EvoControl - custom Alexa skill for Evohome

[philchillbill]

V1.8 with Widget support is now Certified/Live



Amazon has certified v1.8 of EvoControl which makes the widget described a few posts back generally available. See https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/cus...3W5FSE9NHDWUQV for a description of how to install, or else just check the video I posted for the dev-version (same installation). At any time, you can swipe left to access the widget or else you can say 'Alexa, show my widgets' (when installed).

The widget contains a scrollable and numbered list of your activities and tapping one of the names activates it (provided the system mode is not SystemOff). There's no spoken feedback as that is not allowed, but you'll see the activity name flash once as request-confirmation (and thus not completion-confirmation). If you tap the '🌡️ EvoControl' header at the top then it will launch the 'full' skill for you. There's no error-feedback so if TCC is offline or whatever you'll have no way of knowing from the widget. They are, after all, a pared-down experience.

Amazon also recently introduced the concept of name-free interactions (NFI) to launch skills without having to invoke in the usual way. This is only possible when a skill has enough users in a particular locale. Because the .co.uk version of the skill surpassed this threshold (unfortunately, not the .de or .com versions), you can now say any of "Alexa, I want to control Evohome", "Alexa, open Evohome", or "Alexa, open Evo Control" in addition to the good old "Alexa, open Smart Heat". However, Amazon states that it can take up to 8 weeks for this to actually work, while Alexa analyses/learns. I have no idea how this will pan out, but they offered the chance so I took it

[bruce_miranda]

I am getting conflicting information if the Echo Show 5 actually supports widgets or not.

https://www.tomsguide.com/news/10-coolest-things-the-amazon-echo-show-can-do

[philchillbill]

Because the Standby activity is one that often gets activated permanently, the widget list now shows an additional entry for 'Standby ♾️'. If you tap that one instead of the regular 'Standby' then the permanently flag is automatically added for you.

[bruce_miranda]

I'll just leave this here.

Echo Show 8 (1st Gen, 2019 release) – Smart Display with Alexa – Stay in touch with the help of Alexa – White https://amzn.eu/d/9q5SRYQ

Send your old Echo gear back for some more discount. And you get 4 months of free Amazon Unlimited.

[Midland45]

Amazon has certified v1.8 of EvoControl which makes the widget described a few posts back generally available. See https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/cus...3W5FSE9NHDWUQV for a description of how to install, or else just check the video I posted for the dev-version (same installation). At any time, you can swipe left to access the widget or else you can say 'Alexa, show my widgets' (when installed)

[bruce_miranda]

The widget doesn’t seem to be available in my widget gallery on my Echo Show 8v2. It’s been powered off for a while, so not sure whether maybe it takes a period of Evocontrol use for Amazon to offer it up in the gallery for me to add?

Also check if its running the latest firmware because widgets has only been recently rolled out to the Echo Show 8. Its still a no show on the show 5, unfortunately.

[philchillbill]

My understanding of widgets is that you don't even need to have EvoControl enabled in order to have the widget show up. The literally hundreds of people who in the last 2 days installed the widget, launched the skill by tapping on the header, were told they need to account-link the skill, and then deleted the widget again would seem to confirm that. Widgets are new so people try them out.

I have no idea why Amazon is not yet showing it to you but if the Echo has been powered off then who knows. My guess is that it will show up within 24h and may indeed need a firmware update as suggested by Bruce.

[Midland45]

[bruce_miranda]

I have the same problem actually. I got myself an Echo 8 to try out the widgets but the EvoControl widget isn't an option, even though I have a long list of others. If I say "Alex add Smart Heat/EvoControl widget", it adds Smart Heat/EvoControl to my Shopping List!

[Midland45]

I have the same problem actually. I got myself an Echo 8 to try out the widgets but the EvoControl widget isn't an option, even though I have a long list of others. If I say "Alex add Smart Heat/EvoControl widget", it adds Smart Heat/EvoControl to my Shopping List!

Yeh I had the same result yesterday and had to delete it from my shopping list too.

[philchillbill]

                    "metadata": {
                        "name": "EvoControl",
                        "description": "Use quick-actions to select Scenes/Activities in the EvoControl Smart Heat skill controlling your zoned heating system",
                        "keywords": [
                            "Smart Home",
                            "Zoned Heating",
                            "Honeywell Home"
                        ],
                        "iconUri": "https://smartskills.tech/img/evocontrol/widgetimage.png",
                        "previews": [
                            "https://smartskills.tech/img/evocontrol/widgetimage.png"
                        ]
                    }

This is what the widget manifest looks like. You'd think anybody browsing widgets would figure out they have to have Evohome for it to be useful but looks like everybody who sees the widget in their gallery is installing it to tap on it (because it looks so high-tech ). Then they hear they have to link their account and so they delete the widget immediately. Duh! Obviously not anybody from these forums, of course

Amazon sees widgets as a promotional tool for skills => people browsing the widget gallery will become curious and discover the skill associated with the widget. Great for a fart-sounds skill, not so great for a skill that mandates account-linking plus actually having a smart-home device to control. Their docs don't state how they decide what widgets to show to whom and they also don't promise that somebody with an enabled skill will automatically get the associated widget. Sigh.

In case anybody is thinking of disabling/re-enabling the skill to see if the widget shows up then, please be mindful that your saved schedules/activities/groups will disappear if you do that. Make sure you backup your skill config from the account dashboard so you can safely restore if needed...

[bruce_miranda]

If the widgets that I am seeing are based on what Amazon thinks this household needs or is of interest, then today's dinner is going to involve some serious family conversations

[philchillbill]

Apologies all. It looks like the widget was only published for the en-US locale and missed en-GB or de-DE. I'm looking into why that might have happened. Not sure if I can just update or if re-certification is needed but I'll report back here when resolved.

EDIT: It needs re-certification Just submitted so let's see how busy Amazon is with new fart-skills at the moment

[bruce_miranda]

I just kept the box of the Echo Show 8 that I just bought, in case I needed to return it. But am glad you figured out why the farts were preferable to the stuff I really needed.

[philchillbill]