Correct usage of boolean entity state in Automation

Configuration
1

Hi everyone,

I am getting a strange behaviour when trying to set up an automation using a choose conditions for the resulting actions.
I want to check if the sun goes down and also is below an elevation of 2.
In that case I want to modify a switch to on state, otherwise it should turn off.

The conditions and trigger all match so that for the sake of simplicty I am removing them.
The statement that acts strange is the check for the boolean state attribute “rising” of “sun.sun”.

alias:  Turn my switch on/off
description: ''
trigger: []
condition: []
action:
  - choose:
      - conditions:
          - condition: numeric_state
            entity_id: sun.sun
            attribute: elevation
            below: '2'
          - condition: state
            entity_id: sun.sun
            state: 'false'
            attribute: rising
        sequence:
          - type: turn_on
            device_id: 1234567890
            entity_id: switch.my_switch
            domain: switch
      - conditions:
          - condition: state
            entity_id: sun.sun
            state: 'true'
            attribute: rising
          - condition: numeric_state
            entity_id: sun.sun
            attribute: elevation
            above: '-4'
        sequence:
          - type: turn_on
            device_id: 1234567890
            entity_id: switch.my_switch
            domain: switch
    default:
      - type: turn_off
        device_id: 1234567890
        entity_id: switch.my_switch
        domain: switch
mode: single

It does not matter what I try the result is always that the switch is off even if the conditions are matching.
I tried to write the state in different formats (“true”, “True”, “1”) but none seems to be working.
If I change the condition types for “state” to template using the following pattern it works like a charm:

alias:  Turn my switch on/off
description: ''
trigger: []
condition: []
action:
  - choose:
      - conditions:
          - condition: numeric_state
            entity_id: sun.sun
            attribute: elevation
            below: '2'
          - condition: template
            value_template: '{{state_attr("sun.sun", "rising") == false}}'
        sequence:
          - type: turn_on
            device_id: 1234567890
            entity_id: switch.my_switch
            domain: switch
      - conditions:
          - condition: template
            value_template: '{{state_attr("sun.sun", "rising") == true}}'
          - condition: numeric_state
            entity_id: sun.sun
            attribute: elevation
            above: '-4'
        sequence:
          - type: turn_on
            device_id: 1234567890
            entity_id: switch.my_switch
            domain: switch
    default:
      - type: turn_off
        device_id: 1234567890
        entity_id: switch.my_switch
        domain: switch
mode: single

Any idea what I am missing or doing wrong when using the state?

2

I’ve been away for a while, and haven’t tried using the new attribute option for state conditions, but I’d guess that since the attribute is a bool and not a str, you need to specify the desired state also as a bool and not a str. I.e.,:

          - condition: state
            entity_id: sun.sun
            state: false
            attribute: rising

I.e., lose the quotes.

3

I’m struggling with this true and it appears as though within Configuration>Automations when you type in true it changes it to ‘true’ automatically. Even if you do it in YAML. Maybe this is a bug or maybe they should allow you to input true/false Boolean options, I’m not sure. I may have to learn templating.

4

It’s one of the Automation Editor’s several deficiencies. Another one is that it converts a YAML list into a comma-separated string.

If you want to enter a boolean value and not have it converted into a string, you will have to separate the automations you create manually from those created (or modified) using the Automation Editor. You have full control over the automations you create with a text editor (like VS Code) because, unlike the Automation Editor, it won’t automatically apply its own set of formatting rules to your code.

5

Not sure if this will work for everyone but its currently working for me. Instead of saying false I used a 0 and it works fine

6

Any news, about this? I do not believe that there is such big oversight from there side. Anyone knows if there is a defect about this created already?

I spend more than 3hours trying to understand what is going on, and why my automation is not working.
At the very least, add a check in the UI if the text is “true” or “false” than display some tooltip/

1 Like