[UPDATED] - Message Central - Make your home speak

I tried 2 devices. A Fibaro Open/Close sensor with temperature and a Netatmo outdoor module.

Did you actually confirm that the temperature changed before trying to speak?

With all apps like this the app doesn't know what the temperature is until the device reports in.
To test this, you can always try it with a virtual temp sensor and force a temp change before activating the motion.

Why does the temperature have to change. Said differently, the Netatmo device updates itself every 5 minutes so yes the temperature changes.

The trigger for the app is motion so shouldnā€™t the app just go out and grab the attribute ā€˜temperatureā€™ from the selected device regardless of when the temperature last updated?

Normally, devices don't send the value unless it has changed
The app needs to have a value to be able to 'speak' it

Only if the device is capable of the 'Poll' command
most devices are not (except some weather drivers)

No app can do this with a 'subscribe' attribute
It needs to be 'told' the value by the device

Hmm.... sadness. Ok, I will have to think of another way.

This might work, I use it in one of my apps to go get a temperature:

this does get a current temp for me

input(
name : "tempSensors"
,title : "Temperature sensor for zone:"
,multiple : false
,required : true
,type : "capability.temperatureMeasurement"
,submitOnChange : false
)
subscribe(tempSensors, "temperature", tempHandler)
def zoneTempLocal = tempSensors.currentValue("temperature").toFloat()

I know this is a top level question, but I'm closing on my first home (that's not a condo) next week, and I'm buying up hubs, sensors, lights, everything right now. With this app, can the notifications be sent to custom Sonos groups per trigger? Like could it play these messages to every Sonos speaker in the house? Or every airplay device? or bluetooth speaker? (or a mix?)
Its all very overwhelming, but I've been scouring the forums and doing testing with without I have. Another project to throw hundreds of hours at! woohoo lol

Yes it can, you would just configure a child app for each trigger you want to use and assign the relevant speaker or sonos group

If Hubitat can 'speak' through it then MC can be used to send TTS
However, airplay and bluetooth are not natively supported by Hubitat

Andy

1 Like

So this is pretty awesome looking. I haven't installed it yet. Currently I have a Vera with Vera Alerts. I can craft a message like this:

{sound:2}{delay:4}This is a test message.

The first part plays a sound clip as defined in the Vera Alerts app. The delay is how many seconds it waits before playing the TTS, as a large sound clip and the TTS could overlap with each other.

Can I do this with message central? I want to be able to create audio alerts that have a sound effect followed by TTS, without canceling each other out.

Edit, just installed. Looks like this is not currently possible. Can you add this capability?

It IS actually possible by using the delay before message option.

Letā€™s say you are triggering from a switch turning on.
You will need to create 2 child apps
App1 - play your mp3 sound triggered by the switch turning on.
App2 - play your TTS message AFTER a delay of how ever many seconds your mp3 lasts, again triggered by the same switch turning on.

Because you are using the same trigger for each of the child apps, they will both be triggered at the same time, but because of the delay on the second childapp, it wonā€™t play until the mp3 has played.

Andy

Can you add an option under the "Voice Message" type to play an MP3 before speaking the text? As long as the delay works for just the speech portion (and doesn't affect when the mp3 plays), this will cover my use case. This would greatly simplify things for me. I have about 50 different voice announcements on my Vera, and creating 2 apps for each one of them is not ideal.

Not at this time no.
This is not a 5 minute quick bit of code.
This is something that has never been asked for before, so I would be doing this for you alone.
Unfortunately, with a large number of apps to support, I have to manage my coding time where I think it would do the most.
Iā€™m not a full time coder, I have a real job & life too :slight_smile:

Not what you wanted to hear, but at least you have the work around.
You could always learn groovy and create something yourself, specific to your needs.

Andy

Perhaps Big Talker will be better for your needs.

Andy

Hi,

New to Message Central and Cobra Apps. I've installed this and it is working but I wanted to mention two things and make a request.:grimacing:

When I hit done on the cobra container app screen I get taken to the restriction page of the child app I was in. Hitting done there takes me back to the cobra container. And it just keeps looping when I hit done. I can click on apps to exit and everything is working but it just seems odd. Maybe I did something wrong when installing. But it is working.

When selecting what type of sensor to use in messaging - contact seems to be the only choice that allows for selecting more than one device (check boxes vs radio button). Would it be possible to allow for selecting more than one device in some of the other device options (contact open too long, water, presence, etc)

Would you consider adding acceleration sensors?

Thanks!

You didnā€™t, this is something with the platform which only happens when a grandparent/parent/child app configuration is used.
As I am currently the only developer using this, it is unlikely to be fixed.
As you say, it does not harm the app, itā€™s just annoying.

Iā€™m currently working on other drivers & apps, but when I finish those I can get back to this one and consider your requests.
The multiple devices is very easy to do, however, I cannot guarantee that the app would function in the same way if multiple devices are used as triggers.
For vibration/acceleration sensors, this would require a whole new trigger section to be written.

Andy

1 Like

So far I am not running into any issues having multiple selections for contacts. Thanks for the app!

@Cobra

Hey Andy, I moved to Alexa Speaks, no issues with selecting and using my speaker in MC, however volume doesn't seem to work for me. I tried 40 and 20 and get the same volume output.

It does work in other apps so I know things are setup correctly

Thoughts?
Rick

@toy4rick
This app was created long before Echo Speaks and is really due a major update but I just don't have the time to look at it atm

Andy

Any plans to add support to send push notifications to the new mobile app?