Feature Request: Periodic refresh for templated properties

[them0n]

Hi,

It would be great to have an optional periodic refresh for templated properties (e.g., text_color).

Currently, templates are only evaluated when the underlying entity changes. This prevents implementing simple animations like blinking icons or color changes based on sensor values.

Proposal:

Add an optional refresh_interval (in seconds) per object:

properties:
text_color: "{{ 'Orange' if sensor.power | float > 0 else 'Gray' }}"
refresh_interval: 1

OpenHASP would re-evaluate the template every refresh_interval seconds.

This feature would enable dynamic UI feedback without relying on external automations, keeping backward compatibility.

Thank you!

[he-so]

Just for my curiosity, why would polling be required here?
When you put your expression "{{ 'Orange' if sensor.power | float > 0 else 'Gray' }}" into the homeassistant template editor, it will show you the subscribed state change events. When those event are fired, in my testsetup HA will render the template and the plate shows these changed values.

[them0n]

sorry, maybe my example was bad.
Have something like this in openhasp config:

• obj: "p1b12"
  properties:
  "val": "{{ 1 if is_state('switch.gniazdo_oczyszczacz', 'on') else 0 }}"
  "text": "{% if is_state('switch.gniazdo_oczyszczacz', 'on') %}\uE438{% else %}\uEAD7{% endif %}"
  "text_color": >
  {% set p = states('sensor.gniazdo_oczyszczacz_power') | float(0) %}
  {% set t = now().second % 5 %}
  {% if p > 0 %}
  {% if t == 0 %} Orange
  {% elif t == 1 %} Yellow
  {% elif t == 2 %} Gold
  {% elif t == 3 %} Tomato
  {% elif t == 4 %} Coral
  {% endif %}
  {% else %}
  Gray
  {% endif %}
  "bg_color": "{{ 'Gray' if is_state('switch.gniazdo_oczyszczacz','off') else 'Green' }}"
  "bg_grad_color": "{{ 'Gray' if is_state('switch.gniazdo_oczyszczacz','off') else 'Green' }}"
  "enabled": "{{ false if is_state('input_boolean.plate02_locked') == 'on' else true }}"

  event:
  "up":
  - service: homeassistant.toggle
  entity_id: switch.gniazdo_oczyszczacz

everything works except color change of icon from orange to coral, when power from "sensor.gniazdo_oczyszczacz_power" is > 0.
Icon is orange all the time.

[he-so]

Ah, I see. That’s a general Problem with template calculations in home assistant.
The solution is to create a timer sensor, that fires events by time intervals, that trigger the re evaluation of the template when used instead of the time function.