Timer function in Automation complex to configure

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Hi everyone,
Last weeks I jumped into the topic Automations and timers. I learned that using a timer as a trigger it will make timed automations much more reliable. It could prevent that Motion controled lights the countdown timers will not be lost after a reset/reboot what is the case using a normal timer. Or the door or gate will remain unlocked after a reboot. Many more use cases possible so a great function to apply in your automations.

What I do not understand is why a HA users can’t simply select a created timer to use in an automation. The current situation requires users to create a manual event, type in a time function, lookup the timer name and type it in. For basic users this could make this function to complex and completely unusable.

Question: Does anyone know why this needs to be typed manually or is this just an unfinished function Home assistant? Is the usage I describe correct? Please share your thoughts. Thank you.

source: How to use Timers perfectly in Home Assistant

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Event triggers are difficult to support using the UI since every event has it’s own different data structure. Consider the difference between a timer finished event vs a zone enter event vs a button double tap event. Each one has different data that it reports in it’s own different data structure. So every event type trigger would need it’s own UI constructed.

Device triggers on the other hand are built on top of state and numeric state triggers which have a rigid structure and therefore it is easy to create a “one UI suits all”.

BTW device triggers have a lot of disadvantages and it is just as easy to use a state or numeric state trigger in the UI: https://community.home-assistant.io/t/why-and-how-to-avoid-device-ids-in-automations-and-scripts/605517

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