<Home Butler v3.13>

©2016-2025 Nozza87, Thank you to Terry Coupe (CoupeAutomation) for his contributions.

support@inoahguy.com.au

Requires Integration Designer 9.6 or later or Apex.

Requires Firmware (XP8v: 1.1.18), (XP8s: 1.7.15), (XP8: 3.11.15), (XP6s: 1.2.18), (XP6: 1.12.15), (XP3: 1.11.15) or later.

About:

Amazon Echo, Echo Dot and Echo Tap are commonly known as Alexa.

Alexa is a voice recognition system with text to speech output as well.

Google Assistant which is available on many devices mainly Google Home is Google's version of Alexa with very similar features.

When a command is recognized, the associated event will be signalled and your system macro will be executed.

Commands executed through events or macro names can be executed directly.

The text to speech capabilities are expanded to allow real time reporting of system status using other driver's variables.

How cool is that?!

Here's the short list of features:

- Operates the house with automatic Zone, Source, Transport, Lighting, Blinds, & AC Macro Configuration by matching zones/sources with system macro names (this means it will automatically use system macros with names that match zone and source for "turn on source in zone" type commands as well as specific commands for lighting, blinds and HVAC). "Alexa tell Home Butler Turn on Master Bedroom to Cable"

- Can use plug-in drivers (other drivers) such as Virtual Matrix Selector driver, Lutron plug-in driver and Somfy RS485 driver. So, it will fit right into systems already programmed with VMS for example without special macro naming.

- Can command a set of global commands such as Welcome, Bed, Bedtime, Bye, Cooking, Dinner, Entertain, Evening, Going to Bed, Good Evening, Good Morning, Good Night, I'm Home, Morning, Movie, Night, Party, Quiet, Reading, Study. Operate these by saying things like "Alexa, tell Home Butler I'm Home". These execute a configured system macro (doesn't have to have a special name).

- Up to 50 User created generic commands that operate like the canned phrases as above. "Alexa, ask Home Butler for House Report" is a great generic command in any home system.

- Each canned phrase or generic phrase (command) can be finished with Text To Speech feedback from the system macro. If TTS is configured for a canned phrase, it MUST be provided by the macro. Generic phrases must always provide TTS feedback by calling the proper command with spoken phrases. It's ok to just have Alexa say "OK done". But it's more fun to say more specific and interesting or funny phrases.

- TTS can use other drivers variables and send back specific information to be spoken by Alexa. "Alexa ask Home Butler for House Report" can be followed by something like: "The temperature in the house is 68 degrees. The outside temperature is 46 degrees. The Living Room TV is Off. The Kitchen door is locked and the Alarm System is Armed."

- TTS can use any other driver's integer, string or flag variables. Flag variables can be configured with different true words and false words (e.g. if true, say "On", if false say "off", or if true say "Open", if false say "Closed".) Integers are just spoken numbers and strings are spoken without modification.

- This Alexa skill and driver have built in phonetic matching algorithms to account for differences in accents as well as the order of words in a command. All other skills whether custom or 'Smart Home skill', you have to talk like a robot and say exact phrases to get a match. Ours is flexible enough to work with Aussie accents as well as any American or Canadian accent.

- Has a "Quick Mode" of operation where you can say "Alexa, tell Home Butler Quick Mode" and then fire off commands without having to repeat the preface phrase of "Alexa, Tell Home Butler ...". Great option for setting up the house or office fairly quickly by just saying things like "Turn on office lights", "Turn on living room to apple tv", "Good morning", etc.

- Devices can be assigned to zones to negate the need for zones to be spoken which also shortens required phrases.

- Smart Home Skill (Alexa Only): Up to 50 Smart Home devices can be configured for simple quick voice commands: "Alexa, Turn on the bedroom light" There is no need for an invocation name to control Smart Home Devices.

Installing Skill / Action:

• Alexa Custom Skill: Search the Amazon Skill store for 'Home Butler' and enable the skill or try the link below then follow linking instructions below.

Amazon: Home Butler Custom Skill

Note: Only commands with (Custom Skill / Action) in their category name are available using the Custom Skill.

Alexa Smart Home Skill: Search the Amazon Skill store for 'Home Butler Smart Home' or from the Smart Home section of the app select 'Your Smart Home Skills' then select 'Enable Smart Home Skills' then search for 'Home Butler Smart Home' and enable the skill or try the link below then follow linking instructions below. After linking you must Discover devices which should happen automatically after linking or using the 'Add Device' button in the Smart Home section of the app or by saying "Alexa, Discover Devices".

