Well that sounds like a bug to me. Sure, it’s an error for an entity’s state string to be longer than 255 characters, but it shouldn’t have that effect.
I am following this with interest it is a bit of an education 
However is it possible that this…
…is related to my error here?
The sensor in question for me is the custom component Places. I only ask because the error refers to a ‘byte offset 284’.
(I don’t mean to hijack this thread, I will not continue this here but if you think it might be connected perhaps you could respond in my original thread. Thanks).
i fear for you this has nothing to do with each other. My 255 character error is a known issue, where the state of the sensor is 255+ characters, which the system does not allow.
Im trying to overcome that with a dedicated ‘text-only’ custom card, but am lost for the moment how to…
sorry, this doesn’t help you…
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maybe we can overcome this too using the Python.
I need an attribute ‘text’ with the outcome of the sensor as value. So where the regular jinja template sensor is:
map_totaal_actueel_sensors:
friendly_name: Overzicht sensors actueel
unit_of_measurement: 'Watt'
value_template: >
{%-for state in states.sensor
if state.entity_id.endswith('actueel') and state.state|float > 0 %}
{{state.name[:-8]}}: {{state.state}}
{%-endfor%}
{{ '-'.ljust(30, '-') }} {{ '-'.ljust(30, '-') }}
'Count sensors :' {{ state_attr('sensor.total_sensors', 'count') }} 'totaal: ' {{ states.sensor|selectattr( 'entity_id','in',state_attr('group.iungo_actueel_verbruik','entity_id'))
|map(attribute='state')|map('int')|sum }}
id need that to be calculated in Python, and be the value for text.
I can then create the sensor in Python as follows:
hass.states.set(
‘sensor.map_totaal_actueel_sensors’, ‘’, {
‘custom_ui_state_card’: ‘state-card-value_only’,
‘text’: outcome-of-template-here
})
I think an attribute ‘text’ cant be set in a regular sensor? If so that would be even easier to try.
Would you please have another go for me? Seems we have almost all already, the count, the total power usage, and the states.
Only thing left in this nicely printed overview is the formatting.
##########################################################################################
# map_total_sensors.py
# reading all sensors.*_actueel using power (>0), listing and counting them, and
# calculate summed power consumption
# by @Mariusthvdb and big hand Phil, @pnbruckner
##########################################################################################
sensor_list = []
total_power = 0
count = 0
for entity_id in hass.states.entity_ids('sensor'):
if entity_id.endswith('actueel'):
state = hass.states.get(entity_id)
logger.debug('entity_id = {}, state = {}'.format(entity_id, state.state))
sensor = '{} : {}'.format(entity_id, state.state)
try:
power = float(state.state)
except:
continue
if power > 0:
total_power = round((total_power + power),2)
count = count + 1
sensor_list.append(sensor)
summary = '*============== Sensors ==============\n' \
'----- Sensor ------------ Power -----\n' \
'${}\n' \
'*=============== Sumary ==============\n' \
'$ Sensors {} : Total Power {}\n' \
'*=====================================\n' \
.format(sensor_list,
count,
total_power)
hass.states.set('sensor.map_total_sensors', '', {
'custom_ui_state_card': 'state-card-value_only',
'text': summary
})
##########################################################################################
# map_total_sensors.py
##########################################################################################
showing as:
quite the result already, and updating immediately, both per sensor, as the total.
changed is somewhat to do away with the opening and closing list brackets, and the apostrophes around each sensor. As often the case, one needs intermediate variables, and a bit of playing with join, append and format…
This way each sensor gets and stays on its own line too, which is very nice when changing the browser window. (before it filled out, since the sensor section was seen as 1 entity.)
changed code:
sensor_list = []
total_power = 0
count = 0
for entity_id in hass.states.entity_ids('sensor'):
if entity_id.endswith('actueel'):
state = hass.states.get(entity_id)
logger.debug('entity_id = {}, state = {}'.format(entity_id, state.state))
#sensor_id = '{}'.format(entity_id)
#sensor_power = '{}'.format(state.state)
#sensor = '{} - {}\n'.format(sensor, senor_power)
sensor = '{} - {}\n'.format(entity_id[7:-8], state.state)
try:
power = float(state.state)
except:
continue
if power > 0:
total_power = round((total_power + power),2)
count = count + 1
sensor_list.append(sensor)
sensor_map = '\n'.join(sensor_list)
summary = '*============== Sensors ==============\n' \
'$----- Sensor ------------ Power -----\n' \
'{}\n' \
'*=============== Sumary ==============\n' \
'$ Sensors {} : Total Power {}\n' \
'*=====================================\n' \
.format(sensor_map,
count,
total_power)
Of course ill need to reformat the rest of the map too, using some of the color options in the custom card, and better justification, as in the original jinja template.
