[BUG?] Scene editor activates scene when loading the editor

Development
#1

Hi,
I post this here, as a similar post on HA github issues page was closed with no ability to post comments.

I think the newly introduced scene editor is good as a missing feature, which was introduced, but the way it works makes me think it’s buggy.
Every time I edit a scene the scene is launched. I don’t think it’s the way it should work. Why would anyone want this? I don’t want my home to go crazy and flash lights, open/close covers just because I went into scene edit mode. I want to decide on that when I want to test it.

Perhaps the current behavior was chosen as it was the simplest way to implement it (entities are really set with the state from the scene, so no need to have some “virtual” entities), but I think this must change.

This issue was described on Github: https://github.com/home-assistant/home-assistant/issues/28952

6 Likes
Improve Scene editor, allow scene edits without setting devices' states
0.102: Official Android App, Almond, Scene editor
#2

Why would anyone want this?

I haven’t used it but I believe this is indented behaviour.

You set the entities how you want them and save them as a scene.

When you edit the scene it activates so you can edit the previously set states and save it .

1 Like
#3

Yes, tom, that’s exactly what happens and what I believe is wrong. I want to be able to set all entities “offline” without them controlling the devices when I set the states.
I know no other system behaving this way when editing scenes.
This is just frustrating and unwise.

I’d opt for a checkbox in the GUI like “interactive scene setup” or a “Preview” button in scene editor which triggers state changes. In the case of checkbox when it’s unchecked - then everything happens without sending control signals from HA to the devices behind the entities.

But by default one should be able to edit offline without actually changing the real states of the devices. Smart home system should be smart and user friendly. HA creators understand this, so I hope it will be changed or improved e.g. as proposed above.

2 Likes
#4

a checkbox in the GUI like “interactive scene setup” or a “Preview” button

Worth suggesting as a feature request on github (here isn’t really the place).

Until that is taken on board (or not) if you want to edit a scene “off-line” don’t use the interactive UI. Use a text editor to edit the scenes.yaml file.

#5

Actually this forum is the right place. Github new issue comments say that:

#6

I can move this from Development to Feature requests if you like.

#7

No thanks, that’s fine. I want this to be here to bring the devs attention. I’ll open a new Feature with a clear description in a new thread and will crosslink this one.

EDIT. Feature Request opened: Improve Scene editor, allow scene edits without setting devices' states

2 Likes
#8

Quote from my post at: 0.102: Official Android App, Almond, Scene editor

Completely agree… I don’t want my skylight opening and letting the rain in to my house just because I am editing a sunny scene when it is raining!!

1 Like
#9

I also think this should be changed. :v:

1 Like
#10

I second this request!

In my case, I have a node red flow trigger on a light status change, so it becomes really frustrating when I start editing a scene but then node red takes control and changes my lights. Should have an offline edit mode as suggested.

1 Like
#11

Please fix this. I shouldn’t have to use the text editor because it’s 11pm at night and I don’t want to wake up my family with lights going on and off.

#12

I also vote to have this issue addressed. I was really surprised that when creating a scene, I would be disturbing the current state of devices. For me, it wasn’t even editing the scene, because I was creating a new one, but rather, assuming that setting values for the included devices was just that - prepping the scene / values… nope, devices went off (on) and people were not happy.

The other consideration here is - do we want home assistant to be a toy/novelty or do we want to be confident that it can handle (semi) mission critical / production use cases?

On this production side note, I’m still surprised HA has not prioritized persistent timers - again - if a device needs to run for an hour and HA has a blip and needs to be restarted - it doesn’t know if entities should stopped or started again for however many minutes.

#13

The current behavior of the scenes editor is not viable and dangerous!!! I have my PC screens on a smart device. When I created my “Turn off my studio” scene, my PC screens turned off while I was setting up the scene, and I had to end the setup because I was basically blind. How dumb is that?

I am trying to image what happens when someone is trying to configure his fire water sprinklers in the scene editor. You need to have an umbrella every time you enter the setup - Hahaha. Or Garden springlers. What a waste of water. Man, this thing really wasn’t thought through.

Or just image someone with a heart condition is setting up his alarms in the scenes and the sirene goes of - the guy gets a freak’n heart attack…

This scene setup up is super dangerous.
Needs fix’n ASAP.

Cheers!

#14

fully agree. This is a very anonying feature, I just want to edit the scene, in the end it just run it doesn’t make sense at all.

#15

I’m guessing they don’t think this is very important or dangerous because it was not fixed in the new releases that just came out. Very fun sitting up scenes with people in the house turning on lights you want off and setting off the alarm and siren. I guess I’m lucky that I don’t have the water shutoff valve and dump valve yet for a water leak :slight_smile:

#16

I guess the simplest explanation is: they do not use the GUI scenes editor :slight_smile: Otherwise it’d already be fixed. Assuming we’ll get this fixed some day - it may take a long while until they fix it as they emphasized that the current solution is already very complex and making it work as we want it - may be even more complex. And complex things take time, usually a lot of time.