Automation with choose - am I wrongly assuming how this works?

Configuration
1

As part of my migration from docker to Hass Blue I’m also migrating Node RED automations to native Home Assistant. I really like the choose option! However I think I assume its working wrongly.

What I’d like to do is:

  1. Trigger
  2. Choose either of 2 actions
    (No default actions)
  3. When either of 2 choose actions have run, run some additional actions.

Item 3 doesn’t run though :frowning:
So am I wrongly assuming you can run additional services after the “choose” actions?

alias: Arriving Home
description: Home away state changed to home
trigger:
  - platform: state
    entity_id: group.home_or_away
    id: arriving_home
    to: 'on'
    from: 'off'
condition: []
action:
  - choose:
      - conditions:
          - condition: state
            entity_id: input_select.home_state
            state: Awake
        sequence:
          - service: scene.turn_on
            target:
              entity_id: scene.home_awake
      - conditions:
          - condition: state
            entity_id: input_select.home_state
            state: Sleep
        sequence:
          - service: scene.turn_on
            target:
              entity_id: scene.home_sleep
    default: []
  - service: switch.turn_on
    target:
      entity_id: switch.nodered_ffeb3815_dbb888
  - service: notify.mail_notification
    data:
      title: '[HASS] Arriving home'
      message: >
        <redacted> thuis gekomen om ({{ states('sensor.time') }}, {{
        states('sensor.dayoftheweek')}} {{ states('sensor.month') }} {{
        states('sensor.dateofthemonth')}}).
  - service: notify.mobile_app_pixel_5
    data:
      title: '[HASS] Arriving home'
      message: >
        <redacted> thuis gekomen om ({{ states('sensor.time') }}, {{
        states('sensor.dayoftheweek')}} {{ states('sensor.month') }} {{
        states('sensor.dateofthemonth')}}).
mode: single

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2

No, it should have worked.

Maybe test with removing the nodered switch and see if you get the notification. Maybe the automation gets “stuck” at some point.

1 Like
3

Thx! I’ll move the nodered action to the bottom and try that.

Updated: apparently something was wrong with my scene calling my fan template.

4

Mmm, now it still failed. And I have no clue why. this is what i find in the trace:

I think, but am not sure, that it’s caused during activating a scene. Maybe still my template fan, but as far as I know I don’t have a control attribute for that entity.

'NoneType' object has no attribute 'control'

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5

Choose: Choice 0 executed

That means it executed the first conditions in choose containing this:

        sequence:
          - service: scene.turn_on
            target:
              entity_id: scene.home_awake

It proceeded to turn on switch.presence_simulation and turn off switch.on_off-plug_harmony_hub but then encountered a problem. So the issue lies within the scene.

“NoneType object” typically means an entity that has been referenced but doesn’t exist. In this specific case, some part of the scene attempted to get the value of the control attribute from an entity that doesn’t exist.

6

OK. I still can’t think of anything with a control attribute. I do have some entities in the scene that I ask to turn off, but which could be unavailable at the moment of activating the scene. But I don’t see why that would really halt the script.

7

It depends on how those unavailable entities are referenced in the scene but, generally speaking, they should always be available, otherwise it causes problems. Whereas a script can test for an entity’s availability (and act accordingly) a scene expects the entity to be available. The error message you have is telling you it failed in its attempt to use a non-existent entity.

Anyway, I think this topic’s original question was answered. There’s nothing wrong with how the choose is structured in your example. All the problems are due to flaws elsewhere, namely in the scenes called by the choose.

1 Like