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Looking good. Do you still need any help, with formatting, or whatever, or are you good now?
almost good…
trying to get the tabs or justification in there. No such luck. Somehow these option in the {} seem not to have the desired effect:
and the ljust() and rjust() in @skalavala’s templates dont work being jinja…
so yes, im still in need of some cosmetical help 
als tried to separate the entity_id from the state.state to play with colorizations, but that doesnt work. I can only get 1 color setting per line, which is of no big consequence. the tabbing would be really cool though.
got this working fine:
sensor_list = []
total_power = 0
count = 0
for entity_id in hass.states.entity_ids('sensor'):
if entity_id.endswith('actueel') and not 'sensors' in entity_id:
state = hass.states.get(entity_id)
# logger.debug('entity_id = {}, state = {}'.format(entity_id, state.state))
sensor_id = '{}'.format(entity_id[7:-8].replace('_',' ').title())
sensor_power = '\t{}'.format(state.state)
sensor = '#{} :'.format(sensor_id) + ' {}\n'.format(sensor_power)
try:
power = float(state.state)
except:
continue
if power > 0:
total_power = round((total_power + power),2)
count = count + 1
sensor_list.append(sensor)
sensor_map = '\n'.join(sensor_list)
summary = '*============== Sensors ==============\n' \
'$---------- Sensor : Power ----------\n' \
'{}\n' \
'*=============== Sumary ==============\n' \
'$ Total: Sensors {} : Power {}\n' \
'*====================================\n' \
.format(sensor_map,
count,
total_power)
and looking for a way to have it show as:
map_totaal_actueel_sensors:
friendly_name: Overzicht sensors actueel
unit_of_measurement: 'Watt'
value_template: >
{{ '-'.ljust(30, '-') }} {{ '-'.ljust(30, '-') }}
{{ 'Entity ID'.ljust(30, ' ') }} {{ 'Actueel verbruik'.ljust(30, ' ') }}
{{ '-'.ljust(30, '-') }} {{ '-'.ljust(30, '-') }}
{%-for state in states.sensor
if state.entity_id.endswith('actueel') and state.state >'0' %}
{{state.name[:-8]}}: {{state.state.ljust(30, ' ')}}
{%-endfor%}
{{ '-'.ljust(30, '-') }} {{ '-'.ljust(30, '-') }}
'Count sensors :' {{ state_attr('sensor.total_sensors', 'count') }} 'totaal: ' {{ states.sensor|selectattr( 'entity_id','in',state_attr('group.iungo_actueel_verbruik','entity_id'))
|map(attribute='state')|map('int')|sum }}
btw, there’s no way one can directly import/convert a yaml/jinja template like this in python is there? would be a great tool…
example:
i have a sensor.log_tail:
- platform: file
file_path: /config/home-assistant.log
name: Log tail
which shows the last line in the log in the frontend. Every now and then this is more than 255 characters, so it errors out.
If i could make a pythons script like above, with the same value in ‘attribute’ : text that would be so nice.
hass.states.set('sensor.log_tail', '', {
'custom_ui_state_card': 'state-card-value_only',
'text': log-tail
})
now how to get the log tail in a file through a python script…ill take it to a new thread, since it is a new subject, sort of.
That’s actually Python. Jinja let’s you use a lot of Python “stuff”. So '-'.ljust(30, '-') is Python. state.name[:-8] is Python. state.state.ljust(30, ' ') is Python.
right. sorry. should have phrased that differently.
what I meant was that i cant get these '-'.ljust(30, '-') and state.state.ljust(30, ' ') to behave as expected in the script…
[:-8] was my own doing, and reworked that to format(entity_id[7:-8].replace('_',' ').title()) in the python. showing nicely!
now the tabbing/justification … thats a whole challenge in itself
Why? Are you getting errors, and if so, what errors? Or does it just not do what you expect, and if so, what is it doing?
Those are valid Python statements, so I’m not sure why they wouldn’t work for you, even in the limited sandbox environment of python_scripts.
most of the time it just doesn’t do anything.
Try this:
sensor_list = []
total_power = 0
count = 0
for entity_id in hass.states.entity_ids('sensor'):
if entity_id.endswith('_actueel') and 'sensors' not in entity_id:
state = hass.states.get(entity_id)
try:
power = round(float(state.state), 2)
except:
continue
if power > 0:
total_power = total_power + power
count = count + 1
sensor_list.append('#{:21}: {:>7.2f}'.format(
state.object_id.replace('_actueel','').replace('_',' ').title(),
power))
summary = '\n'.join([
'*{:=^30}'.format(' Sensors '),
'${:-^20} : {:-^7}'.format(' Sensor ', 'Power '),
*sensor_list,
'*{:=^30}'.format(' Summary '),
'$ Total: # {:<4} Power : {:>7.2f}'.format(count, total_power),
'*' + '='*30])
hass.states.set('sensor.map_total_sensors', '', {
'custom_ui_state_card': 'state-card-value_only',
'text': summary})
o wow, thats a big change!
effect is rather small… sorry to say:
seems the Summary and sensor {:=^30}'.format works, their nicely centered. The order has changed, no clue yet which it is, not alphabetically, nor on value. But thats no big deal (would be nice though)
the other justifications seem not to stick yet.
