I have an automation that brightens and dims my light when you hold the button up or down and it works really well.
I would like to use the same automation across the other light switches I have in the house and reading through the documentation on Automation and variables it looks like it can be done, just not sure how to code the action.
Now I know I can add extra triggers easy enough and I believe I have the right code to reference the appropriate trigger in the action, however I have NO clue how to reference the appropriate light. Here is my code with the multiple triggers and reference to the trigger.event_id where appropriate, how do I determine the right light to make the adjustments on:
alias: Shelly Dimming
description: This allows the shelly to dim the lights
trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id:
- binary_sensor.waiting_channel_1_input
- binary_sensor.hallway_channel_1_input
- binary_sensor.media_channel_1_input
to: "on"
for:
hours: 0
minutes: 0
seconds: 0.25
- platform: state
entity_id:
- binary_sensor.waiting_channel_2_input
- binary_sensor.hallway_channel_2_input
- binary_sensor.media_channel_2_input
to: "on"
for:
hours: 0
minutes: 0
seconds: 1
condition: []
action:
- choose:
- conditions:
- condition: state
entity_id: trigger.entity_id
state: "on"
sequence:
- repeat:
while:
- condition: state
entity_id: light.waiting
state: "off"
sequence:
- service: light.turn_on
data: {}
target:
entity_id: light.waiting
alias: Turn on light
- alias: Increase light
repeat:
while:
- condition: state
entity_id: trigger.entity_id
state: "on"
sequence:
- service: light.turn_on
data:
brightness_step: 10
transition: 1
target:
entity_id: light.waiting
- delay:
hours: 0
minutes: 0
seconds: 0
milliseconds: 250
- conditions:
- condition: state
entity_id: trigger.entity_id
state: "on"
sequence:
- repeat:
while:
- condition: state
entity_id: trigger.entity_id
state: "on"
sequence:
- service: light.turn_on
data:
brightness_step: -10
transition: 1
target:
entity_id: light.waiting
- delay:
hours: 0
minutes: 0
seconds: 0
milliseconds: 250
default:
- stop: Nothing to do
mode: single
If so you can create a template to match the object id of the binary sensor with the object id of the light. In the case of my example above if binary_sensor.my_lamp_waiting_channel_1_input triggered the automation then the template to get the right associated light entity id would be:
This will replace _waiting_channel_1_input from the binary sensor object_id with nothing leaving my_lamp which is then concatenated to the end of the string “light.” to give you the entity_id light.my_lamp
You can make it even easier on yourself by setting the object ids to be as similar as possible. e.g. these entity ids:
I originally tried with a string slicing method but that would require all your light object ids to be the same length. I then tried with a string split method but that would require your lights to not have underscores in the object ids. So I rejected both of those ideas. I think the solution above using two replace() functions is best. They don’t generate errors if they cant find one of the strings to replace, they work with any length light object id and do allow underscores in the light object id.
But I get what you mean, set the entity id in a variable so you don’t have to keep repeating the template. Yes that is possible, put this at the top of your action block:
Then just use light_entity_id wherever you need it in the actions. Do take not of the scope of this variable though: https://www.home-assistant.io/docs/scripts/#scope-of-variables If you change it inside a choose or if action the change wont be visible outside this block. You don’t need to worry about it in your application above, just something to be aware of for the future.
Putting in the variable just isn’t working though. I had tried something similar to what you proposed, but I always get an error when I try and reference the variable in the entity_id, here is what I have:
Message malformed: not a valid value for dictionary value @ data['action'][0]['choose'][0]['sequence'][0]['repeat']['sequence'][0]['target']['entity_id'
