Smart actions

[johnlgalt]

Agreed - as soon as my finals are over I'm taking Tasker to task (<-- see what I did there?)

 

[DanDroide]

2. Respond to a (different from above) specifically formatted SMS, with an ear-piercing sound, repeated every 30 seconds for 5 minutes. This is to help locate the phone when you know it's within earshot (based on the response in #1 above)

6. Override the current ringer settings for "priority" callers.

Hi Mike, I am having trouble duplicating these two items. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[UncleMike]

Hi Mike, I am having trouble duplicating these two items. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Profile: Find Me
Context: Received Text [Type:SMS, Contentlay sound]
Task:
Media Volume 15 (maximum)
Music Play [File:<my sound file>]
Variable Add %counter 1
Stop If %counter >= 10
Wait 30 seconds
Goto 1

Since the above profile uses an Event context, the settings do not revert to their previous values afterwards. But since it's only setting the media volume, I don't really worry about it.


Profile: Priority Caller
Context: Incoming Call [Caller:Wife/Son/Daughter/Mom/Dad/School]
Enter Task:
Silent Mode Off
Default Ringtone [Type:Ringer, Sound:<your choice>]
Vibrate On Ringer On
Wait 4 seconds
Ringer Volume 5 If %VOLR < 5
Play Ringtone [Type:Ringer, Sound:<your choice>, Stream:Ringer]
Wait 4 seconds
Ringer Volume 10 If %VOLR < 10
Wait 4 seconds
Ringer Volume 15

The above profile uses a State context, causing any changed settings to revert to their previous value after the incoming call is completed. It also gradually increases the ringer volume, allowing you to answer the call before the ringer gets obnoxiously loud. The lines in blue may or may not be needed in your situation or on your device. On my kids' phones, I change the default ringtone, in case they have the default set to silent. On the LG Ally (and some other devices) the volume changes don't seem to have an effect on the ringer played as a result of the incoming call - the phone will remain silent if it was silent when the incoming call started ringing - so I start the ringing all over again within the task.

 

[DanDroide]

Profile: Find Me
Context: Received Text [Type:SMS, Contentlay sound]
Task:
Media Volume 15 (maximum)
Music Play [File:<my sound file>]
Variable Add %counter 1
Stop If %counter >= 10
Wait 30 seconds
Goto 1

Since the above profile uses an Event context, the settings do not revert to their previous values afterwards. But since it's only setting the media volume, I don't really worry about it.

Profile: Priority Caller
Context: Incoming Call [Caller:Wife/Son/Daughter/Mom/Dad/School]
Enter Task:
Silent Mode Off
Default Ringtone [Type:Ringer, Sound:<your choice>]
Vibrate On Ringer On
Wait 4 seconds
Ringer Volume 5 If %VOLR < 5
Play Ringtone [Type:Ringer, Sound:<your choice>, Stream:Ringer]
Wait 4 seconds
Ringer Volume 10 If %VOLR < 10
Wait 4 seconds
Ringer Volume 15

The above profile uses a State context, causing any changed settings to revert to their previous value after the incoming call is completed. It also gradually increases the ringer volume, allowing you to answer the call before the ringer gets obnoxiously loud. The lines in blue may or may not be needed in your situation or on your device. On my kids' phones, I change the default ringtone, in case they have the default set to silent. On the LG Ally (and some other devices) the volume changes don't seem to have an effect on the ringer played as a result of the incoming call - the phone will remain silent if it was silent when the incoming call started ringing - so I start the ringing all over again within the task.

Thanks again!

For some reason I was unable to get the Find Phone with Sound to work but I was able to get the Priority Caller (my wife) to work overriding silent (thanks to you). So I'm good because I can use my wife's call to find my phone in earshot.

SIDE NOTE: As a new Tasker user, I have done TONS of (trial and error) Profiles. I noticed I had some profiles that were working, aren't anymore. So I thought I would "clear the slate"...AFTER BACKING UP (which I do regularly). After backing up, I went to Manage Apps and "Cleared cache" and "Clear data". Then I Restored (from my Tasker Backup) and Shazam! ...all are working again. I just thought I would share my success

 

[UncleMike]

Thanks again!

