Notify Me (Alex skill) Beta Test

[glacier991]

 Works great for me! I admit being rather a novice as REST. Any good tutorials anyone can point me to?

[glacier991]

Maybe I will "cheat" and just ask here, how can I insert the time of an event into the notification? Ex. I have a resource that notifies when he hot water heater is turned off by ISY. I'd like the notify announcement to tell me the time when it is triggered.

(Sorry, I hate it when newbies just ask for knowledge and do not do their homework first, and yet here i am....)

[wolfpup]

I appear to have this setup properly but have not received any test notifications. The response shows that it was sent Ok, but just never receive the notification on the echo device. Investigating further in case I did set it up wrong, but would assume I would receive an error.

[wolfpup]

Nevemind! I had Do Not Disturb turned on.....Embarrassing!  Working now.

[glacier991]

I set up a test notification, designed to trigger when ISY turned off my Hot Water heater for the night. Worked like a charm, except I noticed that my Echo dots all started showing a different color... one slowly cycled a white ring on and off, another something slightly different. Stopped when I picked up the notification. Is this a design to alert a user to a notification? Or something unexpected? Or maybe I missed it somewhere.

[randyth]

58 minutes ago, glacier991 said:

...I noticed that my Echo dots all started showing a different color... one slowly cycled a white ring on and off, another something slightly different. Stopped when I picked up the notification. Is this a design to alert a user to a notification? Or something unexpected? Or maybe I missed it somewhere.

This is as designed.  The Echo's ring glows (usually a light yellow) whenever you have a notification waiting for you.

[glacier991]

As I suspected. Thanks. My triggering event occurred after we had gone to bed. The dot in the bedroom was in effect" flashing" in the dark bedroom when my wife woke up inthe middle of he night and asked "what was up?" with Alexa. I then wasn't sure, but didn't want to explain my suspicions in the middle of the night. She eventually ends up liking my HA adventures, but not usually during a test and burn in phase.

[Bumbershoot]

On 3/4/2018 at 4:37 PM, glacier991 said:

Maybe I will "cheat" and just ask here, how can I insert the time of an event into the notification? Ex. I have a resource that notifies when he hot water heater is turned off by ISY. I'd like the notify announcement to tell me the time when it is triggered.

(Sorry, I hate it when newbies just ask for knowledge and do not do their homework first, and yet here i am....)

This is how I did it in the body of my Network Resource:

{"notification":"The back door opened at ${sys.time24}","accessCode":"amzn1......

Works like a charm...

[glacier991]

PERFECT! Thank you, also works for me. I did some additional researchand did not readily find that simle solution. Appreciate it.

[Bumbershoot]

After fussing with this Notify ME just a little bit, I've found that Alexa can enunciate specific device states in an intelligible format. Inserting the following into a Notify Me network resource:

{"notification":"The ${sys.node.ZW014_1.name} was set to ${sys.node.ZW014_1.ST} at ${sys.time24}","accessCode":"amzn1.ask.account...}

produces a notification that sounds like this: "The office dimmer switch was set to 10% at 11:41 and 13 seconds."

This means that you can get device status updates using this skill.  Unfortunately, you'll have to have a separate NR for each device because you can't use # to reference devices in Network Resources (per the wiki):

Instead of specifying a fixed address, the special character # may be used to reference the element in the event that caused the program to run. (Does not work in network resources) 

Otherwise, a single NR could be used for all devices (I can dream, can't I).  Even so, this skill will find some very valid uses in my installation.  I'm already using it in conjunction with several devices and node servers:

• notifying my wife of my imminent arrival home (Occupancy node server on the UDI Portal)
• of temperature changes (Nest)
• of doors left open
• any other thing I can think of

I think this skill will prove to be very handy!

EDIT: Another example:

{"notification":"The ${sys.node.n001_c230730b1dc55d.name} temperature reached ${sys.node.n001_c230730b1dc55d.CLISPH} at ${sys.time24}","accessCode":"amzn1.ask.account...

This notification produces: "The family room temperature reached 70 degrees Fahrenheit at 12:02 and three seconds."  The address of my Nest (from the Polyglot Nest node server) thermostat is: n001_c230730b1dc55d

[randyth]

Great stuff, Bumbershoot.

FWIW, there's a bit of a hidden feature in the ways you can manipulate Alexa's speech, from specifying how she interprets numbers (time, date, telephone number, street address, etc) to the tone and speed of her voice.  You can also play short audio files and even make her whisper.  See this link for more info: https://developer.amazon.com/docs/custom-skills/speech-synthesis-markup-language-ssml-reference.html#ssml-supported

BE WARNED, however. If you don't get the syntax perfectly right, Notify Me will either tell you your accessCode is missing (because your quotes are mismatched, causing an invalid JSON structure) or pretend to send the message but not (because Alexa rejects it at the last minute due to bad syntax).  With that warning said, here is an example of how you can make Alexa whisper:

{"notification":"Would you like to hear me whisper? <amazon:effect name=\"whispered\">This is me whispering</amazon:effect>","accessCode":"amzn1.ask.account...

[Bumbershoot]

1 hour ago, randyth said:

There's a bit of a hidden feature in the ways you can manipulate Alexa's speech, from specifying how she interprets numbers (time, date, telephone number, street address, etc) to the tone and speed of her voice.  You can even make her whisper.  See this link for more info: https://developer.amazon.com/docs/custom-skills/speech-synthesis-markup-language-ssml-reference.html#ssml-supported

BE WARNED, however. If you don't get the syntax perfectly right, Notify Me will either tell you your accessCode is missing (because your quotes are mismatched, causing an invalid JSON structure) or pretend to send the message but not (because Alexa rejects it at the last minute due to bad syntax).  With that warning said, here is an example of how you can make Alexa whisper:

{"notification":"Would you like to hear me whisper? <amazon:effect name=\"whispered\">This is me whispering</amazon:effect>","accessCode":"amzn1.ask.account...

