I am struggling with this as well:
Is is possible to define two {} within one item?
one with the {alexa=" stuff and one with e.g. z-wave like {channel="zwave?
Furthermore:
Is there a way to block and control trough amazon to OH, when I am not home?
(I switch off Alexa with a power plug, but theoretically my openhab would still be controllabe by amazon)
You only need an auxiliary item if the command generated by the Alexa skill cannot be directly processed on the OH side. Most of the time, you would have both alexa and channel metadata values defined on a given item.
The only way I could think of would be to switch the openHAB Cloud service mode from remote to notification, back and forth, via the REST API using a rule that triggers a curl command. This will prevent the skill from issuing commands to your OH server, when in notification mode, but would also prevent any other remote access such as the openHAB mobile app. Just to be clear, the expose items referred below are the ones you setup for IFTTT integration. No need to add the items setup for the Alexa skill in that list.
I am struggling to get voice commands for opening and closing my blinds to work reliably with RangeController. It has worked but not consistently. Voice commands to a numbered position work every time.
Is anyone using the range controller meta data with success?
My item definition is like these examples:
Rollershutter Test "stone" {alexa="RangeController.rangeValue" [presets="0=@Value.Open,100=@Value.Close"], channel="openwebnet:bus_automation:Screen10:55:shutter" }
I also tried with
Rollershutter Test "stone" {alexa="RangeController.rangeValue" [presets="0=@Value.Open,100=@Value.Close", supportedRange="0:100:10], channel="openwebnet:bus_automation:Screen10:55:shutter" }
Rollershutter Test "stone" {alexa="RangeController.rangeValue" [presets="0=@Value.Open,100=@Value.Close", category="EXTERIOR_BLIND], channel="openwebnet:bus_automation:Screen10:55:shutter" }
Commands such as Raise, Lower, Increase, Decrease all work but Raise and Lower actually move the blinds in the opposite direction to expected. 100 = Close. So, ‘Raising’ the number moves the blinds down.
Amazon recently introduced the ability to use open, close, raise and lower commands for the mode, range and toggle controllers via semantic extensions. This support still needs to be implemented in the skill. So, for the time being, the recommended solution is to setup Alexa routines as a workaround.
I already have Alexa Routines working using a proxy switch and openHAB rules for Open, Close and Stop. This works buts is a lot of code for 18 blinds.
With the new v3 style Alexa tags I was trying?hoping to get it to work without this work around. It did work sometimes but not reliably. I thought that maybe I was doing something wrong with the v3 tags.
The example I posted is an occasion where it worked without routines and used RangeController.rangeValue with the presets option.
I see. I have been working on adding the support. You won’t have to wait for much longer
As a sneak peek, here is how a standard window blind would be configured once that support will be added. This would resolve your invert issue. Value in parenthesis will be considered as incremental adjustments.
I am trying to understand how it works and have a few questions if that’s OK…helps me later explore the possibilities for my item definitions. A dummies guide would be useful
What is the difference between Alexa.Setting.Opening and Alexa.Value.Open ? I don’t see the equivalent Closing for Alexa.Setting.Opening.
If I understand it correctly … when predefined friendly names are used in the definition then they are automatically translated into the supported languages
You can use the global Alexa catalog for pre-defined names of devices, settings, values, and units. This catalog is localized into all the languages that Alexa supports.
The difference between the two is just the friendly names they are representing. The former would be used to name a component/capability while the latter a specific mode or range preset.
So setting friendlyNames="@Setting.Opening" allows a user to control the window blind opening using this command, for example: Alexa, set the window blind opening to 50%.
Also, as a side note, for reference purpose, you should use the skill documentation opposed to the Alexa Skill API documentation. Some of the latest features in the API aren’t available in the skill as of yet. I have seen a couple users jumping to conclusion by just looking at the API documentation.