Have you ever wanted a talking house? Now you can! With the Big Talker SmartApp

When SmartThings is paired with a compatible audio device (such as a Sonos, Ubi, LANnouncer, VLCThing, AskAlexa, etc) and Big Talker SmartApp, your house can say what you want it to say when events occur.

Instructions and other documentation for this SmartThings Community SmartApp can be found at: http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=BigTalker

• 12/13/2014 - 1.0.0 - Initial Release
• 12/17/2014 - 1.0.1 - Sonos Support corrected. Resume playback after speaking (not supported for VLC-Thing until the Device Type supports it), Corrected custom speech device save for Switch events, general cleanup. More event support to come in new releases soon. Special thanks to SmartThings community member Greg for help with testing Sonos functionality and making this release possible.
• 12/26/2014 - 1.0.2 - Corrected bug where Sonos would show up to be selected as a default speech device, but not as a custom speech device for each device/event group.
• 3/4/2015 - 1.1.0
• Feature: New sensor event handlers
  • Acceleration (active/inactive) event
  • Water (wet/dry) event added
  • Smoke (detected/clear/tested) event
  • Button (press) event added, to be tested..., Need someone to test.
• Feature: Mode change exclusion: Remain silent when changed to a configured mode, when coming from an excluded mode. Thanks for the request SmartThingsCommunity:Greg.
• Feature: Added default "talk while in mode(s)" with custom mode overrides for each event group.
• Feature: Added Volume Change (supported for Sonos, VLC-Thing, not supported for Ubi due to lack of support in it's device type)
• Feature: Toggle support for either capability.musicPlayer(Sonos/VLCThing) or capability.speechSynthesis(Ubi/VLCThing). Note: Only one type or the other is currently configurable in the app at a time.
  • Install the app twice to support both modes.
• Feature: Optional: Default Allowed Talk Time, with per event group override. (Thanks ST Community: Greg for the idea)
• Feature: Added Talk Now feature (once the app is properly setup/configured, it will show up on the main page under Status and Configure).
• Feature: Added scheduled event based on time of day and day(s) of the week. Only allowed 3 as ST apps are only allowed 4 schedules at a time, so I'm reserving 1 for future/internal use (Thanks ST Community: Greg for the feature request)
• Feature Modification: Adjusted some debug/trace log info
• Feature Modification: Status page: add defaults, cleanup look
• Feature Modification: Configuration flow change (to better support the choice of musicPlayer / speechSynthesis)
• Feature Modification: Default text is shown in Group 1 of each device type as an example; if the user deletes the text and saves, it reappears the next time they edit the event type. This modification only fills the default text if the speech text is blank AND the device list is empty. (Thanks for the feedback ST Community: Greg)
• Feature Modification: Added time scheduled events to the status page
• Feature Modification: Added phrase variable %time% which will return the current time.
• BugFix: VLCThing reporting "stopped" instead of "disconnected" therefore it was calling "playTextAndResume" and cutting off phrases. Adjusted to playText if no trackdata found.
• BugFix: Switch Group 3 was not working. onSwitch3Event() function missing; Added. Thanks GitHub @roblandry (Issue #5).
• BugFix: Ensure Uninstall button is always on the "Configure" page, even for partially installed instances
• BugFix: Mode change announcement may announce previous mode incorrectly. Resolved.
• BugFix: Hopefully fixed a bug where upgrading from versions before 1.0.3-Beta1 speechDevice selections may show up as a text field; toggling Sonos/Ubi support resolved, so added code to try to prevent the issue to start with (Thanks ST Community: Greg for the report)
• BugFix: When attempting to configure a "motion" event user receives the message "Error:You are not authorized to perform the requested operation" (Thanks: ST:chaaad614)
• BugFix(attempt; needs testing): Under capability.musicPlayer Talk() calls playTextAndResume() even when it detects that nothing was playing before speaking. Changed to playTextAndRestore() when nothing is previously playing. Thanks for the report ST Community:Kristopher
• BugFix: Fixed an issue where custom talk modes were not checked when using a scheduled Time event.
• BugFix: Fixed an issue where current day of the week was not calculated properly for a scheduled Time event causing these events to speak on days of the week that were not desired.
• BugFix: Fixed an issue where "Talk Now" would sometimes say the last spoken phrase upon entering the "Talk Now" page.
