Vera Alerts

Apps & Remote Access VeraAlerts
1

I have released an upgrade to the Vera Alert android app.
But since Richard does not have time to work on this I had to release as a new application called Vera Alterts

This has lots of improvements to the data management of the stored notifications.
It also has Text To Speech (TTS) to announce the messages instead of just a notification ring tone.

This will work with the existing Vera Alert Plugin that you have … but a new version of that is coming out soon as well … this will add a lot of additional features on the Vera side of the notifications.

In Google Play Store search for Vera Alerts
Because this is a new app it does not have access to the old Apps database.
You can set the DeviceID to the same one you had with the Vera Alert app … but then you would have to remove that App. Or you can use a new DeviceID and modify all of your Vera code to use this new ID.

Backup you data before you delete the Vera Altert app. I have an untested feature to restore this data. So you might want to keep it handy.

You should not have two apps trying to receive the same message with the same DeviceID

2

Could you please elaborate on the TTS functionality?

3

Sorry for the delay … I took a week off to enjoy life!

Vera Alert has always allowed you to tag a Notification that is sent to you Android with one of 5 Ring Tone IDs. On the phone you get to specify which Ring Tone is associated with each ID. I added an addition TAG to allow you to specify to use TTS as well/in place of the Tone.

On the phone you can configure to have all NOTIFICATIONS spoken when delivered.
Also includes repeat, repeat count, and cancel capability on the phone.

It uses the built-in TTS engine in the Android phone. So I do not have to go to a 3rd party source to convert the text to an AUDIO stream.

I hope this helps …

4

Is the plugin downloadable yet? I don’t see it in the app store yet. I have the Vera 3 with UI5.

5

I’m having trouble adding Vera Alert (or Vera AlertS) to my scenes and to add the device/phone ID to the Vera Alert(s) device in my dashboard under UI5. Has anyone noticed this and is there a new set of xml files to work with UI5?

6

The Vera Alerts Plugin is now available on the Vera App Store.
Details on how to use it can be found at:
[url=http://RTS-Services.com/Vera/Plugin/VeraAlerts]http://RTS-Services.com/Vera/Plugin/VeraAlerts[/url]

7

[quote=“RichardTSchaefer, post:6, topic:172920”]The Vera Alerts Plugin is now available on the Vera App Store.
Details on how to use it can be found at:
[url=http://RTS-Services.com/Vera/Plugin/VeraAlerts]http://RTS-Services.com/Vera/Plugin/VeraAlerts[/url][/quote]

The link just times out for me. Thanks for the plug-in though, I look forward to trying it.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rtsservices.veraalerts&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5ydHNzZXJ2aWNlcy52ZXJhYWxlcnRzIl0. I presume that’s the newer one.

8

I got this running the other day. I have a whole house audio system… and I happened to have an old Android phone laying around that I don’t use because a portion of the touchscreen no longer works. If you have an old phone laying around, this is a GREAT way to repurpose it.

Here’s what I did:

[ul][li]Installed IVONA text to speech engine from the market[/li]
[li]Installed the IVONA “Amy” voice (sexy british accent, and very good quality. Difficult to tell it’s synthesized). I could have used the built in Android TTS engine/voices, but this one is way better[/li]
[li]Installed SetCPU to prevent the CPU speed from going below 1113mhz to keep the phone responsive (not required)[/li]
[li]Go under the wifi settings, join it to your network. Click the menu button and select “Advanced”. Set a static IP for the phone, and change the power saving settings in this screen so the Wifi will never turn off[/li]
[li]Install Vera Alerts from the android market[/li]
[li]Start Vera Alerts, click menu, click Register to register it with google’s C2DM service [/li]
[li]Install VeraAlerts from the Micasaverde app store [/li]
[li]In the Vera Alerts device created on Vera, edit it, and put in the Device ID listed in the VeraAlerts app on your android device [/li]
[li]Send a test message [/li][/ul]

Now you’re ready to use it. I created a new scene called Voice Alerts. I did not select any devices for it. But, I create a trigger for each voice announcement I want, and after the trigger is created, I put the LUUP code in the trigger event rather than in the LUUP tab for the scene. This way, you can have one scene for voice alerts instead of one for each one. For example, I have a trigger for when the front door is tripped, and the LUUP event is:

luup.call_action("urn:richardgreen:serviceId:VeraAlert1", "SendAlert", {Message = "{tone:2} Front door has been opened.", Recipients = ""}, 46)

It’s really simple to use. However, it would be nice if there was a method to choose this as a notification under the notifications tab for each device rather than having to put in LUUP code. It’s my understanding that some sort of notifications hook needs to be added before this is possible.

