last_called is too slow?

[matbrewer396]

Hi

I'm trying to make of the last_called attribute. Ie things like "Alexa Turn On Lights" / "Alexa Turn On TV" and then based on the echo that was used turn on the lights for that room.

This #65 suggest that @brianhanifin got it working. But in my test there a good 10 seconds delay until the correct echo is reported back correctly.

Is there any way to force a refresh of the last_called attribute?

Cheers

[alandtse]

Not at this time. We will be exposing a service in the future as the current polling method results in too much polling of Alexa servers.

[matbrewer396]

Yes that would be a much better option

[alandtse]

FYI, the Alexa App already allows you to do location specific control of at least lights. You'll need to use HA's emulated Hue and ensure within the AlexaApp it treats that switch as a light. I think you could also do the TV too, but I haven't tested it.

[matbrewer396]

Really, how? I've not seen this option before, do you mean via a routine?

There only the option "Alexa will respond from" which give device specific controls

[alandtse]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201749250. Might be region specific.

[matbrewer396]

Nice that works thank for help

[h4nc]

@alandtse I'd like to use the last_called sensor for the following case. Unfortunately as the topic says currently it's too slow.

I like to turn on an input boolean with a routine in alexa by my voice. This than will trigger an automation which sends a tts to the last_called alexa. This way it must be fast or it will send the tts to wrong alexa.
Will this be possible with the service you are planning to implement in future. Will the service be part of the component we already use?

EDIT: my sensor.last_alexa only updates it's state after I restart home assistant. currently all of my alexa devices show last_called: true. As I understood only one device can have that state true?
EDIT2: After restarting only one device has the true flag.

[alandtse]

This branch has an exposed service for the adventurous who want to test it.

alexa_media.update_last_called service can take no args or can specify specific accounts to find the last_called for.

{
  "email" : ["email1", "email2"]
}