v18.8.12 The off-by-one-release

This is the 100th release. I wrote... But it's actually just the 99th.

GUI update #1964

Adds ability to sync variables from the gui into the skill and makes it possible to override the idle page.

Always load dialogs as utf-8 #1958

This ensures that systems with a default file encoding of ascii, ansi and similar can read the dialog files correctly. Big thanks to @alistair23

Fix normalize of sentences containing "half" #1966

A bug introduced when improving the handling of numbers silently made the normalize not parse numbers after a "half" in the sentence. The change was reverted and the old behaviour is back.

Update of stop handling of TTS #1961

The tts now cancels all pending speech requests that were issued before the stop command.

Resting screen decorator #1970

Creating Idle pages was previously a tricky task requiring setting up message handlers and sending the correct message. Now a method can simply be tagged as an resting screen handler by applying the decorator @resting_screen_handler.

Additional info from the audiotest #1971

The audio test now prints which device is used for recording and the command line used for playback. A -l option is also available now to list available audio devices.

Prefer local audio outputs #1963

The audio system now prefer local backends before trying external ones. For example a https url will now consistently play using the vlc backend and not on a chromecast unless specified.

Misc

• Remove need for sudo when running dev_setup.sh as root #1969 @alistair23
• Clean up unnecessary Logs in text client #1957 @alistair23
• Tests for commented dialogs added #1853