Amazon: Home Butler Smart Home Skill

Note: Only commands with (Smart Home Skill / Action) or (Custom Skill / Action - SH) in their category name are available using the Smart Home Skill.

If you modify any Smart Home device in any way you must rediscover your devices using the Alexa app or by saying "Alexa, Discover Devices"

• Google Custom Action: From the Google Home app go to explore then search for 'Home Butler' or try saying 'OK Google, Talk to Home Butler' or try the link below then follow linking instructions below.

Google: Home Butler Custom Action

Note: Only commands with (Custom Skill / Action) in their category name are available using the Custom Action.

Home Butler not available in your Region / Language (Alexa):

• Go to 'manage your content and devices' on Amazon.xx where xx is your country code

• Select Settings

• Change country to AU / CA / IN / UK / US (Any one of the English Languages)

• Delete the Alexa App from your device

(logging out/in didn't work for me but maybe try that first)

• Re-install the app and log in

• Region should have changed and you should now have access to Home Butler

Linking:

Upon first activation of the "Home Butler" Skill you will need to enter an ID composed of your master XPx processor's MAC address followed by a 4 digit security pin code to link your Alexa or Google Assistant device to your processor.

Enter the combined set of alphanumeric characters in the Alexa or Google Assistant app or for Alexa only at https://alexa.amazon.com on your computer.

Then enter just the Pin Code portion of this ID in this driver configuration under the field labelled "Security PIN" and you're good to go.

Activation example: If your master XPx processor's MAC address is 00-15-26-02-C0-DE and you want a Pin Code of 1234, then your Unique ID would be 02C0DE1234.

Note: You need to activate and link both the 'Home Butler' and 'Home Butler Smart Home' Skills seperately if you wish to use both.

Configuration:

• Select Operating Mode:

• Basic Hides most settings and commands to make it easier to start with this driver.

• Advanced same as basic plus Plugins, Lights, Blinds, AC, and External Feedback Variables.

• Expert All Commands are available.

Note: If you change settings in Advanced or Expert modes then change to a lower mode you may cause undesired affects. Please be sure to clear all settings not required for the currently selected mode.

• Select Macro Assignment Mode:

• Driver Events (Default): All commands are configured using driver events for each command.

• Direct Macro Selection: All commands are configured using Direct Macro selection for each command.

• Automatic via Naming (*** LEGACY ID9 USE ONLY! ***): All commands are Automatically assigned to a macro via a specific naming scheme documented below.

Note: From v3.00 onwards DO NOT use the 'Automatic via Naming' Macro Assignment Mode as I have left it in the driver for Legacy ID9 use only.

It uses undocumented API's and is NOT supported by RTI or Apex, it will be removed in a future update.

• Select Startup Delay to make the driver wait before initialising.

Note: Since v1.02 this driver can take over a minute to startup after the startup delay if you have a large amount of macros and devices configured.

This is necessary to prevent system crashes.

• Select Startup Resource Level:

• Very Low Uses the Lowest amount of resources, Initialises very slowly.

• Low (Default) Uses Low amount of resources, Initialises quicker than Very Low.

• Medium Uses Medium amount of resources, Initialises quicker than Low.

• High Uses High amount of resources, Initialises fairly quickly.

• Very High (Not Recommended) Uses Very High amount of resources, Initialises quicker than High.

• Extremely High (Not Recommended) Uses Highest amount of resources, Initialises the quickest.

Note: The lower the level the longer the driver will take to start but use less system resources, The higher the level the quicker the driver will start but use more resources. Only use Very High or Extremely High on a project with very few other drivers or you may bring your processor to a crawl.

• Enter your License Key, or Test License Key (for your office XP processor for testing customer's systems).

Note: Without a valid license key the driver will run as normal then stop after 2 hours and requires a processor reboot to get it going again.

• Enter your Security PIN code. This is a unique security code you designate here and when you link the skill so that others cannot connect to your driver.

• Server Port select a port to use for communications from Alexa / Google.

• You must forward the selected port to your processors static IP Address.

• More information here: https://portforward.com/router.htm

• Disable Encryption Disables encryption of all commands, Can speed up response time by up to 3 seconds.

