ESPHome: Text Sensor empty, how to debug? (solved)

Configuration
1

Hi! This is my first project w/ ESPHome // Home Assistant, sorry if I’m missing something obvious.

I’m trying to pipe a todo list from the Todoist REST API (called by Home Assistant) to a WaveShare E-Ink display, managed by an ESP32.

I can confirm that HomeAssistant has successfully acquired the TODO list:

{{ states.sensor.item0.state }}

displays “Hang projector screen” in the Home Assistant Template editor.

I can also confirm that I can display text to the E-Ink display, if I use static text.

However, when I create a text_sensor in ESPHome to read from Home Assistant, my display lambda sees only an empty string. I wish there were some way to interactively debug this, but some log statements is the best I can find.

ESPHome Config:

text_sensor:
  - platform: homeassistant
    name: "todo0"
    entity_id: sensor.item0
    id: todo0
    on_value:
      then:
        - lambda: |-
            ESP_LOGD("sensor", "value is %s", x.c_str());
  - platform: homeassistant
    name: "To-do List 1"
    entity_id: sensor.item1
    id: todo1

display:
  - platform: waveshare_epaper
    cs_pin: 15
    dc_pin: 27
    busy_pin: 25
    reset_pin: 26
    model: 7.50inV2
    reset_duration: 2ms
    update_interval: 30sec
    lambda: |-
      ESP_LOGI("todolist", "%s", id(todo0).state.c_str());
      it.printf(0, 0, id(font1), "%s", id(todo0).state.c_str());

The display is empty, and the log messages are also empty.

I’m running out of ideas for debugging this. Many thanks!

2

Post the yaml for the HA sensor you are trying to retrieve.

Or if not defined in yaml a screen shot of it in Developer Tools | States.

3

Screenshot_20221224_115144
Screenshot_20221224_1151441494×72 8.79 KB 

sensor:
  - platform: command_line
    name: todo_list
    scan_interval: 30
    command: >
      echo "{\"tasks\":" $(
      curl -X GET https://api.todoist.com/rest/v2/tasks -H 'Authorization: Bearer REDACTED'
      ) "}"
    value_template: > 
      {{ value_json.tasks | length }}
    json_attributes:
      - tasks
    unique_id: 'todoist_tasks'
  - platform: template
    sensors:
      item0: 
        value_template: "{% if states.sensor.todo_list_2.state | int > 0 %} {{states.sensor.todo_list_2.attributes.tasks[0].content }} {% else %} {% endif %}"
      item1: 
        value_template: "{% if states.sensor.todo_list_2.state | int > 1 %} {{states.sensor.todo_list_2.attributes.tasks[1].content }} {% else %} {% endif %}"
      item2: 
        value_template: "{% if states.sensor.todo_list_2.state | int > 2 %} {{states.sensor.todo_list_2.attributes.tasks[2].content }} {% else %} {% endif %}"
      item3: 
        value_template: "{% if states.sensor.todo_list_2.state | int > 3 %} {{states.sensor.todo_list_2.attributes.tasks[3].content }} {% else %} {% endif %}"
      item4: 
        value_template: "{% if states.sensor.todo_list_2.state | int > 4 %} {{states.sensor.todo_list_2.attributes.tasks[4].content }} {% else %} {% endif %}"
      item5: 
        value_template: "{% if states.sensor.todo_list_2.state | int > 5 %} {{states.sensor.todo_list_2.attributes.tasks[5].content }} {% else %} {% endif %}"
      item6: 
        value_template: "{% if states.sensor.todo_list_2.state | int > 6 %} {{states.sensor.todo_list_2.attributes.tasks[6].content }} {% else %} {% endif %}"
      item7: 
        value_template: "{% if states.sensor.todo_list_2.state | int > 7 %} {{states.sensor.todo_list_2.attributes.tasks[7].content }} {% else %} {% endif %}"
      item8:
        value_template: "{% if states.sensor.todo_list_2.state | int > 8 %} {{states.sensor.todo_list_2.attributes.tasks[8].content }} {% else %} {% endif %}"
      item9: 
        value_template: "{% if states.sensor.todo_list_2.state | int > 9 %} {{states.sensor.todo_list_2.attributes.tasks[9].content }} {% else %} {% endif %}"
4

IDK why, but it’s working now … ? Maybe because I added it as an integration to home assistant?

5

I’ve written up a summary of the journey here: Building an e-Ink ToDo list | praccu’s blog