Voicemail Indicator

Jay-

I tried the Play Sound option, but I would prefer to just use a light to indicate that there are messages waiting. I thought I could just create a couple of Trigger Actions that would be based on the "PhoneValet_NewCallCount" variable, but it doesn't seem to respond. I would think that this variable would have a numeric value associated to the new call indicator number next to the PhoneValet icon at the top of the screen. I set up two triggers - the first is:

Trigger: variable PhoneValet_NewCallCount becomes greater than 0
Condition: always execute
Actions: turn on "VoiceMail_Indicator"

And a second:

Trigger: variable PhoneValet_NewCallCount becomes equal to 0
Condition: always execute
Actions: turn off "VoiceMail_Indicator"

I have tried different variations, but have had no luck.

Is there any way I can display the value of a variable in Terminal so I can see what I should be looking for?

Thanks again, and take care!

Jeff

[jay (support)]

The easier way to do it is to use the variable called "unheardMessageCountActionGroup", which is in "PhoneValet Background Script.scpt". If you set this variable to the name of an action group, it will execute that action group each time it would play the sound. Your action group could then do whatever you want: turn on lights, etc.

However, I have to say just glancing at your triggers I don't see any reason why your triggers wouldn't work. I'll look at it more when I get a chance this weekend.

jay

Jay-

I figured out what my original problem was here - I have a startup account that automatically launches Indigo and PhoneValet, and I leave this account active when I leave my computer and just sleep my display. This allows me to use AirFoil and actively screen calls throughout the house, and hear other Indigo spoken messages, and then when someone actually logs into their own account (i.e. someone is actually AT the computer), the sound is directed to back to the computer. This works great - as long as you keep all of your rights in check. The problem I had is that I had edited the background script under my personal account, and the startup user account did not have rights to run it then. After I went back and fixed the rights issue and rebooted everything works fine.

One other issue I did have was trying to get the script to STOP playing a sound when there were new messages. Since the script had already been run once, it had already created the variable "scriptShouldSoundAlertVar", and set it to "true". I am new to AppleScript, but just changing this code to set it to "false" did not work - I assume because it had already been created, and therefore did not execute the line again. I tried adding and "else" that set scriptShouldSoundAlertVar to "false", but this did not work either (again, I'm not sure my syntax was correct here anyway). So I ended up commenting out the entire "if" statement that checked the variable and played the sound, and that works fine - in fact it sped up the response time to the change in message count since it did not have to loop through that code anymore.

The end result is that I have an LED candle (that I got essentially for less than free when SmartHome put a bundle on sale including a ControLinc, ApplianceLinc, and the LED candle for $50) in my living room that turns on when I have new messages, and turns back off after I have listened to them. This works great, and if you don't want to check your messages right away (i.e. you just screened a call that you don't care about, or you are in bed and just want to listen to the message in the morning...) it is MUCH less annoying than having a sound being played throughout the house until you do!

Thanks again for your support, it is greatly appreciated!

Jeff

[jay (support)]

One other issue I did have was trying to get the script to STOP playing a sound when there were new messages. Since the script had already been run once, it had already created the variable "scriptShouldSoundAlertVar", and set it to "true".

Very strange - when i change the variable value it works. In fact, I have a trigger action that turns the beep off when the lights turn off at night and a t/d action that turns it back on in the morning.

The end result is that I have an LED candle (that I got essentially for less than free when SmartHome put a bundle on sale including a ControLinc, ApplianceLinc, and the LED candle for $50) in my living room that turns on when I have new messages, and turns back off after I have listened to them. This works great, and if you don't want to check your messages right away (i.e. you just screened a call that you don't care about, or you are in bed and just want to listen to the message in the morning...) it is MUCH less annoying than having a sound being played throughout the house until you do!

That sounds very cool. I added the ability to execute an action group when it would alert just for this purpose, but I didn't think to add another action group execution when the message count goes to 0. I'll add that to my improvements list.

Glad it's working out for you.

jay[/quote]

Jay-

I'm sure I must have syntax issues with trying to set/change variable values in AppleScript. Could you pass on some examples where you are changing the variables via trigger actions?

Thanks again, it's great to have someone "on the inside" that finds Indigo and PhoneValet a great combination like I do! Please keep us posted on any ideas and developments.

Take care!

Jeff

I would prefer to just use a light to indicate that there are messages waiting.

I've been looking for some sort of indicator light. What kind of light are using?

Charlie-

I think I mentioned higher in the post, but I had purchased a bundle that included a ControLinc, ApplianceLinc, and an LED candle on sale for $50 at SmartHome (which essentially gave me the LED candle for less than free!). This is more attractive than a nightlight, which is what I had originally considered.

With the Indigo / PhoneValet integration provided by Jay, and a Trigger Action based on the PhoneValet message count variable I have Indigo turn the candle on when there are new messages, and back off when all the messages have been listened to. It also works when you manually mark calls with messages as new.

I hope this helps, take care!

Jeff