Can’t explain why the spaces from the actual list of sensors seem to have disappeared. Could be something the custom UI formatting is doing. I tried this code in a Python shell and it worked fine. Here’s my example output:
>>> summary = '\n'.join([
... '*{:=^30}'.format(' Sensors '),
... '${:-^20} : {:-^7}'.format(' Sensor ', 'Power '),
... *sensor_list,
... '*{:=^30}'.format(' Summary '),
... '$ Total: # {:<4} Power : {:>7.2f}'.format(count, total_power),
... '*' + '='*30])
>>> print(summary)
*========== Sensors ===========
$------ Sensor ------ : Power -
#Abc 123 : 1.20
#Hey There : 123.45
*========== Summary ===========
$ Total: # 2 Power : 1234.56
*==============================
Maybe check your HA log to see the actual state change to sensor.map_total_sensors to see if the spaces are there or not.
Not sure if the python_scripts environment includes the sorted function, but if it does you can change:
*sensor_list,
to:
*sorted(sensor_list),
yes, thats exactly what i am looking for!
how do you do that? try it in a Python shell?
it does!
Are you able to get to a shell (aka command line) on your HA system? If so, just execute the command python3. If not, then use any computer that has python installed, or install it. If you need help with the details I’d suggest Googling. That’s a bit beyond the scope of this forum. 
not sure…duh.my Ha system is Hassio or Hassos, so no other software on that, maybe an @Frenck add-on? Will check .
Up to now I always edit in the Python script itself, as it updates immediately. Which is one of the bigger advantages using Python 
making slight progress:
changed the ---- into ==== which makes a lot of difference in the spacing. took out the first line '*{:=^30}'.format(' Sensors '), which seems a bit superfluous.
your new way of rounding had unexpected effects, the values seemed unstable, and often changed into many decimals after the comma. changed into this now makes it stable as a rock:
try:
power = float(state.state)
except:
continue
if power > 0:
total_power = round(total_power + power,2)
count = count + 1
and makes my other sensor:
hass.states.set('sensor.total_sensors',total_power, {
'unit_of_measurement': 'Watt',
'friendly_name': '{} sensors'.format(count),
'count': count
})
stable as well.
also found an easier way for the sensor names, no title() necessary anymore:
sensor_list.append('#{:21}: {:>7.2f}'.format(
state.name.replace('actueel','').replace('_',' '),
power))
thing I noticed is that even states without a decimal now show .00 dont think I had that before, but I can appreciate this being necessary for the alignment?
Still havent found out why the sensor lines and the Total line won’t align with the '*{:=^20} : {:=^7}'.format(' Sensor ', 'Power ') line. No matter what i fill in the {}, the positions remains the same…
some further colorization implemented:
colorCode = '%' if power < 20 else \
'&' if power < 100 else \
'+' if power < 300 else \
'#' if power < 500 else \
'=' if power < 1500 else \
'!' if power < 2000 else \
''
colorCodeTotal = '%' if total_power < 200 else \
'&' if total_power < 500 else \
'+' if total_power < 1000 else \
'#' if total_power < 1500 else \
'=' if total_power < 2000 else \
'!' if total_power < 3000 else \
'*'
and
sensor = colorCode +'{:22}:'.format(state.name[:-8]) + '{:>7}\n'.format(state.state)
sensor_list.append(sensor)
had a little go understanding your new summary style, so forgive me for changing. This is still very much so a learning process…
I kind of like the formatting placeholders in the summary, and the content or variable in the .format().
summary = '\n'.join([
'*{:=^20} : {:=^7}', # = 30
*sorted(sensor_list),
'*{:=^30}', # = 30
'/ {:^21}: {:^7}', # = 30
colorCodeTotal +'{:^21}: {:>7.2f}', # = 30
'*' + '='*30 # = 30
]).format(' Sensor ','Power ',
' Summary ',
'Total Sensors consuming power',count,
'Total consumed Power',total_power,
total_power)
Colors are working fine now, so cool. Only thing is, the sorted(sensor_list) now sorts per color unexpected (for me) and have to see if that can be changed to sort alphabetically.
optimally I would like to create the list colorCode =['*','!','+','=','%','$','#'] and have the comparison check for values power <50, 100, 300, 500, 1500, 2000, or else (when >2000) turn ‘*’.
Could(Should) I do that in another way than fully written out like now?
btw, what does the * do in front of the *sorted(sensor_list) ?
thought it to be a remnant of my colorizations, so took it out, but then the script stops and errors with: TypeError: sequence item 1: expected str instance, list found.
Could there be a mixup in the code with the * being used for several things?
Most of your recent questions have to do with how to do things in Python. You really should take some time and find a nice online Python tutorial. You’d be able to figure a lot of this out yourself instead of all this trial and error.
*iterable means expand the iterable. So *['a','b','c'] is 'a', 'b', 'c'. I’m using it here to expand sensor_list into individual items that then become part of the bigger list.
You can give the function sorted a key function that can change what it sorts. So you could change *sorted(sensor_list) to *sorted(sensor_list, key=lambda x: x[1:]). So instead of sorting by the whole strings, it will sort using the strings minus their first characters. Again, this depends on whether or not the sandboxed python_scripts environment allows the use of the lambda keyword.
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