Release Candidate and Support: Amazon Echo Control Binding

[Bredmich (Michael)]

@michi

And anyway, you should see the last command in the channel.

Yes i see the trigger and made a typo…
The rules have to look for lowercase and i typed one uppercase letter into the lookup

@michi

Currently it seems, that the user Information is not available.

Do you know where to contact Amazon about new features?

@michi

anything else is done in the amazon server or echo software.

As i get a lot of errors in the openhab.log i think there´s atleast a feedback from the Amazon servers to the binding.
I´m going to do some tests and post the logs here.

kind regards
Michael

[Kfm (Bert Kaufmann)]

Sorry that I missed to get some clarification earlier.

I’m using 2 Sonos One, with one Sonos Beam and an Amazon dot in 3 different rooms.

In the meantime I can play notifications on all of this devices without any problem. I’m doing this by sending the voice Command to a group of speakers. This group contains all my Amazon and Sonos devices.

So the solution to play a notification on several devices at the same time by grouping them is working fine here.

Thanks for this great binding!

[Bredmich (Michael)]

@michi
Here´s my test.

rule:

rule "Test"
when
	Item itmTestSwitch changed
then
	echoKueche_TTS.sendCommand('Test Küche')
	echoWohnen_TTS.sendCommand('Test Wohnzimmer')
	echoFlur_TTS.sendCommand('Test Flur')
	echoArbeit_TTS.sendCommand('Test Arbeitszimmer')
end

logfile:

