I successfully use all day Google Calendar events in automations in HA. This works quite well as I add a time-offset to get the automation to start when I want it.
I have not figured out how to use calendar events that occur at a specific time, though I believe having seen something by using Yaml. . However Yaml and I don’t like eachother
.
Now here is my question: As I added my Google Calendar to the Dashboard, all the events (all day and time-specific events) show as in this example:
![image](https://community-assets.home-assistant.io/original/4X/a/0/7/a071d664301606bb7b34cf5b06857d8b58f5bcb0.png)
I am trying to figure out how to use this entry in an automation and tried to find it as an entity, but it does not. Is there a way other than Yaml ?
You can trigger an automation based on a Google calendar using a Calendar trigger… it doesn’t matter whether it’s an all-day event or not. You will, however, need to use a Template condition to control when the automation is allowed to proceed. There is an example showing this in the Automation Recipes section of the Calendar docs. Available variables other than summary
, which is shown in the example, can be found in the Available Trigger Variables docs.
All of this can be done in the UI Automation editor.
It probably shows that I am not that HA smart, but I am not sure that what I am looking for is possible.
Let’s say that I have a weekly event on Wednesdays at 1 pm that is named Lunch with Wife. If I understand your examples, I could create an automation that starts Wednesdays at 1 pm, but the Lunch with Wife by itself can not be identified by HA as a trigger ?
BTW, I pretty much resolved my needs in another way. I created 20 sub-calendars in my Google calendar, each for specific events that happen in our lives (Wake-up at 6:30 am, Wake-Up at 7:30 am, Trips, Cleaning Lady Day, etc etc). I also created scripts for our wake-up actions in HA, and then I created automations with one of those calendars (all day) as trigger and a time offset depending on the event.
I use these for wake-up automations but also for other purposes.
As mentioned this ‘system’ pretty much does what I want, but I was wondering if there is an easy way for HA to recognize any event that is not an all day.
Yes, It is 100% possible to have what you are looking for.
It is the calendar event starting or ending that triggers the automation, not Lunch with Wife
. But, by setting your conditions properly, the actions are only executed when the events title/summary is Lunch with Wife
.
That sounds like a lot to maintain, but if it works for you ![:man_shrugging: :man_shrugging:](https://community.home-assistant.io/images/emoji/twitter/man_shrugging.png?v=12)
Have you tried using Calendar Event triggers not State triggers, as suggested? When used with calendar entities, State triggers will have unpredictable results. This is due to the fact that their state is based off only one event. If no events overlap this is not an issue; but any calendar with overlapping events will make automations based on State triggers unreliable.
Thanks so much !!! I understand where to get the calendar event, but not sure yet about template etc. That is my “job” for tomorrow