Flow no longer works and I simply can not figure out why.

[Rika Chu]

Hi, as a background reference this is what I have been using: https://www.reddit.com/r/homeautomation/comments/804t8e/guide_to_start_wol_turn_off_and_hibernate_your/

it basically allows me to turn off and on my PC.  It was working brilliantly for months now.  I literally have changed nothing on the app itself nor on my PC.  It suddenly just stopped working today when it was working just this morning.  There has been no windows update or any updates on either my phone or my PC in weeks.

So typically, I would ask alexa to shut off my PC.  If I am on my phone while this request is happening, I can see below that a message was received and it would follow with "connecting" which means its connecting via SSH to deliver a shutdown command on my PC.  

However, it has stopped doing it. I still see the message received portion, but no longer the 'connecting' which means my IFTTT and Stringify settings via webhook are all working correctly since it is sending the message correctly. 

However, the plug in event which handles the messaging typically flows to an app shortcut; the ssh app HandySSH to send the command to my PC to initiate shutdown. However, as I said, it no longer does this.

I deleted the app, freshly installed, and redid the flow with the same issue.  I manually connected to my desktop using the SSH app outside of automate just fine and was able to shutdown from there, so there isn't any connection issue between my phone, the SSH app, and my desktop.

One thing I did notice is, when I open autoremote, it tells me that my permission is denied.  Is this causing my problems?  If so, I can't for the life of me figure out how to give it permission.  Inside automate settings, I have gave it all the permissions it allows me to tick.  Still having issues.  I have been using Android P beta this entire time and it was working fine just this morning as mentioned.

Thank you for any help you guys can give me.

P.S. So I was going thru the logs, and I can see that when it was working, it will show that the plug in event initiates followed by app short cut.  The logs right now simply stop at plug in event and does not initiate app shortcut at all.  I really can't seem to understand why that is the case.  In the flowchart, the two are connected.

Edit:  I added an image of my flow.  Is there something I am missing that the plug-in event will not trigger my app shortcuts?  I tested the app shortcuts and they work fine outside of automate.

[Henrik "The Developer" Lindqvist]

If your device isn't rooted, uninstall the Superuser add-on, as it might be it causing the permission warning:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.llamalab.automate.ext.superuser

Are the plug-in blocks working? Do they ever proceed to the net block, i.e. what does the flow log say?

[Rika Chu]

Hey Henrik, thank you for the response.

My device is not rooted and I do not have superuser installed.

I didn't do anything differently than when it was working correctly.  There isn't a single variable I can think of.  I have attached the log file that goes about a month back.  You can see that after the plug-in event initiates, the app shortcut initiates next whether it's Wake on Lan or HandSSH, but now it completely stops at the plug in event.

I believe the plug in event is still working because I see on my phone that the message has been received from IFTTT via webhook.  

Nothing else I can think of that is blocking the plug in event from triggering my app shortcut :(

On Sunday, June 24, 2018 at 3:37:03 PM UTC-4, Henrik "The Developer" Lindqvist wrote:

If your device isn't rooted, uninstall the Superuser add-on, as it might me it causing the permission warning:

[Pete]

It sounds like the problem is with AutoRemote, not Automate. I think you need to open the AutoRemote app and click the PDA icon at the top and make sure permissions to your Google account have been granted. If you look at the changelog for the last update to AutoRemote it says you have to re-grant permissions after upgrading. If that doesn't work you might try asking about it on the AutoRemote forum. 
http://forum.joaoapps.com/index.php?forums/autoapps/

Someone else reported the plug-in for it stopped working.

https://plus.google.com/communities/110193399489813640793/stream/ff26e55c-0d77-49e6-89fd-8ef52ce04d73

[Henrik "The Developer" Lindqvist]

What plug-ins are used?

[Rika Chu]

Thank you both for the response.

The plug-in I am using for the plug-in event is auto remote.  As Pete said, I believe that could be the issue.  But I purchased the full version and gave it full permission and it still does not work.  I will look more into that app as well, for some reason I thought automate and autoremote were companion apps.

While I try to get that fixed, do you guys perhaps know of a similar plugin to autoremote that works with IFTTT?  Thanks!

[Henrik "The Developer" Lindqvist]

Use the Cloud message receive block and its online endpoint with the IFTTT maker channel/webhooks, just like autoremote do:

https://ifttt.com/blog/2015/06/introducing-the-maker-channel

[Rika Chu]

Hi Henrik thanks for the reply.

Okay I am using the cloud message receive block, but I see no option of inputing my webhooks url inside there if you could take me thru the steps?  Sorry, I am a complete noob at this stuff.  Thank you and please take your time. 

[Henrik "The Developer" Lindqvist]

It's opposite, you input the Automate endpoint URL in the IFTTT webhook. I don't know exactly how it's done, try looking at some other flows:

http://llamalab.com/automate/community/?q=IFTTT

[Rika Chu]

Okay, I went to automate/cloud website to generate a special key and linked my gmail account to it.  

I spit out an application/json POST request example (I redacted the private information):

POST /automate/cloud/message HTTP/1.1

Host: llamalab.com

Content-Type: application/json

{
  "secret": "1.xxxxxxxsecretkeyxxxxxx=",
  "to": "XX...@gmail.com",
  "device": null,
  "payload": "p0"
}
I added that entire thing as a URL to webhooks, set the method to POST and the content type to application/json

I am sure this isn't correct because it doesn't work.  I am not sure how else to generate a working URL for webhooks to send a cloud message to my gmail account.  Sorry about wasting your time, still learning.  I appreciate all your help and have bought the full version.

[Henrik "The Developer" Lindqvist]

I don't know how the IFTTT webhooks work, but looking at their doc it seems to take:

• URL, set to:
  
  https://llamalab.com/automate/cloud/
  Method, set to:
  
  POST
  Content Type, set to:
  
  application/json
• Body, set to:

• 
  
  {
   "secret": "1.xxxxxxxsecretkeyxxxxxx=",
   "to": "XX...@gmail.com",
   "device": null,
   "payload": "p0"
  }

Also, ensure the receiving device/account has been registered.

Do so by tapping the Google account field in the Cloud message receive block.

[Rika Chu]

Hello Henrik, thanks for the response.

So I know the flow is working because when I go to https://llamalab.com/automate/cloud/ and actually manually send the message, my computer turns off.

But when I give alexa the trigger word, the flow does not work.

Very strange.

Could it be that IFTTT is broken?

[Rika Chu]

Oh nevermind!  It works!  Henrik I love you.