2019-01-02 17:15:37.094 [vent.ItemStateChangedEvent] - itmTestSwitch changed from OFF to ON
2019-01-02 17:15:37.105 [ome.event.ItemCommandEvent] - Item 'echoKueche_TTS' received command Test Küche
2019-01-02 17:15:37.134 [ome.event.ItemCommandEvent] - Item 'echoWohnen_TTS' received command Test Wohnzimmer
2019-01-02 17:15:37.142 [ome.event.ItemCommandEvent] - Item 'echoFlur_TTS' received command Test Flur
2019-01-02 17:15:37.158 [ome.event.ItemCommandEvent] - Item 'echoArbeit_TTS' received command Test Arbeitszimmer
2019-01-02 17:15:37.164 [vent.ItemStateChangedEvent] - echoKueche_TTS changed from  to Test Küche
2019-01-02 17:15:37.173 [vent.ItemStateChangedEvent] - echoWohnen_TTS changed from  to Test Wohnzimmer
2019-01-02 17:15:37.200 [vent.ItemStateChangedEvent] - echoFlur_TTS changed from  to Test Flur
2019-01-02 17:15:37.202 [vent.ItemStateChangedEvent] - echoArbeit_TTS changed from  to Test Arbeitszimmer
==> /var/log/openhab2/openhab.log <==
2019-01-02 17:15:38.384 [ERROR] [nal.common.AbstractInvocationHandler] - An error occurred while calling method 'ThingHandler.handleCommand()' on 'org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol.internal.handler.EchoHandler@1a506d3': POST url 'https://alexa.amazon.de/api/behaviors/preview' failed: Bad Request
org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol.internal.HttpException: POST url 'https://alexa.amazon.de/api/behaviors/preview' failed: Bad Request
	at org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol.internal.Connection.makeRequest(Connection.java:549) [252:org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol:2.4.0.201812011454]
	at org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol.internal.Connection.executeSequenceNode(Connection.java:1067) [252:org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol:2.4.0.201812011454]
	at org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol.internal.Connection.executeSequenceCommand(Connection.java:1052) [252:org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol:2.4.0.201812011454]
	at org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol.internal.Connection.textToSpeech(Connection.java:1043) [252:org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol:2.4.0.201812011454]
	at org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol.internal.handler.EchoHandler.startTextToSpeech(EchoHandler.java:640) [252:org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol:2.4.0.201812011454]
	at org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol.internal.handler.EchoHandler.handleCommand(EchoHandler.java:527) [252:org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol:2.4.0.201812011454]
	at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor149.invoke(Unknown Source) ~[?:?]
	at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43) ~[?:?]
	at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498) ~[?:?]
	at org.eclipse.smarthome.core.internal.common.AbstractInvocationHandler.invokeDirect(AbstractInvocationHandler.java:153) [101:org.eclipse.smarthome.core:0.10.0.oh230]
	at org.eclipse.smarthome.core.internal.common.InvocationHandlerSync.invoke(InvocationHandlerSync.java:59) [101:org.eclipse.smarthome.core:0.10.0.oh230]
	at com.sun.proxy.$Proxy176.handleCommand(Unknown Source) [252:org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol:2.4.0.201812011454]
	at org.eclipse.smarthome.core.thing.internal.profiles.ProfileCallbackImpl.handleCommand(ProfileCallbackImpl.java:75) [108:org.eclipse.smarthome.core.thing:0.10.0.oh230]
	at org.eclipse.smarthome.core.thing.internal.profiles.SystemDefaultProfile.onCommandFromItem(SystemDefaultProfile.java:49) [108:org.eclipse.smarthome.core.thing:0.10.0.oh230]
	at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor148.invoke(Unknown Source) ~[?:?]
	at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43) ~[?:?]
	at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498) ~[?:?]
	at org.eclipse.smarthome.core.internal.common.AbstractInvocationHandler.invokeDirect(AbstractInvocationHandler.java:153) [101:org.eclipse.smarthome.core:0.10.0.oh230]
	at org.eclipse.smarthome.core.internal.common.Invocation.call(Invocation.java:53) [101:org.eclipse.smarthome.core:0.10.0.oh230]
	at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266) [?:?]
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1149) [?:?]
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:624) [?:?]
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:748) [?:?]
2019-01-02 17:15:38.591 [ERROR] [nal.common.AbstractInvocationHandler] - An error occurred while calling method 'ThingHandler.handleCommand()' on 'org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol.internal.handler.EchoHandler@506fc4': POST url 'https://alexa.amazon.de/api/behaviors/preview' failed: Bad Request
org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol.internal.HttpException: POST url 'https://alexa.amazon.de/api/behaviors/preview' failed: Bad Request
	at org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol.internal.Connection.makeRequest(Connection.java:549) [252:org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol:2.4.0.201812011454]
	at org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol.internal.Connection.executeSequenceNode(Connection.java:1067) [252:org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol:2.4.0.201812011454]
	at org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol.internal.Connection.executeSequenceCommand(Connection.java:1052) [252:org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol:2.4.0.201812011454]
	at org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol.internal.Connection.textToSpeech(Connection.java:1043) [252:org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol:2.4.0.201812011454]
	at org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol.internal.handler.EchoHandler.startTextToSpeech(EchoHandler.java:640) [252:org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol:2.4.0.201812011454]
	at org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol.internal.handler.EchoHandler.handleCommand(EchoHandler.java:527) [252:org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol:2.4.0.201812011454]
	at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor149.invoke(Unknown Source) ~[?:?]
	at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43) ~[?:?]
	at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498) ~[?:?]
	at org.eclipse.smarthome.core.internal.common.AbstractInvocationHandler.invokeDirect(AbstractInvocationHandler.java:153) [101:org.eclipse.smarthome.core:0.10.0.oh230]
	at org.eclipse.smarthome.core.internal.common.InvocationHandlerSync.invoke(InvocationHandlerSync.java:59) [101:org.eclipse.smarthome.core:0.10.0.oh230]
	at com.sun.proxy.$Proxy176.handleCommand(Unknown Source) [252:org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol:2.4.0.201812011454]
	at org.eclipse.smarthome.core.thing.internal.profiles.ProfileCallbackImpl.handleCommand(ProfileCallbackImpl.java:75) [108:org.eclipse.smarthome.core.thing:0.10.0.oh230]
	at org.eclipse.smarthome.core.thing.internal.profiles.SystemDefaultProfile.onCommandFromItem(SystemDefaultProfile.java:49) [108:org.eclipse.smarthome.core.thing:0.10.0.oh230]
	at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor148.invoke(Unknown Source) ~[?:?]
	at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43) ~[?:?]
	at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498) ~[?:?]
	at org.eclipse.smarthome.core.internal.common.AbstractInvocationHandler.invokeDirect(AbstractInvocationHandler.java:153) [101:org.eclipse.smarthome.core:0.10.0.oh230]
	at org.eclipse.smarthome.core.internal.common.Invocation.call(Invocation.java:53) [101:org.eclipse.smarthome.core:0.10.0.oh230]
	at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266) [?:?]
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1149) [?:?]
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:624) [?:?]
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:748) [?:?]
==> /var/log/openhab2/events.log <==
2019-01-02 17:15:39.724 [vent.ItemStateChangedEvent] - echoArbeit_TTS changed from Test Arbeitszimmer to 
2019-01-02 17:15:39.792 [vent.ItemStateChangedEvent] - echoFlur_TTS changed from Test Flur to 

This is the reason i´m using Thread::sleep(1000) between multiple Commands or try to use groups instead.

kind regards
Michael

[H102 (CM6.5 H102)]

Have you tried using a timer instead of thread sleep?

