The Alexa Notifications

[TheFallenAngel]

Now that Amazon released the notifications to the rest of the developers to use, when can we expect to be able to add Alexa Notifications to ISY (in addition to the current TXT and Email)?

 

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[bmercier]

Now that Amazon released the notifications to the rest of the developers to use, when can we expect to be able to add Alexa Notifications to ISY (in addition to the current TXT and Email)?

 

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This is currently not in the roadmap.

 

Do you have specific use cases in mind?

 

Benoit

[TheFallenAngel]

This is currently not in the roadmap.

 

Do you have specific use cases in mind?

 

Benoit

Leaks detections, gas detections, security alert (ie motion sensor in the yard is trigered in the mid night).. If temperature is monitored in a room (let's say kids room) and gets to high or too low.. When the laundry is ready (using the SynchroLinc).. Garage was left open.. Many many alert cases can be utilized..

 

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[nathagt]

I'd also like to see this added at some point. I have a few use cases as well:

 

- battery below x percent for devices y (front door, smoke alarm)

- too many wrong codes on lock (or any other kind of tampering)

- sensor open for more than x minutes (garage door left open)

- door bell ring while occupancy set to away (package at the front door perhaps)

[Brett]

I would like to be able to ask alexa to speak the value of a variable. For example my ISY controls the solar heater valve for my pool and the current pool temperature is stored in an ISY variable. I would like to be able to ask alexa "what is the pool temp" and have it read back the value currently stored in the variable.

 

It's also tied into the alarm system, so it would be nice to have voice alerts when doors open, etc. A text-to-speech function would be great from a notifications perspective. All kinds of events in the ISY could trigger a custom voice notification.

 

If I want the house to welcome me home?

 

RaspberryPi picks up the bluetooth on my cell phone as I enter the driveway and uses the ISYrest API to set a variable which starts a timer. If the front door opens within 2 min of the detection of my bluetooth mac address then it's safe to assume I am walking through the front door. This already turns on my lights and TV, etc.. but would be nice to have a custom welcome message. Like, Hi Brett. The pool is nice and warm, The kids have been gone for 2 hours, etc...

 

We need this.

[Paulk8]

I may be wrong about this but I think the echo or dot will have a green ring telling you there is a notification and you will need to ask it to give you the notifications. Not really very good for telling you the front door is open.

[stusviews]

The Echo has a green ring when someone is calling you if you set that up giving each Dcho a cell phone number (no cell phone cost, it uses the cloud). If you have Prime, then a yellow ring indicates that a package has been delivered or is on it's way to you on that very day. Orange indicates that you're setting up the Echo, violet shows that there's a WiFi problem and the ring is red when the microphone is turned off.

[Goose66]

Looking at the API, it certainly makes the most sense for notifications to flow from the current ISY notification system through the portal and ISY Smart Home Skill to the Alexa device. I would like to see this as well, although it would mean substantive changes to the ISY firmware and Admin Console and the the timeline for those these days could be years.

 

Perhaps the portal could be altered to allow a connection by a network resource setup on the ISY and then pass the notification along through the Skill. This would allow the functionality to be implemented while bypassing changes to the ISY firmware. I guess there is also the possibility that a third-party notification skill could be established that accepted outside connections to create notifications for an account, but I wonder how the certification process would go for that - probably a lot of security concerns around that. It will be interesting to see if IFTTT comes up with anything here.

 

EDIT: While I see discussion of the flow on the AVS side, I am not seeing any documentation on how to implement this on the ASK (Skill) side. It's definitely available, because my Dominos skill will send me notifications. But I don't see a sample skill or example code for it, nor can I tell if the special classification of Smart Home Skills will have this feature available.

Edited December 1, 2017 by kingwr

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi kingwr,

 

We are working on extending the capabilities of ISY Portal with node servers. What you are requesting is a Node Server in ISY Portal just like our current Geo Fencing node server. This way, those nodes show up in ISY and then you can do anything you want with them. The current difficulty is how to make this framework secure while providing tools and access to developers.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[Goose66]

I think it just adds an extra layer of complexity on the user side to have the notifications be nodes. Why not just let programs send notifications through the ISY notification system that already exists, but have one selectable path for notifications be through the Skill to Alexa devices?

[Brett]

I use quite a few node servers. NodeLink DSC, Harmony, Nest, Hue, they all work fine. While it increases complexity, I think to connect with an API set like Alexa you really need that flexibility if you want to allow the full use of the available options:

 

Quite a few interfaces are available via the AVS interface.

Alerts Interface

AudioPlayer Interface

Bluetooth Interface

Notifications Interface

PlaybackController Interface

Settings Interface

Speaker Interface

SpeechRecognizer Interface

SpeechSynthesizer Interface

System Interface 

[Goose66]

I use quite a few node servers. NodeLink DSC, Harmony, Nest, Hue, they all work fine. While it increases complexity, I think to connect with an API set like Alexa you really need that flexibility if you want to allow the full use of the available options:

 

Quite a few interfaces are available via the AVS interface.

