albertmn / assistantcomputercontrol

Control your computer with your Google Home or Amazon Alexa assistant!

AssistantComputerControl

Control your computer using your Google Home, Amazon Alexa and Microsoft Cortana assistants!

TLDR; download at assistantcomputercontrol.com

This is a simple but powerful tool that allows you to perform tasks on your Windows computer like;

Supported computer actions

• Full and better list of what ACC can do (with links) can be found here
• Shutdown
• Open file, folder or website
• Restart
• Sleep & Hibernate
• Lock
• Monitors off
• Log out
• Set volume to percent No Alexa support; Alexa doesn't support parameters in applets
• Mute / unmute
• Music control:
  • Previous song
  • Pause / play
  • Next song
• Message Box
• Create file
• Delete file
• Append text to file
• Write Out (speech to text)
• more to come

• Join our Discord server: https://discord.gg/B9YGPNF
• Follow me on Twitter for updates: https://twitter.com/ACC_HomeAlexa

This software only works on Windows and has yet only been tested on Windows 10, 8 & 7.

Install

Setting up AssistantComputerControl is a piece of cake! It only takes about 2 minutes. You just download the latest version to your computer, open it and the setup guide will take you through the very short setup guide!

Note: IFTTT and a Dropbox account is required for the default setup. Dropbox will need to be running at all times for ACC to work

Adding actions

When the setup is done, all there's left to do is enable as many actions as you like! An "action" is executed on your computer, so enabling the "shutdown" action will allow you to shut down your computer using your assistant!

Scroll to the start of this article for a link-list of all the supported actions! Or visit the "Actions" article in the Wiki for a more detailed look at what actions are, what they do and how they work.

---

If you want more freedom and set all of this up yourself you can do that! Here is a guide on how to manually set up the software (also fairly simple), which allows you to decide where the software is on your computer and much more.

For more nerdy technical info you can go to the Wiki and take a look at the other articles as well.

So as you can see no coding is required! But if you're up for it and want to add your own features to the project it's easy! The entire project is made made in C# and the code is opensource and quite simple, so feel free to use the code in your own fork or even better; submit pull requests!

Donations

AssistantComputerControl is made by me, Albert, from Denmark, who enjoys developing it as a free time project. The project will remain free, but donations are welcomed as there are expenses such as hosting and the domain.

Services and people we like

• Huge thanks to readme.io and Advanced Installer for letting us use their services for free, giving back to the open source community
• Json.NET; free Json library for .NET
• Sentry.IO; great issue-tracking making it much easier to resolve issues
• Software based on idea by YouTuber Hylke Jellema's video

assistantcomputercontrol's Issues

ACC not working correctly with the latest Windows 10

On installing the ACC.exe inside the AssistantComputerControl folder, the app

1. Doesn't ask to start when Windows starts.
2. The app runs for a few seconds then stops in Windows Task Manager
3. Windows does issue the warning, thereafter run is selected
   Log file:
   7/13/2018 12:19:49 PM: [ACC begun (v0.3)]
   7/13/2018 12:19:49 PM: Checking if config exists...
   7/13/2018 12:19:49 PM: Config exists (C:\Users\Dropbox\AssistantComputerControl\AssistantComputerControl.exe.config)
   7/13/2018 12:19:49 PM: Config key "ActionFilePath" is empty/null
   7/13/2018 12:19:49 PM: Config actionFile directory not found, setting back to default

Please assist
Thank you

ACC cannot create config file.

Recently I switched modems, cause my connection to drop from my computer for a short amount of time. Ever since then I cannot use ACC or attempt to reinstall it, When I check the logs in the ACC_Data folder it shows that the program is stuck on creating the config file, but the process itself closes before it's even able to complete the task. Any help would be appreciated!
log.txt

Set volume action cannot use spelled out "five"

When saying numbers less than 11, Assistant spells the number out. Presumably, the action automatically converts those to numbers so the program can understand. But it cannot convert "five" to 5, therefore the program cannot execute the command. I've tested saying "zero" up to "ten", only "five" failed. Can anyone else reproduce this issue? Just ask this needs more information. Thank you.

"computerAction.txt" file is not executed

time synchronization (Troubleshooting)
Make sure that the server time and the time of the local computer are identical, or not longer than 100 seconds apart (ACC Settings - File edited margin)

(check, if necessary adjust NTP)
(check ACC log, search "The file is more than ??s old, meaning it won't be executed.")

Crashing!?

Hey,
I've installed AssistantComputerControl and the first command that I say it works. For example if I ask to lock computer it locks, but when I unlock it and try again with other or the same command, the program closes on the task bar.
Ty and sorry for bad english :)

App is running and everything is installed but nothing happends when exectuting commands.