Example:

rule "Test"
when
	Item itmTestSwitch changed
then
	echoKueche_TTS.sendCommand('Test Küche')
	createTimer(now.plusSeconds(1))
	echoWohnen_TTS.sendCommand('Test Wohnzimmer')
	createTimer(now.plusSeconds(1))
	echoFlur_TTS.sendCommand('Test Flur')
	createTimer(now.plusSeconds(1))
	echoArbeit_TTS.sendCommand('Test Arbeitszimmer')
end

EDIT:
I forgot to add the lambda part to this example, thanks to @scottk for posting below the correct way. I would edit the rule but I think Scott has it covered here Released: Openhab2 Amazon Echo Control Binding (controlling alexa from openhab2)

[Bredmich (Michael)]

@H102

Have you tried using a timer instead of thread sleep?

I don´t understand why i should do this.
It´s still a workaround and doesn´t matter if i use a timer or Thread::sleep.

It´s working with Thread::sleep but not without, that´s the point

kind regards
Michael

[scottk (Scott Karns)]

For why it’s a bad idea, It’s worth reading this:

(OH 1.x and OH 2.x Rules DSL only] Why have my Rules stopped running? Why Thread::sleep is a bad idea

EDIT: While the general advice in this article still applies (i.e. it’s always worth while to make short running rules), the problem described in this article only applies to OH 1.x and Rules DSL in OH 2.x. In OH 3 and beyond, this is no longer a problem so if your rules stop running in any version of OH released in the last two years (as of this edit in 1/2023) this is not your problem. By way of explanation, in OH 3 each rule gets it’s own thread. It is no longer possible for a rule to starve…

[Bredmich (Michael)]

Thanks for the link Scott and H102 for the hint!
I´m currently just using Thread::sleep in small Alexa rules that needs a pause between multiple commands.
It´s still a good idea to change this from sleep to timers.

Anyway it´s just workaround because the Amazon servers have trouble with too many commands

kind regards
Michael

[H102 (CM6.5 H102)]

@Bredmich

I don´t understand why i should do this.
It´s still a workaround and doesn´t matter if i use a timer or Thread::sleep.

See the link that @scottk provided above. Thanks for that Scott.

I have no idea how many rules you have or how often they run but if your using thread sleep for something like TTS I hope it’s not many and not often.

[Bredmich (Michael)]

@H102

I have no idea how many rules you have or how often they run but if your using thread sleep for something like TTS I hope it’s not many and not often.

I just had a look and only three out of 35 rules use Thread::sleep while only two are using a value greater 500ms.
Just to understand the timer…
In your example the timer waits one second before executing the next TTS, basically the same as a Thread::sleep(1000).
But the timer will terminate the rule thread for one second and then create another thread to run the rest of the rule?
I just want to understand what´s more “stress” for the system.
Work with one thread that´s in use for atleast 5 seconds or use atleast 4 threads that are only used for one or two seconds.

And things inside the timer will be executed after the timer is done?
Example, the TTS will be send 5 seconds after the rule started:

rule "Test"
when
	Item itmTestSwitch changed
then
        createTimer(now.plusSeconds(5),  [ |
	   echoKueche_TTS.sendCommand('Test Küche')
        ])
end

kind regards
Michael

[scottk (Scott Karns)]

Actually, the createTimer() examples won’t work as desired, they spin off threads that come from a different thread pool from that used by Thread::sleep() and immediately return, which is to say there is effectively no delay to the calling thread when createTimer() is called. Your rule could actually be coded something like this:

rule "Test"
when
    Item itmTestSwitch changed
then
    echoKueche_TTS.sendCommand('Test Küche')
    createTimer(now.plusSeconds(1), [|
        echoWohnen_TTS.sendCommand('Test Wohnzimmer')
        createTimer(now.plusSeconds(1), [|
            echoFlur_TTS.sendCommand('Test Flur')
            createTimer(now.plusSeconds(1), [|
                echoArbeit_TTS.sendCommand('Test Arbeitszimmer')
            ])
        ])
    ])
end

Warning, the above may have typos and is untested, but should serve to illustrate the use of createTimer() in your rule.

[Updated to correct missing right paren at each plusSeconds() method call. Thanks for spotting that, @H102! ]

[H102 (CM6.5 H102)]

@scottk I just realized that I left out the [ | lambda part on my post above. I edited the post to point to yours.

[michi (Michael Geramb)]

@schaze

each one is adding about 100ms to the request (with 4 echos and one multiroom setup this amounts to about 2500ms additional request time)

Hi @schaze ,

Could you check it with the beta 2.5 (1). It should fix this problem.

Best,
Michael

[michi (Michael Geramb)]

@Bredmich

Do you know where to contact Amazon about new features?

No, there is not public API to control the echo. The binding is build on the API calls done from the alexa web site.

[memphiz (Oliver)]

Hello michi,
do you now if there is a way to access the alexa alarm clock events? I would like to fire some actions when my alarm clock(echospot) is ringing…make coffee, start hue sunrise etc…
At the moment I’m looking for Echos Player changes when my Presence Mode is set to sleep,
but this not a very elegant way.

