(FREE Indigo plugin)

NOTE: This plugin is not yet compatible with macOS 10.15 Catalina and newer.

Announcer, using the built-in text-to-speech functions in Mac OS X and the background audio file playback features of the Play Sound application (separate download link here required), plays just about any audio file, followed by whatever text you've entered into the Indigo Pro variable your Announcer plugin devices are monitoring for changes. Each Announcer device and action has the following settings:

• Pre-Speech Audio File (optional): Any QuickTime compatible audio file. This file will play in the background before (or at the same time as) the text-to-speech voice begins speaking.
• Announcement Volume: Specify a volume for the audio file.
• Speech Volume: Specify a separate volume for the spoken message.
• Speech Delay: Set a delay of between 0 and 10 seconds before speaking the message.
• Speech Rate: How fast the message should be spoken (in words-per-minute).
• Message to Say (actions only): Text to be read when the action is executed.
• Speech Message Variable: An Indigo variable whose contents should be read (for actions) or to be monitored for messages to be spoken (devices). When set inside an Announcer device configuration dialog, whenever the selected variable changes, the Announcer device will speak the contents of the variable.
• Voice: An available text-to-speech voice to use when speaking messages. (Only installed voices are listed. You can add more through the Speech pane of System Preferences).
• Optionally, you can specify a specific copy of Play Sound to use. This can be useful if you've changed the name of the application, or if you have multiple copies of Play Sound on your server that you're using to send to different speakers (using Rogue Amoeba's Airfoil, for instance).

Installation

Use the Play Sound download link above to download the Play Sound application. It's an older application that is no longer maintained by the original developer, but still works with macOS 10.13 (High Sierra), as long as you allow it to from the Security pane in System Preferences. Next, download the latest Announcer plugin version here. Once downloaded, it should automatically unzip, but if it doesn't, double-click the zip file to decompress it. If you downloaded the plugin from a computer other than your Indigo server computer, move the plugin file to any location on your Indigo server. Once decompressed and moved to the computer with the Indigo server running, double-click the "Announcer.indigoPlugin" icon. You should be prompted to install and configure the plugin. The only global plugin configuration is the option to turn debug logging on or off (it's off by default). Simply click "Save" to continue. The plugin is installed.

Using It

There are two ways to use Announcer. The first, and probably most intuitive way, is to use it like any other action plugin. When specifying an action to take within a Trigger, Schedule, or Action Group dialog, select "Plugin" as the action Type, then select "Announcer" as the Plugin. For the specific plugin Action, select "Announce a Message" then click the "Edit Action Settings" button to specify the settings described above. Instructions are provided within the "Configure Announce a Message" dialog that appears.

The second way to use Announcer is by creating individual Announcer devices. You could think of this as a quick way to create both a trigger and an action by just creating a new Announcer device. When used as a device, each Announcer device will monitor an Indigo variable that you specify for changes. Whenever that variable changes, all Announcer devices monitoring it will read the contents of that variable using their individual settings. To use the device method, within the Devices section of the Indigo client, click the "New..." button. Name the device (perhaps "Message Announcer"). Select "Plugin" as the device Type. Select "Announcer" as the Plugin. Select "Announcer" as the Model. A configuration dialog will appear. All the parameters described above will appear in the dialog (except for the "Message to Say" field). Instructions appear within the configuration dialog box and provide details about what values to enter for each field.