The computer will not respond to the command

I have done all of the instructions for linking google drive with ACC. when I say the verbal command it appears in my local computer folder a few seconds later. After that nothing happens. I have checked the path and it is good. I am not aware of anything else preventing this from working.

Setup guide Dropbox detection finds Dropbox, but won't let me proceed

During the setup or executing "Do the setup guide again", on the first stage of recommended install I see a message that "We could not find Dropbox on your computer, seems like it isn't installed", but at the same time i see a window with "We have found Dropbox, you may proceed".
The button to the next step is not avaible.

Also, when I click at "click here if it is installed", the program stops with exception (on Russian), see attached log.
exception log.txt

Dropbox 54.4.90 (last update for win7 64 bit)

Applets work only with phrase from "What do you want to say?" field

I choosed not edited applet "[ACC] Sleep computer" as an example:

Phrases "Sleep computer" and "PC sleep" are ignored by Assistant (only web search results shown instead of "Putting your computer to sleep".
Not sure what side (IFTTT or Assistant) is responsible for this :)

Is it possible to run a program?

Is it possible to run a program (like AIMP) with ACC? For example, "Alexa, trigger run AIMP on my computer" or "Alexa, trigger open music player on my computer" and it'll run the program.

Fatal action not deleted or renamed

I believe you have a bug where a "fatal action" file is not deleted or renamed. For me, this makes IFTTT not actually update the dropbox file, and thus the action is not played.

On the logs, I see:
"Action was fatal action - won't delete just yet - renaming"

In the code, I also see that the line for renaming the file is commented out.

AssistantComputerControl/AssistantComputerControl/actionChecker.cs

Line 230 in 80d49db

//File.Move(theFile, Path.Combine(Path.GetDirectoryName(theFile), newName));

When I hack IFTTT to create a unique file name every time, the actions start working again.

setup screen errors

i have problem with setup program at start. when i enter setup page i get multiple errors like

its in Polish but i will translate:
"its error in script at this page
Line: 2
Mark No: 6997
Error: 'd' its empty or is not an object
Code: 0
URL: ......
You wish to countinue executing script at this page
Yes/No

and i am unable to pick any cloud service...

shutdown needs to handle parameter -f to force

Shutdown needs to handle parameter /f to force shutdown.
Same could be good in restart.
For me the shutdown only works if i closed programs manually before.
So it is useless for me.
With shutdown /f it would work well.

BTW: With parameters you could give us a sleeptimer as well. "shutdown /f /600" for 10 minutes.
But then there would be a need of a parameter to abort the timer "/a"

shutdown does not work

everything works except for shutdown

sleep the computer

When he performs the action of sleeping the computer, he performs the action in duplicate, he falls asleep again once the windows session starts

How to Install on linux?

I see that the main website says it works on windows or linux, but all I see are exe files... Should I use wine? Or how does this work? Thank you

Unable to Create Config File

Describe the bug
On install, unable to create config file.

Unhandled Exception: System.Net.WebException: The underlying connection was closed: An unexpected error occurred on a send. ---> System.IO.IOException: Authentication failed because the remote party has closed the transport stream.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:
Install exe on Windows 10 64bit.

Expected behavior
Create config file.

Screenshots

ACC version:

Additional context
Add any other context about the problem here.

Please attach your log file, found at; Dropbox/AssistantComputerControl/ACC_Data/log.txt

Feature request / tweak: Change volume command

Sorry if this isn't the right place for this.

I've been loving ACC, but I find I don't like to use the PC volume command because "Set computer volume percent 60" is really awkward, and I have a hard time remembering exactly how to word it. I understand the restriction about the number at the end, but I have a suggestion that I think sounds a lot more natural:

"Set computer volume to 60"

I don't know if the "to" would ever get mixed up with "2", but if this could be added, I think it would make this feature more user-friendly. Thanks!

Upon installing AssistantComputerControl

Hello,
Upon clicking on AssistantComputerControl icon, I am getting the following error:
"A critical error occurred. The developer has been notified and will resolve this issue ASAP! Try and start ACC again, and avoid whatever just made it crash (for now) :)"

If I try to run AssistantComputerControl.exe, I get this

:

Could not read file.

Commands aren't working. Here's the doing actions part of the log once a file appears:

[ -- DOING ACTION(S) -- ]
4/3/2019 12:18:09 AM: - C:\Users\Administrator\Dropbox\Button\computerAction.txt.txt
4/3/2019 12:18:09 AM: - File exists, checking the content...
4/3/2019 12:18:09 AM: Could not read file.

