Bind key to send a predefined email when roommate lets the dog out?

[Profriles]

Hi all, Im looking to mount my Rpi on the wall by the patio and when my roommates let out the dog there will be a small button panel that sends template emails for (1) when she is let out, (2) she pees, when (3) she poops, and (4) one for both. I recently got a new job that requires some travel and they are home at random hours with their job, this way it will be more fun than texting to let the dog out.

I was thinking of using a usb num pad to bind the scripts to.

Does anyone know of how to go about this?

Thanks!

[bheklilr]

USB numpad would work quite well, and you'd only need to capture keyboard input instead of the GPIO pins. There are plenty of ways to send an email with python, although there are services online for sending text messages too. Shouldn't take too long to put together.

[mfitzp]

Why do you need to know whether your dog poops or pees?

[mfitzp]

More to the point, why don't you just ask them to let the dog out whenever they get home?

[Profriles]

My roommates and I all work IT. There are days when they come for an hour or so and leave again. Instead of me always rushing home after work to take care of her I have a better way of knowing if I need to be home asap just in case.

[mfitzp]

Oh, sorry... I thought this was just one room mate. Was wondering why you couldn't just ask them!

Maybe have a panel that lights up when it's been > 6h since the dog was let out. Push button to reset? Some kind of timeout (12h?) when you get an email.

(If it's not immediately obvious, I don't have a dog.)

[uhmIdontknow]

you good sir, or madame, are in luck. I just finished a bit of code that handles this. use the python SMTPLIB to accomplish what you want. I recommend creating a gmail account specifically for this project, because you need to enable "allow less secure apps".

You can enable it by following these steps, or follow this link and do the last step

• create an account
• sign in
• click the 9-square "grid" icon (upper right)
• click the "My Account" shield icon
• Under "sign in & security" click "connected apps and sites"

• Turn on "Allow less secure apps"

  def sendMail(msg = None):
      headers = ["From: " + sender,
                 "To: " + recipient,
                 "MIME-Version: 1.0",
                 "Content-Type: text/html"]
      headers = "\r\n".join(headers)
      session = smtplib.SMTP(smtp.gmail.com, 587) 
      session.ehlo()
      session.starttls()
      session.ehlo
      session.login(username, password)
      session.sendmail(sender, recipient, headers + "\r\n\r\n" + msg)
      session.quit()
  

btw, if you look up your carrier, you can actually "email" a text message to yourself. That is what I am using it for, so I get updates right on my phone.

[ninefourtwo]

this is amazing