• 10/25/2015 - 1.1.1
• BugFix: Corrected issue with Motion 1 announcement custom time restrictions
• 10/25/2015 - 1.1.2
• BugFix: Corrected issue with setting speech volume. Ensure that Volume is not 0; Set to 75 if it is.
• 10/26/2015 - 1.1.3
• BugFix: Added additional check in Talk() if using MusicPlayer device, currentTrack = null and currentStatus was "playing" then BT would not "resume", but instead would stop the track, PlayText() and not resume the track.
• BugFix: Replaced deprecated "refreshAfterSelection" in dynamic pages with replacement "submitOnChange". This fixes things like TalkNow's expected operation.
• Feature Enhancement: Additional logging added in Talk()
• 1.1.4 was a development/beta version branch. These features and bug fixes were rolled into 1.1.5
• 1/31/2016 - 1.1.5
  • Metadata Update: Update copyright from 2014 to 2014-2016.
  • New Feature: poll() or refresh() on Talk() to try to update current status of player. Protect crash using try/catch routines. Delays poll for 2 minutes after any speech event. (mediaPlayer mode only)
  • New Feature: Added detection of failure to convert text to speech (SmartThings intermittent issue with textToSpeech function), send notification instead so message is not missed.
  • New Feature: Added new Talk variables %weathercurrent%, %weathertoday%, %weathertonight%, %weathertomorrow%. Can be added to any event.
  • New Feature: Upon Install or settings update, a poll process will execute every minute to check all configured speech devices for their latest status. This is in an effort to better detect if a device is playing before interrupting to speak. (Note: VLCThing doesn't report 'playing' until after the second poll or 2 minutes into a playlist; others may as well). (mediaPlayer mode only)
  • New Feature: Added Status page item to show the ZipCode that SmartThings has derived from the hub via Latitude/Longitude.
  • New Feature: Added Phrase Variables
    • %weathercurrent% - Current weather
    • %weathertoday% - Today's weather forecast
    • %weathertonight% - Tonight's weather forecast
    • %weathertomorrow% - Tomorrow's weather forecast
    • %weathercurrent(00000)% = Current weather based on custom zipcode (replace 00000)
    • %weathertoday(00000)% = Today's weather forecast based on custom zipcode (replace 00000)
    • %weathertonight(00000)% = Tonight's weather forecast based on custom zipcode (replace 00000) *%weathertomorrow(00000)% = Tomorrow's weather forecast based on custom zipcode (replace 00000) *(00000) can also be replaced by any supported location of the WeatherUnderground API such as (France/Paris), (latitude,longitude), (AirportCode), (State/City)
  • New Feature: Add adjustWeatherPhrase() function to convert mph to "Miles Per Hour", NNE to "North Northeast", etc..
  • New Feature: Added "Help" section to each event configuration page with a "Phrase Tokens" option to give the user an In-App reference of the known phrase tokens that can be used.
  • Feature Modification: Re-write of Talk() to better detect latest playing track and play status (latestValue() instead of currentValue()). (mediaPlayer mode only)
  • Feature Modification: Modified Start page, About section
  • Feature Modification: Add LANnouncer into the supported device descriptions for speechSynthesis.
  • Feature Modification: Remove unsupported Volume setting / function when operating in speechSynthesis mode.
  • BugFix: Corrected default phrases for Water sensor (Thanks ST Community: Greg) (was using acceleration phrases)
  • BugFix: Corrected home mode change issue if exclusion was not set (Thanks for the report ST Community: Greg)
  • BugFix: Resolve an error that is present if both currentTrack and currentStatus return null. "java.lang.NullPointerException: Cannot get property 'status' on null object"
  • BugFix: Setting changes were not activated when editing within the "Configure Defaults" menu and pressing Done. Settings only activated after editing within the "Configure Events" menu and pressing Done. Resolved.
  • BugFix: Replace special characters found in phrase (ie: URL tokens) such as those that end up in weather reports which cause LANnouncer to not speak when expected.
  • BugFix: Fix Talk() routine for speechSynthesis only devices which typically do TTS on the phrase passed to them on their own or within their deviceType.
  • BugFix: Talk() function has been further optimized and more bugs have been resolved.
