event.

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                  #23
                  Originally posted by Alcaloide View Post
                  1) After more than two years since the last post, I assume a lot may have changed, so is there a way to call an event like using on and off? Is it possible to make an event and it would work like a switch on and off?. Example: when I want to watch a movie, lights go dim, projector turns on, receiver turns on, thermostat goes on etc. This is an event ON. The event OFF would turn everything off.
                  I've got some virtual devices that Alexa sees as just switches. I also have some HS3 events that track the state changes of those virtual devices. So I can say "Alexa, turn on projector". HS3 sees that via an event looking for device changes and becomes on. And in there I've got various other HS3 actions happening. Likewise, there's another event tracking the changes and becomes off state, and runs a whole other series of actions.

                  For some other things I track the state of a keypad button on a Lutron hybrid dimmer. If the button is pressed and it's after a certain time in the evening, then I have a whole series of lighting actions take place. Immediately extinguish certain lights, bring some others up to a specific dim level (but trigger a turn-off for them 2 minutes later), along with some 'clean up' actions to turn off a whole bunch of other things that might have been left on. This gives me a nice way to exit the home office at night and have it light me a path to bed, and shut everything off once I've likely made my way there.

                  I do use some of Lutron's built-in scene functions to take advantage of their ability to make a number of devices dim/raise together instead of them changing one-at-a-time. They're callable from HS3 via the add-on Lutron plug-in.

                  This lets me use the simple command structure of the Alexa system to trigger more sophisticated actions within HS3. This without having to use the "Alexa, tell homeseer..." syntax.

                  Note, what shows up in the "Device Name:" field for a device DOES NOT have to be the same as what appears in the "Voice Command:" field. I've got some devices that have properly punctuated names, like "Bill's desk" or "Bill's reading lamp". Their Alexa voice command names as "Bills desk" and "Bills Reading". This way Alexa doesn't get confused but anything that shows a readable label for them also reads correctly.

                  Another simple use of a virtual device pairs with a 'real' device. I have a very large HP8100N 11x17 printer. HS3 has two devices for it. One is the real Lutron appliance module that controls power to it, named "Office Printer". The other is a virtual device named "The Beast" that is set up as a Linked Device to "Office Printer". This way we can use either name to turn it on/off. At some point I want to add some code that tracks the state of the print spooler that feeds this printer and automagically turn it on/off based on available print jobs in the queue. On my to-do list..

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                    #24
                    Thanks for your responses, guys. I am trying to learn here and those ideas will come in handy. Appreciated.

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