Saving Session example template error

[borpin]

Firstly this is just a brilliant integration.

I'm trying to use this example https://github.com/BottlecapDave/HomeAssistant-OctopusEnergy/blob/main/_docs/services.md#automation-example-1 to Join a saving event automatically.

It doesn't work and I wonder if the events and structure of the attributes has changed, or the entity is not persistent. I am on the latest version of the integration.

First issue is the Automation YAML is not properly formatted/structured. When I correct that, HA complains about the event data.

Looking at the events available, all I have in the Events is octopus_energy_all_octoplus_saving_sessions and in the States, event.octopus_energy_a_xxxxxxx_octoplus_saving_session_events which has an array (empty as I've already joined) of available_events. Should this be the array that is accessed?

However, I could be completely wrong as I don't really understand events (yet).

[BottlecapDave]

Hello.

The event that is highlighted on that entity is the one that the entity listens for, but does not contain all events. The event highlighted on the example is only fired when retrieving saving sessions and there's a session that hasn't been seen before in the available events array. When events are triggers, you can't "test" the automation because the event trigger data will be empty. If you join the session outside of HA before HA has a chance to update the data then the event will never fire as it will go straight into the joined events array.

As for the automation itself, it's based on one I use that is configured via yaml rather than through the UI. Ive just merged a PR from another user that updates these to be more UI friendly so they can be pasted in. Below is mine, which is a variation of what's in the docs and triggered yesterday. Notify channels event is my own custom event.

alias: OE - Join Saving Session
trigger:
  - platform: event
    event_type: octopus_energy_new_octoplus_saving_session
condition: []
action:
  - service: octopus_energy.join_octoplus_saving_session_event
    data:
      event_code: |
        {{ trigger.event.data["event_code"] }}
    target:
      entity_id: event.octopus_energy_xxx_octoplus_saving_session_events
  - event: notify_channels
    event_data_template:
      mode: message
      title: Saving Session
      message: >
        Joined new Octopus Energy saving session. It starts at {{
        trigger.event.data["event_start"].strftime('%H:%M') }} on {{
        trigger.event.data["event_start"].day }}/{{
        trigger.event.data["event_start"].month }} 
      length_hint: "00:00:07"

[borpin]

I assume you've updated the failing step in the automation to point at your entity as the target?

Not sure what you mean by this and perhaps that is what I am not doing.

[BottlecapDave]

The automation example in the docs is as follows

alias: Octopus Saving Session joiner
description: Automatically join Octopus Saving Session Events
mode: single
trigger:
  - platform: event
    event_type: octopus_energy_new_octoplus_saving_session
condition: []
action:
  - service: octopus_energy.join_octoplus_saving_session_event
    data:
      event_code: '{{ trigger.event.data["event_code"] }}'
    target:
      entity_id: event.octopus_energy_{{ACCOUNT_ID}}_octoplus_saving_session_events
  - service: persistent_notification.create
    data:
      title: "Octopus Saving Sessions Updated"
      message: >
        Joined new Octopus Energy saving session. It starts at {{ trigger.event.data["event_start"].strftime('%H:%M') }} on {{ trigger.event.data["event_start"].day }}/{{ trigger.event.data["event_start"].month }} 

When adding it, you'll need to replace event.octopus_energy_{{ACCOUNT_ID}}_octoplus_saving_session_events with the name of the entity in your setup. It will be something like event.octopus_energy_a_xxx_octoplus_saving_session_events

[borpin]

😡 I'd not copied the sensor name, but the account ref from Octopus which is in capital letters....
Grrrrr. Sorry for wasting your time. 😢

[BottlecapDave]

No problem glad it's sorted. I've been thinking of maybe making the automations samples blueprints instead which would make this process easier

[borpin]

Yes, Blueprint may be the way forward 👍