Sensor - Date formatting

Configuration
1

I have a template sensor setup


- platform: template
  sensors:
    calendar_event_early_dismissal:
      friendly_name: Early Dismissal
      value_template: >
                        {{ as_timestamp(states.calendar.early_dismissal.attributes.start_time) | timestamp_custom('%A - %x') }}

when I put this in the Template in Home assistant I get the proper format “Monday - 09/02/19”
{{ as_timestamp(states.calendar.early_dismissal.attributes.start_time) | timestamp_custom(’%A - %x’) }}

However, the Sensor itself in home assistant comes up as
“sensor.calendar_event_no_school”
"Monday - 09/02/19 #57000.0 "

Can anyone explain why it puts the Numbers in the state, and how to exclude them as I just want the Date only.

Thanks in advance

2

here a bit of reading

http://strftime.org/

explain what each letter means

3

I was there, which is where I got my information from. However unless I am missing something it doesn’t explain why it is putting “#xxxxx” in the state and when I put the code in Home assistant template it shows it exactly how I want to see it.

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4

mmmm never seen that before is it something the calendar has added

could it be Microsecond ??? from mid nite

5

What component are you using for calendar.early_dismissal?

6

Sorry I just noticed I screenshot ed from 2 different sensors (no_school, Early Dismisal), however they both do the same thing.

its comes from one of my Google Calendars, so the Google Calendar component.
However the states show this for
“calendar.no_school”
message: No School-Labor Day
all_day: true
offset_reached: false
start_time: 2019-09-02 00:00:00
end_time: 2019-09-03 00:00:00
location:
description:
friendly_name: No School

I am guessing it could be adding some sort of time in seconds which is part of the “Start_time” to the end which could explain the “#xxxxxx” but how do I remove that on the custom template via the sensor side.

7

I’ve done something somewhat similar, settings sensors to pickup if it’s a school_day or a work_day based on day of the week, as well as Google Calendar integrations.

This thread in the forums helped me a bunch with the formatting: The EPIC Time Conversion and Manipulation Thread!

What I did personally was create a sensor to grab the event date from a calendar (this one’s our school’s publicly available calendar):

    date_now_xxxx:
      entity_id: sensor.date
      value_template: >
        {% if states('calendar.xxxx') == 'off' %}
          off
        {% elif now().timestamp() >= as_timestamp(strptime(states.calendar.xxxx.attributes.start_time, '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')) and now().timestamp() <= as_timestamp(strptime(states.calendar.xxxx.attributes.start_time, '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'))  %}
          on
        {% else %}
          off
        {% endif %}

This would tell me if the event is active currently (on / off). Then I have another sensor to read the type of event and determine if it means school is in / out that day. I also have it reference our family calendar (for if we’re out of town/vacation), as well as days of the week (for if it’s a weekend).

date_schoolday:
      value_template: >
        {% set ct = states('sensor.date_time') %}
        {% set ct = as_timestamp(strptime(ct,'%Y-%m-%d, %H:%M')) %}
        {% if 'Saturday' in ct | timestamp_custom("%A") %}
          off
        {% elif 'Sunday' in ct | timestamp_custom("%A") %}
          off
        {% elif is_state("sensor.date_now_XXX","on") and 'no school' in states.calendar.XXX.attributes.message.lower() %}
          off
        {% elif is_state("sensor.date_now_YYY","on") and 'oliday' in states.calendar.YYY.attributes.message.lower() %}
          off
        {% elif is_state("sensor.date_now_YYY","on") and 'no school' in states.calendar.YYY.attributes.message.lower() %}
          off
        {% elif is_state("sensor.date_now_YYY","on") and 'family trip' in states.calendar.YYY.attributes.message.lower() %}
          off
        {% elif is_state("sensor.date_now_ZZZ","on") and 'holiday for all students' in states.sensor.ZZZ_calendar_event_0.attributes.name.lower() %}
          off
        {% elif is_state("sensor.date_now_ZZZ","on") and 'spring break' in states.sensor.ZZZ_calendar_event_0.attributes.name.lower()  %}
          off
        {% else %}
          on
        {% endif %}

This then outputs either date_schoolday is ‘on’ or ‘off’ and I can use it in conditions to fire / negate different automations.

You’ll obviously have to play with it to see how your calendar events and such are setup to ensure you’re reading them correctly (start vs. end date [or both!), event title/name/text, etc…

I’m not sure this is exactly what you’re after, but hopefully it helps.

1 Like
8

Thanks, I will take a look at that.

Right now I am just wanting to know when the Next day there was a early out or no school so my daughter can look at that instead of the school calendar for that information. but eventually would implant something like you have.

9

After playing with this all day I finally got it figured out by simply doing this

value_template: >
                        
                        {% set date= states.calendar.early_dismissal.attributes.start_time %}
                        {% set date= as_timestamp(states.calendar.early_dismissal.attributes.start_time) | timestamp_custom('%A - %x') %}
                        {{date}}
10

That’s identical to what you originally posted… just more verbose. Also, the first {% set date = %} is overwritten by your second one.

This portion you posted here:

is identical to this without setting it equal to a variable.

{{ as_timestamp(states.calendar.early_dismissal.attributes.start_time) | timestamp_custom('%A - %x') }}

Which is identical to what you posted originally in your question

I’m confused as to what this solves?

11

I am not sure why, but the way I have it eliminates the “#21900.0” which does change every minute, not sure exactly why it was showing up, Not sure why it makes a difference between how I have it now and originally had it but it now gone with the way I have it now.

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