Note: ** Only use this if you understand the risks **

• Check Automatic Port Forwarding if your router supports this and you don't want to configure the router yourself, the driver will in most cases do this for you.

• Check * ADVANCED USERS ONLY * Static IP if your external IP does not match what my server sees you can overide this, the driver will in most cases do this for you.

• Set Match Threshold in percent. A good starting point is 75 but may be lower depending on your environment.

• Set Transmission Delay in ms. Default is 2000. This will delay the 'Spoken Response Finished' Event.

• Use VMS Plugin (checked) to enable VMS compatibility. This will pass zone/source commands over to VMS for implementing the command.

• Use Lighting Plugin (checked) to enable compatible lighting drivers to implement lighting intents. Currently available plugins are for Lutron Homeworks/QS, UPB, and Vantage.

• Use Blind Plugin (checked) to enable compatible shade/blind drivers to implement shade or blind intents. Currently available plugins are for Lutron QS shades and Somfy RS485 shades.

• Use AC Plugin (checked) to enable compatible HVAC drivers to implement AC intents.

• Select Contextual Awareness:

• Off No Contextual Awareness, Queries with no Zone spoken will respond with an error asking for one.

• Device assigned Zone Queries with no Zone spoken will automatically use the Zone assigned to the current device. (See Device Assignment Phrases in the Examples)

• Last Spoken Zone Queries with no Zone spoken will automatically use the Last Spoken Zone in the current system.

• Device assigned Zone otherwise Last Spoken Zone Queries with no Zone spoken will automatically use the Device assigned Zone, If there isn't one they will fall back to the Last Spoken Zone.

Note: When Contextual Awareness is enabled AV commands will use the source the current Zone is on if no Source is spoken.

• Context Aware Queries (checked) to Remember Zone spoken for Queries as well as control commands. (only used if Last Spoken Zone is used)

• Global Command Count is the number of commands you want to recognize up to a maximum of 250.

• Global Fall Through (checked) to Let unrecognised commands fall through to the global intent, If still no match than an error message is spoken..

• Use 'scene' Hotword (checked) to force fall through to the trigger intent if any command contains the word 'scene' in it.

• Zone and Source Names should be entered for each supported zone or source.

• Alias names can be placed after the given name, separated by commas.

• The first name entered is the actual name and subsequent names are aliases.

• E.g Master Bedroom can be configured as:

"Master Bedroom, Bedroom, Master Bed, Bed"

This will create a Zone named "Master Bedroom" and the Aliases "Bedroom", "Master Bed", and "Bed" will all refer back to the "Master Bedroom" zone.

• Zone and Source String Feedback provide Zone Source feedback from any external string variables (VMS), These will be used for speech in responses.

• Volume Aliases are for entering alternative names for volume up, volume down and volume mute.

• Light, Blind and AC Names should be entered for each supported device and follow the same rules as Zone and Source Names.

• Light/Blind ID Maps / VID should be used to map Lights and Blinds to their actual ID's when a plugin is used.

• E.g Light 1 might actually be Light 23 in a driver so Light 1's VID is 23.

• Light and Blind State Feedback provide device state feedback from any external integer variables, These will be used for speech in responses.

Note: If these are not provided then Home Butler will track states internally. Devices can become out of sync if they are controlled externally.

• AC State Feedback provide device state feedback from any external string variables, These will be used for speech in responses.

Note: If these are not provided then Home Butler will track states internally. Devices can become out of sync if they are controlled externally.

• Trigger/Scene Names configuration are canned scene names which you can optionally create a macro to operate the canned scene. ie: Assign a Good Night macro to perform the Good Night scene in response to a user's request to run the scene.

• Enabled Text to Speech Feedback tells the driver if you intend to provide Text to Speech feedback from your system macro.

• If checked, you MUST provide Text to Speech feedback by calling the Text To Speech command in your system macro.

• You can also call the optional Partial Text To Speech command to build a response before the final Text To Speech command.

• Smart Home Devices (Alexa / Google Smart Home Skill ONLY)

Note: There is a maximum of 100 Smart Home Devices allowed at any one time.

(Maximum 50 Recommended however depending on your network speed and type of devices you may be abe to use up to 100)

This includes any devices discovered from the custom section and aliases if enabled. Smart Home devices take priority before custom devices meaning some custom devices may not be discoverable if the maximum device limit is reached using only Smart Home devices.

