Sending a Device Command
This guide assumes familiarity with:
- The basics of the editor (How to Use Bixby Home Studio)
In this guide, you will take a look at how to create an action flow for sending a SmartThings command using two nodes.
What is an Action Flow?
An action flow is a graph containing different types of nodes connected by execution and data paths. By associating a voice intent with an action flow, you specify the behavior the device should exhibit for that voice intent.
Action flows are the most important feature of Bixby Home Studio. They let us model the behavior of a device in response to a voice command in a visual, intuitive, and hands-on manner.
Start Node
Every action flow must begin with a Start node. The Start node gets triggered when the user gives Bixby a command. This command is the starting point for the action flow.
Begin by dragging the Start node from the Node menu onto the flow editor area.
Looks good! Now you have an action flow in place! It consists of a Start node that gets triggered when the user utters a command.
But after that, it doesn't do anything! To achieve the response from the voice intent, you need to add nodes to our action flow, which, when triggered, perform actions.
Let's modify the action flow to send a command to a device.
Sending a Command
You can make the Start node trigger another node by connecting it to a path.
In this example, the action you intend to perform is to switch on a light. So, you have to add a node that enables you to send a command to a device.
Drag a Command node to the flow editor area as shown below:
A Command node can be used to send a command to a SmartThings device. To trigger the Command node, use the Start node you added in the previous step.
Execution Path
For a node to trigger another node, you connect the output trigger port of the first node to the trigger port of the second. By doing so, you specify that when the first node has finished processing, it should trigger the second node.
Connect the output trigger port of the Start node to the trigger port of the Command node as shown below.
This path allows the control or execution to pass from one node to the other, thus forming an execution path. The execution path from the Start node to the Command node ensures the trigger of the Command node after the Start node gets processed.
Command Node Configuration
You have now connected the Start node to the Command node, but haven't set the command to be executed when the Command node is triggered.
To do this, click on the Command node to select it. This expands a Node Configuration menu as shown below:
Here, you can select the command that you want Bixby to send. The command has to be selected from the list of capabilities supported by the device. This list of capabilities is shown as a drop-down.
Select the Switch capability. This opens up a window showing all the commands that are available in the selected capability (Switch).
Select the required command, in this case On, and click the Save button.
Great! You've now created an action flow that sends a switch on command to a light!
The editor also offers you a feature, "Try It", to test the action flow and see how it performs on a real device. You can do this without uttering any voice commands.
To try this, switch off the device, then click on the "Try It" button in the menu bar. The device will be now in a switched On state.
You can also see the green flowing line over the execution path as shown below.
Any obtained values, responses etc., are shown below the corresponding nodes.
Great! You have successfully created and tested an action flow for a voice intent!
In a similar way, you can also add action flows for more voice intents that you want to include in your voice metadata.
The action flow you made in this guide is a pretty basic one. You can also add different types of nodes and make a more complex action flow.
In the next guide, you will learn how to send a device command with an argument, where you'll learn more about setting a value from the user's utterance.