Customize or improve Alexa response

[sandryseibert]

Hi all,

I just noticed this feature for ISY and I installed here, but one thing I couldn't find a response for is if there is a way to customize the response Alexa give me..

For example, I setup the door sensor as a Front Door Open/Close syntax and now when I ask "Alexa how is the front door" or "Alexa what's the status of our front door" she responds "The device state of front door is inactive" and this response is by far confusing to my wife lol.

So, how can I improve such response in order to have something like this to become the most simple "The front door is closed"?

Thanks

Sandry Seibert

[MrBill]

On 3/5/2021 at 4:26 PM, sandryseibert said:

Hi all,

I just noticed this feature for ISY and I installed here, but one thing I couldn't find a response for is if there is a way to customize the response Alexa give me..

For example, I setup the door sensor as a Front Door Open/Close syntax and now when I ask "Alexa how is the front door" or "Alexa what's the status of our front door" she responds "The device state of front door is inactive" and this response is by far confusing to my wife lol.

So, how can I improve such response in order to have something like this to become the most simple "The front door is closed"?

Thanks

Sandry Seibert

Was the ISY recently rebooted?   If you open the node in the admin console does it show the status as ON/Off, Open/close or is the status box blank? which indicates the ISY doesn't know the status, if this is the case try to open and close the door and then ask again.

If that's not helpful then please tell us what hardware the front door sensor is.... there are lots of choices from Insteon door sensors to z-wave locks to ELK Alarm sensors, etc etc....

Edited March 7, 2021 by MrBill

[bmercier]

On 3/5/2021 at 5:26 PM, sandryseibert said:

Hi all,

I just noticed this feature for ISY and I installed here, but one thing I couldn't find a response for is if there is a way to customize the response Alexa give me..

For example, I setup the door sensor as a Front Door Open/Close syntax and now when I ask "Alexa how is the front door" or "Alexa what's the status of our front door" she responds "The device state of front door is inactive" and this response is by far confusing to my wife lol.

So, how can I improve such response in order to have something like this to become the most simple "The front door is closed"?

Thanks

Sandry Seibert

It's unfortunateky not possible to change the wording of anything, except for the device name, which would not be helpful.

There's however a very twisted way I can think of if you really want that. 

Here's the general idea:

1 - Have a routine, triggered by voice, that will run a program (turn on a device exposing a program)

2 - That ISY program will check if the door is closed or open. If so, it will set a variable to a certain value, else, another value. The program will also run the else statement of itself (so it returns to a false condifion and can be reused again).

3 - The variable we just talked about needs to be exposed as a sensor. It will become closed or open, based on the value assigned.

4 - You will need 2 other routines, which will react to this sensors, one for open and one for closed. It will speak the response you want based on the condition.

Benoit

[larryllix]

38 minutes ago, bmercier said:

It's unfortunateky not possible to change the wording of anything, except for the device name, which would not be helpful.

There's however a very twisted way I can think of if you really want that. 

Here's the general idea:

1 - Have a routine, triggered by voice, that will run a program (turn on a device exposing a program)

2 - That ISY program will check if the door is closed or open. If so, it will set a variable to a certain value, else, another value. The program will also run the else statement of itself (so it returns to a false condifion and can be reused again).

3 - The variable we just talked about needs to be exposed as a sensor. It will become closed or open, based on the value assigned.

4 - You will need 2 other routines, which will react to this sensors, one for open and one for closed. It will speak the response you want based on the condition.

Benoit

Do you think the Alexa routines will ever be able to accept streamed text or inserted variable values?

[bmercier]

3 minutes ago, larryllix said:

Do you think the Alexa routines will ever be able to accept streamed text or inserted variable values?

I'm not aware of any changes like that coming.

[sandryseibert]

On 3/7/2021 at 1:22 PM, MrBill said:

Was the ISY recently rebooted?   If you open the node in the admin console does it show the status as ON/Off, Open/close or is the status box blank? which indicates the ISY doesn't know the status, if this is the case try to open and close the door and then ask again.

If that's not helpful then please tell us what hardware the front door sensor is.... there are lots of choices from Insteon door sensors to z-wave locks to ELK Alarm sensors, etc etc....