• Include Aliases in Custom Discoveries When enabled aliases will be discoverable as individual devices.

• List of Custom Lights Discoverable Lights from the custom section above that are in this list will be discoverable in the Smart Home skill. List can be a Range = 1:24 or List = 1,2,4... or Both = 1:5,6,8,10:12,15

• List of Custom Blinds Discoverable Blinds from the custom section above that are in this list will be discoverable in the Smart Home skill. List follows same rules as Lights above.

• Device Name should be entered for each supported device and follow the same rules as Lights, Blinds, AC, Zone and Source Names.

Note: All devices must have a unique name. This applies to both custom and smart home devices at the same time. If any names are the same they will be treated as the first device in the order they were discovered, For Alexa Aliases will be added as individual lights for convenience, These will all add up to the total Smart Device count. For Google Aliases will be added as Nicknames to each Light but will still all add up to the total Smart Device count.

• Device Type Each type of device has unique control capabilities and a different icon in the Alexa / Google app.

• Light: On / Off control

• Dimmable Light: As above but can also be set to a dim level.

• Switch: On / Off Control.

• Smart Plug: On / Off Control

• Scene / Activity Trigger: On / Off Control (only On is required)

• Blind: On / Off Control

• Device ON Macro Select the ON / RAISE / UP / OPEN Macro.

• Device OFF Macro Select the OFF / LOWER / DOWN / CLOSE Macro.

• Device DIM Macro Select the DIM / SET / MUTE / STOP Macro.

Note: All macros must be entered for each device type otherwise Alexa / Google will report a not responding error. Not all devices support all macros and will be shown accordingly.

• Smart Device State Feedback provide device state feedback from any external integer / boolean variables, These will be used in the Alexa / Google app only.

Note 1: Booleans will only be used if Integer valuse are left blank.

Note 2: If these are not provided then Home Butler will track states internally. Devices can become out of sync if they are controlled externally.

• Global Commands are individually recognized and acted upon. They are every other phrase that does not match any other Intent (AV, Lights, Blinds, AC, Triggers/Scenes) you enter and the user can speak to invoke the associated macro.

• Global commands must use the Text to speech functions in the called macros.

• You can reference other driver's variables, and up to 50 Flag, Integer and String variables each can be brought into this driver.

• You can name these for use when referencing them during the text to speech function as defined below.

• You can enter true and false phrases for the flag variables by adding a colon after the name followed by the true phrase, followed by another colon and then the false phrase. For example: "Power State:on:off", or "Vacation Mode:Enabled:Disabled".

• Debug Web Interface

• Enable use to enable and disiable the Debug Web Interface.

• Port Select a port to use. It MUST be higher than 1024.

Note: Do NOT leave this enabled on clients systems, It uses more resources and will slow their system down. It is for debugging by the installer only!

Automatic Zone, Source, Lighting, Blinds, & AC Macro Configuration:

Note: This is no longer supported from v3.00 onwards, Please use Driver Events instead.

• If you do not use plugins as defined below, you can create system macros that contain your zone and source names, Lighting Names, Blinds Names, or AC Names in the system macro name. When you create these system macros, the driver will attempt to associate the macro with the correct command.

• AV Control Macros must contain the Zone Name or Alias and Source Name or Alias separated.

• Eg: if you have an Office zone and a Apple TV source, you can have it automatically associate the macro with "Turn on Apple TV in the Office" phrase with a macro named "Office-Apple TV" (without the quotes).

• AV Transport Macros must contain the letters 'TP' separated without the quotes and an AV Source separated and either of the following:

• Transport Command separated.

• or Channel Name separated.

• or Channel Number with a hash prefix separated.

E.g: Channel 10 would be '#10' without the quotes.

• Eg: For a Living Bluray, Pause command: "Living_Bluray_Pause_TP"

For a Global Bluray, Pause, Command: "Bluray_Pause_TP"

For Cable TV to Discovery Channel (Ch 608): "Cable_Discovery_TP" or "Cable_#608_TP"

Note: If the Macro contains a Zone name that Macro will only be available in that zone otherwise that Macro will be considered Global and will be available in All Zones.

• Volume Macros must contain the Zone Name or Alias and the configured Volume Alias(es)

• Lighting Macros must contain the Zone Name or Alias and either the word 'Light', 'Lights', or 'Lighting' separated, this will create a toggle command. You can also add the words 'Dim', 'On', or 'Off' separated for more specific commands.

