What does "on_...:" mean in the documentation?

ESPHome
1

For example, at: if actions (and throughout the Docs but without explanation), I see this:
if-action
I am guessing that the three dots (…) are a place holder for something. Like on_boot: or on_shutdown:?
Where will I find a list of these “somethings”? And when I find this list, what will be the “on_…:” event that will allow me to do this:

output:
  platform: gpio
  pin: GPIO2      #The only led I've got
  id: blue_led

binary_sensor:
  - platform: homeassistant
    id: prevent_deep_sleep
    entity_id: input_boolean.prevent_deep_sleep

on_...:   #What goes here????
  then:
    - if:
        condition:
          binary_sensor.is_on: prevent_deep_sleep
        then:
          - output.turn_on: blue_led
          - logger.log: "Sleep Flag is: ON"
  else:
    - if:
        condition:
          binary_sensor.is_off: prevent_deep_sleep
        then:
          - output.turn_off: blue_led
          - logger.log: "Sleep Flag is: OFF"

Regards, Martin

2

on ... is a trigger that you have to specify. There is a list of all triggers here: https://esphome.io/guides/automations.html#all-triggers

Note: you must use a trigger in a component. Not on it’s own as you have shown in your example.

1 Like
3

Thank you for the list of Triggers, Tom,

So, my next question: Is a “binary_sensor” a "component?
Then, if that is correct, and my binary_sensor component is “pulling” a variable from the Home Assistant server, the only valid condition (in my case) seems to be on_state: which I infer as “a change of state on-to-off or off-to-on”. Okay so far?

But using the following, I am unable to test if the binary_sensor is ON or OFF.

binary_sensor:
  - platform: homeassistant
    id: prevent_deep_sleep
    entity_id: input_boolean.prevent_deep_sleep
    on_state:
      then:
        if:
          condition:
            binary_sensor.is_on: prevent_deep_sleep
              then:  #####  Errors here - Mapping values are not allowed here #####
                - logger.log: "Sleep Flag is: ON"
          condition:
            binary_sensor.is_off: prevent_deep_sleep
              then:
              - logger.log: "Sleep Flag is: OFF"

Regards, M.

4

The way your trying to do it is if the binary sensor was created in the same esphome yaml. Since it’s a HA sensor, you need to use a lambda.
Binary Sensor Component — ESPHome

Screenshot_20221130-155841_Samsung Internet
Screenshot_20221130-155841_Samsung Internet720×1600 208 KB

5

Thank you Justin,
I’ll check that route out. I had a felling it was a scope issue.

Regards, M.