Regards,
Olli

[michi (Michael Geramb)]

@memphiz

do you now if there is a way to access the alexa alarm clock events?

Currently only with an REST call through the binding proxy.
The url must be build depending on your installation.

http(s)://<youropenhab>/amazonechocontrol/<youraccountid>/api/notifications

e.g. assuming the OH is running on localhost:8080 and the Amazon Account think have the Id “account1”:

http://localhost:8080/amazonechocontrol/account1/PROXY/api/notifications

This call will return a json. It should be possible to use this in a rule.

But I’am thinking already about a new channel to provide the next alarm, timer and reminder. But there is not yet a timeframe for this.

Best,
Michael

[Andrew_Pawelski]

Is there any plans to control items directly, not via routines? I would like to control a thing that has on and off as an option in the app but is a thermostat thing. When setting up a routine it only allows me to change the temp of the thing which doesn’t actually work and no on or off option. I’m talking to the developers to see if they can fix but if I could control the thing direct it would prevent a bunch of one step routines (and fix my problem and not rely on the vendor)

[michi (Michael Geramb)]

@Andrew_Pawelski

Is there any plans to control items directly, not via routines?

Not from my side, because I have no devices which are only controlled from alexa.

[JinFin13 (Thomas)]

Good afternoon,
I’m using Version 2.5.0, but for some reasons the “Off” command for turning the Alexa Radio “off”
seems not to work. I’m getting the following errors:

2019-01-05 16:31:33.871 [ERROR] [nal.common.AbstractInvocationHandler] - An error occurred while calling method 'ThingHandler.handleCommand()' on 'org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol.internal.handler.EchoHandler@176147c': POST url 'https://alexa.amazon.de/api/np/command?deviceSerialNumber=G090L91181820AT&deviceType=A3S5BH2HU6VA' failed: Not Found
org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol.internal.HttpException: POST url 'https://alexa.amazon.de/api/np/command?deviceSerialNumber=G090L91181820AT&deviceType=A3S5BH2HU6VA' failed: Not Found
	at org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol.internal.Connection.makeRequest(Connection.java:583) [237:org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol:2.5.0.Beta_01]
	at org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol.internal.Connection.command(Connection.java:901) [237:org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol:2.5.0.Beta_01]
	at org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol.internal.Connection.playRadio(Connection.java:965) [237:org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol:2.5.0.Beta_01]
	at org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol.internal.handler.EchoHandler.handleCommand(EchoHandler.java:494) [237:org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol:2.5.0.Beta_01]
	at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method) ~[?:?]
	at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62) ~[?:?]
	at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43) ~[?:?]
	at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498) ~[?:?]
	at org.eclipse.smarthome.core.internal.common.AbstractInvocationHandler.invokeDirect(AbstractInvocationHandler.java:153) [101:org.eclipse.smarthome.core:0.10.0.oh230]
	at org.eclipse.smarthome.core.internal.common.InvocationHandlerSync.invoke(InvocationHandlerSync.java:59) [101:org.eclipse.smarthome.core:0.10.0.oh230]
	at com.sun.proxy.$Proxy166.handleCommand(Unknown Source) [237:org.openhab.binding.amazonechocontrol:2.5.0.Beta_01]
	at org.eclipse.smarthome.core.thing.internal.profiles.ProfileCallbackImpl.handleCommand(ProfileCallbackImpl.java:75) [108:org.eclipse.smarthome.core.thing:0.10.0.oh230]
	at org.eclipse.smarthome.core.thing.internal.profiles.SystemDefaultProfile.onCommandFromItem(SystemDefaultProfile.java:49) [108:org.eclipse.smarthome.core.thing:0.10.0.oh230]
	at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor76.invoke(Unknown Source) ~[?:?]
	at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43) ~[?:?]
	at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498) ~[?:?]
	at org.eclipse.smarthome.core.internal.common.AbstractInvocationHandler.invokeDirect(AbstractInvocationHandler.java:153) [101:org.eclipse.smarthome.core:0.10.0.oh230]
	at org.eclipse.smarthome.core.internal.common.Invocation.call(Invocation.java:53) [101:org.eclipse.smarthome.core:0.10.0.oh230]
	at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266) [?:?]
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1149) [?:?]
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:624) [?:?]
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:748) [?:?]

I’m using the following code:

AlexaEcho_Radio.sendCommand(OFF)

Switch AlexaEcho_Radio "TuneIn Radio"   {channel="amazonechocontrol:echo:account:echo1:radio"}

Other functions like Text to Speech work fine.
Has anyone any ideas?
Many thanks!

[DubZ (Mar Li)]

Question: if I understand it right then that binding is not able to tts a value from an openhab item, isnt it?

[H102 (CM6.5 H102)]

What value are you wanting? Take a look at the lastVoiceCommand feature and tagging.