For some reason I was unable to get the Find Phone with Sound to work but I was able to get the Priority Caller (my wife) to work overriding silent (thanks to you). So I'm good because I can use my wife's call to find my phone in earshot.

SIDE NOTE: As a new Tasker user, I have done TONS of (trial and error) Profiles. I noticed I had some profiles that were working, aren't anymore. So I thought I would "clear the slate"...AFTER BACKING UP (which I do regularly). After backing up, I went to Manage Apps and "Cleared cache" and "Clear data". Then I Restored (from my Tasker Backup) and Shazam! ...all are working again. I just thought I would share my success

If the Locate by sound isn't working, it's probably because of the matching of the message body. As a troubleshooting step I would recommend removing the message body from the context, so the profile triggers on receipt of any SMS. If that works, then take a look at the pattern matching section of the docs to see how to best match a pattern. Also note, that if you're specifying a phone number (as opposed to a name), do not include any delimiters - just use the digits.

 

[DanDroide]

If the Locate by sound isn't working, it's probably because of the matching of the message body. As a troubleshooting step I would recommend removing the message body from the context, so the profile triggers on receipt of any SMS. If that works, then take a look at the pattern matching section of the docs to see how to best match a pattern. Also note, that if you're specifying a phone number (as opposed to a name), do not include any delimiters - just use the digits.

Thanks... I got it working. I think it was an upper lower case problem

EDIT: I recently added the following toggles on the DROP DOWN NOTIFICATION BAR:
Phone, Brightness, Wifi & Sound manager.

 

[DanDroide]

Yes, it's me again

Maybe you Tasker gurus (or Mr. Wizard "Uncle Mike") can tell me why I have a recurring circumstance in Tasker with one of my (2 part) profiles. And in the lower part of this post, an unrelated profile problem.

I have my Text (speaking) Reader set up to read my texts when I'm in my car. It works sometime but then most of the time it doesn't.
When not working, I noticed my "Part 2 of 2" has the

symbol which denotes it's offline. I change it to a checkmark, and it works for a while.

------------

Here's how I have my 2 Profiles set up:

Profile 1:
"Text Reader - PART 1 of 2"
- Properties: Cooldown Time 1:30
Context (state):
"Not Wifi Connected"
Context (state):
"Power Any"

Tasks:
"Read SMS on"
1. Profile Status / Name: Read SMS - PART 2 of 2 Set On
2. Wait / Seconds 3
3. Media Volume / Level 15

Exit Tasks:
"Read Text Off"
1. Profile Status / Name: Read SMS - PART 2 of 2 Set Off
2. Wait / Seconds 3
3. Media Volume / Level 15

Profile 2:
Read SMS - PART 2 of 2"
Context (event):
"If Text Received"
Context (state):
"Not Wifi Connected"
Context (state):
"Power Any"

Tasks:
"Say Text"
1. Text: New text message. %SMSRN sent the following text: %SMSRB

Engine:Voice
com.ivona.tts:eng-USA

Stream:
Media

_____________________________

Unrelated, I only have 1 other Profile that has given me trouble (works sometimes and not others). It's supposed to TURN ON SPEAKERPHONE when I'm in my car for calls. I think it mostly only works for incoming calls but it's not when I'm calling out. Obviously, I would like to to work all the time in my car for Outgoing and Incoming calls...then turn off when exiting my car.

Profile:
"Speakercar - Tasker Setting"
Context (event):
"Phone Offhook"
Context (state):
"Not Wifi Connected"
Context (state):
"Power Any"

------------

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks all!

------------

TASKER has REALLY made my Bionic wonderful BTW

 

[UncleMike]

@DanDroide:

What's the purpose of the first profile? I see that it enables/disables the second profile, but I don't see why this is necessary. The second profile uses all of the contexts of the first profile, plus the Received SMS context, so the second profile would only trigger when the contexts of the first profile are satisfied anyway. I'm not sure why you're using a cooldown time on the first profile, but as far as I can tell, you can add the cooldown time to the second profile, and eliminate the first profile entirely, and still get the same effect - but the profile shouldn't ever become disabled then.

