Amazon Echo and ISY

[blueman2]

 

     I too would continue to use the emulator. I've just aquired the Echo Dot and plan to add it to the theater room to add voice control to my Harmony controller system.

 

I'm a Pi noob and had everything setup (minus Harmony control) and working great with the Echo for the past 9 months or so. But now it looks like I need to start fresh and upgrade my Pi to Jessie and then reinstall everything again from there in order to add control of my Harmony. 

 

I'll patiently wait and see what happens in this thread.

 

 

 

I still use the emulator too. I don't have the harmony hub though and haven't updated it in a while. Still works well.

 

 

As jratliff points out, the combination of BWSSystems ha-bridge 1.1.0 and Barry's AWS_ Bridge 5.0.63 still works great.  Has been completely bullet proof in my home for many many months.  Echo never misses a command and responds promptly.  So I would encourage people who are control freaks and/or just want to get more hands on with your own Pi based emulator to use the software listed in my sig below.  But certainly the ISY portal and skill offering has progressed alot and offers a great solution to those who just want it to work and can live with less customized integration.  

Edited May 23, 2016 by blueman2

[barrygordon]

I have not stopped using the RPi's in my home. I just have switched emphasis.  I developed a Proxy system for the RPi that is more of a back end to the ISY as opposed to a front end. Ity handles two things for me

 

All IR for the house runs through it as TCP commands.  It then handles all the communications with any Global Cache device on my network. All the necessary timing tables for the commands are kept on the RPi along with macros. All It takes to send IR is a TCP string containing the Name of the Global cache (blank if there is only one, the name of the port as either an integer or the GC connection number as in "4:1" the name of the device the IR is destined for and the name of the specific command to send. an Actual command looks like "DOIR House,4:1,STB, Power" where STB is the mnemonic name for the set top box connected to port 1 (connection 4:1).  Al interaction with the GC devices is handled by the RPi.  there is a companion PC based program that will build GC timing strings from either Pronto HEX, IRP, and several other formats.

 

If the ISY needs to control a specialized device, it can send a TCP command such as "Theater On" to the special device which needs to be able to deal with it.  The ISY merely puts out a simple network command such as "Theater On" which then gets properly sent along based on what the initialization file of the proxy contains. The Echo's interface to the ISY network resources through simple program names.

 

 

 

I moved all IR and special devices I wish to control by 

[blueman2]

Barry, you are truly an IR guru!  Sounds like an amazing home setup you have.  

 

BTW, I communicated with BWSSystems and they said others have reported issues with the Harmony Hub linking to the HA-Bridge emulator and they are looking into it.  Harmony made some change recently that broke the linking ability.  But it still works the other way (you can control the Harmony with the Echo/ISY, but cannot control the ISY with the Harmony).  

[barrygordon]

I will hold off doing anything on the config program until I hear from you that BWS has responded to the Harmony changes.  Is there any where that harmony has a document That describes what and how they control devices?  in particular do they control devices using TCP? if they do and I can get their protocol it hould not be too hard to build something that will allow a harmony to properly deal with the ISY with full feedback

[blueman2]

Barry,

 

I was just looking into that.  If they have any sort of REST interface, that would make things much easier.  I will let you know, and also what I hear back from BWS. 

 

Thanks again!

Edited May 24, 2016 by blueman2

[Scottmichaelj]

Barry,

 

I was just looking into that. If they have any sort of REST interface, that would make things much easier. I will let you know, and also what I hear back from BWS.

 

Thanks again!

BWS Systems answers their github page quite fast.

[blueman2]

BWS Systems answers their github page quite fast.

Yes, they (or he, I think he is a sole developer) are amazingly great to work with.  He replied back within a day on the issue regarding the Harmony Hub no longer being able to discover the HA-bridge emulator.  He is working on it, but no ETA.  

[Scottmichaelj]

Yes, they (or he, I think he is a sole developer) are amazingly great to work with. He replied back within a day on the issue regarding the Harmony Hub no longer being able to discover the HA-bridge emulator. He is working on it, but no ETA.

Same thing when I asked for TCP raw commands to be implemented. Using the emulator works well for me.

[blueman2]

Same thing when I asked for TCP raw commands to be implemented. Using the emulator works well for me.

Yes, this is one of the reasons I want to move to 2.0.7 version of the HA-bridge.  It has amazing flexibility in terms of interfacing to just about anything!  And BWSSystems, as you say, is incredibly great to work with and very responsive.    

