CODEWITHSUNDEEP
actions-on-googlegoogle-homegoogle-assistant-sdk
M1croM4n
M1croM4n

Reputation: 43

google home actions without to call application name

Is it possible to add commands to google home without to start or call an application like IFTTT it does?

It makes no sense to call every time my application to control costume smart home devices. As example, i want to say only my command like: "Hey google, set fan level 6" and not "Hey google, talk to ExampleApp... {waiting} ...Set fan level 6" and also not with deep link.

At the moment i see 5 possibilitys: IFTTT, Dialogflow, smart home, Action SDK, converse.ai

Upvotes: 2

Views: 1321

Answers (2)

Prisoner
Prisoner

Reputation: 50731

There are a few options depending what you need, although I don't think any of them are exactly what you're looking for.

Using IFTTT

This is really meant to be a hobbyist tool, not something for general use. As you noted - it is very static and doesn't allow for a flexible response.

Using Smart Home

This is your best solution, if you have a type that is supported or that offers controls that are similar enough to something else. More types are always coming (and I'd venture fans will be soon, given Hunter's announcement).

Using a custom Action

This is probably your best bet. You'll use either the Action SDK, Dialogflow, or some other tool (such as Converse.AI) to implement this. They're all fundamentally the same (although a few details differ) in implementation.

Your concern about this was that you would have to wait for the conversation to start before you could indicate the parameters - this isn't true. You can have a "deep linking" invocation that lets the user provide a value with what they say directly. So the user could say something like

Hey Google, ask Example App to set the fan level to 6

You can even have multiple different types of phrases. So they could say a phrase like that and it would set the fan level, give a response, and close the conversation, or the user could say something simpler like talk to Example App and you could have a conversation to find out what they want to do.

Both Smart Home and custom Actions

You can also combine the two, of course. Have some things controlled using the Smart Home actions and also provide an additional action that needs to be invoked by the product name.

Users can create Shortcuts

The other thing to keep in mind is that users can create shortcuts for phrases. So if a user always says the fan control above, they might want to shorten it with a phrase like

Hey Google, cool me off

They can't set parameters for this (so they can't combine IFTTT and phrases), but they can pick whatever phrases they want. This is also completely out of your control - you can't set phrases for them.

Upvotes: 0

Nick Felker
Nick Felker

Reputation: 11978

The short answer is no. Ifttt is an integration similar to the Shortcuts feature, both of which work for relatively static strings.

Smart Home would be your ideal choice, with the caveat that it may not support your device type. There are some hacks around how you can use it. The fan speed could be implemented as brightness of a light, or each speed step could be a mode.

Upvotes: 1

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