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Release Kanzi: Amazon Alexa skill for Kodi - Printable Version

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+--- Thread: Release Kanzi: Amazon Alexa skill for Kodi (/showthread.php?tid=254502)



RE: Amazon Echo skill for Kodi - edru - 2016-12-01

Haha, well i figured if a file within the app kinda spelled it out I could do it. Or maybe I can dig through the utterances and test them 1x1 and document what they do.

Honestly I have no update method as i was modifying the .py file directly with the IP info rather than this ENV file, so then I couldnt do a git pull as i had "changes that need to be commited". So essentially i'd just move the install over to a new dir, resync, make the minor changes and be back in business.

does this .env file contain the kodi info too and I can just modify that? If so, then I can modify the guide I made too. What would be your recommended update method locally?


RE: Amazon Echo skill for Kodi - jingai - 2016-12-01

Since you're hosting the skill locally, you should just copy .env.wsgi to .env and edit that. Heed the warnings in the code that tell you not to edit it there lol.

Provided you don't modify any of the source code, a simple 'git pull' will update you to the latest.


RE: Amazon Echo skill for Kodi - edru - 2016-12-01

So I just updated, then tested the cleaning of the video library.

I still see the same actions as before. It goes to the home screen, then updates the video library without doing any cleaning. I know this as A) old entries do not go away, and B) the updating dialog pops up immdiately, and you never see the cleaning dialog. As the the library cannot be modified in unison, it seems to be skipping the video library part.

Not sure if this makes a difference, but I am running Kodi on android (a shield TV). If needed I can pop up a video.


RE: Amazon Echo skill for Kodi - TearDrop1319 - 2016-12-01

Not a huge deal at all, but was just wondering if you may shed some light on why asking for what new movies, alexa returns with just any random movies that are in the library. For example, "Alexa ask media center if there are any new movies." She responds with 5 or so random titles, none of which are any of the new movies that I had added to the library recently. Again, not complaining, I love the work you guys have done on this just seeing if it may be a simple fix! Cheers!


RE: Amazon Echo skill for Kodi - jingai - 2016-12-01

@TearDrop1319, it's not 'broken,' as that's by design. The rationale is that a lot of us (myself included) have a ton of movies we haven't yet watched, so those are 'new' to us. One option would be to have Alexa spend a half hour listing all of these off, but the option chosen was to have her list off a few random ones for each request. The idea is you can keep making subsequent requests until you hear one you are actually interested in watching.

TL;DR: 'new' movies aren't just the ones you've added recently, but instead all movies in your library with Unwatched status.


RE: Amazon Echo skill for Kodi - TearDrop1319 - 2016-12-01

Thank you for clarifying jingai! Makes sense. Maybe possible to add it in the future, to list the last five or so movies added to the library, or something like that? I am the one with the tech ability in the house, so I am always the one adding the content to the library, but it would be nice for the rest of the family to just ask if there are any new movies and have the last few listed. Thank you again for always quickly addressing all questions!


RE: Amazon Echo skill for Kodi - russco - 2016-12-01

I'm close to giving up.

I made another skill by following a different tutorial, in an attempt to make Alexa work with Eventghost to control my Limitless LED lights. I didn't change any of the Alexa settings, but it just stopped working.

I deleted the other skill, and it worked again for a bit, but now I'm back to the same situation I was in before. Here's the checklist:

1) All possible location settings are set to US east coast
2) Test commands work from the dashboard
3) My Alexa history is definitely seeing me use the word 'Kodi' as my trigger word
4) The Kodi skill is definitely added to my Alexa app

But all I get is "I'm not sure how to help you with that" or some other generic error message. All of the settings are exactly the same as they were before, when it all worked, and now it just doesn't want to work.


RE: Amazon Echo skill for Kodi - jingai - 2016-12-01

(2016-12-01, 21:02)TearDrop1319 Wrote: Thank you for clarifying jingai! Makes sense. Maybe possible to add it in the future, to list the last five or so movies added to the library, or something like that? I am the one with the tech ability in the house, so I am always the one adding the content to the library, but it would be nice for the rest of the family to just ask if there are any new movies and have the last few listed. Thank you again for always quickly addressing all questions!

If you'd like a feature to be added, make an Issue on github. It would be a separate utterance since I don't want to remove the existing behavior, so I'll have to think about how to phrase it.

I made the default behavior like it is mostly because the recently added stuff is shown in most skins on the home screens anyway. But if you add an Issue on github, someone will get around to it eventually. I have a few other things I'm working on at the moment though.

Reference the posts here in your Issue to provide some context if you wouldn't mind.


RE: Amazon Echo skill for Kodi - jingai - 2016-12-01

(2016-12-01, 21:53)russco Wrote: 1) All possible location settings are set to US east coast
2) Test commands work from the dashboard
3) My Alexa history is definitely seeing me use the word 'Kodi' as my trigger word

Alexa is seeing the word 'kodi', but is the skill seeing it? Check your server logs and see if the skill is seeing it, and if so, if it's complaining about anything.


RE: Amazon Echo skill for Kodi - russco - 2016-12-01

There's nothing in the total utterance count in the skill metrics in the Amazon Developer Console.

So something must be wrong in the way that Alexa is communicating with the server, right?


RE: Amazon Echo skill for Kodi - jingai - 2016-12-01

I guess? Do the logs contain anything recent?

Have you tried rebooting your Echo? I had one of my Dots last night suddenly 'forget' that the skill existed.. rebooting it fixed it. No idea why.


RE: Amazon Echo skill for Kodi - russco - 2016-12-01

Ha, sometimes it's the simplest things.

That worked!


RE: Amazon Echo skill for Kodi - russco - 2016-12-01

Okay, how do I make kodi play a specific music track?

Would something like:

ListenToTrack {Track} by {Artist}

Be a possibility?


RE: Amazon Echo skill for Kodi - jingai - 2016-12-02

Not yet. You can only request albums or all songs by an artist currently.

I am working on it though Smile


RE: Amazon Echo skill for Kodi - russco - 2016-12-02

Awesome, I look forward to it!