Script: Template returns None

Configuration
,
1

Hi,

I am trying to write a script that loads rgb colors from a variable and sets a light accordingly.
The var has the value [255,0,0]

The script:

sofa_group_set_rgb:
  alias: Sofa_Group_Set_RGB
  sequence:
  - service: light.turn_on
    data:
      rgb_color: '{{ states(''input_text.sofa_group_status'') }}'
    entity_id: light.sofa_group
  mode: single

In developer tools > templates the templates returns the correct value.
But when I run the script I get:

Sofa_Group_Set_RGB: Error executing script. Invalid data for call_service at pos 1: None for dictionary value @ data[‘rgb_color’]

I already tried the template and the states( with different quotes: ’ and " and ‘’ all the same result

Anybody has an idea on this?
The variable is not changed or touched by any other script or automation.

Thank you,
Stefan

2

In all versions of Home Assistant, including the current one (0.116.X), the output of a template is always a string.

That why the error message indicates you are supply ‘Invalid data’ for rgb_color. It is expecting to receive a list but the value produced by the template is a string (even though what you entered may look like a list).

This will change in 0.117 when templates can produce other types than only string (list, dict, float, integer, boolean).

3

Excellent, it’s actually been merged! Frenck was coy in Discord about whether it was going in :slight_smile:.

4

Thank you, that might explain it! But I think when e.g. supplying a float instead of an int, it does say exactly that in the error message. With this error message, I thought “How can it be, that None is returned?” and would have never guessed, that a wrong data type might be the problem…

Ok, I tried converting it to a list now, but I still get the same error message. Output in Dev Tools really shows a list now. This is the script now (I know, there might be a shorter way, but I think it should still work):

sofa_group_set_rgb:
  alias: Sofa_Group_Set_RGB
  sequence:
  - service: light.turn_on
    data:
      rgb_color: >-
        {% set var1 = (states('input_text.sofa_group_status') | replace('[','') | replace(']','')) %}
        {% set list1 = var1.split(',') %}
        {{list1}}
    entity_id: light.sofa_group
  mode: single
5

I also tried the solutions from this post: Help with RGB light automation

First one, with a list in yaml-format:

sofa_group_set_rgb:
  alias: Sofa_Group_Set_RGB
  sequence:
  - service: light.turn_on
    data:
      rgb_color: >
        {% set var1 = (states('input_text.sofa_group_status') | replace('[','') | replace(']','') | replace(' ','')) %}
        {% set list1 = var1.split(',') %}
        - {{ list1[0] | int }}
        - {{ list1[1] | int }}
        - {{ list1[2] | int }}
    entity_id: light.sofa_group
  mode: single

Second one, with passing a list (This one does not work at all, it says some formatting errors):

sofa_group_set_rgb:
  alias: Sofa_Group_Set_RGB
  sequence:
  - service: light.turn_on
    data:
      rgb_color: >
        {% set var1 = (states('input_text.sofa_group_status') | replace('[','') | replace(']','') | replace(' ','')) %}
        {% set list1 = var1.split(',') %}
          ['{{list1[0] | int }}',
	      '{{list1[1] | int }}',
	      '{{list1[2] | int }}']
    entity_id: light.sofa_group
  mode: single
6

Ok, please don’t kill me for bad coding style, but this works fine :joy:

sofa_group_set_rgb:
  alias: Sofa_Group_Set_RGB
  sequence:
  - service: light.turn_on
    data:
      rgb_color: 
        - "{{ (states('input_text.sofa_group_status') | replace('[','') | replace(']','') | replace(' ','')).split(',')[0]}}"
        - "{{ (states('input_text.sofa_group_status') | replace('[','') | replace(']','') | replace(' ','')).split(',')[1]}}"
        - "{{ (states('input_text.sofa_group_status') | replace('[','') | replace(']','') | replace(' ','')).split(',')[2]}}"
    entity_id: light.sofa_group
  mode: single

It seems, as stated in the link i posted above, that as soon as I use > it is not taken as list anymore, no matter what I am doing… So I cannot use multi line code.

7 
sofa_group_set_rgb:
  alias: Sofa_Group_Set_RGB
  sequence:
  - service: light.turn_on
    data:
      rgb_color: 
        - "{{ (states('input_text.sofa_group_status') | from_json)[0]}}"
        - "{{ (states('input_text.sofa_group_status') | from_json)[1]}}"
        - "{{ (states('input_text.sofa_group_status') | from_json)[2]}}"
    entity_id: light.sofa_group
  mode: single

The reason why this works is because a template is not being used in an attempt to create a list. The list is defined in YAML format and then each item in the list is a separate template.

FWIW, it’s the most common way of templating for options that require a list containing a fixed number of items (like rgb_color which requires three items). Where this technique fails is if the list can contain a variable number of items.

8

Ok, thank you for that explanation!
Seems a little bit complicated, but at least it works now :slight_smile:

9

No problem.

In my original post, in addition to explaining why it doesn’t work, I probably should’ve directed you to this old post. It would’ve spared you the experimentation you went through trying to make a template produce a list.

1 Like