why I can't use google action in web simulator

Question

Does anyone know why my action can NOT use in web simulator??

I set my invocation name for testing as "test", and in web simulator , I try to use my action by input "Talk to test", but it told me "Sorry, this action is not available in simulation"...

Is there anything wrong with me ??

Alviani

I'm getting the same thing today. I wonder if it's an issue on the backend of API.ai for the time being. – Drewdrewett

same here, I'm getting the same error – Sweptback

hi guys, do you still have this problem? I still can't use my action.. – Alviani

Answer 1

This bug should be resolved now. If you are still having this problem, you should try pairing your account with an actual device first. The issue was resolved for me by signing in to the Google Home app on my mobile device and pairing it to a home unit. After that, using the simulator then works in the browser.

Copilot

Apparently not solved. This is still an issue. You apparently must provide all deployment info just to test your app. This includes artwork and a web server to serve a privacy policy. Must be a bug as you really can't do proper predeployment testing without at least the web simulator. – Grandam

That has not been my experience. I have several that work just fine without that information added. In fact, specifying the project ID isn't even required. You can test without associating to a Google project. – Copilot

This isn't really a solution. Google Actions are meant to work independently of Google Home. – Titrant

That is why it was a bug. At the time this was posted the simulator was a Google Home simulator so it made sense the two were tightly coupled. Are you still having issues with it? – Copilot

I also don't believe this is solved. I've paired my test email with both a physical Google Home and with Google Assistant on a Nexus 5X, and I still see "Sorry, this action is not available in simulation" – Terramycin

@JeremyGordon I still get that occasionally as well. Usually solved by reauthenticating on API.ai (if you are using it) and on the simulator. Since only your Google account can test your action while in dev, make sure you are logged into the same account in both places. When you get that message, make sure it is working on the actual device. It may be that the test package has expired (only good for 24hr i think). – Copilot

@DanielSmith I ultimately solved the problem I was having, which seems to have had to do with being signed into two google accounts in the action simulator -- https://mcmap.net/q/726272/-sorry-this-action-is-not-available-in-simulation – Terramycin

Answer 2

I got this to work by saying "talk to my test app" or typing it in to the simulator prompt, that triggered my app to start in the simulator. I am using an account that is NOT associated with a home device, I also have NOT entered in artwork etc.

I have found that you have to type in that phrase anytime the simulator gets confused to get back into your intent flow.

In my case it looks like this in the Dialog portion of the simulator:

Bibulous

It is true, this seems to be the way to invoke an app in Test. I think the points of the question though - How do we 'simulate' a more realistic invocation phrase. It's particularly important to test a range of realistic "invocation + intent" scenarios in one utterance. I hope this is improved soon. – Retorsion

Thanks "talk to my test app" is essentially what I need to let the simulator trigger my api.ai app but Google does not specify this in their document though. – Kumar

There are now handy links in the Actions on Google console for testing your interaction. Look for the Test header and under it "Simulator". You can reach the console here: console.actions.google.com – Bibulous

Answer 3

Turns out for me, even though I had turned on all the activity controls as the tutorial instructed, the organisation my login was associated with had them disabled.

Ask your admin to enable "Web & App Activity" in "My Account" > "Admin" > "Google Services"

Strawboard

Correct answer until now. – Occiput

How do you mean "until now" ? Has something changed here? If so, it might be worth mentioning how. – Strawboard

Answer 4

I had same issue. This is how I "solved" it

1. Registered Google Home physical device to my email used for Action and api.ai development (Redeployed, now Silly project started working) (Still my project won't work)

2. Changed the invocation name to something simple ( My first language is not english)

Now Web simulator started working(

Cathrinecathryn

Thank you very much ! My action can be triggered successfully. – Alviani

Step #1 is the only part that was required. – Copilot

Yes Step #1 is fine and its working. My Web simulator also started working by invoking 'Talk to InvocationName' in my google home its not working. How to make it trigger? – Keldon

Answer 5

One possible Root cause - you are logged in via your second account.

This is the same issue I had. The UI from the earlier google home tutorials have been changed a bit. So after clicking the actions on google in api.ai we are redirected to to actions on google page. (Previously it was sent to the web simulator straight)

I created a project called personal butler in api.ai but what I saw was a project called API project, so when I clicked it and try to simulate it I got the exact error.

I registered to api.ai from my secondary google email. So when I was redirected to the actions on google page, it logged in via the primary account. After I signed out and loged in via the same account I was able to see my project and it was working fine.

PS - When testing with google home also the same account should be used in the andriod app

Fabliau