• 5/5/2016 - 5/25/2016
  • Added phrase token %shmstatus% to speak your current SmartHome Monitor Status (Disarmed, Armed Away, Armed Stay) ** Note this is not documented at this time by SmartThings and may stop working at any time and/or be removed in a future version. Thanks STCommunity: @bsanker for the request and STCommunity: @MichaelS for the tip on implementing.
• 8/22/2016 - 1.1.7
  • Added missing %devicechange% reference in in-app "Phrase Tokens" help page. (Thanks ST Community: adamoutler)
  • Removed Paypal donation link that no longer allows donation without login; just send via regular PayPal or the other methods. (Thanks ST Community: Gorilla800lbs)
  • Called setAppVersion() sooner in SmartApp execution to show version # more accurately.
• 10/11/2016 - 1.1.8
  • I believe that I have squashed a couple of bugs that may have missed playback or caused playback that wasn't desired for musicPlayer devices (Sonos, etc).
  • There is a new %description% token that you can use for a description of the event which occurred via device-specific text. Ex: %description% becomes 'Front door is closed' (Thanks for the idea STCommunity: adamoutler).
  • %devicename% does error control to find the next best device name rather than crashing the app if the expected call fails. The calls try in the following order: evt.displayName, evt.device.displayName, and finally evt.device.name - One of these will return something; the order is to try to make sure it's the user defined name.
  • Changes default volume applied if in musicPlayer mode and musicPlayer device volume is less than 50% and a desired volume is not configured then device will bump up to 50% to speak and should return to the user configured volume on resume (was originally set to 75% if device was at 50 or below).
• 1.1.9 = In-development and Alpha/Beta testing branch
• 3/12/2017 - 1.1.10 = Release (Major thanks to all of the alpha/beta testers of the 1.1.9 branch!!)
  • Additional Talk() debug logging
  • Test variables for null with safe navigation operator (?) in more places within Talk().
  • Attempt to resolve musicPlayer playing text and resuming/restoring.
  • Clear state.polledDevices on initialize
  • In musicPlayer mode, def Talk() now gives currentTrack.status precedence over currentStatus if it exists as it seems more accurate in testing based on feedback.
  • If default speech volume was not set, speech may not have occurred due to a null variable issue. Resolved with groovy safe navigation operator
  • Partnered with @MichaelS; Added AskAlexa support (send phrase to AskAlexa queue) with %askalexa% in the phrase.
  • Removed requirement to set a speechDevice for users that only wish to use another supported SmartApp to offload/handle the speech - (currently only AskAlexa)
  • Added Smart Home Monitor (Dashboard) status events (speak on Arm-Away, Arm-Stay, Disarm)
  • Device/SmartApp output detection logging (did we send to a device? did we only send to a SmartApp (AskAlexa), did we send a phrase but didn't send to a device or another SmartApp?)
  • Option to disable resume globally and/or per event.
  • A lot of work on Talk() and others
  • Pulled the code into Notepad++ where I could work with it better, collapse conditions, etc.
  • Found several bugs in the Talk() function that I didn't see otherwise. Squashed.
  • Added a "Poll Now" toggle to the BT main screen, when in Debug and musicPlayer mode.
  • Added option to disable periodic polling for musicPlayer mode (some users were concerned with BigTalker showing up in the "Activity" feed so often. If music starts playing after speech when it wasn't before, please make sure that polling is enabled)
  • When resume is enabled and in musicPlayer mode and in Debug mode, main menu now has an option to cause an instant poll "DEBUG: Poll Now (simply toggle)".
  • Corrected a missed null check in Talk() regarding an empty phrase.
  • Added a null check in Talk() for resume var.
  • Added logging and in-app notification if Talk() is called on an empty phrase.
  • Added Button Held event. (needs testing. I do not have a zwave button)
  • Renamed SHM Stay to SHM Home to match the language in the SmartApp Dashboard.
  • Additional null checks in Talk() (specifically addressed if the desired phrase only had %askalexa%; throw an error in the logs and notify via push that there is a configuration error due to a missing phrase)
• 3/12/2017 - 1.1.11
  • Resolved null issue that was present in TalkNow when %askalexa% wasn't present in the phrase or the page tried to load with a blank phrase.
• 3/13/2017 - 1.1.12
  • Corrected an issue where an unexpected in-app notification is returned when using only one of the available phrases within an event group. ie: Switch Group 1, Talk when ON has data but Talk when OFF does not.