MATCH_ALL state trigger?

Configuration
1

Hi there,

I’m trying to streamline some of my configuration. To this end, I would like to use some kind of “catch-all” trigger and then match it later on with my own with templates. Here’s my working example:

- alias: Fernbedienung Komplett
  id: fernbedienung
  trigger:
  #- platform: template
  #  value_template: "true"
  #- platform: template
  #  value_template: '{{ "elro_800_switch_s15" in trigger.to_state.name and trigger.to_state.state == "on" }}'
  #- platform: state
  #  to: 'on'
  #  entity_id: '*'
  - platform: state
    to: 'on'
    entity_id:
    - binary_sensor.elro_800_switch_s15_ua_on
    - binary_sensor.elro_800_switch_s15_ua_off
    - binary_sensor.elro_800_switch_s15_ub_on
    - binary_sensor.elro_800_switch_s15_ub_off
    - binary_sensor.elro_800_switch_s15_uc_on
    - binary_sensor.elro_800_switch_s15_uc_off
    - binary_sensor.elro_800_switch_s15_ud_on
    - binary_sensor.elro_800_switch_s15_ud_off
  #condition:
  #- condition: template
  #  value_template: '{{ "elro_800_switch_s15" in trigger.to_state.name and trigger.to_state.state == "on" }}'
  action:
    service: script.toggle_it
    data_template:
      entity: >
        {% if   'ua_on'  in trigger.to_state.name %}
        switch.wohnzimmer_buchregal
        {% elif 'ua_off' in trigger.to_state.name %}
...

But I don’t like listing all those entity ids. It makes my automations hard to maintain. So, I’d like to use on of the other triggers instead.

I have tested the condition with the state trigger and its long entity list: It allows all the state events to actually run the action. So, the condition should be fine. The problem seems that the automation does not even get there, if I use one of the other triggers.

I think, the template triggers don’t work, because:

  1. “trigger” is not a recognized variable in the trigger itself yet. (So says the error, I receive.)
  2. They only fire, when one of the mentioned entities changes its state. So “true” won’t ever fire. [Why won't this trigger?!]

The * entity_id however, should work. There is something in the code called MATCH_ALL. But when I use it, the automation is never started at all.

Here’s the code lines, whch I think should do the job…

What am I missing?

Thanks!
Andreas

2

Maybe you could use a state changed event without specifying an entity ID? But even if this wound work, I suspect it would be a very bad idea as the automation would be basically constantly triggered / conditioned.

You say your automations become difficult to handle. How often are you updating your sensors? :slight_smile: Perhaps you could instead create a template sensor that you update once a sensor in the list you manually maintain changes state, and trigger your automatons based on that template sensor.

3

Hi Dolores,

thanks for your answer!

  1. The entity_id is a required parameter for a state Trigger. So, HA does not even load without this Parameter.
  2. I am changing the sensors quite often, because I am in the Phase of finding my best Setup. :slight_smile: And if only Change the naming conventions, I will always have to correct it 8 times in this single Automation alone…
  3. The template sensor sounds like a Sound idea. At least for Automation triggering.

Thanks also for the hint on the Performance! I was having second thoughts on this as well. So, will the “condition” be much slower than “matching” the Events?

Andreas

4

Silly question, why don’t you try and group your entities?
I’m not entirely sure what your automations do so there may be an issue / more work needed with your conditions/actions, but you would only have your group in triggers…

5

Thanks, @lolouk44. This sounds like a neat idea.

Unfortunately, I need to list my states in the group then, so it would not really help. Unless I have more automations, of course.

Also, the group’s state would not be changed with every state change of the group’s elements, since the ‘on’ state is just an or-combination of all the group’s elements.

6

You always have to list entity_id’s for triggers. Even if you were able to ‘loop through’ a group of entity_id’s, the trigger would never fire because triggers work off entity_id’s. If you feed it code without entity_id’s, the trigger doesn’t know what to watch.

EDIT: This is the same for any template sensor/device. They need entity_id’s to update.