WTH Why can't we set colors and icons based on states in helper template-sensors

Month of "What the heck?!"
,
1

The sun integration can do it
The locks can do it
Most weather integrations can do it

But the helper template-sensors can’t have different colors and icons based on state.

I would love an enum-like template sensor helper, where I can map to a state with an icon and a color.

states:
  - value: happy
    icon: mdi:emoticon-happy
    color: green
  ...

and then my template would result in “happy”, “sad” or “angry” and all cards would just understand (just like they do for the sun and the locks etc.)

This would be a great way to create presentational helpers that are consistent and maintainable over many different dashboards.

(I know we can use custom cards, or hide and show different cards based on state, but those solutions allways feel like workarounds to me)

2

It might not to be available on the UI yet, but it is definitely possible through the YAML settings to set the icon.
The color si am not certain about, because I mainly define it in the cards instead.