Cover group

thomasj · January 8, 2021, 9:32pm

Hey all,

I have found this article on how to create cover groups via templates: Cover Templates

I have copied the cover_group example into my configuration. I have split them into different files, but that should not matter.

I am getting an error on top that

extra keys not allowed @ data['customize']['cover_group']

My configuration.yaml looks like this:

#include configuration files that are stored in packages folder
homeassistant:
  packages: !include_dir_named packages      
  customize: !include customize.yaml

# Configure a default setup of Home Assistant (frontend, api, etc)
default_config:

# Enables configuration UI
frontend: 
  themes: !include_dir_merge_named themes

#design
#lovelace:
#  mode: yaml

# Text to speech
tts:
  - platform: google_translate

group: !include groups.yaml
automation: !include automations.yaml
script: !include scripts.yaml
scene: !include scenes.yaml

And my customization.yaml looks just like this:

cover_group:
  assume_state: true

I am getting some other error messages that I dont really understand when I comment out the customization.yaml.

Logger: homeassistant.components.script.cover_group
Source: helpers/service.py:172
Integration: Script ([documentation](https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/script), [issues](https://github.com/home-assistant/home-assistant/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+label%3A%22integration%3A+script%22))
First occurred: 10:13:40 PM (6 occurrences)
Last logged: 10:13:52 PM

cover_group: Error executing script. Unexpected error for call_service at pos 1: Template rendered invalid service: cover._cover

Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/helpers/service.py", line 166, in async_prepare_call_from_config domain_service = cv.service(domain_service) File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/helpers/config_validation.py", line 463, in service raise vol.Invalid(f"Service {value} does not match format <domain>.<name>") voluptuous.error.Invalid: Service cover._cover does not match format <domain>.<name> The above exception was the direct cause of the following exception: Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/helpers/script.py", line 250, in _async_step await getattr( File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/helpers/script.py", line 429, in _async_call_service_step domain, service_name, service_data = service.async_prepare_call_from_config( File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/helpers/service.py", line 172, in async_prepare_call_from_config raise HomeAssistantError( homeassistant.exceptions.HomeAssistantError: Template rendered invalid service: cover._cover

Can anybody help?

anon43302295 · January 8, 2021, 9:48pm

1 - ‘cover_group’ is not an entity_id, I don’t know what entity_id you’re trying to customize, but that’s what you should be putting on the first line.

2 - It’s assumed (with a D) on the second line.

3 - One of your scripts has a service template that isn’t resolving to a correct service.

thomasj · January 8, 2021, 10:03pm

@anon43302295

I copied it 1-1 from here: Cover Group Example

they are using cover_group here in this documentation.
they are using assume_state
not sure what can fail here when I copy from the source

What I am trying to achieve is to group covers in a room so that I can on a dashboard use one control to manage all of them (up, down). If I just group then, the entity has no controls but I have to click on them and then can manage every entity individually.

anon43302295 · January 8, 2021, 10:56pm

The examples in that doc are incorrect.
If you believe what I’m telling you and correct your configuration you can have a working configuration that fulfils your requirements
Or you can use the incorrect example from the page you link to and remain in the same position you are now

thomasj · January 9, 2021, 6:30am

@anon43302295

I am sorry for that misunderstanding. Maybe it was too late in Germany and my message was not clear.

Of course I tried your suggestions.

I corrected the missing „D“
as for the customization I didn’t know what to put. As I said I was to customize a group of covers. So that similar to lights the group of covers have joined actions (all up, all down). So I could not fix this and still have the First error message from above.

I was of the opinion, that the template below defined the cover_group as a new entity. But I might be wrong as I said I am totally new to HA and KNX in general and trying To find my way through.

Thanks again and sorry for the miscommunication

anon43302295 · January 9, 2021, 9:25am

Yes, a cover group is an entity, but you need it’s entity_id to customize it - so in the customize.yaml file, that first line should be the entity_id of your cover group.

The entity_id will look like this…

cover.something

Where ‘something’ is the individual reference to your entity. You can find it in your states list.

wmaker · January 9, 2021, 5:14pm

You may be aware, but thought I would mention it just in case you had not seen it, is the following:

I use this to group my covers.
Best Regards.

thomasj · January 9, 2021, 8:29pm

Hey @wmaker

Thank you! I was actually not aware. And that worked immediately. crazy. The solution above is way more complicated than this.

But does anybody understand the difference between the solutions? Why is the above needed?

thomasj · January 11, 2021, 4:38pm

@wmaker All is working well. But do you have by any chance an idea how I can calculate the state_status of a cover group in the way mentioned above? because this

# Example configuration.yaml entry
cover:
  - platform: group
    entities:
      - cover.hall_window
      - cover.living_room_window

does not allow the state_status for the group.

I was thinking of something like

state_status_group = (state_status_cover.hall_window + state_status_cover.living_room_window)/2

wmaker · January 11, 2021, 4:44pm

Not sure what you mean by state_status?
Let’s give it a name for clarity:

cover:
  - platform: group
    name: My Group
    entities:
      - cover.hall_window
      - cover.living_room_window

This should create an entity cover.my_group. It will have state like any other cover (open/close).
HA will examine the state of all the individual covers in the group and derive a state for cover.my_group.

thomasj · January 11, 2021, 5:45pm

@wmaker

sorry for being unclear. I mean the % state of the group.

Every cover defines a position_state_address

position_state_address: '1/1/1'

which is showing me perfectly find the position_status of each cover (e.g. 60% closed) but the group doesnt have this. In the UI it always shows that its open.

Do I ready your message correctly that you are saying that this should work out of the box?

wmaker · January 11, 2021, 6:28pm

Hi,
I have not come across position_state_address, so not familiar with that term.
Covers have state open/closed and have various attributes, such as current_position (usually 0 to 100% open). Out of the box, HA will derive the state of the cover group (open/close). Out of the box If the covers in the group have the attribute current_position, then HA will derive the current_position of the group. As a side note, in my observations, if current_position of all the individual member are not identical, then HA will set the current_position of the group to 100%.

thomasj · January 11, 2021, 8:38pm

@wmaker ok thanks…

this is really a bit counter intuitive. I have the attached screenshots of the 2 covers and their statuses and then the group. One is closed one is at 30% and the group shows 100%. I would love to calculate the state based on all members of the group. E.g. (30%+0%)/2 = 15%

group 1+2