What's the difference between these yaml anchors

Mariusthvdb · September 11, 2020, 10:14pm

will try to make myself believe that but thanks! need some time to consume this.

Maybe a quick (… ) other question.
my use case for these yaml anchors mostly is I the customize department. for most entities, I want a customization for icon, and icon_color. I know how to declare the anchor for the individual icon: and icon_color templates, and how to merge them:

    switch:
      templates:
        icon: >
          if (state == 'on') return 'mdi:toggle-switch';
          return 'mdi:toggle-switch-off';
        <<: *state_color

assuming I have the &state_color declared before that.

even use them like:

    switch.netwerk_auditorium:
      templates:
        <<: *wifi_icon
        <<: *state_color

what I dont know is how to create a new anchor in an existing one, like the first example I posted above, eg how to create a new anchor for the icon_template:

    switch:
      templates:
        icon: >
          if (state == 'on') return 'mdi:toggle-switch';
          return 'mdi:toggle-switch-off';
        <<: *state_color

What I do now, is create a fake entity atop of the file

  customize:

# fake entities to use below

    sensor.amp_icon:
      templates: &amp_icon
        icon: >
          if (state == 'on') return 'mdi:amplifier';
          return 'mdi:amplifier-off';

    sensor.child_bed_icon:
      templates: &child_bed_icon
        icon: >
          if (state == 'on') return 'mdi:human-child';
          return 'mdi:bed';

    sensor.fridge_icon:
      templates: &fridge_icon
        icon: >
          if (state == 'on') return 'mdi:fridge';
          return 'mdi:fridge-off';

to write that anchor and reuse it below. But shouldn’t we be able to create it on the fly in that existing set for the icon alone (while the icon_color already is using another anchor?

anon43302295 · September 11, 2020, 11:25pm

It’s a bit fiddly with indentation, but it’s something like this…

    switch:
      templates:
        <<: &icon_template 
          icon: >
            if (state == 'on') return 'mdi:toggle-switch';
            return 'mdi:toggle-switch-off';
        <<: *state_color

And depending on whether you want *state_color as part of *icon_template or not you may have to move the last line back (or maybe forward ) two spaces.

Best thing is to lob it in an online yaml-to-json converter and observe the resulting output.

Mariusthvdb · September 12, 2020, 6:47am

thanks! that was exactly what I was looking for. cool. no more fake entities

have only 1 anchor wish left. discussed before, but maybe now is possible since Ive change the setup since then:

      dorm_sensor_light_level_raw:
        value_template: >
          {{state_attr('sensor.dorm_sensor_light_level','lightlevel')}}
        friendly_name_template: >
          Dorm:
          {% set light_level = state_attr('sensor.dorm_sensor_light_level','lightlevel')|int %}
          {% if light_level < 1 %} dark  #<---- from here identical to all the others
          {% elif light_level < 3000 %} bright moonlight
          {% elif light_level < 10000 %} night light
          {% elif light_level < 17000 %} dimmed light
          {% elif light_level < 22000 %} 'cosy' living room
          {% elif light_level < 25500 %} 'normal' non-task light
          {% elif light_level < 28500 %} working / reading
          {% elif light_level < 33000 %} inside daylight
          {% elif light_level < 40000 %} maximum to avoid glare
          {% elif light_level < 51000 %} clear daylight
          {% else %} direct sunlight
          {% endif %}
        device_class: illuminance

is a template sensor, I have for all my motion sensors (20). I am still wondering if there would be no way to create an anchor from the section I indicated above to inject into all my other sensors.

