With the new UI of automations, having them grouped might open up some doors to expand the functionality. This with the earlier introduced copy/paste features got me thinking.
I think it could be something to consider to being able to make blueprints for building blocks, or being able to save them to use across automations.
There are a lot of blueprints available, but using them might not be all that you need from them, or they might be limited by the author of the blueprint. If you could add a building block to an automation, might make automations a lot cleaner and easier to make.
Ways of implementing this I have thought of:
Have a building block creator either inside blueprints or as an option inside the automation creator.
Have it as an extension of the copy paste. So instead of copy and paste, you can save the block, give it a name, and it will show up as a block inside all other automations (sounds the most user friendly to me)
It could be nice to be able to just edit or overwrite the blueprint/saved block to change something like a condition on every automation you used it in.
For example: if you have a condition or action you use all the time, you could make it in a building block.
There are also Custom Template macros, which are template ‘functions’ that you can plug in. Those are available in HACS. (Currently need to enable experimental mode to see them.)
Not that there won’t be more things like this in the future, but these greatly underused abilities are already there.
Though scripts are limited to actions, right? I wouldn’t mind seeing it used with triggers and conditions.
Something like copy, paste, save and load would still be quite welcome. Its more a user experience enhancement than really a feature request then maybe…
Sure, sort-a.
Choose statements, if-then’s, template if’s, wait for trigger’s, for loops with decisions are all actions that can be scripted to ‘refine’ the hard coded.