Need a little help understanding YAML syntax

Configuration
1

Hi all,

I have some automations that appear to have been built originally in the UI, but I am trying to make them a bit more reliable. I want to re-write them without the Device IDs, but having a little trouble. Anyone mind giving me some pointers here?

- alias: Front Entry Light on when door unlocked
  description: ''
  trigger:
  - platform: device
    device_id: 8f42afe329a0f0739acba765f6ddd1f2
    domain: lock
    entity_id: lock.front_door
    type: unlocked
  condition:
  - condition: device
    type: is_on
    device_id: c08e0f19918bf4d855c35a74e46416eb
    entity_id: light.front_porch_lights
    domain: switch
    
  - condition: state
    entity_id: light.downstairs_lights
    state: 'off'
    
  action:
  - type: turn_on
    device_id: 4bf2dbcce8d891b846ef60cee5e5328e
    entity_id: light.front_entry_lights
    domain: switch
  mode: single

Thank you!
-David

2

That first one is a state trigger for lock.front_door. Check Developer tools → States to see what that entity state is when unlocked.

The second one is a state condition, as you’re using already, for light.front_porch_lights being in the state on.

The last is a service call for light.turn_on on light.front_entry_lights.

The UI editor can build all of that for you, so you can then look at the YAML.

3

Here’s how I’d write that. You’ll need to have a look in Developer Tools / States to see what the actual state of the lock is (perhaps 'on' instead of 'unlocked'?).

- alias: Front Entry Light on when door unlocked
  id: UUID4_HERE
  trigger:
    - platform: state
      entity_id: lock.front_door
      to: 'unlocked'
  condition:
    - condition: state
      entity_id: light.front_porch_lights
      state: 'on'
    - condition: state
      entity_id: light.downstairs_lights
      state: 'off' 
  action:
    - service: light.turn_on
      entity_id: light.front_entry_lights

I put ids in my automations to allow assigning it to an area.

4

Thank you, @Tinkerer !!!

@Troon - how do you generate you UUIDs? Thank you!!

5

I use this site:

but that’s just for convenience and consistency. The id just has to be a unique string.

6

Hi @Troon - I got this updated, but I am still not getting the front entryway lights to turn on when the conditions are met. Any thoughts as to what might be preventing this from triggering?

 alias: Front Entry Light on when door unlocked
  id: 265984b7-5651-4bc9-ab05-c9d749052301
  trigger:
    - platform: state
      entity_id: lock.front_door
      to: 'unlocked'
  condition:
    - condition: state
      entity_id: light.front_porch_lights
      state: 'on'
    - condition: state
      entity_id: light.downstairs_lights
      state: 'off' 
  action:
    - service: light.turn_on
      entity_id: light.front_entry_lights

I confirmed that ‘unlocked’ is the correct state of the lock is ‘unlocked’. My front porch lights and entryway lights are switches that I have set as lights in my configuration - they work correctly as lights when controlled from HA, so I don’t think that’s the issue. The light.downstairs_lights is a group, but again, it seems to work correctly when controlled through HA. Not sure where my issue is.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
David

7

How? Did you use Developer Tools / States? Could you post a screenshot like this, but for your lock?

image
image899×201 15 KB

Do the lights come on if you manually execute the automation, which bypasses trigger and condition? (Configuration / Automations / Run Actions).

Does the automation show that it has been triggered (same screen as above)? If it does, you can use the image button to see what happened.

8

Take a look at the debug UI for the automation.

9

never seen that, where can we find that button?
btw, now we’re on the developer-tools/state, what does the refresh button next to the Set state button do ? Hovering it doesnt show a tooltip, nor does clicking it have an effect…

Schermafbeelding 2021-06-09 om 10.54.31

10

In the automations screen.

1 Like
11

a yes, forgot about that, thought Troon was talking about the dev-tools/state page, sorry…

1 Like
12

@Troon I figured out the issue…I mistyped the entryway light entity name. It seems to work now!!

Thank you so much for the help!

-David

1 Like