Indigo Domotics

Hi,
Not sure what I may be doing wrong after upgrading from 2.x to 3.0.11, but when I open set-up of a new instance of Hue-Bridge I get the following error message:

Alexa-Hue Bridge Error UI dynamic list function returned illegal ID string (ignoring): all speakers,, |all Speakers,, 156250425
Note: this was a virtual device configured under v2.X

When trying to set up new actions for this new hue bridge instance. I fill out the set-up dialog as pictured in the attachment below.
I notice there is no button for adding the new action's Alexa name to the list of names as there is for adding devices.
Then when I click save I get the warning shown in the second attachment to this message.

Any help/guidance much appreciated for getting this important improvement to work for me.

Much thanks,

Mike

You need to scroll the window to reveal the Add New Alexa Device which is further down.

Thanks

Mike

Working great now! Still get the error message in log when opening the the settings window.

The only thing better than what you have already contributed would be a way to specify a verb to buy used to trigger and action other than on/off or turn on/turn off. Like lock/unlock open/close. And for action scenes just saying "Alexa, Sleep-time" would activate the action associated with that Alexa "device" name.

Thanks for the contribution you are making.

Mike

Hi Mike,

mgolden50 wrote:

... Still get the error message in log when opening the the settings window.

It is a bug in the plugin in that it has allowed a user to enter a name with a comma in it which isn't accepted by Indigo in a dynamic list. The plugin should fail this on a validation check.
I will modify the plugin to correct existing input and prevent it from happening in the future.

mgolden50 wrote:

The only thing better than what you have already contributed would be a way to specify a verb to buy used to trigger and action other than on/off or turn on/turn off. Like lock/unlock open/close. And for action scenes just saying "Alexa, Sleep-time" would activate the action associated with that Alexa "device" name.

This would be nice but it is not currently possible.

The plugin emulates a Harmony Hue Hub and the only commands that Alexa allows (or understands) are:

• Turn on <Alexa Name>
• Turn Off <Alexa Name>
• Dim <Alexa Name> by n or dim <Alexa Name> by n percent

Hi Mike,

mgolden50 wrote:

Working great now! Still get the error message in log when opening the the settings window.

I have uploaded a new pre-release version (v3.0.12) which hopefully will stop the error occurring and allow you to use the device.

You can get the version from here: 3.0.12 Release - Requires Indigo 7
Double click on the Alexa-Hue.Bridge.indigoPlugin.zip file to download it to your Apple Mac that is running the Indigo Server . Double click the downloaded zip file and when it expands, double click the Alexa-Hue.Bridge.indigoPlugin file and it should install. You have to do it this way as this version is pre-release and the normal plugin menu update mechanism doesn't work.

Let me know how you get on.

Hi Jon,

From an earlier post: mgolden50 wrote:
The only thing better than what you have already contributed would be a way to specify a verb to buy used to trigger and action other than on/off or turn on/turn off. Like lock/unlock open/close. And for action scenes just saying "Alexa, Sleep-time" would activate the action associated with that Alexa "device" name.

This would be nice but it is not currently possible.

The plugin emulates a Harmony Hue Hub and the only commands that Alexa allows (or understands) are:
Turn on <Alexa Name>
Turn Off <Alexa Name>
Dim <Alexa Name> by n or dim <Alexa Name> by n percent

This limitation may have been elimingated with the introduction of Alexa's "Routines" capability.
I can now create a routine using the phrase "Alexa, Goodnight" rather that the current "Alexa, Turn On Goodnight" [obviously not very natural language]

The remaining limitation with Hue-Bridge is that the only action the routine can currently take is to set the hue light to 100% or 1% it won't generate a turn-on or turn-off action for Indigo.

It would be great if you could make the plugin respond to the Alexa reminder actions of brighten to 100% or 1% as Indigo on-off actions.
My wife is still confused by the un-natural language that the Hue interfaces still requires us to use.

Again, many, many thanks for the contributions you are making.

Mike

Hi Mike,

Take a look at this pre-release 3.0.23 Release - Requires Indigo 7

I recognised this as an issue with Routines and this pre-release version of the plugin now has a change as follows:

To further facilitate Alexa Routines support, you can specify to treat dim commands as simple on/off. This is setup when defining an Alexa device whilst configuring an Alexa-Hue Bridge. For an Alexa device that is using Actions, the Indigo DIM action can be defined as "HANDLE DIM AS ON/OFF". A dim value of 0 (zero) will be treated as off, all other values will be treated as on. This can be useful when defining Routines where it may pass a dim value as opposed to just on or off.

I think this will do what you want - hope this helps.

Jon,

Thanks for the quick reply. I'll try it out when I'm back at my home on Monday.

I looks like the Routines set-up on Alexa only allows specifying the lowest dim value of 1 (not 0). Will this be an issue?

Thanks,

Mike

Hi Mike,

mgolden50 wrote:

J... I looks like the Routines set-up on Alexa only allows specifying the lowest dim value of 1 (not 0). Will this be an issue?

No it it isn't an issue.

You are correct in that if you use the slider it goes from +1 to +100.

However, if you tap the light bulb (big round white filled circle with a bulb in it), it goes black and the brightness is set to 0%.

Ah ha!

I was able to try out the new version remotely with VNC and it seems to work perfectly!!!

Thanks so much.

Mike

When your Phillips I guess the whole world looks like a lightbulb.

Very good - glad it works OK

Not sure how to configure Alexa Routine Indigo actions so as not to get this error in the log.

The error statement occurs but then it goes on to trigger the action;

Alexa-Hue Bridge Error Request received from 192.168.1.95:45750: Alexa Device "Away Mode" doesn't support dimming.

Have you set the Dim Action option to HANDLE DIM AS ON/OFF?