Template switch and number, ESPHome web page, actions not updating

ESPHome
1

This must be a simple misunderstanding on my part. So much is a mystery although I have made great progress in a variety of ESPHome projects using the ESP32+OLED display, etc.

I defined a refrigerator controller using a LILIGO S3 OLED widget. I am using the two buttons on the unit for a simple menu system to enable/disable, adjust display timeout, select F/C and various setpoints. To interface with HA I defined two templated controls: a switch (power) and a number (display timeout). This all works, and all controls are visible in HA and seem to work; power tracks the widget and the widget tracks changing the switch in HA. Ditto for the display timeout number.

The issue is the embedded web page doesn’t seem to link the templated switch or number state with the action. I can click on the action to affect the state but the action always return to the initial state. If I change the state from the controller, the “action” doesn’t change, just the state. If I refresh the web page, then the “action” matches the state.

Because the front end works as expected, I suppose this isn’t a big deal except I like having access to the refrigerator control panel w/o going through HA.

Here is a minimal test case where the templated switch doesn’t track the action yet the HA dashboard works properly (i.e. it changes state and represents it properly but I have to refresh the embedded web page to have the action set properly).

switch:
  - platform: template
    name: foo
    id: bar
    optimistic: yes

My code below:

The global to store state after power cycle.

  - id: bEnable
    type: bool
    restore_value: yes
    initial_value: 'false'

Boot code to set the switch state on power cycle and set immediate commits for state changes.

esphome:
  name: refrigerator
  on_boot:
    priority: 600.0
    then:
      - output.turn_on: lcd_power
      - script.execute: lcd_backlight_script
      - lambda: id(power).publish_state(id(bEnable));

preferences:
  flash_write_interval: 0s

The switch definition

switch:
  - platform: template
    name: Enable
    id: power
    turn_on_action:
      - lambda: id(bEnable) = true;
      - script.execute: refer_control
    turn_off_action:
      - lambda: id(bEnable) = false;
      - script.execute: refer_control
    lambda: return id(bEnable);

And the snippet in the menu handler which turns the power on/off. NB. toggle seems to be sufficient, but I was struggling trying various mechanisms to get the embedded page to track properly.

              case 4:
            //    id(power).toggle();
                id(bEnable) = !id(bEnable);
                id(power).publish_state(id(bEnable));
                break;
2

So, I walk away for two days, come back and, with no changes to code, the various problems I noted have evaporated. Foo. Another issue I had was resolved with a router boot and other discrepancies solved with a HA host reboot. Fie.

Apologies for the noise.

Related question: Where can I read a discussion on when state changes are published? Before or after the “turn_on_action”? I ask because in the sample code, above, the script “refer_control” doesn’t appear to run, or it is running with the prior value:

script:
  - id: refer_control
    then:
       lambda: |-
        // many lines later
        if (id(power).state == false) {