I’m attempting to create a “Text Sensor” in Home Assistant similar to what I use in ESPHome to generate a Text String based on a numeric sensor value.
In ESPHome I use this and it seems to work well:
text_sensor:
- platform: template
name: "24 Hour AQI Index"
id: SDS011_PM25_24Hour_AQI_Index
update_interval: 10min
icon: mdi:chemical-weapon
lambda: |-
if ((id(SDS011_PM25_AQI).state) > 300.0)
{ return {"Hazardous"};
}
else if ((id(SDS011_PM25_AQI).state) > 200.0 and (id(SDS011_PM25_AQI).state) <= 300.0)
{ return {"Very Unhealthy"};
}
else if ((id(SDS011_PM25_AQI).state) > 150.0 and (id(SDS011_PM25_AQI).state) <= 200.0)
{ return {"Unhealthy"};
}
else if ((id(SDS011_PM25_AQI).state) > 100.0 and (id(SDS011_PM25_AQI).state) <= 150.0)
{ return {"Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups"};
}
else if ((id(SDS011_PM25_AQI).state) > 50.0 and (id(SDS011_PM25_AQI).state) <= 100.0)
{ return {"Moderate"};
}
else
{ return {"Good"};
}
Apparently Home Assistant doesn’t have the same “Text Sensor” so I’ve tried to set something up using a Template and a Lambda but can’t get it working.
Adding the following to Configuration.yaml, Studio Code Server doesn’t show any errors and the “Check Configuration” states that “Configuration will not prevent Home Assistant from starting!” but some issues show up in the logs.
The first line of the Template is Line 16 in Configuration.yaml.
template:
- sensor:
- name: "TextPressureTrend"
entity_id: sensor.pressure_trend
id: Pressure_Trend
icon: mdi:trending-up
filters:
- lambda:
if (sensor.pressure_trend.state) > 0.03)
{ return {"Rising Fast"};
}
else if (sensor.pressure_trend.state) > 0.02 and (sensor.pressure_trend.state) <= 0.03)
{ return {"Rising"};
}
else if (sensor.pressure_trend.state) > 0.01 and (sensor.pressure_trend.state) <= 0.02)
{ return {"Slowly Rising"};
}
else if (sensor.pressure_trend.state) > -0.01 and (sensor.pressure_trend.state) <= 0.01)
{ return {"Steady"};
}
else if (sensor.pressure_trend.state) > -0.02 and (sensor.pressure_trend.state) <= -0.01)
{ return {"Slowly Falling"};
}
else if (sensor.pressure_trend.state) > -0.03 and (sensor.pressure_trend.state) <= -0.02)
{ return {"Falling"};
}
else
{ return {"Falling Fast"};
}
And here’s the errors from the logs.
Logger: homeassistant.config
Source: config.py:552
First occurred: 9:15:11 AM (1 occurrences)
Last logged: 9:15:11 AM
Invalid config for 'template' at configuration.yaml, line 18: required key 'state' not provided
Invalid config for 'template' at configuration.yaml, line 19: 'entity_id' is an invalid option for 'template', check: sensor->0->entity_id
Invalid config for 'template' at configuration.yaml, line 20: 'id' is an invalid option for 'template', check: sensor->0->id
Invalid config for 'template' at configuration.yaml, line 22: 'filters' is an invalid option for 'template', check: sensor->0->filters
I’ve tried several things to get it working but just can’t figure it out. Am I missing something simple or just way off base here?
How you do things in ESP YAML versus HA YAML is quite different. Your sensor can have a text status, you don’t need a lambda for that (and can’t in this case anyway):
You mistakenly assumed that the coding technique used in one open-source project (ESPHome) works in another open-source project (Home Assistant). As you have discovered empirically, it doesn’t.
Home Assistant uses Jinja2. What you are attempting to achieve can be done with a long chain of if-elif statements (similar to how you did in ESPHome) or, more concisely, using a map (a.k.a. dictionary lookup).
template:
- sensor:
- name: "Text Pressure Trend"
unique_id: text_pressure_trend
icon: mdi:trending-up
state: >-
{% set p = states('sensor.pressure_trend') | float(0) %}
{% set m = { p > 0.03: "Rising Fast",
0.02 < p <= 0.03: "Rising",
0.01 < p <= 0.02: "Slowly Rising",
-0.01 < p <= 0.01: "Steady",
-0.02 < p <= -0.01: "Slowly Falling",
-0.03 < p <= -0.02: "Falling" } %}
{{ m.get(true, 'Falling Fast') }}
No errors reported anywhere and the new Sensor shows up as an Entity but has a value of “Unavailable” while the numeric Pressure Trend sensor shows a value of -0.01
Because there’s an error in that needlessly long template. sensor.pressure_trend.state is invalid. You’ll need to change all ten instances of it or just replace the entire template with what I suggested above.