Where are you testing this? The reason I ask is that if you're testing near a known Wifi network, and you have other profiles using Wifi Near context, you could be connecting to the known network during the Wifi Near scans, causing the first profile to disable the second one. With a default scan time of 2 minutes while the screen is on, and a cooldown time of 1:30 (1 minute, 30 seconds, right?), that leaves your second profile disabled a good portion of the time.


As for the speakerphone issue, I too originally thought of the speakerphone as something that needed to be turned on during a call. It turned out that on my OG Droid, that wasn't the case. I think you could eliminate the Phone Offhook context from the profile and it would work as you intended - the speakerphone would be on (for all calls) as long as the phone is powered and Wifi is not connected.

 

[DanDroide]

@DanDroide:
What's the purpose of the first profile? I see that it enables/disables the second profile, but I don't see why this is necessary. The second profile uses all of the contexts of the first profile, plus the Received SMS context, so the second profile would only trigger when the contexts of the first profile are satisfied anyway. I'm not sure why you're using a cooldown time on the first profile, but as far as I can tell, you can add the cooldown time to the second profile, and eliminate the first profile entirely, and still get the same effect - but the profile shouldn't ever become disabled then.

Where are you testing this? The reason I ask is that if you're testing near a known Wifi network, and you have other profiles using Wifi Near context, you could be connecting to the known network during the Wifi Near scans, causing the first profile to disable the second one. With a default scan time of 2 minutes while the screen is on, and a cooldown time of 1:30 (1 minute, 30 seconds, right?), that leaves your second profile disabled a good portion of the time.

Well, back when I was new at this (about 10 days ago), I found the 2 part profiles (for text reading) already done by somebody. I can't remember where (wiki, forums or elsewhere. I will try using just the second profile, like you suggested.

EDIT: Just using Part 2 is working.

BTW, today I was speaking on the phone and the Text Reader was talking over us. I was thinking of adding a "state" context that I'm not in a phone call for all my talking profiles to hopefully avoid that from happening.

EDIT: I believe I found a solution, with detailed instructions for anyone else with this problem (below in RED).

"Let&#8217;s start out with a very basic context of &#8216;being on the phone&#8217;. This will prove useful to you in many future profiles such as ones that toggle your data connection. For example, if you have a battery saving profile that is triggered when your battery level drops below 25% and its first action is to switch the phone from 3g preferred to 2g only, you really don&#8217;t want this talking place if you are on the phone at the time – it will cut you off! There is no built in variable to use within an IF statement for &#8216;phone in use&#8217;, but there is a context we can use, so let&#8217;s create a variable using that.

From the main Tasker screen, select &#8216;New&#8217; and &#8216;Event&#8217;. Select &#8216;Phone&#8217; and &#8216;Phone Offhook&#8217;. Press the &#8216;?&#8217; at the top of the screen to read a description of when this context will apply – For all intents and purposes; it&#8217;s when you are on the phone.

Leave the priority as normal and select &#8216;Done&#8217;. The Task Selection list will be displayed, select &#8216;New Task&#8217; from the top, name it &#8216;InCall&#8217;, give it a relevant icon, add a STOP entry (+, Tasker, Stop) and select &#8216;Done&#8217; and &#8216;apply&#8217; out of Tasker to ensure that your work so far is saved if anything goes wrong.

Go back into Tasker and select &#8216;Tasks&#8217; and from the list select your created task &#8216;InCall&#8217;. Now, in the future it may be that you wish Tasker to perform some actions when you are on the phone, but for now, all we are interested in is creating a variable we can use when the condition of &#8216;being on the phone&#8217; is true!

