We need more proactive notification event scheme types.
We need more proactive notification event scheme types. The current set is very limited. We want to inform a user of utility company disruption (eg a gas leak or water leak) in their postcode area.
Why not have a generic event that just takes a message string??

Thank you very much for your patience. Your comments and votes are greatly appreciated. While we cannot promise each feature request will be implemented our team reviews each request and sends them to the appropriate product teams.
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Craig Walls commented
I can think of several use cases for proactive events that aren't covered by the current limited set of schemas. I can see value in having specific schemas that may uniformly notify users of certain situations (weather, for example), so the current set is good. But a generic schema that can be used for anything that the current set doesn't cover would be extremely useful, enable developers to create skills that are more useful to their users, and ultimately create more value to customers and to the Alexa platform.
Also, as a side request, I'd like to see proactive events be able to target a specific device. Unless I'm mistaken, proactive events currently target either a single user or broadcast to a set of users, but not to a specific device. That's fine for many use cases, but I can think of some where it would be best to target a specific user's device with such a notification. (Specifically, I'm thinking of users using mobile devices such as their phone or TalkSocket who want to receive a notification when some event takes place and they are away from home, but do not necessarily need it sent to all of their devices at home.) Reminders and timers can (and must) target individual devices this way, including mobile devices (I know, I've tested it). It'd be nice to see this for proactive events, as well.
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Alex commented
Current announcements are very limited! For range and mode controllers only Done, Stuck and Full events can be notified. I understand that letting us say anything could bring you problems, but we can barely use this very specific events. In my case, I would need a "Ready" notification, which only exists for the cooking interface.
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Werner Morgenstern commented
I want to have more schemas available (or even a custom one), which allows me to send notifications if a Smart Device has an error, or a condition, which the user needs to be made aware of
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Will Minton commented
This needs to happen, and fast. Amazon's available schemas are outdated, limited, and frankly embarrassing for such a massive MNC.
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Daniel commented
Extremely limited! Please add a generic theme. I want to send skill-based messages to the user, not Amazon-based messages.
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Jamie D commented
+1 for a generic message event - without this many Alexa solutions aren't feasible. At least enable for developers on their own devices.
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Silvana commented
Hello, please extend proactive events so I can send notifications in other languages such as Spanish. Also it would be good to be able to create our own custom event schemas to send customize messages.
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Dylan Rush commented
So profoundly stupid that developers are limited to a set of 6-8 schemas, that haven't been updated. It's an example of a terrible design choice by Alexa that can't possibly scale with developer demand. The kinds of events are limited to the imaginations of Amazon, which is precisely what skill development tries to avoid.
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Kyle Jensen commented
We need to be able to submit templates for approval. Create a section in the build tab on the developer console and let us create our own templates. Or better yet, let us input the exact phrases that we will use so A) we aren't restricted to a template, and B) every phrase is approved.
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Yves Buyle commented
A generic text message event would really be nice. We are currently working on a sauna controller skill and would like to inform the user when his sauna is up to temperature. Unfortunately this does not fit in the limited event types for now.
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Fortarrigo commented
Yes, actually proactive notifications function is really limiting. I can't implement it in several skills because there isn't a custom schema. Please, add a custom schema! It's really important for my 4 civil protection skills I'm developing have the flexibility to send alerts with custom options!
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Craig Humphreys commented
Yes, at the moment it's far too limiting. I understand that Amazon want to protect end users, but surely it would be better if we could create our own custom schemas, which would then need to be certified. That would restrict developers from sending any old rubbish, and give the rest of us the flexibility to create useful notifications for our skills.
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Jeff Savin commented
Agreed. My skill allows users to submit content. Would love to sent a notification to the user that their content has been approved and is live.
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Mike Paine commented
Preach.. I was really excited for this feature, and we waited a very long time for it, and I find the current implementation to be extremely limiting. I imagine all these presets exist so that developers cant just send down anything to a device (think cursing someone out, etc). But, wouldnt something like that be picked up during skill certification? If your use case doesnt fit into a very small box, this feature isnt very usable, and it really disappoints.