WTH, no global entity variables in template sensors?

Archive Month of "What the heck?!" (2020)
1

Would be really cool if HA would support a ‘global variable’ (entity) for templates in all configuration variables. Right now, if we want to template based on that single entity, we need to declare it in all configuration variables. Why not introduce a global variable per sensor that can be use throughout the other templates in the sensors configuration

now:

      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 %}
          {% 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

with global variable:

      driveway_buiten_sensor_light_level_raw:
        global_variables:
          variable1: sensor.driveway_buiten_sensor_light_level
        value_template: >
          {{state_attr(variable1,'lightlevel')}}
        friendly_name_template: >
          {{state_attr(variable1,'friendly_name').split('sensor')[0]}}:
          {% set light_level = state_attr(variable1,'lightlevel')|int %}
          {% 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

heck, we’d even be able to create a yaml anchor here and use it for 20 other motion sensors light level :wink:

      driveway_buiten_sensor_light_level_raw:
        global_variables:
          variable1: sensor.driveway_buiten_sensor_light_level
        value_template: >
          {{state_attr(variable1,'lightlevel')}}
        friendly_name_template: >
          <<: &friendly_name_anchor
            {{state_attr(variable1,'friendly_name').split('sensor')[0]}}:
            {% set light_level = state_attr(variable1,'lightlevel')|int %}
            {% 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:
        global_variables:
          variable1: sensor.porch_buiten_sensor_light_level
        value_template: >
          {{state_attr(variable1,'lightlevel')}}
        friendly_name_template: >
          <<: *friendly_name_anchor
        device_class: illuminance

or maybe even:

      driveway_buiten_sensor_light_level_raw:
        global_variables:
          variable1: sensor.driveway_buiten_sensor_light_level
        <<: &sensor_config_anchor
          value_template: >
            {{state_attr(variable1,'lightlevel')}}
          friendly_name_template: >
            {{state_attr(variable1,'friendly_name').split('sensor')[0]}}:
            {% set light_level = state_attr(variable1,'lightlevel')|int %}
            {% 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:
        global_variable:
          variable1: sensor.porch_buiten_sensor_light_level
        <<: sensor_config_anchor

if only…

see: What's the difference between these yaml anchors whence this WTH originated

btw, I know Ive posted this template above before, in an effort to also introduce friendly_name_templates for template binary_sensor, and Balloob shot that because he feels we shouldn’t template the frontend like that. I still dont agree on that, but for the sake of this WTH: imagine the identical template as an attributes template.

2

thought to give this some extra love and a better example :wink:

imagine we could replace the days=0 here

      - unique_id: dark_sky_forecast_0
        name: >
          {{as_timestamp(now() + timedelta(days=0),none)|timestamp_custom('%a %-d %b',default='Not yet set')}}: {{
            states('sensor.dark_sky_forecast_icon_0d').replace('-',' ')|capitalize}}
        state: >
          {{- states('sensor.dark_sky_forecast_daytime_high_temperature_0d')|round(0)}}°/
          {{- states('sensor.dark_sky_forecast_overnight_low_temperature_0d')|round(0)}}°/
          {{- states('sensor.dark_sky_forecast_precip_probability_0d')|round(0)}}%
        picture: >
          {{'/local/weather/icons/' ~ states('sensor.dark_sky_forecast_icon_0d') ~ '.png'}}

by using:

      - unique_id: dark_sky_forecast_0
        variables: 
          day: 0
        name: >