Click the + and select &#8216;Variable&#8217; and &#8216;Variable Set&#8217;. In the name field we want to call it something memorable, so let&#8217;s go for %INCALL (always must be capitals). So, we know this task we are creating will be triggered when a phone call is taking place, so in the &#8216;To&#8217; field put the number &#8216;2&#8217;. Select &#8216;Done&#8217; which will return you to the task screen. Click on + and select &#8216;Alert&#8217;, &#8216;Flash&#8217; and in the &#8216;Text&#8217; field type %INCALL. Press &#8216;Done&#8217;.

In the task, press and hold the original &#8216;Stop&#8217; action you created and drag it down to position number 3. Your task should then be:

#1 Variable Set (with the description showing)
#2 Flash (with %INCALL showing)
#3 Stop

Press the &#8216;Test&#8217; button which will simulate the task being triggered (you are on the phone) and on the screen should appear the number &#8216;2&#8217;. Every time you now are on the phone, Tasker will set the variable you have just created %INCALL to a value of 2.

Let&#8217;s imagine in another task you are creating, you&#8217;ve just selected an action to change the phone to 2g only. This would result in the radio turning off briefly and would end a call if you were on one. In that circumstance, you would use the variable we&#8217;ve just created to only switch to 2g IF %INCALL &#8216;does not = 2&#8217;. This way, if you were on the phone and %INCALL = 2, Tasker would skip that action. Sorted?

Q) But hold on&#8230; %INCALL has been set to 2 when I just pressed &#8216;Test&#8217;, will it automatically change from 2 when I finish the call?
A) Good question! NO! We need to do this ourselves&#8230;

From the main screen, click on &#8216;New&#8217; and select &#8216;Event&#8217;. Click on &#8216;Phone&#8217; and select &#8216;Phone Idle&#8217; (read the ? if you want an explanation). Leave the &#8216;Priority&#8217; as normal and select &#8216;Done&#8217;. Select &#8216;New Task&#8217; when the selection list is displayed, name it CallEnd, select the same icon as InCall (to keep things tidy), add your Stop action and save out of Tasker to preserve what you&#8217;ve done.

Going back into the task CallEnd, we know we need to change the value of the variable we created %INCALL to something else other than &#8216;2&#8217;. Select +, Variable, Variable Set. In the name field put %INCALL and in the &#8216;To&#8217; field put the number &#8216;1&#8217;. Press Done. As you did above, add in an Alert, Flash, %INCALL action and make sure the actions are in the same order as we did in the task InCall. Press the &#8216;Test&#8217; button and you&#8217;ll see the number 1 flash up on the screen.

We now have the variable %INCALL to use whenever we need to consider the phone&#8217;s state and is ready to use in any IF statement to ensure an action will only take place IF %INCALL = 1 (I&#8217;m not on the phone). Sorted!

Q) But hold on&#8230; Why did you use the values 1 and 2? Why not 1 and 0 or another option?
A) I always avoid using zero when applying a value to a variable. The simple reason is that when you start creating more complex tasks, you may well wish to add %COMPLEX-TASK to %VERY-COMPLEX-TASK. Adding &#8216;zero&#8217; to something will not make a change and therefore I always give my created variables a value of 1 or above."

@DanDroide:
As for the speakerphone issue, I too originally thought of the speakerphone as something that needed to be turned on during a call. It turned out that on my OG Droid, that wasn't the case. I think you could eliminate the Phone Offhook context from the profile and it would work as you intended - the speakerphone would be on (for all calls) as long as the phone is powered and Wifi is not connected.

Thanks...will give that a shot.

You're the best!

 

[doogald]

18. Find phone. Text a word and get location map text back to me.

Ah, one of the few things that I want from Tasker. I can get this to run just fine - as long as the text received is from another phone.

What I was really looking for is a way for my wife, who does not have a smartphone, to be able to send an email to my phone's text email gateway address (i.e., phonenumber@vtext.com) and have it respond back with a link to Google maps with my current location.

Again, it works fine if I send that text message with a code phrase from another SMS phone. However, if the sender is an email address, the Tasker "Send SMS" action, with %SMSRF in the "Number" field, will not send along to the email address.

Frustrating. If anybody knows a workaround (that does not involve Google Voice - she's pretty tech resistant), I'd love to know it.