The changes are fairly subtle and a little hard to discern, but can be a bit humorous:

{"notification":"The ${sys.node.n001_c230730b1dc55d.name} <prosody pitch=\"+30%\">temperature reached</prosody>${sys.node.n001_c230730b1dc55d.CLISPH} at ${sys.time24}","accessCode":"amzn1.ask.account.

This slightly raises the pitch of of the words, "temperature reached".  Makes Alexa sound a little kooky, but it subtly gets your attention.

Thanks for the link, and I'm glad to see that this works.

[glacier991]

Timing is perfect on the last post(s) started by Bumbershoot - for me anyway.My prior usage of ISY really did not get me into variables, REST or much serious programming stuff. Now that I am doing a more extensive, and final, installation of HA in my "new" place,  I guess that is where I am headed. As a self learner the learning curve is steep, but folks here have humored/kindly helped me along the way: e.g. I could not for the life of me find how to insert time into a notification and got a kind assist from Bumbershoot. Shortly thereafter I "belatedly" discovered system variables.

Then I started wondering how I might get info contained in certain sensors (the AEON 6 sensor array reports various things - temp being the one of current interest) into a variable. I have been doing some searching trying to figure this one out on my own - without notable success...and voila'...Bumbershoot unwittingly helps me better understand. BUT, I also now realize that using Nodes, "Occupancy" in the Portal and POLYGLOT, means it is time to move to 5.10c. Can't do it on 4.62. Or am I wrong here ?

 

[Bumbershoot]

18 minutes ago, glacier991 said:

Timing is perfect on the last post(s) started by Bumbershoot - for me anyway.My prior usage of ISY really did not get me into variables, NEST or much serious programming stuff. Now that I am doing a more extensive, and final, installation of HA in my "new" place,  I guess that is where I am headed. As a self learner the learning curve is steep, but folks here have humored/kindly helped me along the way: e.g. I could not for the life of me find how to insert time into a notification and got a kind assist from Bumbershoot. Shortly thereafter I "belatedly" discovered system variables.

Then I started wondering how I might get info contained in certain sensors (the AEON 6 sensor array reports various things - temp being the one of current interest) into a variable. I have been doing some searching trying to figure this one out on my own - without notable success...and voila'...Bumbershoot unwittingly helps me better understand. BUT, I also now realize that using Nodes, "Occupancy" in the Portal and POLYGLOT, means it is time to move to 5.10c. Can't do it on 4.62. Or am I wrong here ?

 

Nope, you'll need the 5.x.x firmware for node servers.  I'd move to 5.0.12 if it were me -- the latest and greatest, you know.  Your ISY world can get a LOT bigger when you start looking into Polyglot and Nodelink.

[glacier991]

Thanks. No doubt I will find myself again quite lost, hoping old hands like you and others, will be generous again when I need assistance...

[DonM]

When I test my network resource, I get a TCP client request failed message with rule #14:400.  I looked in the admin console in the about and noticed that it said internet access disabled.  How Do I enable the access?  Is it necessary to?  

I am on version 4.6.2.  Do I need a 5.x.x?

The portal is able to access the ISY.

 

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Don

[DonM]

7 minutes ago, DonM said:

When I test my network resource, I get a TCP client request failed message with rule #14:400.  I looked in the admin console in the about and noticed that it said internet access disabled.  How Do I enable the access?  Is it necessary to?  

I am on version 4.6.2.  Do I need a 5.x.x?

The portal is able to access the ISY.

 

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Don

Please disregard. ..I did not have SNI box checked.  It now works.

Don

[Bumbershoot]

1 minute ago, DonM said:

Please disregard. ..I did not have SNI box checked.  It now works.

Don

Have fun with this.  I've found yet another way to surprise the Mrs. with home automation.  She appreciates Alexa notifying her when I'm a few blocks away from home.

[glacier991]

Please disregard. ..I did not have SNI box checked.  It now works.
Don

Can you describe the setup for making the geofencing work in this? Thanks, still learning here.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[glacier991]

Can you describe the setup for making the geofencing work in this? Thanks, still learning here.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Nevermind, on mobile device and missed the screenshot. Sorry. And Thanks!

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[randyth]

*UPDATE*

This beta test is complete.  A big THANKS to everyone who participated.

As of March 20, 2018, the skill is now live for everyone.  (Hooray!)

If you find the skill useful, please do give it a positive review on the Alexa skill store.  Positive reviews help support the development of this and other skills like it.

Thanks,

-Randy

[ferdies]

Hi Ranyth,

I have downloaded the app from the alexa skill store successfully a week back.

However, I was not able to receive an email with regard to the authorization. Checked my spam folder as well but it is not there as well.

Any suggestions?

 

Thanks!

[randyth]

Did you launch the skill yet (that's what triggers the email).  And, if so, what did it say?

To launch the skill, just say, "Alexa, launch Notify Me."

-Randy

[ferdies]

5 minutes ago, randyth said:

Did you launch the skill yet (that's what triggers the email).  And, if so, what did it say?

To launch the skill, just say, "Alexa, launch Notify Me."

-Randy

Excellent. I did not know that and maybe have missed reading it in the instructions.

I received the access code after launching the skills! Will work on it now using my network module. Thank you!

[randyth]

1 hour ago, ferdies said:

I received the access code after launching the skills! Will work on it now using my network module. Thank you!

Glad I could help.