Some devices cannot be selected in automations in device action

[BooBoss (Jakub Gatys)]

In case of some devices I cannot select them in device action field in automation. As you can see there is such device for example:

But when I try to include it in automation it doesn’t appear:

(list with devices to select disappears because no matching name device found)

While on the other automations created earlier it’s clearly used:

And when I try to filter automations by device the list also doesn’t show (indicating no matching name
device found):

Any idea???

Initially I thought the problem is with devices which includes special Polish characters in name but NO. It also affects devices which does not and never had Polish characters in their names. Basically it affects around half of my devices.

Database corruption?

[tom_l]

Don’t use device actions. Use a service like light.turn_on.

There are other reasons for avoiding device automations too:

What happens if I have to replace a device

It’s a big problem that you can avoid by not using device triggers, conditions or actions. There are always other triggers conditions and actions you can use instead. e.g. instead of a device turn on trigger use a state trigger. If you only ever use entity_ids in your triggers, conditions and actions then when you have to replace the device you can change the new entity id to match the old one in one place and all your automations keep working. If you use device ids you have to change all of …

[BooBoss (Jakub Gatys)]

OK - it is a sollution but still… I was using device triggers, conditions and actions for many, many years and never came across such issue. Will it be fixed anytime soon? At the end it’s more simple to use and more clear.

[tom_l]

@BooBoss

Will it be fixed anytime soon?

No, as there is actual issue.

You have an entity not a device. Thus you can’t use device actions.

By all means keep using device automations if you want, just be aware that you are creating work for yourself when sooner or later you have to replace a device.

[finity]

I believe it actually is a bug. There was another thread about it here:

HA using for automation entity ID vs entity string? Some devices not showing / missing?!?

I have some automaions in HA and until now I have usually used the UI and when I click device I select it. In YAML I see the entity ID, so far so good. However, recently when I try to make an automation, I select device and start typing but cant find a device I need. I tried looking to YAML and I see now strings for other automatons.! [Screenshot_1] [Screenshot_2] I use add trigger → device [Screenshot_3] Why are some of my devices not showing and how to prevent using the string, I want t…

[BooBoss (Jakub Gatys)]

Most likely it is a bug. But funny thing is that all that devices I could select via UI in the past. Now - half of them are gone. Previous automations using device trigger works fine. But you can’t just select them in new automations.

Bugs is something to fix - right?

[finity]

yes, in that thread I posted the very last post said that there was a bug report filed and that it was supposed to be fixed at some point. But the OP there didn’t give a link to the bug report so I don’t have any idea what the status is.

And TBH, I really have no interest in it because, for the reasons Tom spoke of above and others, I don’t use device triggers/conditions/actions in my automations so it doesn’t affect me.

[alexvaltchev]

here is the link of the report: HA ZHA integration bug. When creating automations and selecting DEVICE, no devices are showing from ZHA. Z2M is fine. · Issue #96332 · home-assistant/core (github.com)

However it was supposed to be fixed in 2023.7.3 but unfortunately is not. I just installed it and tried and the problem still exist.