• Blind Macros must contain the Zone Name or Alias and either the word 'Blind' or 'Blinds' separated, this will create a toggle command. You can also add the words 'Open', 'Up', 'Raise', 'Close', 'Down', 'Lower' or 'Stop' Separated for more specific commands.

• AC Macros must contain the Zone Name or Alias and either 'AC', 'Aircon', or 'Air Conditioner' separated, this will create a toggle command. You can also add the words 'On', 'Off', 'Up', 'Down', 'Raise' or 'Lower' separated for more specific commands.

• You cannot name your macros by separating Zones / Alias(es) with a space or alphanumeric character, it has to be any other character other than double quote.

• ie:"Office Apple TV", "Office"Apple TV", "OfficeApple'TV" are examples of bad macro names.

• ie:"Office-Apple TV", "Office_Apple TV", "Office.Apple TV" are examples of good macro names.

Note: DO NOT USE Double Quotes " in any of your system macro names.

• All Spaces will be removed from Macro Names at runtime so they do not affect this process at all.

• You can have any other characters in your Macro Names as long as they do not break any of the above rules and are separated from any Command Names.

Plugins Note:

• Plugins are not required for this driver to work. You can still use all commands via macros with feedback, this driver will keep track off state feedback for all commands if an external variable is not supplied for feedback. ie: If you ask to turn on Apple TV in the Office then ask what is on in the office the Alexa / Google will reply 'Apple TV'

• If you provide an external feedback variable then Alexa / Google will reply with the value of the appropriate variable when asked.

• Plugins allow for easy integration and more advanced control without macros.

• Plugins require support from the Author of the respective driver.

Note: You must run all Plugins and the Home Butler driver on the Master Processor if using plugins.

Functions:

• Text To Speech – Use this to have Alexa / Google speak a sentence that you enter.

• You can use other driver's variables as outlined below.

• The Text to Speech functions allow for Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) which gives you much greater control over what Alexa or Google Assitant says and how they say it.

• https://developer.amazon.com/public/solutions/alexa/alexa-skills-kit/docs/speech-synthesis-markup-language-ssml-reference

• Partial Text To Speech - Sends a string to Alexa / Google to speak in response to a command event but does not close the connection.

• This allows multiple commands to be send for speech output.

Note: You MUST use the 'Text To Speech' command after the final 'Partial Text To Speech' command to send the response back to Alexa / Google.

You MUST send a 'Text To Speech' command within five seconds of a Macro/Plugin being called when using Text to speech.

Please put all 'Text To Speech' commands as close as possible to the start of your macros.

• Set Match Threshold – Use this to set the percent threshold for your command matching.

• Increase and Decrease Match Threshold - allow for your end user to tweak the match threshold.

Variables:

• There are driver variables for various driver status states and information.

• The Plugins variables are used to send commands to the plugin drivers.

• These do not normally need to be shown on your user interface to the end user or your customer.

• Do configure the plugin drivers with these variables in the appropriate fields to allow commands to pass from this driver to the plugin drivers.

Events:

• Any Command Received – This will fire when the driver receives any command from Alexa or Google Assistant.

• Spoken Response Finished - This will fire when Alexa or Google Assistant has finished talking.

Note: There is currently no way to know when Alexa or Google Assistant has finished talking so the driver calculates a best guess at the time it will take them to speak.

It is fairly accurate but please use this with caution.

• Text to Speech To Start - This will fire when a Macro starts Text to Speech.

• Text to Speech To End - This will fire when a Macro finishes Text to Speech.

Other Drivers Variable References:

• In your Text To Speech messages you can use variable reference keywords to include other drivers' flag, integer and string variables in your spoken output. Set the other driver's variable references in configuration as defined above.

• Flag References are included in messages by using the keyword <F#> where # is the number of the flag variable. Integer References are included by using the keyword <I#> and Strings are referenced by using the keyword <S#>. Be sure to include the angle brackets around the keywords.

• You can also enter a NAME for each driver flag, integer or string variable and reference them by using your entered name. You can reference Current Date and Current Time from the Clock 3.4 driver and call them Date and Time. Reference named variables by including the angle brackets around your names.

• Names are not case sensitive, so 'Time' is the same as 'TIME' and 'time' and 'tImE'.

• Some examples are:

• House is too hot at <I12> degrees!