a bit like this:

      driveway_buiten_sensor_light_level_raw:
        value_template: >
          {{state_attr('sensor.driveway_buiten_sensor_light_level','lightlevel')}}
        friendly_name_template: >
          Driveway buiten:
          {% set light_level = state_attr('sensor.driveway_buiten_sensor_light_level','lightlevel')|int %}
          <<: &name_template
          {% if light_level < 1 %} dark
          {% elif light_level < 3000 %} bright moonlight
          {% elif light_level < 10000 %} night light
          {% elif light_level < 17000 %} dimmed light
          {% elif light_level < 22000 %} 'cosy' living room
          {% elif light_level < 25500 %} 'normal' non-task light
          {% elif light_level < 28500 %} working / reading
          {% elif light_level < 33000 %} inside daylight
          {% elif light_level < 40000 %} maximum to avoid glare
          {% elif light_level < 51000 %} clear daylight
          {% else %} direct sunlight
          {% endif %}
        device_class: illuminance

      porch_buiten_sensor_light_level_raw:
        value_template: >
          {{state_attr('sensor.porch_buiten_sensor_light_level','lightlevel')}}
        friendly_name_template: >
          Porch buiten:
          {% set light_level = state_attr('sensor.porch_buiten_sensor_light_level','lightlevel')|int %}
          <<: *name_template
#           {% if light_level < 1 %} dark
#          {% elif light_level < 3000 %} bright moonlight
#          {% elif light_level < 10000 %} night light
#          {% elif light_level < 17000 %} dimmed light
#          {% elif light_level < 22000 %} 'cosy' living room
#          {% elif light_level < 25500 %} 'normal' non-task light
#          {% elif light_level < 28500 %} working / reading
#          {% elif light_level < 33000 %} inside daylight
#          {% elif light_level < 40000 %} maximum to avoid glare
#          {% elif light_level < 51000 %} clear daylight
#          {% else %} direct sunlight
#          {% endif %}
#        device_class: illuminance

but, since this is declared in the template itself is shows as:

…

anon43302295 · September 12, 2020, 10:05am

I don’t think that can be done as it’s in the middle of the a template . If I get chance later today I’ll have a play with it and see if I can get it to work but I’m not hopeful.

Mariusthvdb · September 12, 2020, 10:23am

Thanks if you would !

Happy to report all other suggestions and tips worked right away.

Cut yet another 40 lines or so and over 10 additional fake entities. From my customization package alone…

Very nice indeed.

anon43302295 · September 13, 2020, 9:55pm

@Mariusthvdb - Had a bit of a look at this this evening and I’m fairly confident this last one isn’t possible. The anchors duplicate either a value or a set of keys and values, and I can’t see any way to anchor only part of a value

Mariusthvdb · September 14, 2020, 8:09am

cool. thanks for your time and effort Marc, much appreciated.

If only HA would introduce global templates per entity, we could use in all configuration variables. That would be a major improvement.

until then, I guess I’ll have to learn and live with it
maybe I can still try that as a WTH…

anon43302295 · September 14, 2020, 8:27am

Indeed, I have voted for your wth although I don’t understand the mechanics of how the templates work in homeassistant so there’s potential that it’s not possible to transfer part of a template from one key to another. Of course if they can do it, the possibilities are endless

Mariusthvdb · September 14, 2020, 8:34am

not sure either

though if custom-ui can use things like this:

templates:
  icon_color: >
    if (state == 'on') return 'green';
    return 'grey';
  icon: >
    if (state == 'on') return 'mdi:television';
    return 'mdi:television-off';
  friendly_name: >
    return 'Television is ' + state;

why shoudn’t core HA be able to use that? (of course this is based on a known state, and not an extra set state, I realize that, but the thought would be identical: identify a global state, and use that throughout the other templates for the same entity)

anon43302295 · September 14, 2020, 8:46am

Yeah absolutely, I’m thinking along the lines of scripts - you can pass a variable to the script…

script:
  script_one:
    sequence:
      - service: script.script_two
        data:
          this_variable: sensor.something

  script_two:
    sequence:
      - service: homeassistant.turn_on
        data_template:
          entity_id: "{{ this_variable }}"

But currently this isn’t possible

  script_only:
    set_variable:
      this_variable: sensor.something
    sequence:
      - service: homeassistant.turn_on
        data_template:
          entity_id: "{{ this_variable }}"