Alerts Interface

AudioPlayer Interface

Bluetooth Interface

Notifications Interface

PlaybackController Interface

Settings Interface

Speaker Interface

SpeechRecognizer Interface

SpeechSynthesizer Interface

System Interface 

 

The AVS API is for building devices that implement the Alexa Voice Service. What we would need is support for adding notifications to the notification queue from the Alexa Skills Kit (ASK) side, and for ISY provided support, more specifically the Smart Home Skill API.

[Goose66]

So they just announced an Expanded Developer Preview of Notifications for Alexa Skills on Nov. 28 and are asking for Skill developers to apply:

 

https://developer.amazon.com/blogs/alexa/post/833b9af4-26e6-47d2-a13d-bdbd9a257512/expanded-developer-preview-of-notifications-for-alexa-skills

 

Benoit, are you going to sign up?

Edited December 2, 2017 by kingwr

[Brett]

Ok Kingwr, I think I get it now. I'll do a little more homework. Thanks for clarifying that.

[stusviews]

As an end user, my concern is not the implementation of a voice notification, but the delivery. For instance, for some reason I miss the voice message (e,g., taking a shower, in the yard, loud music). The Echo device offers colors to deliver a message with a particular color indicating a specific message. IMO, that's certainly a requirement.

[Goose66]

As an end user, my concern is not the implementation of a voice notification, but the delivery. For instance, for some reason I miss the voice message (e,g., taking a shower, in the yard, loud music). The Echo device offers colors to deliver a message with a particular color indicating a specific message. IMO, that's certainly a requirement.

I think the only way it works is 1) the user authorizes the skill to send notifications, 2) the skill adds notifications to the user's single notification queue (by account, not per device), the ring light on the Alexa devices turns yellow, and 4) the user says "Alexa, what did I miss" and she reads all notifications in the user's queue from all sources (Amazon shopping, Dominos Pizza, ISY, etc.)

[TheFallenAngel]

As an end user, my concern is not the implementation of a voice notification, but the delivery. For instance, for some reason I miss the voice message (e,g., taking a shower, in the yard, loud music). The Echo device offers colors to deliver a message with a particular color indicating a specific message. IMO, that's certainly a requirement.

Well that's part of the notifications frame work.. Sound and color ring flashing..

 

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[TheFallenAngel]

So they just announced an Expanded Developer Preview of Notifications for Alexa Skills on Nov. 28 and are asking for Skill developers to apply:

 

https://developer.amazon.com/blogs/alexa/post/833b9af4-26e6-47d2-a13d-bdbd9a257512/expanded-developer-preview-of-notifications-for-alexa-skills

 

Benoit, are you going to sign up?

Well that was my OP, the response sadly was that it's not on the road map. I am really hoping this will change

 

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[bmercier]

I have applied for the developer preview.

 

Given the amount of interest, this may be added to the roadmap.

 

Thanks all,

 

Benoit

[TheFallenAngel]

I have applied for the developer preview.

 

Given the amount of interest, this may be added to the roadmap.

 

Thanks all,

 

Benoit

#AWESOMESAUCE

 

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[Goose66]

Well that was my OP, the response sadly was that it's not on the road map. I am really hoping this will change

 

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I think the roadblock here (other than changes to the ISY firmware and Admin Console) is that it is still a limited developer preview. They say in the announcement linked above that they will only be choosing a subset of the Skill developers that apply to open the functionality up to, and all the general developer documentation for the ASK side has no mention of this functionality whatsoever as of yet. So unless UDI applies and is accepted, they will have to wait for the functionality to be made available to all developers (which is probably a more likely scenario, really). In addition, we don't yet know if Smart Home Skills will qualify or if it would have to be part of the non-Smart Home ISY Skill (Ask Izzy).

[TheFallenAngel]

I think the roadblock here (other than changes to the ISY firmware and Admin Console) is that it is still a limited developer preview. They say in the announcement linked above that they will only be choosing a subset of the Skill developers that apply to open the functionality up to, and all the general developer documentation for the ASK side has no mention of this functionality whatsoever as of yet. So unless UDI applies and is accepted, they will have to wait for the functionality to be made available to all developers (which is probably a more likely scenario, really). In addition, we don't yet know if Smart Home Skills will qualify or if it would have to be part of the non-Smart Home ISY Skill (Ask Izzy).

Actually I would think the Smart Home Skills would be the (or should be) the first ones allowed. One reason is endless user case and no potential for abuse since the notifications should be anti rely end-user driven. So let's hope UDI will apply asap and when they get it - they get it.. I don't think this is a "roadblock", just a step in the right direction..

 

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[mango]

+1

Very interested in verbal notifications (leak sensor etc.).

[ScottAvery]

I've never bothered with announcements because I thought configuring a doorbell with multiple announcements would be too painful and emails are impractical.  This would be infinitely more useful.

 

Hopefully you can target a device for the announcement rather than send to all.  I'd like to make decisions about where to direct it based on time (master bedroom at night, kitchen in day, etc.)

[SteveSBE]

FWIW... I'm also very interested in a combination of verbal and visual notifications controlled from my ISY.  

 

And to ask for the moon, I'd like to have options to control the repetition of each verbal notification and the length of time that notification would be given,  For example, the option to "repeat every __ minutes for __ day(s) __ hour(s)". 

 

Steve