• Frigging alarm is going off again. Front door open state is <F1>. Alarm Panel shows <S10>.

• Main amp is blasting at <MainVol> dee bee. Call Junior and tell Ace to turn it down.

• Downstairs it is <downstairsTemp> degrees and upstairs it is <upstairsTemp> degrees.

Notes/Tips:

• Only US ASCII printable characters, (letters, numbers and spaces only) are supported by Alexa and Google Assistant.

• This means punctuation and international characters such as Ñ, æ, ä, ë, ï, Ü, etc. are not allowed and will be ignored.

• You can put commas and periods/full stops in your spoken phrases in the Speak command.

• The comma will insert about a half second pause during speech output.

• The comma will insert about a one second pause during speech output.

• This driver requires proper configuration, internet access, an approved skill with Amazon or Google, and my own relay server running for it to work 100%.

• This could change at anytime out of my control however I will always do my best to maintain 100% uptime for this driver.

• This driver relies on a third party service provided by Amazon and / or Google.

I use an official API for communication and I will do my best to maintain compatibilty with the Alexa and Google services, However their services can change at anytime potentially causing issues with this driver out of my control.

The following only applies to Legacy systems with drivers before v3.00 or using Legacy Macro Assignment Mode:

To provide the integrator and the end user the best possible experience this driver uses some undocumented API functions which may be changed or removed at anytime from firmware updates by RTI.

The driver will be updated accordingly to maintain compatiblity with all firmware versions however this can take time after firmware is released depending on the changes required.

This is NOT supported by RTI and all issues should be sent to support@inoahguy.com.au

Example Phrases

• These are example phrases that will guarantee the desired outcome however Alexa and Google Assistant are smart enough most of the time to work out what you want if you just ask.

• Just say one of the following invocation phrases followed by one of the command phrases from below.

• "{Alexa / Ok, Google}, ask Home Butler..."

• "{Alexa / Ok, Google}, ask Home Butler to..."

• "{Alexa / Ok, Google}, ask Home Butler for..."

• "{Alexa / Ok, Google}, Tell Home Butler..."

• "{Alexa / Ok, Google}, Tell Home Butler to..."

• AV Control:

• ...turn Off Office

• ...turn On Office to Apple TV

• ...turn On Apple TV in Office

• ...change Office to Apple TV

• ...switch Office to Apple TV

• ...play Music in the Living Room

• AV Query:

• ...what is on in the Office

• ...what's playing in the Living Room

• ...is the Office On

• AV Transport:

• ...pause Apple TV in the Bedroom

• ...change to channel one hundred and twenty four in the Office

• ...change to Discovery Channel in the Living Room

• Volume Control:

• ...set Living Room volume to 50% (Requires Plugin)

• ...turn Up Office volume

• ...turn Office volume Down

• ...Mute Living Room

• ...Raise Office volume

• Lighting Control:

• ...turn On Office light

• ...turn Living Room lights On

• ...set Living Room lights to 50% (Requires Plugin)

• ...Raise Office light

• ...Lower Office light

• ...Kitchen lights Off

• Lighting Query:

• ...are Living Room lights On

• ...if Office light is Off

• Blind Control:

• ...Raise Office blind

• ...Lower Office blinds

• ...set Living Room blinds Open

• ...put Living Room blinds Down

• Blind Query:

• ...are Living Room blinds Closed

• ...if Office blind is Up

• AC Control:

• ...turn On Office ac

• ...turn Off Office airconditioner

• ...turn Down Office aircon by 50% (Requires Plugin)

• ...Raise Office air

• AC Query:

• ...is Office ac On

• Trigger Control:

• ...Welcome

• ...Evening

• ...Goodbye

• Global Control:

• ...House Report

• ...Water The Garden

• ...Open The Garage Door

• Device Assign: (Assigns an Alexa or Google Assistant device to a specific zone)

• ...you are in the Living Room

• ...you're in the Bedroom

• ...remember the Office

• Device Unassign: (Unassigns an Alexa or Google Assistant device from zones)

• ...you are not in a zone

• ...you're not in the Office

• ...leave the Living Room

• ...forget the Bedroom

• Device Unassign All: (Unassigns all Alexa or Google Assistant devices from all zones)

• ...forget all devices

• Device Query: (Queries which zone an Alexa or Google Assistant device is assigned to)

• ...House Report

• ...Water The Garden

• ...Open The Garage Door

• Quick Mode:

• ...Quick Mode

• You can then just say a command without saying Home Butler

• After each command you can simply say another command

• Say "Stop", "Cancel" or similar words to end Quick Mode.

