Feedreader: variables in Notification Message

The-May · March 9, 2023, 3:21pm

Hi Guys,

I have read the docs about the feedreader but I couldn´t figure out/understand the “logic” behind the variables in the example.

I am starting with the AS IS - State:

I have configured a Feedreader in my configuration.yaml

feedreader:
  urls:
    - https://logbuch-netzpolitik.de/feed/m4a
  scan_interval:
    minutes: 30
  max_entries: 5

I have successfully configured a very very basic automation which notifies me via Telegram:

alias: Auto_Feedreader_LNP_Notification
description: ""
trigger:
  - platform: event
    event_type: feedreader
    event_data:
      feed_url: https://logbuch-netzpolitik.de/feed/m4a
condition: []
action:
  - service: telegram_bot.send_message
    data:
      message: lnp
mode: single

and it is working very solid (but not very elegant).

My Problem:

The Docs say

Any field under the <entry> tag in the feed can be used for example trigger.event.data.content will get the body of the feed entry.

What do they mean with “entry tag”?

I looked in the feed_url of the example Home Assistant Podcast but I could not find anything with “entry” I also looked for something like data.content, still having no clue.

I simply cannot figure out to how to get the link for example from Logbuch:Netzpolitik

grafik

How should the variable in my message look like, especially in my case and especially how can you find it out?

exxamalte · March 10, 2023, 4:59am

ATOM feeds use <entry> tags, while RSS feeds use <item> tags.

In general, the RSS structure is transformed into a data structure that you can access.

Title: {{ trigger.event.data.title }}
Link: {{ trigger.event.data.link }}

Now, that does not work for all tags in the RSS, for example pubDate is actually transformed into published. The only reason I know this is because I worked with the underlying Python library in the past - and there is some more documentation available.

To understand what’s actually in the event data you could just log the raw data in your automation:

...
action:
  - service: system_log.write
    data:
      level: error
      message: "{{ trigger.event.data.content }}"
...

The-May · March 10, 2023, 3:28pm

Thanks for the very structured solution and your time. Gonna test it out…
Thanks!

The-May · March 18, 2023, 9:01am

Update: Didnt work out for now, but I think it was my Problem… will test again and provide the logs because there was an error but I lost the errorlog.

I just created 3 testautomations to find out which trigger should work out.

It is hard to debug this whole thing, because I need to wait for the feedreader event and I just simply cannot rerun the automation because it looks like the automation can just fetch the variables when it has legitimately been triggered. When running it manually via “run”-Button there do not seem to be any Data available… grafik

for further testing I also added the system_log.write service in another automation.

exxamalte · March 18, 2023, 1:55pm

That’s correct - running an automation manually basically just skips the defined trigger, and there is no way to define sample trigger event data.

The-May · April 10, 2023, 9:13pm

Update:

It took half an eternity.

I have received some notifications:


service: telegram_bot.send_message
data:
  message: lnp 1 {{trigger.event.data.title}}

service: telegram_bot.send_message
data:
  message: lnp 2 {{trigger.event.data.link}}

Following message didnt work though:

service: telegram_bot.send_message
data:
  message: lnp 3  {{trigger.event.data.content}}

So this is a great success!
grafik

Nevertheless I still dont get it how to get the variable on my own, or is it really a “written rule” that data.title and data.link always work with rss feeds? If yes: are there any docs where I can get other vars?

system_log.write gives me infos I cannot start with, but it gives me following:
(uploaded on pastebin to prevent spam)
lnp_log - Pastebin.com

exxamalte · April 11, 2023, 3:01am

Unfortunately this is not well documented. I had a look into the source code of the feedparser Python library to understand how the transformation of RSS/Atom feeds works and how information is then presented in this integration.

