support templates in group config

[Mariusthvdb]

currently I created manual template: sensors to do things like:

      - unique_id: switches_total_device_power
        name: Switches total device power
        state: >
          {{(expand('group.switches_total_device_power')
             |rejectattr('state','in',['unknown','unavailable'])
             |map(attribute='state')
             |map('float')|sum)|round(2,none)}}
        availability: >
          {% set items = 'group.switches_total_device_power' %}
          {% set x = ['unavailable','unknown'] %}
          {{expand(items)|selectattr('state','in',x)|list|count == 0}}
        unit_of_measurement: W
        icon: mdi:label-multiple
        device_class: power
        state_class: measurement

which is kind of ok, but rather complex. As I've also experimented with the group functionality you offer:

  - platform: powercalc
    create_group: Dining table
    entities:
      - entity_id: light.dining_table_lamp_1
      - entity_id: light.dining_table_lamp_2
      - entity_id: light.dining_table_lamp_3

which replaces 2 earlier templates:

      - unique_id: dining_table_device_power
        name: Dining table device power
        state: >
          {{(expand('sensor.dining_table_lamp_3_device_power',
                    'sensor.dining_table_lamp_2_device_power',
                    'sensor.dining_table_lamp_1_device_power')
                    |rejectattr('state','in',['unknown','unavailable'])
                    |map(attribute='state')
                    |map('float')|sum)|round(2,none)}}
        availability: >
          {% set items = 'sensor.dining_table_lamp_3_device_power',
                         'sensor.dining_table_lamp_2_device_power',
                         'sensor.dining_table_lamp_1_device_power' %}
          {% set x = ['unavailable','unknown'] %}
          {{expand(items)|selectattr('state','in',x)|list|count == 0}}
        unit_of_measurement: W
        icon: mdi:label-multiple
        device_class: power
        state_class: measurement

      - unique_id: dining_table_device_energy
        name: Dining table device energy
        state: >
          {{(expand('sensor.dining_table_lamp_3_device_energy',
                    'sensor.dining_table_lamp_2_device_energy',
                    'sensor.dining_table_lamp_1_device_energy')
                    |rejectattr('state','in',['unknown','unavailable'])
                    |map(attribute='state')
                    |map('float')|sum)|round(2,none)}}
        availability: >
          {% set items = 'sensor.dining_table_lamp_3_device_energy',
                         'sensor.dining_table_lamp_2_device_energy',
                         'sensor.dining_table_lamp_1_device_energy' %}
          {% set x = ['unavailable','unknown'] %}
          {{expand(items)|selectattr('state','in',x)|list|count == 0}}

##          {{states('sensor.dining_table_lamp_3_device_energy')|float(0) +
##            states('sensor.dining_table_lamp_2_device_energy')|float(0) +
##            states('sensor.dining_table_lamp_1_device_energy')|float(0) }}
        unit_of_measurement: kWh
        icon: mdi:label-multiple-outline
        device_class: energy
        state_class: total_increasing

you can see why I am so enthusiastic about that group functionality! as a matter of fact (might be a fluke) it seems to be even better because when my lights are physically turned off, the previous template would show 'unknown' while the group config shows 0! which is correct, because they are powered off completely, so no entry consumed at all.

Long story short:

would you consider supporting templates in the group config, where the templates need to evaluate to a list? just like eg auto-entities card does: https://github.com/thomasloven/lovelace-auto-entities scroll down to the bottom to see template filter examples

thanks for considering !

[bramstroker]

Did some work on this #435. It's still a WIP, but got something working.

[bramstroker]

Work has been finished and merged into master