I'm using an IFTTT button to add the .txt file to my Dropbox to do the 'lock' command.
I've set the Action file extension to * and still doesn't work

Q: Could idle CPU use be lowered somehow?

I get a constant 1.5% CPU burn, even when the app is idle and in the background, presumably not doing anything. Could this be lowered to somewhere around 0.10-0.01-0.00%?

It's completely fine if it uses some CPU when reacting to an incoming event, but I prefer the apps I use to remain idle at idle as much as possible. Is there perhaps a loop that's causing it? Or maybe it's an idle GC thing? And if so maybe that can be tweaked with some GC settings?

Not Initiating

Have Dropbox setup, signed in with IFTTT, and can tell Google Home to put computer to sleep. Google Home tells me "alright, putting computer to sleep." However, When it "runs" on my computer, it gives me 2 notifications: 1) a Windows Notification from Dropbox that says "you added computeraction.txt"
2) A pop up that says "Error | Home Computer Control" and the error message is "no action set lately"

AssistantComputerControl 1.2.0

Last version 1.2.0 keeps turning computer off over and over again.

open file action

Hello,

And thanks for this project. I'm trying to make open file action work.. But how open file action should work isn't explicit.

I have the shortcut in the shortcut folder but i keep getting error that says the example file doesn't exist. Can you help me getting open action working?

Thank you

Is Spanish language supported?

Hello. I would like to try ACC out but I would like to know if the actions should be spoken in English or in my native language (Spanish). My Google Home system is configured to take actions in Spanish. Thank you.

Do the setup guide again causes multiple setup screens

I don't have Dropbox installed. When I get the question "Dropbox (required) doesn't seem to be installed... Do you want to go through the setup guide again?" and I click the Yes button 5 times and then click the button No, the setup form is opened 5 times.

French Assistant Computer Control

French Assistant Computer Control
Here is a quick and complete french alternative
We can cooperate if you agree.

Logs quickly fill with "Dropbox not installed"

I'm not using Dropbox (and picked as such during the initial setup) so a check and log entry for dropbox every 500ms is not great. I've only been running ACC for a few hours and the log file is already up to 2MiB of

30/12/2018 5:45:01 PM: Dropbox not installed
30/12/2018 5:45:01 PM: Dropbox not installed
30/12/2018 5:45:02 PM: Dropbox not installed
30/12/2018 5:45:02 PM: Dropbox not installed
30/12/2018 5:45:03 PM: Dropbox not installed
30/12/2018 5:45:03 PM: Dropbox not installed
30/12/2018 5:45:04 PM: Dropbox not installed
30/12/2018 5:45:04 PM: Dropbox not installed
30/12/2018 5:45:05 PM: Dropbox not installed
30/12/2018 5:45:05 PM: Dropbox not installed
30/12/2018 5:45:06 PM: Dropbox not installed
30/12/2018 5:45:06 PM: Dropbox not installed
30/12/2018 5:45:07 PM: Dropbox not installed
30/12/2018 5:45:07 PM: Dropbox not installed
30/12/2018 5:45:08 PM: Dropbox not installed
30/12/2018 5:45:08 PM: Dropbox not installed
30/12/2018 5:45:09 PM: Dropbox not installed
30/12/2018 5:45:09 PM: Dropbox not installed
30/12/2018 5:45:10 PM: Dropbox not installed
30/12/2018 5:45:11 PM: Dropbox not installed

Musik play/pause not working

the command for play/pause music is not working for me. For that command the action file is not created in folder "AssistantComputerControl" but in "AssistantComputerAssistant". The created file "computerAction.txt" contains "music:play_pause" but no action follows and the file doesn't get deleted. Copying the "computerAction.txt" containing "music:play_pause" into the folder "AssistantComputerControl" doesn't lead to a action neither. I'm on Windows 10 and using latest ACC version (1.0.3.0).

Crashing during set-up

I previously had this installed, used it with my amazon alexa and used the IFTTT applets for controlling my computer, no problems.

now i cannot open ACC to access the settings, so uninstalled and reinstalled. during setup, the window crashes and programme will not open

The setup app isn't available

The setup app (https://ifttt.com/applets/dkd6zi29-set-up-the-homecomputercontrol-software) is not available. :(

"An Unhandled Critical Error Occurred" Windows 10

I finally got the IFTT applet to work after manually setting it up, but when it runs I get an error pop up on my PC "An Unhandled Critical Error Occurred" and then ACC closes fully. I can't see anything in the error log either. Any ideas?

Stopped working

Hi,

im using the latest version v0.3.1 release.
Stopped working, maybe related to win 10 update ?

