How to get data with multiple values from a REST api where JSON root is an array?

Configuration
1

The API response contains an array like:

[
  {
    "name": "example",
    "status": "active"
  },
  {
    "name": "example2",
    "status": "inactive"
  },
  {
    "name": "example3",
    "status": "active"
  }
]

I want to display these values in a table on a dashboard. I took the markdown table route. to put the values in attribute of a sensor and then loop through them in dashboard.

rest_command:
  get_values:
    url: "https://example/api/times/1"
    method: GET

template:
  - triggers:
      - platform: time_pattern
        minutes: "/1"
    actions:
      - action: rest_command.get_values
        response_variable: data
    sensor:
      - name: "My Schedule"
        unique_id: my_schedule_1
        state: "{{ data.content | from_json | length if data.content is defined else 0 }}"
        attributes:
          values: "{{ data.content | from_json if data.content is defined else [] }}"
          last_updated: "{{ now() }}"

However this does not add the attribute for some reason. Is there any way to do this where the root element of json is an array.

2

Is the state populated with the length as expected? Is it only the values attribute that isnā€™t populated? If you just make the state say 0 and put only data in that attribute, what do you get?

Alternatively, try one of the REST sensor platforms, which I think is a bit better suited for this, but I donā€™t see an immediate issue with your config, unless the is defined check isnā€™t working as expected.

1 Like
3

As Pieter says, make the state empty or Hello world. Your example is 184 characters. I suppose your real data is more and probably past the 255 limit.

4

I could have sworn that state was defined and had the correct value as I had seen it in the past which equalled length of the array. And It was the values attribute that did not exist. However now I am getting error in the logs

ERROR (MainThread) [homeassistant.helpers.script.trigger_update_coordinator] Trigger Update Coordinator: Error executing script. Service not found for call_service at pos 1: Action rest_command.get_values not found

So I switched to using REST sensor. I had switched to REST command because in the past I was creating more sensors i.e. retrieve first 3 values in the array and put each one in their own sensor. That was not scalable as I wanted more values and the API does not always return 3 values. It can be more or less. Now I am trying REST sensor.

  - platform: rest
    resource: "https://example/api/times/1"
    name: test
    value_template: "OK"
    json_attributes:
      - data
    json_attributes_path: "$"

I do see the value ā€œOKā€ but not attributes. Because the root of JSON is just an array. How do I refer to it using json_attributes_path and then put it in json_attributes. I thought it was not possible.

5

The data key isnā€™t in your response: you created it in the rest_command, but it makes no sense in your sensor config.

An array response isnā€™t great to deal with. See my solution to a prior similar problem here:

6

Remember besides this one, thereā€™s also this one for multiple sensors.

But as Troon pointed out, this is tricky to deal with regardless of the platform used. Unfortunately, many APIs do this kind of thing.

7

Your problem is that you used the name values for your attribute. values has a very specific meaning for a dictionary (which is what attributes are). Change the attribute to anything other than values, items, or keys.

8

I already have it working with that kind of solution where i use array indices like [0], [1] and so on. But I want to move to more dynamic solution which regardless of number of items in array it shows a table on a dashboard.

9

yeah those didnā€™t help either. I wish the json attribute parsing logic had something simpler like ā€œ$ā€ that refers to full json instead of having to have a key at the root level.

10

Yes, because the problem is that youā€™re using values as your attribute name. Use any other attribute name and it will work.

I.e.

rest_command:
  get_values:
    url: "https://example/api/times/1"
    method: GET

template:
  - triggers:
      - platform: time_pattern
        minutes: "/1"
    actions:
      - action: rest_command.get_values
        response_variable: data
    sensor:
      - name: "My Schedule"
        unique_id: my_schedule_1
        state: "{{ data.content | from_json | length if data.content is defined else 0 }}"
        attributes:
          content: "{{ data.content | from_json if data.content is defined else [] }}"
          last_updated: "{{ now() }}"

image
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11

Nothing that I did not read all responsesā€¦just ideas on orig post
Another way is to use command_line

command_line:
  - sensor:
        name: something
		command: >
			 echo "{\"whatever\":" $(
			 curl 
			 -s 
			 'https://example/api/times/1'
			 ) "}" 
		value_template: > 
			{{ value_json.whatever | length }}
		json_attributes:
			- whatever

it may need an additional -X GET for the curl

Another one which visually looks better is to pipe the output of the curl through jq with a short statement to have an output ā€˜whateverā€™

command_line:
  - sensor:
        name: something
        command: >
            curl -X GET 'https://example/api/times/1' | jq '{"whatever": .[]'
        value_template: "{{ now() }}"
        json_attributes:
            - whatever