Hi @MrBill,

It is showing "OFF" or "ON".. It's an Insteon Open/Close sensor. Alexa tells me it is Inactive when OFF and Active when ON.

Cheers

Sandry Seibert

[sandryseibert]

On 3/7/2021 at 3:13 PM, bmercier said:

It's unfortunateky not possible to change the wording of anything, except for the device name, which would not be helpful.

There's however a very twisted way I can think of if you really want that. 

Here's the general idea:

1 - Have a routine, triggered by voice, that will run a program (turn on a device exposing a program)

2 - That ISY program will check if the door is closed or open. If so, it will set a variable to a certain value, else, another value. The program will also run the else statement of itself (so it returns to a false condifion and can be reused again).

3 - The variable we just talked about needs to be exposed as a sensor. It will become closed or open, based on the value assigned.

4 - You will need 2 other routines, which will react to this sensors, one for open and one for closed. It will speak the response you want based on the condition.

Benoit

@bmercier

1. What is a routine in this case?

2. And else statement of itself?

3. How do I expose a variable as a sensor?

Thanks

Sandry Seibert

[larryllix]

40 minutes ago, sandryseibert said:

@bmercier

1. What is a routine in this case?

A routine is found in the Alexa app only on a mobile device. It takes a trigger event and causes some result, of your choice, to happen.

2. And else statement of itself?

This would be the else portion of it's own program

3. How do I expose a variable as a sensor?

To expose a state variable you would use the ISY Portal. In there you will find a conversion table where you can define any state variable to look like a device, defining the value to appear as an ON and the value to appear as an OFF.

Thanks

Sandry Seibert

 

[sandryseibert]

47 minutes ago, larryllix said:

 

Hey @larryllixthanks for clarify..

1. Ok, got it and I found the routine creation. I created a routine that will be triggered when I say Check front door. But now I have to state what action will be taken. I tried to find my program there without sucess.

2. Super clear  simple.

3. I went to my ISY portal but I can't find any conversion table. There I have ISY, Users and My Account. Under ISY I have tools where I added the Amazon Echo sensor check that's giving me the strange response.

Once again thank you for kindly guide me.

[larryllix]

7 minutes ago, sandryseibert said:

Hey @larryllixthanks for clarify..

1. Ok, got it and I found the routine creation. I created a routine that will be triggered when I say Check front door. But now I have to state what action will be taken. I tried to find my program there without sucess.

2. Super clear  simple.

3. I went to my ISY portal but I can't find any conversion table. There I have ISY, Users and My Account. Under ISY I have tools where I added the Amazon Echo sensor check that's giving me the strange response.

Once again thank you for kindly guide me.

In The ISY Portal you use the pulldown menu to acccess your Alexa "devices" Select a variable and then select a Motion Sensor below. You would then enter a 1 for "detected" and a 0 for "not detected". Make sure your ISY program makes the variable = 1 for about 10 seconds and then = 0. Never less than 30 seconds apart or the Alexa Routine will ignore your triggers. (anti-hacking)

The name you enter in the ISY Portal Alexa chart will define the name of the pseudo device in the Alexa App you will find and use in the Routine.

Edited March 9, 2021 by larryllix

[sandryseibert]

Thanks @larryllix.. Here's what I've done:

Added a program that will write 1 to the variable when ON, wait 10 seconds. Else will write 0.

On the ISY portal I created a Device\Motion Sensor to react to spoken Front Door.. Lets test it..

 

[larryllix]

12 hours ago, sandryseibert said:

Thanks @larryllix.. Here's what I've done:

Added a program that will write 1 to the variable when ON, wait 10 seconds. Else will write 0.

On the ISY portal I created a Device\Motion Sensor to react to spoken Front Door.. Lets test it..

 

Looks good except put your $porta_da_sala = 0 in the Tnen section after Wait 10 seconds . The Else may never run.

I guess you may have noticed the $porta_da_sala (spoken terminology) will appear like a device in the Alexa app by now.

Also, if you ever disconnect your accounts (Portal and Alexa) the Routines will still exist but have to be rebuilt to the variables.
If you use the Notifications via ITTT (bottom of the selected actions) you can choose any combinations of speakers you like. If you choose too many it will become hard to understand, sounding like a lot of echoes.