Version History

• v0.5 Initial Public Beta Release

• v0.6 Minor Bug fixes and improved error checking

• v0.7 Heaps of Bug fixes and improvements

• v0.8 Minor Bug fixes

• Refactored Lighting and Blinds Plugins Configuration

• Server Speed Improvements

• Fixed Server bug causing error response when driver was actually available

• Updated 'Get Info' Instructions

• v0.9 Minor Bug Fixes

• v1.00 Full Public Release

• Fixed Driver heartbeat crash

• v1.02 Staggered Memory and CPU usage at startup to prevent crashes

• Added setting to delay startup

• fixed incorrect lighting state feedback

• v1.03 Minor response improvements

• v1.04 Fixed errors occurring when a trial has expired

• v1.05 Added AV Transport commands

• Added Device Assignment commands

• Added Contextual Awareness

• Added Startup Resource Control

• Bug Fixes and improvements

• v1.06 Renamed driver to Home Butler

• Fixed First Macro missing bug

• v1.07 Fixed AC Macro assignment bug

• v1.08 Fixed Macro Error Bug

• v1.09 Added option for Global fall through on unrecognised commands

• Added option for 'scene' Hotword

• v1.10 Bug fixeds and Improvements

• v1.11 Added Debug Web Interface

• Better error handling

• Moved some config settings

• v1.12 Mapped type correction function

• v1.13 Minor Bug fixes and improvements

• v1.14 Fixed startup crash when more than 2000 Macros

• v1.15 Added error checking for Null values in Aliases

• Applied phonetic matching algorithms to Transport commands

• Fixed Transport Macros Assignments Indexing bug

• v2.00b Added Smart Home Skill support

• Refactored code

• Bug Fixes

• Code Improvements

• Redesigned Instructions

• Redesigned Configuration Settings

• v2.01b First Public Beta

• Bug Fixes

• v2.02b Added support for Aliases in Custom and Smart Home Devices

• Bug Fixes and improvements

• Fixed startup crash / freeze

• v2.03b Added support for Blinds in Smart Home Devices

• Added Blind 'Stop' command to Custom and Smart Home Devices

• Fixed Smart Home Light dimming bug

• Fxed Alias casting bug

• v2.04 Minor fixes and updates for v2 release

• v2.05 Fixed Smart Home startup error bug

• v2.06 Changed Smart Home Blinds behaviour for Raise and Lower commands

• v2.07 Added boolean feedback variable option for Smart Home Devices

• Added Scene / Activity Trigger Smart Home Device Type

• v3.00a Rewrote entire driver configuration settings

• Full Apex support including auto Room assignments for Configuration, Events and Macros

• Added Macro Assignment Mode (Events, Direct Macros, Automatic via Naming)

• Added Macro Selection for all commands with conditional visibility

• Added Events for all commands with conditional visibility

• Startup Speed Improvements

• v3.00b

• Minor Bug Fixes

• Optimised Code

• v3.00 Bug Fixes

• v3.01 Fixed Custom Smart Devices breaking discovery when events mode used

• v3.02 Added verbose Event information

• Fixed Scene / Activity Trigger state report

• Improved Smart Home endpoint health reliability

• v3.03 Fixed issue with custom commands not always responding or updating state

• v3.04 Added Google Smart Home Support

• Bug Fixes

• v3.05 Added Smart Lock support (Alexa only, Google will use a switch)

• Fixed Subscription ID casting bug

• Fixed Sysvar callback fall through bug

• v3.06 Modified communications protocol to improve performance

• v3.07 Fixed invalid JSON on some Google responses

• Fixed Scene / Activity Trigger invalid response bug

• v3.08 Fixed Transport events not showing in "Driver Events" mode

• Fixed Transport Events not assigning when in "Driver Events" mode

• v3.09 Added setting to disable encryption (Encryption is enforced by default)

• Added more Server Ports

• v3.10 Fixed AC Event mismatch

• Added support for master / slave licensing system

• Fixed event ID mismatch for volume and transport commands

• Fixed incorrect invalid signature response

• v3.11 Fixed bug with state not being saved for some custom commands

• v3.12 Added option to specify an external Static IP

• v3.13 Added new security protocols to satisfy hosting provider