[blueman2]

Update.  I found the issue with my HA-bridge not being discovered as a device on my Harmony Hub.  When starting the HA-bridge, I was using $_IP variable to set the local IP address of the bridge emulator (the Raspberry Pi in my case).  But for some reason it was not working.  So I just used the full xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx IP address in the startup command and all works fine.  

 

So I am back in business.  Only issue now is that Barry's AWSconfig does not support the HA-bridge-2.0.7.jar version, but is not a big issue.  I will continue to run 2 HA-bridge-v1.1.0 instances with barry's tool, and one HA-bridge-v2.0.7 for any special needs and manage that from its web page.  

 

So I am back in business!  Well, that is, until I eventually move over to the ISY portal.  

Edited June 2, 2016 by blueman2

[barrygordon]

I put a corrected version for HA-Bridge 2.x.x on my web site (the-gordons.net).  It has an exe and an ini. Replace your exe with the new one. Check the included ini file by comparing it against yours.  I added some debugging changes, that affect what goes in the log file.

[blueman2]

Thanks once again, Barry!! You are amazingly generous with your time and skills, especially given that you are not really using this tool yourself anymore.  

[rossarmstrong]

Thanks again Barry for your time and effort.

 

I rebuilt my pi with the latest Ha-bridge 2.0.7 and updated your configuration tool and ini file.

 

I'm only running the HA-Bridge for its support of the Harmony Hub since I found I don't really need multiple emulators.

 

I get the following when I start up your app.

 

 

Below is the log

 

 

AWS Configuration System version: 5.0.77 Started at 06/04/2016 09:51:26

AWS Emulator Configuration System is starting, Debug mode = All

 

PnP A UDI ISY994 was declared to be at location 192.168.1.45:33317

PnP System located 1 Emulator at adress 192.168.1.75:8080

HRM BWS Systems HA Bridge version 2.0.7

HRM Harmony Initialization Process Beginning, time now is 09:51:26

HRM Editing response to reduce complexity for the parser

HRM Editing response to reduce complexity for the parser

HUE Initialization Process Beginning, time now is 09:52:12

ISY Initialization Process Beginning, time now is 09:52:14

ISY Starting the construction of ISY_myFolders, time=09:52:19

ISY Construction of ISY_myFolders is complete, folder count=12

ISY Starting the construction of ISY_myDevices table, time=09:52:19

ISY Construction of the ISY_myDevices is complete, Total Devices = 160, Registered Devices = 160

ISY Starting the construction of ISY_myScenes, time=09:52:19

ISY Construction of ISY_myScenes is complete, Scene count=58

ISY Starting the construction of ISY_Programs table, time=09:52:19

ISY Construction of the ISY_Programs is complete, Program count=79

ISY Starting the construction of ISY_Variables table type=Integer, time=09:52:19

ISY Starting the construction of ISY_Variables table type=State, time=09:52:19

ISY Construction of ISY_myVariables is complete, Variable count=17

ISY Initialization Process, Completed, time now is 09:52:19

MSG Setup complete, System Operational.

***********************************************************************************************************************

 

 

The app shows everything associated with the ISY with no problem.

 

However, the Harmony does not list any activiies. But the devices and bridges I've set up are shown.

 

Perhaps I have something configured incorrectly.

[barrygordon]

ross,

 

I need a copy of the AWS_Config.log file. Make the same run after changing your ini file to have:

 

[HUE HUB]

Process = true

 

[Logging]

All = true

 

Zip up the log file and attach it to your post. With logging set to all=true, the processing will take longer as it has to write a detailed log file. Also send me the same screen snapshot as before if things do not work.

 

When you say the harmony does not list any activities, I assume you mean that in the upper right pane if you press the harmony activity button nothing shows.  That makes sense as the parsing has stopped, probably when doing the harmony activities. I will be able to tell when I see the detailed log.

[rossarmstrong]

Thanks for the prompt reply Barry.

 

Changes made and log collected.

 

Please let me know if you need additional info.

 

AWS_Alexa.zip

[barrygordon]

Looking at the log file you sent I do not see anything wrong.  I just posted a new version on my web site.

 

Look carefully at the ini file a lot has changed.  If the problem persists then set the JSON save option in the JSON Settings section to true.

 

This will produce a new file called AWS_JSON.txt. Send that file to me along with the log and I will be able to reproduce exactly what you have and should be able to figure out what is wrong..

[rossarmstrong]

Installed newest file with the same result.

 

I've attached my ini file for your review.

 

There currently is no JSON section listed so I wasn't sure what the code should be. Also, I needed to add the section HUE HUB and Process line as they were not originally there.

 

Any chance your latest ini is truncated and missing sections that were mistakenly removed in the revision process?

 

Thanks again for your time.

