openHAB Skill for Amazon Alexa New Metadata Syntax Beta Test

Apps & Services Amazon Alexa
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We are planning to release a complete rework of the openHAB skill for Amazon Alexa which introduces a new device-centric metadata syntax in line with the other voice assistant integrations, and simplifies the configuration of basic functionalities, while staying backward compatible to ease the transition.

The new skill has now been deployed in beta test and we are looking for testers interested in upgrading early and providing some feedback. It doesn’t matter which OH version you are running.

Sign Up

If you are interested in signing up, please fill this form (closed). If your Amazon account is subscribed to the beta testing promotional emails, you will receive an email invitation to the beta test from Amazon, otherwise, a link to the beta skills will be provided.

Testing

The first step once you accept the invitation is to trigger a discovery and confirm that all your existing Alexa-related configuration works without any issue and the backward compatibility is working as intended. It is important to note that tags support has been removed for OH3 with this update.

Once that part is successful, feel free to try the new metadata syntax. For OH3 users, keep in mind the current Main UI implementation doesn’t support the new syntax as of yet and that you will have to either use text file configuration or the code tab of the edit metadata graphical interface. Also, as a reminder, some capabilities may only be available in specific languages.

Documentation

You can find the updated documentation here. If you have questions or comments related to it, feel free to reply below.

Issue Tracking

If you encounter some unexpected errors, please check the GitHub repository issue tracker for previously reported issues. If necessary, open a new one, prefixing its title with “[beta]” and including all the following information:

  • A brief summary of the issue you experienced and what you expected to achieve.

  • Any Alexa utterances you requested and the voice responses you received.

  • The item definition using code fences.

  • The exact time and time zone along with the country you are in to help us locate the relevant logs.

9 Likes
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I get 404 error using the link

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I updated the link.

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Room awareness. Does it work for all things or just some things?

For example. … I have Amazon smart plug in a room plus blind and light control. There is an echo in the same room. I can get the smart plug to turn on and off without having the room name in my command by making the request in the room with the assigned echo. For the blinds and lights commands I always have to be more specific and state the room. If I don’t then Alexa will say there is more than one which do I want.

At which level is this failing to work; Amazon, skill or its a feature and not a bug? What is making the difference between the the smart plug and my OH binding.

OH3.2 latest snapshot, RPi4

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Only a couple device types are supported such as lights, switches or televisions. Last time I tested, window blinds didn’t work yet.

This is handled on the Amazon. I wouldn’t say failing to work but more supported unless it’s a an Alexa configuration issue. Also, make sure you don’t have duplicate named devices.

It depends on how you setup your Alexa groups.

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Since the new skill is now live, this beta test is now closed.

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Since the Beta is closed, Alexa isn’t finding any of my devices anymore…
Do i have to change something on Openhab side?

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I also have trouble finding devices. While this works:

Switch GA_Gehweg_Alexa “Gehweg” (gAlexa) {alexa=“Switch”, homekit=“Switchable”}

this does not and is blocking the discovery process at all:

Dimmer GA_Sonnenschirm_di_Alexa “Sonnenschirm” (gAlexa) {alexa=“Light”}
or
Dimmer GA_Sonnenschirm_di_Alexa “Sonnenschirm” (gAlexa) {alexa=“Lighting”}

I am on OH 3.2.0.M5 with Alexa Skill being updated 22hours ago.

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As mentioned in my last reply, the new skill went live yesterday:

As far as the issue you are experiencing, can you please provide some more information about your existing setup and what you are trying to achieve?

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First, what do you mean by blocking? Do you have other items not being discovered? Secondly, have you tried to delete the relevant device if not all OH-related from your Alexa account prior to triggering the discovery?

The item definition you provided looks good. So I wouldn’t expect any discovery issue with the one you provided.

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Yes, there are many more. E.g. I managed to discover over 90 Switch-Items. As long as there is no Light-Item the Switch-Items are been discovered. With the Light-Item in between or at the end of the list, none of the item gets found.
Yes, i deleted all items from the Alexa account before starting the search.

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Hi, I second that. I participated in the beta test. Since the update of the alexa skill, an “alexa, find new devices” does not find any openhab devices anymore. I had over a hundred devices of different kinds which worked flawlessly before the skill has been updated. It stopped working roughly a day ago, when some alexa devices stopped responding.

I am on 3.2M4 on a synology docker container.

What did I try?

deleted non functional devices on alexa and try to rediscover them → did not work
restarted OH several times → did not work
removed my account connection from the alexa OH skill several times (disabled skill and reconnected it) → did not work
removed all devices, in the hope it would then somehow recover → did not work.

Now I am sorta stuck with a hundred alexa controllable devices less …

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Right now, not even my Switch-items get detected (with all other Alexa items being deleted before). This worked before if no other item like the Light-item has been in the items file as well. On the other hand I saw the Light-item being detected once when defined at line #1.
I am sorry, but can not identify a pattern that would allow describing the issue in a more structured way.
Is there any other way to analyze further?

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Is there a url I can call to see the xml response given by my OH server ? myopenhab shows that its online …

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Hi,

Thanks for the hint. But I only have one openhab skill in my alexa app. Under development Skills I only See my self developed Skills, not any openhab skill.

Can I manually call an url to get the XML discovery response for Alexa? For my own skills I can do that in the debug console of my voice skills

Thanks
Lars

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just for the records: i did not participate in beta testing (probably I should next time). I am also not aware of any other skill instance of this particular skill.

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Not sure to understand what you are asking. Are you sure your OH server is accessible through myopenhab.org? Is this query returning data?

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Any chance you can PM your item file configuration? It sounds like you are using one single item file. Do you see any errors in your OH server logs when saving that file?

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Just PMed the items file (my test file). There are no errors/warnings reported when saving the file.

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Ok, now it is working again…

It seems that i just had to restart openhab, now all my items are discovered again.
Just for information: All my items are configured via GUI, and i have only Switch,ToggleController and Lighting configured.