So I would have thought it was possible, but as I said I don’t understand the mechanics of how the variable gets passed to the script

anon43302295 · September 17, 2020, 4:19pm

Reading the release notes for 0.115 you can now add variables like this in automations and scripts, maybe worth finding the dev that added it and seeing if he/she can transpose it across to template sensors as this would solve your problem

Mariusthvdb · September 17, 2020, 8:48pm

yes, there’s a lot of movement on the subject. would be truly nice if we could use global variables in the near future.

for now this new variable does seem to interfere with the CC variables though, so might need some inspection before upgrading. I asked about that here before it was merged, but at that time was told it wouldn’t interfere…

Mariusthvdb · September 24, 2020, 3:16pm

have one more:

  - alias: Send notification when alarm is Disarmed
    trigger:
      platform: state
      entity_id: alarm_control_panel.ha_rpi4_alarm
      to: disarmed
    condition: &notify_alarm
      condition: state
      entity_id: input_boolean.notify_alarm
      state: 'on'
    action:
      service: notify.notify
      data:
        title: >
          ALARM: {{trigger.to_state.state))
        message: >
         {{as_timestamp(now())|timestamp_custom('%X')}}: The alarm is {{trigger.to_state.state}}

  - alias: Send notification when alarm is in arming status
    trigger:
      platform: state
      entity_id: alarm_control_panel.ha_rpi4_alarm
      to: arming
    condition: *notify_alarm
#      condition: state
#      entity_id: input_boolean.notify_alarm
#      state: 'on'
#    action:
#      service: notify.notify
#      data:
#        title: >
#          ALARM: {{trigger.to_state.state}}
#        message: >
#         {{as_timestamp(now())|timestamp_custom('%X')}}: The alarm is {{trigger.to_state.state}}

seems not tow work. Is that because I want to to span both condition and action block (which would exactly be the charm of it here…)
Have one of these for all alarm modes…

petro · September 24, 2020, 3:20pm

anchors defined like that only work on 1 field.

Mariusthvdb · September 24, 2020, 3:21pm

this passes:

  - alias: Send notification when alarm is Disarmed
    trigger:
      platform: state
      entity_id: alarm_control_panel.ha_rpi4_alarm
      to: disarmed
    condition: &notify_condition
      condition: state
      entity_id: input_boolean.notify_alarm
      state: 'on'
    action: &notify_action
      service: notify.notify
      data:
        title: >
          ALARM: {{trigger.to_state.state}}
        message: >
         {{as_timestamp(now())|timestamp_custom('%X')}}: The alarm is {{trigger.to_state.state}}

  - alias: Send notification when alarm is in arming status
    trigger:
      platform: state
      entity_id: alarm_control_panel.ha_rpi4_alarm
      to: arming
    condition: *notify_condition
    action: *notify_action

is there another way to do it, so it works for the whole section from condition: to the end?

petro · September 24, 2020, 3:22pm

nope, not possible with automations.

petro · September 24, 2020, 3:24pm

why do you even have 2 automations there? just have 1 with 2 triggers.

Mariusthvdb · September 24, 2020, 3:24pm

ok thanks, will leave it like this then, thanks for confirming

anon43302295 · September 24, 2020, 4:43pm

I agree with @petro that this should be one automation, but you can use anchors to do this. Untested, but something like this (if not exactly)…

- alias: Send notification when alarm is Disarmed
  trigger:
    platform: state
    entity_id: alarm_control_panel.ha_rpi4_alarm
    to: disarmed
  <<: &notify_alarm 
    condition:
      condition: state
      entity_id: input_boolean.notify_alarm
      state: 'on'
    action:
      service: notify.notify
      data:
        title: >
          ALARM: {{trigger.to_state.state))
        message: "{{as_timestamp(now())|timestamp_custom('%X')}}: The alarm is {{trigger.to_state.state}}" 

- alias: Send notification when alarm is in arming status
  trigger:
    platform: state
    entity_id: alarm_control_panel.ha_rpi4_alarm
    to: arming
  <<: *notify_alarm

petro · September 24, 2020, 4:57pm

If that works, TIL