So now I’m in the process of porting all of my voice announcements from my ELK M1 Gold over to Vera Alerts. The ELK’s voice announcements are not very good quality, and you’re limited to a 500 word vocabulary since it’s not TTS.

Features I’d like to see with Vera Alerts:

[ul][li]Ability to have the phone just listen on a local port, and the vera app to send directly to the phone, bypassing Google’s C2DM and the dependence on an internet connection and a 3rd party service for things to work.[/li]
[li]If your alert sound is long, it will start speaking before the alert tone is finished playing. Is there an easy way to fix this in the code? If no, could a {sleep:X} tag be added where X is a number of milliseconds? “{tone:2}{sleep:1500} Movement on rear deck, arm yourself.”[/li]
[li]No status bar icon to tell if the app is running.[/li][/ul]

C2DM is good for people who use Vera Alerts on the move. But for those of use who are just going to stick the android device in a cabinet and hook it into a whole house speaker system, it doesn’t make sense to use it. Messages are limited to 1024 bytes, so you probably couldn’t send a whole breaking news story to it if you had something that pulled important things via RSS and played them. It relies on an internet connection either via wifi or phone network. It relies on a 3rd party service, which also has rate limits (I was unable to find what these are). Some people may have privacy concerns with sending data like this to google. Latency could be a concern, but it’s been almost instantaneous for me (50M pipe though).

Overall, this is a great solution for voice announcements. I really have grown accustomed to them from my ELK, but was always annoyed on the crappy quality and the limited vocabulary. This addresses both of those issues nicely.

9

I have been testing Vera Alerts today and am wondering how to stop alerts for certain events? All I have done is install the phone app and install the Vera app. I am getting alerts everytime Vera resets. I would prefer to only get alerts of my choosing. Is this possible?

10

I will have to disable, or provide an option, the alert for starting up.
I found it useful to know when Vera restarts.

11

Ok, thanks for considering the option. I’m just glad I wasn’t doing something wrong.

12

This seems to be working for me. I picked up a used android phone and am plumbing it in with a bunch of computer speakers all around the house. I’m controlling which speakers get used by plugging them in to Z-Wave outlets and controlling which ones are getting power. I got a bunch of them from somewhere on some kind of sale months and months ago and they have been collecting dust in their boxes.

I second the request to be able to eliminate the internet from the equation. I don’t have a phone that this would be useful on. I’m only going to be using it in the house.

Also the delay request is a great idea. Imagine the situation I’m building where I have speakers set up in different rooms which need to be turned on to play the TTS. It will take longer for the speaker to turn on than it will for Vera Alert to start reading. If I could enter a delay I could have the scene turn on the speakers, wait several seconds and then speak.

One more request is to be able to have it play locally stored audio files. The Ivona TTS voices are pretty good but not as good as getting a sexy woman to record sultry messages for me.

Oh, and one more thing. The ability to randomize which message gets read. This is a big one for HomeSeer. Say I have a scene which reads text to me when I open the door. If I could have 5 or 10 or more options and Vera Alert picks one at random it would add a whole new level of personality to Vera. At that point I could stop calling it “Vera” and give it a more personalized name.

Thanks for all your hard work. You are bringing Vera into a whole new world with the projects you are contributing to.

13

I was pointed to the app and although it works on my CM9 (ICS) Touchpad, it does not get any of the alerts on my little Android 2.2 Chipad. I was looking to use this tell my puppy to behave. Figured I’d stick the old chipad with a powered speaker in the living area and next time she starts to chew a non dog toy, send a ‘No No Bad DOG’ type of message to have spoken to her.

Unfortunately the Touchpad works with the app but has no sound support (I’d have to mess with the CM9 dailies to see if that fixes it) and the little Chipad (Zenithink ZT180), which has working audio, does not seem to want to work with the app. Is it the fact it’s running the older Android 2.2 version?

Really not wanting to buy yet another tablet or phone and hope that will work. Anybody has thsi working on an Android 2.2 device?

14

I simply picked up a cheap ratty used old Android phone I found on craigslist. It cost peanuts.

15

I’m trying to find out what Android versions this works on. I can afford to spend 20 or 30 bucks on a phone if that one will work. I’d hate to have to buy multiple just to find one that works…

Update: I got PO’d enough to go find the latest CM9 nightlies for my Touchpad and install them. :slight_smile: (CM10 - Jelly Bean is out but still expirimental…) Sound is now working with Vera Alerts. Installed Ivona with Amy as per above. Seems to be working although at times there seems to be a delay with TTS starting when the message comes in.

That $150 HP 32Gb Touchpad was one of the best investments I ever made. :slight_smile: As soon as I can figure out a wall mount that charges them when mounted (They have factory inductive chargers) they’ll both be used as controllers for my home automation system.

