Integrating WebCoRE and Ask Alexa

#1

Oops, nevermind. I just answered my own question. One of the actions that Ask Alexa can perform is to run a WebCoRE piston. It looks like I can get rid of my virtual switches after all.

1) Give a description of the problem
I am using virtual switches to allow WebCoRE and Ask Alexa to work together. This requires the creation of multiple virtual switches. I would like to find a way to have the two apps communicate directly.

2) What is the expected behavior?
I am currently using Michael Struck’s Ask Alexa app to control a bunch of routines via voice. For example, when I say to Alexa, “Tell the house it’s time for bed,” all the interior lights go out, the outside security lights come on, and the bedroom lights are turned on and dimmed to 5%. I have other routines (“Tell the house to relax” or “tell the house to lighten up”) that work similarly. In order to do this, WebCoRE is reacting to virtual switches that Ask Alexa turns off or on based on the specific voice command. Everything works fine but I’ve ended up with a bunch of virtual switches that clutter the Things page on the ST mobile app.

Has anyone figured out a way to send commands from Ask Alexa to WebCoRE? Ask Alexa has the ability to send HTTP commands to an internal IP address or external REST commands. Can WebCoRE receive these somehow? Has anyone figured out a way to get WebCoRE and Ask Alexa to interact without the use of virtual switches?

Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.

#2

I found out that even though you can select Ask Alexa as a virtual device, the functionality needed to use it is not yet in place in WebCoRE. Instead, I am using Ask Alexa to run a piston that changes a global variable to true from false. Other pistons react to the change in the variable’s value and run when it changes to true. So now I can tell Alexa to “tell the house it’s time for bed” and have the Bedtime pistons run without the need to create virtual switches in ST.