How to build a Google Voice app that reads state from website?

Question

I want to build a simple voice app that reads state from isVHSopen.com and reports it out loud.

The idea is simple - when the user asks to connect/talk to “IsVHSOpen” (or whatever the “invoke phrase”), the code in backend reads state from isvhsopen.vanhack.ca or isVHSopen.com and expresses the value/state of https://api.vanhack.ca/s/vhs/data/door or https://api.vanhack.ca/s/vhs/data/door.json out loud.

The website (isVHSopen.com / isvhsopen.vanhack.ca) is available on GitHub, and guess we have to use dialogflow with API.ai to make this happen, but not exactly sure how to go about the execution for this. Would love some support!

Answer 1

I put up an Action that reads the state of the door to VHS with its API at

https://github.com/unclewill/hackspace/

Create an Action in the console, name it and say

talk to invocation-name-goes-here

and it will tell you if VHS is open or closed.

Say

ask invocation-name-goes-here when is the next event

and you will get a card with a button which when clicked gets you the VHS events calendar.

I wanted to do something more clever but the security settings for the calendar API at VHS are set so that the request needs to come from a VHS IP address - hence the button.

I hope you find it useful. If not, nevermind :-)