Hello hello, I have a blueprint with a light entity selector input and want to turn them off based off of a trigger. I noticed that sometimes my lights shift color after a while, and I think this happens due to them being sent a turn on event with no data while they are already on. I want to filter the lights that are already on out of this action. How do I do this?
#[Solved] How do I filter a blueprint's inputs by state?
scenic sierra
frank galleon
Assign the input to a variable, then you can do a select('is_state', 'off')
scenic sierra
So at the root of the yaml, add:
variables:
_lights_on: !input lights_on
And in the target of the action
{{ _lights_on | select("is_state", "off") | list }}
If I try this, I get an empty list and the action errors out, despite the lights definitely being off.
- Why does this result in an empty list?
- How do I prevent an empty list from causing an error in a light.turn_on action?
scenic sierra
Maybe relevant: the only thing actually in the input is an area
frank galleon
Ah OK, in that case you need to get the light entities in that area
area_entities(_lights_on) | select('search', 'light') | select('is_state', 'off') | list
Then before your light on command do an if with a template to check the length of the list is >0
scenic sierra
Will that also work if I have normal entities in _lights_on? Preferably I would have both types allowed
frank galleon
i don't understand what you mean tbh
scenic sierra
Currently there is one area in the input, but in the GUI I can also select individual entities. I would like the blueprint to work in both cases. If I use area_entities, would it still work for those individual entities?
This is the selector for the blueprint input
frank galleon
ah i see. are you also going to be pulling in labels and devices?
scenic sierra
I'd like the option to, yeah.
frank galleon
ok, then it's a little more complicated but not too bad
Something like:
{{ (_lights_on + _lights_on | map('area_entities') | list + _lights_on | map('label_entities') | list + _lights_on | map('device_entities') | list) | select('search', 'light.') | select('is_state', 'off') | list }}
scenic sierra
Yeah ok, filter out the various possible types and combine them, that makes sense. I'll try it out soon, thanks!
frank galleon
it actually is a bit dumber than that cos there's no way to determine if it's a label or whatever in the template
scenic sierra
Should probably store this in a variable too so I can easily check the length and trigger turning them on without copying the whole thing twice
frank galleon
so it just says "treat all of these as a label and see what i get" - for things that aren't labels (i.e. areas/devices/entities) it just returns nothing
frank galleon
i mean.. i've never run into this issue you're having anyway
scenic sierra
Is it that rare to have an input that accepts areas, devices, entities and labels?
frank galleon
this is how it works normally:
action: light.turn_on
data: {}
target:
label_id: house_lights
entity_id: light.main_bedroom_lights
you have to define them separately because they need to be treated differently
but given that you want to do an entity-level filter on them, you need to pull out the entitites you care about
scenic sierra
I see, I see
Yeah I don't understand why the IKEA tradfri lights seem to suddenly reset to full brightness, max coldness and this is just one attempt to fix it 😅
scenic sierra
Something like:
`{{ (_lights_on + _lights_on | map('area_entities') | list + _li...
Unfortunately, this doesn't work. _lights_on contains {'area_id': ['hallway', 'office']} for example, and none of the operators given work on a hash, they all expect a list... Not sure where to go from here
frank galleon
oh, that's easier then
{{ (_lights_on['entity_id'] + _lights_on['area_id'] | map('area_entities') | list + _lights_on['label_id'] | map('label_entities') | list + _lights_on['device_id'] | map('device_entities') | list) | select('search', 'light.') | select('is_state', 'off') | list }}
scenic sierra
That makes sense. Does that work even if there is only one area? That makes the value for area_id not a list but a key
scenic sierra
Hahaha ok I'll try it out, thanks!
Nope, that complains about the dict not having those keys...
{"area_id": ["hallway","office"]} doesn't have entity_id so it fails
whole egret
{% set my_keys = _lights_on.keys() %}
{% set ents = [] if 'entity_id' not in my_keys else _lights_on['entity_id'] %}
{% set a_ents = [] if 'area_id' not in my_keys else _lights_on['area_id'] | map('area_entities') | list %}
{% set l_ents = [] if 'label_id' not in my_keys else _lights_on['label_id'] | map('label_entities') | list %}
{% set d_ents = [] if 'device_id' not in my_keys else _lights_on['device_id'] | map('device_entities') | list %}
{{ [ents,a_ents,d_ents,l_ents]|flatten|select('match', 'light.') | select('is_state', 'off') | unique | list }}
EDIT: It's a bit more readable if you set variables
whole egret
Yes
scenic sierra
Harder to debug though I feel, it just says unknown error if something is wrong 🤔
[Error in describing condition: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'includes')]
Executed: April 23, 2026 at 11:06:59 PM
Result:
result: false
entities: []
On the condition that's just a template it fails
{% set my_keys = _lights_on.keys() %}
{% set _lights_on = {'area_id': 'hallway'} %}
{{ ([] if 'entity_id' not in my_keys else (_lights_on['entity_id'] | list)
+ ([] if 'area_id' not in my_keys else _lights_on['area_id'] | map('area_entities') | list)
+ ([] if 'label_id' not in my_keys else _lights_on['label_id'] | map('label_entities') | list )
+ ([] if 'device_id' not in my_keys else _lights_on['device_id'] | map('device_entities') | list))
|flatten | select('match', 'light.') | select('is_state', 'off') | unique | list}}
Trying this in the template editor complains about _lights_on not existing, I'm confused
Oop nvm I see
It seems to return a list of empty lists instead of a list of entities
Oh it's because it's looping over every letter in the word 'hallway'...
[_lights_on['area_id']] | flatten should work
Both when it's a list and a string
scenic sierra
{% set _lights_on = {'area_id': ['hallway', 'wc'], 'entity_id': 'light.office_ceiling'} %}
{% set my_keys = _lights_on.keys() %}
{{
(([] if 'entity_id' not in my_keys else [_lights_on['entity_id']] | flatten )
+ ([] if 'area_id' not in my_keys else [_lights_on['area_id']] | flatten | map('area_entities') | flatten )
+ ([] if 'device_id' not in my_keys else [_lights_on['device_id']] | flatten | map('device_entities') | flatten )
+ ([] if 'label_id' not in my_keys else [_lights_on['label_id']] | flatten | map('label_entities') | flatten ))
| unique | select('match', 'light.') | select('is_state', 'off') | list }}
This works!
Well, it looked like it would work
Error: dictionary update sequence element #0 has length 21; 2 is required
On the target of the turn on action...
Got it!!!
Took forever to figure out but I understand templating a lot better now. Thank you both!