Using a virtual button to trigger an Alexa routine

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1

Hi all,

I want to push a button on a Aeotec NanoMote Quad to run an Alexa routine. The Alexa routine runs a Broadlink scene which sends IR to my TV and home theater amp turning them off.

I've created a virtual button within HE and shared that button within HE's Alexa Skill.

I can't see that button from within Alexa let alone use it to trigger a routine.

I think I have the overall mechanics down -- but the detail implementation is alluding me.

Help please??

thanks
Mark

2

Unless something changed recently, buttons aren't supported from Hubitat to Alexa--you'd need to make it something like a virtual switch, as Alexa can see switch devices. (You could make it effectively momentary by using the "auto off" option on the virtual switch.) But, last I knew, Alexa also couldn't trigger automations from switches, only sensors. So, I'm surprised that you see the button device at all (are you sure it's the Hubitat one? does anyone know if something changed recently?), but this would be my workaround if this is all still true: you'd need a virtual motion or contact sensor, then something that calls open() or active() or whatever (custom command you could do from a rule, for example) on your virtual sensor, which you could set to "trigger" the Alexa routine when it becomes open or active. The Virtual Motion Sensor driver can automatically reset the device back to inactive, so it would be effectively momentary (like a momentary switch or button...but a bit of an awkward way to get there).