Help with REST that are contained within brackets

Configuration
1

Trying to pull some json from ambientweather.net but the entire line is contained within square brackets and HA doesn’t like what I’m doing :slight_smile:

I created a simple copy of the json and removed the brackets, and everything processes fine. So, somehow I need to either remove the [ ] or change something in my configuration just not sure what.

Here’s what I get from ambientweather.net

[  
   {  
      "dateutc":1526125200000,
      "winddir":83,
      "windspeedmph":2.9,
      "windgustmph":4.5,
      "maxdailygust":12.5,
      "tempf":61.2,
      "hourlyrainin":0,
      "dailyrainin":0,
      "weeklyrainin":0,
      "monthlyrainin":0.05,
      "totalrainin":1.17,
      "baromrelin":29.74,
      "baromabsin":30.06,
      "humidity":84,
      "tempinf":73.2,
      "humidityin":54,
      "uv":2,
      "solarradiation":184.73,
      "feelsLike":61.2,
      "dewPoint":56.32332156578099,
      "lastRain":"2018-05-05T01:59:00.000Z",
      "date":"2018-05-12T11:40:00.000Z"
   }
]

Thanks!

2

Have you tried

[0].something

or

[0]['something']
3

I have, but the likelihood of me typing something incorrectly is very high.
What works on my version without brackets is (there’s a bunch more sensors, just showing wind direction for this example)

  - platform: rest
    name: weathertest
    json_attributes:
      - winddir
    resource: redacted
    value_template: '{{ value_json[0] }}'
  - platform: template
    sensors:
      winddir:
        friendly_name: 'Wind Direction'
        value_template: '{{ states.sensor.weathertest.attributes["winddir"] }}'

When I use the json with brackets, I get a bunch of errors. And the ‘sensor.weathertest’ also has no data

2018-05-12 13:07:51 WARNING (Thread-10) [homeassistant.components.sensor.rest] JSON result was not a dictionary
2018-05-12 13:07:51 ERROR (MainThread) [homeassistant.core] Error doing job: Task exception was never retrieved

homeassistant.exceptions.InvalidStateError: Invalid state encountered for entity id: sensor.weathertest. State max length is 255 characters.
2018-05-12 13:08:08 WARNING (MainThread) [homeassistant.components.sensor.template] Could not render template Wind Direction, the state is unknown.

I did try to replace

value_template: '{{ states.sensor.weathertest.attributes["winddir"] }}'

with

value_template: '{{ states.sensor.weathertest.attributes[0].winddir }}'  (and)
value_template: '{{ states.sensor.weathertest.attributes[0]['winddir'] }}'

but I had no luck.

I’m sure it’s a simple fix, but I just can’t seem to get it.

4

I never used that sensor, but according the warning message and the source code of that component, the json_attributes didn’t support JSON array as top-level. Therefore, states.sensor.weathertest.attributes is always None in your case.

Its workflow is first parse value, assign to attributes, then try to parse value_template, rewrite value. It looks buggy for me. The simple fix should be first parse value_template, then parse value, then assign attributes.

Would you please submit a issue?

5

That’s a no-no in python. You are trying to assign a string inside a string without using the proper punctuation. Notice how the editor is even messing it up by showing winddi as black where the rest is red?

    value_template: "{{ states.sensor.weathertest.attributes[0]['winddir'] }}"

or

    value_template: '{{ states.sensor.weathertest.attributes[0]["winddir"] }}'

Now on to your problem at hand… Have you tried

    value_template: '{{ value_json[0][0] }}'
6

I did notice the errors after I posted, obviously not a programmer (it’s on my list of things to do)

value_template: '{{ value_json[0][0] }}'

results in a “expected a dictionary for dictionary value”

In talking with folks on the HA discord, it appears the issue is the json_attributes requires the original JSON object to be a dictionary.

7

{{ value_json[0][0] }} was a long shot, was just wondering if there was an extra layer that was being applied.

8

this is probably related to my efforts templating out the results of a rest sensor…

maybe we still need the trusted jsonrest Custom Component after all…where all this was possible.

9

I know this is over a year old, but here is how I got it working with json_attributes:

I’m using a command line sensor with curl and then I pipe everything to python and print the first item of the list (watch for the escape quotes in the command)

- platform: command_line
  command: 'curl -sb -H \"https://your_url.com\" | python -c \"import sys, json; print(json.dumps(json.load(sys.stdin)[0]))\"'
10

I know this is an old thread but I was working on something similar and thought I’d share: I just submitted a PR which implements the same json_attributes_template config option in rest that mqtt uses to let you manipulate a JSON REST response back into state attributes.

https://github.com/home-assistant/home-assistant/pull/24820

1 Like
11

@shbatm Is it possible to trial your PR changes as a custom component. I’ve been waiting for something like this. Thanks for taking the initiative.

12

@ronschaeffer You should be able to just copy all of the files from this folder: https://github.com/shbatm/home-assistant/tree/rest-json-attributes/homeassistant/components/rest into your config/custom_components/rest/ folder.