Win Build 1803 .

Tried reinstall, same thing

anyone?

Set volume action works fine but throws error for certain values

When setting the volume to certain percentages, the program successfully does the action, then throws this error:

and stops detecting new commands until it's dismissed. I've only tested from 10-20% so far, the error happens with 10%, 17%, and 19%. But looking at the log, the error does not seem like an error at all:

[ -- DOING ACTION(S) -- ]
5/21/2019 3:51:04 PM:  - ...\computerAction (1).txt
5/21/2019 3:51:04 PM:  - File exists, checking the content...
5/21/2019 3:51:04 PM:  - Read complete, content: set_volume:10
5/21/2019 3:51:04 PM: 
[EXECUTING ACTION]
5/21/2019 3:51:04 PM:  - Action: set_volume
5/21/2019 3:51:04 PM:  - Parameter: 10
5/21/2019 3:51:04 PM:  - Full line: set_volume:10
5/21/2019 3:51:04 PM: ERROR: Volume was not set properly. Master volume is 9.999999, not 10
5/21/2019 3:51:04 PM: 
SUCCESS: 

5/21/2019 3:51:04 PM: Non-fatal action. Deleting.
5/21/2019 3:51:04 PM: [ -- DONE -- ]

[ -- DOING ACTION(S) -- ]
5/21/2019 3:41:57 PM:  - ...\computerAction (1).txt
5/21/2019 3:41:57 PM:  - File exists, checking the content...
5/21/2019 3:41:57 PM:  - Read complete, content: set_volume:17
5/21/2019 3:41:57 PM: 
[EXECUTING ACTION]
5/21/2019 3:41:57 PM:  - Action: set_volume
5/21/2019 3:41:57 PM:  - Parameter: 17
5/21/2019 3:41:57 PM:  - Full line: set_volume:17
5/21/2019 3:41:57 PM: ERROR: Volume was not set properly. Master volume is 17, not 17
5/21/2019 3:41:57 PM: 
SUCCESS: 

5/21/2019 3:41:57 PM: Non-fatal action. Deleting.
5/21/2019 3:41:57 PM: [ -- DONE -- ]

[ -- DOING ACTION(S) -- ]
5/21/2019 3:46:26 PM:  - ...\computerAction (1).txt
5/21/2019 3:46:26 PM:  - File exists, checking the content...
5/21/2019 3:46:26 PM:  - Read complete, content: set_volume:19
5/21/2019 3:46:26 PM: 
[EXECUTING ACTION]
5/21/2019 3:46:26 PM:  - Action: set_volume
5/21/2019 3:46:26 PM:  - Parameter: 19
5/21/2019 3:46:26 PM:  - Full line: set_volume:19
5/21/2019 3:46:26 PM: ERROR: Volume was not set properly. Master volume is 19, not 19
5/21/2019 3:46:26 PM: 
SUCCESS: 

5/21/2019 3:46:26 PM: Non-fatal action. Deleting.
5/21/2019 3:46:26 PM: [ -- DONE -- ]

Looking at the abundance of people reporting this issue, I think I may be the only one experiencing this? Just ask if it needs more information.

Thanks.

AnalyticsSettings methods missing

In the GettingStarted.cs file the method AnalyticsSettings.UpdateSharing() is called twice and the method AnalyticsSettings.SetupAnalytics() is called once, without them existing in the AnalyticsSettings class. The AnalyticsSettings.UpdateSharing() method is also called from the SettingsForm.cs

Program is terminated the second it starts

after last update it doesnt open on tray
it doesnt work
tried uninstall and install again but nothing

"write out" only writes first word with Google Drive

Hi!
I just tried again with ver. 1.3.0 but I have this problem:
with the write out applet (to write text from the assistant to the PC)
if the text ingredient sent is a phrase made of more than one word, only the first word gets written
I checked the log of ACC and it runs only with the first word only
I checked the log for the IFTTT applet and it runs with the whole phrase
if I set it like Write "$" or Write '$',IFTTT says Enter a space before and after # and $
Any idea?
Thank you!

Log of the action "Write prova prova prova" (also tried with "Write prova 1 2 3", same result):

15/07/2019 14:55:53: 
[ -- DOING ACTION(S) -- ]
15/07/2019 14:55:53:  - D:\Dany\Google Drive\AssistantComputerControl\computerAction.txt
15/07/2019 14:55:53:  - File exists, checking the content...
15/07/2019 14:55:53:  - Read complete, content: write_out:prova
15/07/2019 14:55:53: 
[EXECUTING ACTION]
15/07/2019 14:55:53:  - Action: write_out
15/07/2019 14:55:53:  - Parameter: prova
15/07/2019 14:55:53:  - Full line: write_out:prova
15/07/2019 14:55:53: 
SUCCESS: Wrote "Prova"

15/07/2019 14:55:53: Non-fatal action. Starting cleanup service.
15/07/2019 14:55:53: [CLEANUP] Service started
15/07/2019 14:55:53: [ -- DONE -- ]
15/07/2019 14:55:54: [CLEANUP] Successful

content of computerAction.txt:

write_out:prova

Log of IFTTT applet:

Does this mean it's a IFTTT bug?