16

I thought this also, it was user error. The author of the app informed me that there is a setting in the Android app that is the message repeat delay. It’s set to 30 seconds by default. That means after it speaks a message, it will not speak another for 30 seconds. I changed mine to 0, and now it works great.

Oh, and the dog thing? When I had problems with my dog when I wasn’t in the room, I just stuck an e-collar on him and watched him by camera from the other room and nicked him when he was doing something he knew he wasn’t supposed to. It only took twice per problem (once with chewing, once with scratching the screen door). Never had a problem since.

17

Duh! I saw the repeat but I figured it was for multiple invocations of the same message. I’ll set that to 0. Thanks!

She’s not really bad for a 9 month old. She just gets bored at around 3:30PM / 4PM when I am at work and (although there are plenty of chew toys) she starts looking for something to do. Unfortunately, she does not realize the difference between chew toys and non chew toys yet. :slight_smile: Even for a German shepherd she is extremely smart. Too smart for her own good at times. :slight_smile: She’s fine with no destruction if I leave a a few hours running errands.

e-collar won’t work as I am at work unless they make a z-wave one. :slight_smile: If Richard can add the ability to play sound files to Vera Alerts, I believe the sound/inflection of my voice will stop her.

For now, she’s going to get crated when I go to work as I’m worried if she gets into a live electrical cord.

Thanks for the help. Vera Alerst definitely has some possibilities. I may have to switch from iPhone to Android when my contract is up. Between Authomation and Vera Alerts that platform has more to offer for control of my home.

18

Yep, that’s what I thought also.

I have a working line GSD also (half West German, 1/4 DDR, and 1/4 Czech lines), and the e-collar is your only hope. He’s going to be smart enough to figure out that nothing really happens when he chews. Buy or borrow a good Dogtra, get a beer and a laptop, and go sit in your garage and watch him from there. This is my 3rd GSD, I’ve had them all my life. And, while your plan may work with another type of dog, I can pretty much guarantee you it will not work with a GSD. He may stop when you send the message, but he’s going to continue to do it when you’re not watching unless he thinks there’s some real consequence to it.

19

The android TTS engine supports the ability to associate a list of text strings to local sound files.
When it sees the text it plays the sound file instead of synthesizing it.

I can add the ability to configure this to the Vera Alert Android app.

Then, for example, when you send the string fragment “BAD DOG” it will be spoken in the voice you use when the dog is doing something wrong!

20

I gotta say, I’m loving Vera Alerts.

Here’s what I’ve done so far:

  • Most chimes have been moved from Elk to Vera. Still need to figure out how to pull the current chime on/off status from the Elk so I can put in code to honor that on the vera for non-critical alerts.
  • If the outside temp is under 60, that means the garage heat is on. So if either garage door is open for more than 5 minutes, then I have it tell me the door is open and the temp is X. Close the door, you’re letting the heat out.
  • Reminds me to take the trash out at 10:35pm, right after the news.
  • From 8am to 10pm, it speaks the time every half hour.
  • Tells me when my offpeak/heating panel has been shut down by the power company, and when it comes back.
  • If the kid’s room door opens after 10:30pm and before 8am, it tells the kids to go back to bed, mommy and daddy are still sleeping. Can you be good and go back to bed for me?
  • When I disarm the alarm in the morning, it tells me the current weather conditions and the high/low temps for the day

Things I want to do:

  • Better weather forecasts. Finding it hard to find something decent without doing a ton of parsing of HTML. I cannot find any good “human” readable or speech-worthy forecasts in text-only or XML format.
  • Pull Google calendar items and announce them based on the “alert X minutes before” setting for each item, or exactly at the time of the item if there’s no “alert before” set for it. I work from home most of the time, this would be great, and would keep me from being late to conference calls. :slight_smile:
  • Severe weather alerts
  • I’ve been working to get license plate OCR going for my cams. I live in a pretty private area where it’s usually only my neighbors. If a license plate that wasn’t on a list of plates in the neighborhood came through, I’d like to announce that an unknown vehicle has entered the area. I have to get the plate OCR working first though, and it’s looking like I’ll need a new camera, or a $400 lens for my Lumenera. We’ve had quite a few burglaries right outside our development, the only reason we haven’t had any here is because I think everyone is on their toes and calls the cops anytime it looks like someone shady is around.
  • Monitor my internet connection and speak when it goes down. It could signal that a burglar has cut my line coming in. The problem right now is that Vera Alerts relies upon an internet connection to work.

The quality of the voice using IVONA Amy is unreal. WAY better than the Elk. And, since she’s got a british accent, it’s damn funny to make her say cockney phrases.