Comparing the log output with the actual feed, it looks like you get an array with 2 entries - the first entry is the item’s description, and the second entry is the the item’s content:encoded.

lilp69 · November 6, 2023, 2:47pm

Hi,
I try also to send news by telegram.
But I have issue with this automation :

- id: news
  alias: News
  description: News
  trigger:
  - platform: event
    event_type: feedreader
    event_data:
      feed_url: https://www.lemonde.fr/rss/une.xml
  condition: []
  action:
  - service: input_text.set_value
    data:
      value: "{{ trigger.event.data.title }}"
    target:
      entity_id: input_text.news_title
    enabled: true  
  - service: input_text.set_value
    data:
      value: "{{ trigger.event.data.description }}"
    target:
      entity_id: input_text.news
    enabled: true
  - service: input_text.set_value
    data:
      value: "{{ trigger.event.data.link }}"
    target:
      entity_id: input_text.news_link
    enabled: true
  - service: input_datetime.set_datetime
    data:
      value: "{{ trigger.event.data.date }}"
    target:
      entity_id: input_datetime.news_date
    enabled: true
  - service: notify.lilp_bot
    data:
      title: Batterie faible
      message: News "{{ trigger.event.data.title }}"

I have this message in Step details :

Error: Error rendering data template: UndefinedError: ‘dict object’ has no attribute ‘event’

And in Trace TimeLine :

Triggered manually at 2 novembre 2023 à 10:44:28
Appeler le service “Saisie de texte: Définir” sur News Title
Stopped because an error was encountered at 2 novembre 2023 à 10:44:28 (runtime: 0.02 seconds)

Thanks for your help.

exxamalte · November 6, 2023, 4:47pm

When you manually trigger this automation, there is no event fed into the actions, and thus the templates fail.

The-May · November 6, 2023, 7:04pm

You always need to wait until the Feed comes “on its own”.
@lilp69

lilp69 · November 7, 2023, 9:48am

No possibility of manually triggering the sending of news at a specific time

The-May · November 7, 2023, 10:11am

Like i said: You always need to wait until the Feed comes “on its own”
This thread already says it multiple times.

Therefore you have 2 options:

Create your own feed and simulate a manual trigger.
or Wait.

vgerald · November 8, 2024, 10:27pm

Is there a way to test this locally, as my feed from Biblegateway is once a way and that is a very long wait. I have been trying to get the description but am successful only with the verse.

Only the title and the notification works all other input_text helpers have value of unknown.

alias: Send notification of RSS feed title when updated Bible
description: "Bible Gateway "
triggers:
  - trigger: event
    event_type: feedreader
    event_data:
      feed_url: https://www.biblegateway.com/votd/get/?format=atom
actions:
  - action: persistent_notification.create
    data:
      title: New Bible verse available
      message: >-
        New Bible Verse available - {{ as_timestamp(now()) |
        timestamp_custom('%I:%M:%S %p %d%b%Y', true) }}
      notification_id: "{{ trigger.event.data.title }}"
  - action: input_text.set_value
    metadata: {}
    data:
      value: "{{ trigger.event.data.title }}"
    target:
      entity_id: input_text.bibleverse_verse
  - action: input_text.set_value
    metadata: {}
    data:
      value: "{{ trigger.event.data }}"
    target:
      entity_id: input_text.bibleverse_verse_2
  - action: input_text.set_value
    metadata: {}
    data:
      value: "{{ trigger.event.data.summary }}"
    target:
      entity_id: input_text.bibleverse_summary
  - action: notify.persistent_notification
    data:
      message: Notification message RSS  "{{ trigger.event.data.content }}"
      title: Bible event data

The-May · November 8, 2024, 10:40pm

It changed in the meantime you need to do this via UI as far as i know. Feedreader - Home Assistant
And after adding it via the UI you get a sensor:

Maybe this helps

The-May · November 8, 2024, 10:47pm

This is my Automation which works @vgerald

alias: Auto_Feedreader_LNP_Notification
description: ""
mode: single
triggers:
  - entity_id:
      - event.logbuch_netzpolitik
    attribute: title
    for:
      hours: 0
      minutes: 0
      seconds: 5
    trigger: state
conditions: []
actions:
  - action: telegram_bot.send_message
    metadata: {}
    data:
      message: >-
        LNP {{ state_attr('event.logbuch_netzpolitik', 'title') }}   {{
        state_attr('event.logbuch_netzpolitik', 'link') }}

vgerald · November 8, 2024, 10:50pm

@The-May Thank you!

I will review the event. Thanks for sharing your Automation code.

vgerald · November 8, 2024, 11:13pm

@The-May Thanks again!
I used the event to build by Markdown card to show the Bible verse.

Mariusthvdb · December 13, 2024, 11:57am

just be careful with the home assistant feed descriptions…

The-May · December 15, 2024, 12:29pm

I mean: yeah you are right, but it depends on whether I want a wall of text or not.
Gerald def. wants a wall of text, so I guess it depends on context