AWS_config.zip

[blueman2]

rossarmstrong,

 

Looking at your log file from prior post #1165, everything seems fine and it says that AWS-config launched.  But the image with the parsing error messages in post #1163 shows it crashing early in the process and not starting.  Are you sure you included the right log file?  Not sure how the log can show the system launched just fine, yet the screen showing it crashed early in the process (during Harmony data read).  ???

Edited June 5, 2016 by blueman2

[rossarmstrong]

The error pops up early in the start process.

 

After selecting OK, the startup continues and finishes (error problems many versions ago always resulted in the app never finishing to start).

 

I can confirm that the log file is created each time the app the is started.

 

Looking at the error message, it doesn't seem to have words that match anything to do with my activities which is the only thing not showing up once the app finishes loading. It looks more like items associated with device commands.

 

Its just strange.

[rossarmstrong]

I will add that I notice the error pops up just as the script gets to the line:

 

"HRM getting list of activities from Harmony. . ."

 

Although I don't know exactly what the error message means, it appears that it is not able to properly segment all the data coming from the Harmony in order to read the list of activities properly.

 

Comparing the log section for the Harmony activities with the section for Harmony devices, I would have expected to see a list of activites following the lines associated with HRM Data.

 

Below is the list from the Devices section, there is nothing like this in the "Getting list of activities" section of the log - the next section of log recording (HUE initialization) starts right after the line:   DBG HRM Full message received, length=100155 bytes

 

 

 

HRM Editing response to reduce complexity for the parser

HRM Harmony System contains 13 devices

HRM Device(1): label = PS 3, id=12961157

HRM Device(2): label = VCR, id=12961156

HRM Device(3): label = Wii, id=12961154

HRM Device(4): label = HD DVD, id=12961152

HRM Device(5): label = Light Controller, id=12961158

HRM Device(6): label = Xbox 360, id=12961153

HRM Device(7): label = Sony PS4, id=16254444

HRM Device( : label = Marantz AV Receiver, id=27074162

HRM Device(9): label = erod Curtains, id=17126354

HRM Device(10): label = Direct TV HD DVR, id=16255005

HRM Device(11): label = Projector, id=12961160

HRM Device(12): label = Xbox One, id=16253513

HRM Device(13): label = Vizio TV, id=13986894

 

 

I hope this helps.  (No, there actually isn't an emoticon in the log file!)

Edited June 5, 2016 by rossarmstrong

[barrygordon]

Ross,

I will be working on your issue tomorrow.  It is perfectly possible to have the error you are seeing and a valid log file with no errors.  The error you are seeing has to do with the parsing of the JSON file from the HA-Bridge. The current version does not abort on a parsing error (it should and I will change that). I may need you to do some special stuff, but let me look at what you sent me. 

 

Look at the ini file on my web site.   There are two new entries

 

[JSON Testing]

JSON Save          = false

 

[Logging]

All           = true    

 

set JSON save to true.

 

This will produce a new file in the same directory as the log file. The files name is AWS_JSON.txt.

 

Send me that file along with the log file.  The log file will be much bigger as logging will be on.

 

The AWS_JSON.txt file will allow me to reproduce your issue as I do not have a Harmony Hub.

[rossarmstrong]

Thanks Barry.

 

I see the ini changes now. Sorry about that.

 

Attached is a zip with those two files.

 

Best regards.

AWS_Alexa (2).zip

[barrygordon]

I just placed what should be the final corrected version on my website, but I have been wrong before.  Please give it a try and let me know.  I tested it with the JSON saved data you sent me and it worked fine. 

[rossarmstrong]

Barry I know you've been working hard, but unfortunately no luck with this version.

 

I fact it now fails during the retrevial of Harmony Activities and aborts and shuts down.

 

I'm OK if you no longer wish to put anymore time into this since the user group is so small.

 

I appreciate all you've done.

 

I have attached the log and JSON file.

AWS_Alexa (3).zip

[barrygordon]

I know what the problem is but am not sure where it is happening. The problem is the size of the Harmony files coming from the HA-bridge.

 

The device file is 80,019 bytes and the activity file is 99,988 bytes.  For some reason there is extraneous data inserted every 32768 bytes. That extraneous data is killing the parser. I would like to keep working this, but I need you to do testing for me as I have no Harmony hub.  If that is okay, I will pick this up tomorrow and send you a version with some extra debugging in it so I can try and see what is happening and where.

 

I would also like to take this off line as opposed to cluttering up the forum. you can email me at barry@the-gordons.net and attach the files as we proceed.  Let me know if this is okay

 

Barry