My configuration:
Android 8.0 with IFTTT and Google Assistant
Windows 10 64bit with Google Drive Backup & Sync

Every update I have to go through the setup process even though it was already working.

Is there anyway around this?

The program starts, but crashes immediately afterwards.

Start, check the icon but after a few seconds it disappears

My computer wakes up just a second after going to sleep

My computer wakes up just a second after going to sleep.
I tried to resolve the issue by uninstalling both AssistantComputerControl and Dropbox but the issue is still there. Please help me to reverse it

Internet links

Hello, first, congratulations for your good work, it's really great. I have a question about internet links, Is it possible to run, facebook, tweet ... with this program (I use Dropbox)? I look at the docs, but I can not find the answer (or I'm blind), if you could inform me about it, it would be greatly appreciated, Thanks again and good day.

ACC recives the volume command but volume doesn't change

Log:
2018-10-08 4:20:10 PM: File exists, checking the content...
2018-10-08 4:20:10 PM: Can read file
2018-10-08 4:20:10 PM: Action set. File is not empty...
2018-10-08 4:20:10 PM: Read complete, content: set_volume:60
2018-10-08 4:20:10 PM: File modified within the last 30 seconds...
2018-10-08 4:20:10 PM: ERROR: Volume was not sat
2018-10-08 4:20:10 PM: Clearing file
2018-10-08 4:20:10 PM: Can read file
2018-10-08 4:20:10 PM: Action-file deleted
2018-10-08 4:20:10 PM: File exists, checking the content...

needs reinstall on every reboot

i installed it and it worked great but once i reboot the pc it stops working and i need to delete it ,which might not even work sometimes, and reinstall it.do you know a way i can fix that because this is the only working voice controller which i have found and good job for that

Google Home recives command yet ACC Does nothing

I have connected google assistant to IFTTT and when I say the command google home replys with the expected response as stated in IFTTT. I have also linked dropbox and located the ACC folder. However, using both onedrive and Dropbox on separate attempts the ACC folder remained empty.

Upon the successful receiving of the command by google home ACC does nothing.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Problem whit links

Hello, I have a problem to launch the internet links, with the command '' action ''. I succeed without problems to open files / folders, on my pc without problem, but as soon as I run the command to open a link, he understands the command, execute it, but gives me an error message as you can see on the printscreen. I tried different combinations, (), (/), ('' '') with the same result. there is one thing that escapes me, but what? I look at the doc, but I do not find the answer, if you could give me the solution, or tell me what's wrong, it would be very appreciated. Thank you again for your answers.

I forgot to say that I put the shortcuts in a folder on the desktop, as you told me in the post precedent

When another google user in my house runs a command, it activates one of my triggers

For example, someone else in my house says "lock PC" and it will still lock my PC even though it's not his account. Means that only one person per house can use this?

Application on windows is suspended after launch

the first time i installed the app, i went through the tutorial, which i thought was really helpful, and tried to log off PC after the installation using google home. it worked perfectly, as my computer went into logging off mode. as it was slow to log off, i clicked and help power button to turn it off. once back on the application does not run. tried to reinstall, clear the temp folders, and delete and reinstall about 8 times. disabled defender just in case, but what i see is when i launch the application, in task manager i see it says suspended and then the application disappears from task manager. i tried to do everything. is there a way to completely wipe it from my system, so i can go through everything all over again?

It works, but when I reboot it shuts down again.

Hi,

I installed everything and am trying to use it to shut my computer down, but every time I use it, next time i reboot my computer shuts down again after it is finished booting.

When I reboot again it works normaly untill i use the command to shut down again and then next boot it shutsdown again. Any idea what i'm doing wrong?

[Feature] Possibility to pass parameters to the "open" command

Hey Albert, great job!

I am looking for possibility to pass a parameter (numeric values or text) using "ingredient" feature of Google Home / IFTTT integration.

UML workflow: Diagram

By looking at the code should be super-easy. what do you think?

App will not launch

I cannot launch the application. I notice in Process Explorer that it loads and instantly vanishes from the list with a silent crash