The page Filter - Home Assistant states that some kind of “new state” is created for the filtered sensor. It also states that the “name:” attribute is optional and only for the frontend. I think this is wrong. The filter creates a new sensor with the name “unnamed_device” unless you specify a “name:”. If a “name:” is specified, this is used for the name of the new sensor and for its friendly name. It is not possible to specify a friendly_name. Right?
name:
and friendly_name:
are similar.
name:
→ nice name for the entity and also generates an object_id (entity_id = domain.object_id) with underscores replacing spaces and all lower case letters.
friendly_name:
→ nice name for the entity and can be different from the entity_id and does not generate one, this is created from other options in the integration configuration.
Which one is used in an integration depends entirely on the developer’s choice.
If you find you need to add a friendly name to an entity you can always do so using customize.
In my opinion the page about filter sensors is misleading and does not clarify that a new sensor is created with a new name.
At the bottom of every documentation page is this:
If you don’t wish to correct it yourself then your constructive feedback is just as valuable.
It could be as simple as changing this:
The
filter
platform enables sensors that process the states of other entities.
To:
The
filter
platform creates sensors that process the states of other entities.