Render content from rest_command in Markdown card

Configuration
#1

Hi, I can’t figure out how to accomplish the following.

If I have a REST command like this:

rest_command:
  food:
    url: "http://example.com/food"

And it returns a simple list like this:

[
    "Macaroni and Cheese",
    "BBQ Baby Back Ribs",
    "Chicken Cacciatore",
    "Cheese Tortellini Pesto",
    "BBQ Brisket Mac & Cheese"
]

How do I get the Markdown card’s content to display it? I’m looking for something like this (obviously this doesn’t work):

type: markdown
title: Food
content: >
  {% for food in rest_command.food %}
    - {{ food }}
  {% endfor %}

Any ideas?

#2

You probably want a restful sensor rather than a restful command. The sensor can store the returned result. Which you can then display in your markdown card.

#3

Ok, here’s my sensor:

- platform: rest
  name: food
  resource: http://example.com/food
  json_attributes_path: "$"

Causing this error in logs:

homeassistant.exceptions.InvalidStateError: Invalid state encountered for entity ID: sensor.food. State max length is 255 characters.
#4

You need to pick one of the attributes as the state and use a value_template to grab it. The whole lot of data is too big for the state (the 255 character limit does not exist for attributes only the state).

#5

But there are no attributes… it is a list.

This does not work, it is only blank:

- platform: rest
  name: food
  resource: http://example.com/food
  value_template: >
    {% for food in value_json %}
      - {{ food }}
    {% endfor %}

However, if I change {{ food }} to {{ food[0] }} I do indeed get a list of the first letters of each item in the list to appear in the Markdown card, how I can I get it to treat {{ food }} as a string? This doesn’t work either: {{ food | string }}

#6

Can you please post the full (formatted) data returned by your command?

#7

Do you mean the endpoint/resource’s response? It’s exactly as it appears in the first post, it is a simple JSON array.

#8

No, that is not json it’s a list.

#9

It is valid JSON. Keyless lists/arrays are valid JSON. You can verify this yourself by simply pasting the contents of the code block in my first post into any JSON validator online.

#10

I did do that but must have made a copy/paste mistake.

Try this:

- platform: rest
  name: food
  resource: http://example.com/food
  value_template: "{{ 'OK' if value[0] != none else 'unknown' }}"
  json_attributes_path: "$"
#11

Now the Markdown card says “OK”.

You copied my list of food into a JSON validator and it didn’t validate? I tried all of these and it passes:

Those are just the top Google results, did you find one that says my array is invalid JSON? Can you link me?

#12

Because you need to use the sensor attributes not the state. The state can only contain 255 characters, The attributes do not have this limit.

Yes. And then I tried again and it did work, hence I must have

#13

Because you need to use the sensor attributes not the state. The state can only contain 255 characters, The attributes do not have this limit.

I don’t understand, can you please explain this a bit more? How would you go about doing what you’re describing with the data structure I have?

#14

That would depend how the attributes are being imported. Can you show what the attributes are in Developer Tools / States for this rest sensor:

- platform: rest
  name: food
  resource: http://example.com/food
  value_template: "{{ 'OK' if value[0] != none else 'unknown' }}"
  json_attributes_path: "$"
#15

Unfortunately it only shows friendly_name: food in the Attributes column.

#16

Anybody? Is this just something that is outside the scope of built-in HASS behavior? I’ve been going over the documentation for a while now and trying all kinds of stuff but can’t seem to get it working…

1 Like
#17

I’ve been searching for answers for over a week now.

I’m new to Home Assistant but I am a senior software developer.

Is it true that there is no reasonable way to store json arrays?

I would love to show local news, -gigs and so on on my dashboard.