Script data template issue

Configuration
1

Hello,

I have been struggling with trying to figure out why this will not work and would really appreciate some help on this.

I am trying to execute a script within a script if motion has not been detected for > 300 seconds. When I run this in the built-in template tester, it works fine. When it is running within the script, I get an error.

This is the code:

- service: script.turn_on
  data_template:
    entity_id: >
      {% if states.binary_sensor.motion_sensor_158d0001e5ceb5.attributes['No motion since'] > 300 %}
        script.test_voice
      {% else %}
      {% endif %}

I get the following error when this code runs:
Invalid service data for script.turn_on: Entity ID is an invalid entity id for dictionary value @ data[‘entity_id’]. Got ‘’

Thank you for your help!

2

Because your if statement is returning nothing if the ‘if test’ fails. You need to create a dummy script to execute if that occurs. Or build a condition before executing the script to test that case:

- condition: template
  value_template: "{{ states.binary_sensor.motion_sensor_158d0001e5ceb5.attributes['No motion since'] > 300 }}"
- service: script.test_voice

script.test_voice will only execute when the condition before hand is met. Otherwise it won’t execute anything.

3

Thanks Petro!

Just trying to wrap my head around this. So when you say if the if test fails, do you you mean that states.binary_sensor.motion_sensor_158d0001e5ceb5.attributes[‘No motion since’] returns nothing instead of a value? What would I need to add to if statement to cover that scenario?

Also, can I put a ‘condition: template’ inside of scripts.yaml? My understanding is that conditions were only allowed in automations.yaml.

Thanks!

4

No, when "if states.binary_sensor.motion_sensor_158d0001e5ceb5.attributes['No motion since'] > 300" fails. Meaning if your sesnor is less than 300. You output this:

  {% else %}
  {% endif %}

Which is nothing. You essentially provide the the script.turn_on service a blank entity_id. You will get tis error:

Invalid service data for script.turn_on: Entity ID is an invalid entity id for dictionary value @ data['entity_id']. Got ''
5

There are two parts of an automation that can contain conditions: 1) The condition section of the automation, and 2) the action section of the automation. In effect, the action part of an automation is a script. Anything you can do in a script you can do in the action part of an automation, and vice versa. See:

And especially see the link in the first paragraph where it says, “The action part follows the script syntax …” If you follow that link you’ll eventually get to this:

6

Got it working now! Thank you!!