 

[johnlgalt]

Google Voice is your friend. 100% free SMS to any phone in the US - and it is tied to your Google account.

So, you can call her and have her log into her GV account and send a text message to your phone number and poof! You're set.

 

[doogald]

Google Voice is your friend. 100% free SMS to any phone in the US - and it is tied to your Google account.

So, you can call her and have her log into her GV account and send a text message to your phone number and poof! You're set.

Trust me - she will not use GV for this. I've tried in the past (also - we already have a GV number; she will not link it to her cell phone.) It's going to have to be email.

The use for this is something like I am out on a run or a bike ride and she wants to know where I am or when I will be back. It happens often enough.

If anybody knows of a reverse geocoding web service that could return an address that would work as well...

 

[johnlgalt]

You (she) don't have to do it over the phone, you can use GV via the web interface as well.

Or, you can enable sending SMS message via Google Chat, from the GMail interface:

Settings --> Labs --> SMS (test messaging) in Chat

 

[johnlgalt]

I just verified this from a Google Apps account I have - never used chat on it before, just logged in to the account, enabled the Gadget, and tried to send myself an SMS.

In the Chat window, enter the phone number to send an SMS to.
It will pop up a box as king you to save the number to a contact - enter a name.
Next, a box will pop up at the bottom left / right corner for GChat to send an SMS. Enter the message and press send.

GChat has SMS credit, a total of 50 credits, and you can read more about them here: SMS credit in Chat - Google Chat Help

You lose 1 per SMS sent, but you get 5 for SMS received, for a max of 50.

It's really a win-win situation.

 

[johnlgalt]

A few other ideas:

1) My Tracks - Market Link

2) Glympse - Market Link

If either of these can be fired from Tasker (I think Glympse would work much much better for this purpose) then you could have her formulate her SMS in a particular manner that no-one else would do, set Tasker to look for it, and then run off Glympse to share your location with her. Then she could Do it straight out of her phone, no GMail website needed.

 

[Lars]

Y5 battery saver and where's my DROID cover automation for me.

 

[doogald]

You (she) don't have to do it over the phone, you can use GV via the web interface as well.

Or, you can enable sending SMS message via Google Chat, from the GMail interface:

Settings --> Labs --> SMS (test messaging) in Chat

She won't use GV. Period. (She can't use it on the phone anyway for this, as she has a feature phone.) She uses Mail.app on the Mac for email, using our ISP email account. That's all that she wants; definitely does not want Gmail.

Thanks for the ideas. I have SeekDroid on the phone and I'll probably just show her how to use that. I just figured that using Tasker to send an automated reply to an email to the SMS gateway would be a lot easier. It's just too bad that a Tasker reply to an SMS sent from an email address never gets sent.

 

[johnlgalt]

Can you formulate it so that it replies via email instead of via SMS?

 

[Smart Actions]

Hi everyone,
I work on the Smart Actions team, I find this thread very interesting. Just wondering from the lists above which do you think are the most important? Like top 10. It helps to know which are most desirable to drive our design.

 

[Lars]

I think not being able to use location to trigger widow on and off is a miss. Just use tower info like other apps such as y5. Tower info has no battery impact.

My wife has the razr so I haven't messed with it much but it is a nice feature with lots of promise. However I abandoned it. Many of the apps on the market seem to suck more power than they save though.
I think the MOTOBLUR, of sorts, is the best android overlay. You can tell the guys who programmed exchange support they did an awesome job. Android's version is incomplete and htc's has some dangerous bugs.

 

[Smart Actions]

Lars,
Even though cell tower has low battery impact, we've found that it can be very inaccurate at times, and this makes customers unhappy. The team chose wi-fi primarily because the newer Motorola phone WiFi chips use very little energy to run at idle and are far more accurate. We understand this is not perfect for everyone and our team is always looking for a better solution.

Glad you like the MOTOBLUR overlay, I will pass onto the team.

 

[Lars]

Thanks for the intelligent feedback/info and keep up the good work there at Motorola.