Where are helpers stored when created in the gui?

#1
I still wonder how I can edit such a helper cause I was not able to get to the folder and file

I have a file editor in left pane but how do I edit such a file or how do I get there from the /homeassistant folder where the config.yaml file is located ?

How can I open such a dialog to navigate to /config/.storage or type that in ? Currently I can only open the files by clicking.

#2
Why am I not able to edit a helper fully with the UI ?
The riemann sum integral for example uses a source sensor I have to edit cause I had made a typo, but I can not. Why ?

Why can’t I edit all the options I was able to use while I was creating the helper ?

This is a general mess if I can not change things I could create first in full detail and then hit a wall cause the source sensor is hidden in my UI at least.
The only way around at the end is to delete and create a new which can end in a spiral.

Thanks a lot

3 Likes

Riemann sum is an integration that shows up in the helper menu, it’s not a helper in a traditional sense. It’s configuration will be in config_entries file.

Because the volunteer who wrote the integration didn’t add it as an editable option.

Unfortunately, this is our only option at the moment outside editing the storage files.

1 Like

thanks a lot Petro,
but how can I edit this file cause I do not know how to open that directory to load the file?

I recommend that you delete and add it the current way. Editing the files is very risky and if you have to ask how to get to the file, you probably shouldn’t be editing it. It’s a fragile file with a fragile structure and if you mess up the file, you will break the entire system.

I had done that before when I was not in the HA world and had run it on raspbian docker 2 years ago or so. But now I can not use my editor I had been using before which was connected via SSH or so.

Fragile might be true but at the end I have 2 backups of each day in the cloud and could restore the system easily.

You can use samba, vscode, ssh (w/ scp) to access the folder structure & hidden files.

Sorry, meanwhile i had found out that I could use the terminal and went into the directory but I could not even find such files mentioned above. No helper file.
core.config_entries is about
sun integration
tuya integration and
radio browser but nothing about my helpers

What is the current file where I can find more about the helper or at least the riemann sum integral needed for all the energy calculations ?

I have looked into a few of these files and I could identify what they were for but none about my helpers so far.
thanks

Yes, it’s not a helper, it’s in config_entries.

1 Like

Sorry, it was my fault.
I had opened the file and tried to scroll down with the touchpad but it did not move. Therefore I had assumed to be at the end of the file and nothing more to be find.

but here scrolling down with the cursor or rather searching backwards with ctrl + q I found my helper integral

image

and was able to edit it (carefully).

thanks, that had solved my problems and will maybe solve those of others at the same topic.

It is also important to know cause the helper only asks once about left or righ edge integration while in this file editor you can change easily afterwards. For a Riemann sum integral a lot of parameters have to be adjusted and I hated it in the past cause I had to delete the helper first and better relaunch ha after that to rebuild a new helper with all the parameters.

therefore editing here is much easier and in case something goes wrong I still have my 2 backups in the google cloud and on the NAS.

thanks a lot for your quick support !

Hi, I am working my own app based on a docker container HA Core. How can you tell that an object/record is a helper in core.config_entries file? I mean to have a process that willi search and get a list of helpers for example

Hi! Is it possible to have a script to write helpers and include it in configuration.yaml just like we do with automations ‘automation: !include automations.yaml’?

HA automation/script cannot “write a helper”.

If you want a “written” helper, you have to create it “manually” in YAML (configuration.yml or Splitting up the configuration - Home Assistant).

Once you write your helper config, u cannot edit it via GUI (you can only see it exists on the helpers list).

The exception is Change device type of a switch – it’s not a “real helper”, can only by created via GUI, but there is a working “old way”:

Thank you for your reply. I wrote script when I meant just a yaml file. Sorry, my bad
I want to create/edit helpers from my own editor in my app. Does this require a restart of HA or reload for example helpers.yaml assuming there is helper: !include helpers.yaml line in configuration.yaml?

Helper is not an integration, so you cannot have those in your yaml using helper: !include …

A helper is a way to define certain types of entities using the UI (and therefore not yaml). The same entities can be created in yaml, often with more options than the GUI will allow. But depending on the type of entity, in the place in the configuration is at the corresponding integration for that type.

Editing GUI built helpers by modifying hidden files is unsupported and at your own risk. Don’t expect us to be able to bail you out if Home Assistant won’t start. So the advice is: if you need features not a available in the GUI, then delete the helper in the GUI. Then create the specific entity in yaml in the configuration at place it belongs, for instance under sensors.

How to create entities using yaml is always described in the documentation, also for the entities you find in the helpers section. Yaml based entities need to be reloaded, either using the developer tools or restarting HA.

No problem; there is a set of concepts/terminology in HA that one learns with time and practice; it can be confusing at first :+1:

Honestly, I never know. Some changes require just “Developer Tools → YAML → Restart → Quick Reload”. Other changes require whole HA restart. I never know which :stuck_out_tongue: Most of the time I just restart the whole HA, just to be sure. I wish it was better documented…

I disagree. When you create your “entity definitions” in YAML → they do appear on the Helpers page in the WebUI. Therefore I conclude, those are Helpers, even if created via YAML.

Now you got me intrigued. Do they really? And if so, which ones? I moved my threshold sensors, before they weren’t there. Also various other types I have, in yaml, like template sensors, aren’t there. How could they? The GUI does not edit the yaml, so you cannot edit any parameters in the GUI for the entities you created in yaml.

All of them. Not all of them, see below_. They just aren’t managed by WebUI → you cannot edit/remove them via WebUI, you have to modify them just as you defined them, via YAML.

You may be right about input helpers, timers I don’t know because I never made yaml ones. My groups are old style groups, so they probably don’t count. But other examples I gave, like template sensors, and some other like integral, utility meter, definitely don’t see my yaml ones in the list. Only the ones I created in the GUI. Especially the recently added helpers. So it is definitely not all of them. A lot of other types I cannot tell, because I made all of them in the GUI and did not create yaml ones.

1 Like

yep, i guess they don’t.

but to be honest: the whole “Helpers” name is just a “I don’t know how to name it better” kind of a name for me :stuck_out_tongue: anything could be there, nothing could be there. it’s a term like “items” or “tools”, etc. As a programmer, I’m always trying to avoid such names, I consider them as “you have probably not thought enough” for this name, or “the whole concept needs rethinking” kind of name :wink:

Ah, I’ve checked now, you’re right: template sensors (defined in YAML) don’t appear on the Helpers page (while they do when created via WebUI).

That’s just sloppiness and disregard towards YAML – IMHO – judging from the community responses about YAML in general :wink:

My post above was in response to the misconception that helpers (a name for a list of useful things, as you say) are in the config as a helper integration (a “helpers:” section) or that the GUI created ones appeared in yaml. Both are not the case.

Funny though, you have many non editable helper entities and figured they were all in the GUI, I have zero non-editable ones and figured none of the yaml ones were listed.

I would have been so happy if the helpers had been hybrid, like automations, scripts and scenes. Then you could pick either way of editing depending on the situation. And you could have your GUI editing history in github, like I now have for automations and scripts.

2 Likes