Reolink integration identifiers breaking change for retrieving channels

[JeromeHoen]

The problem

I have a blueprint to send a notification with an action. The idea is to have a button (action) on the notification to open the camera feed that sent the photo. Code for the action:
`{% set identifiers = device_attr(camera, 'identifiers') | list %}
{% set uid = identifiers[0][1].split('_')[0] %}
{% set channel = identifiers[0][1].split('_ch')[1] | int %}
{% set almchn = 2 ** channel %}

intent:#Intent;component=com.mcu.reolink/com.android.bc.login.WelcomeActivity;S.UID={{ uid }};S.ALMTYPE=VISITOR;S.ALMCHN={{ almchn }};end`

Identifiers used to return something like:
[ [ "reolink", "NVRUID_ch1" ] ]
and I could extract the channel number and feed it to the intent of the action. Not sure after which upgrade it stopped working but I think it was still fine in early 2025.

Now identifiers return:
[ [ "reolink", "NVRUID_CAMERAUID" ] ]

How can I get the channel now?

Thank you!

What version of Home Assistant Core has the issue?

core-2025.3.3

What was the last working version of Home Assistant Core?

No response

What type of installation are you running?

Home Assistant OS

Integration causing the issue

Reolink

Link to integration documentation on our website

No response

Diagnostics information

No response

Example YAML snippet

Anything in the logs that might be useful for us?

Additional information

No response

[home-assistant]

Hey there @starkillerOG, mind taking a look at this issue as it has been labeled with an integration (reolink) you are listed as a code owner for? Thanks!

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[dermotduffy]

As @randyg503 pointed out, we ran into the same issue over at the Advanced Camera Card.

@starkillerOG do you think it might make sense to add the channel to either (i) the DeviceInfo somehow (e.g. as an identifier in parallel with the existing identifier), or perhaps (ii) simply as a runtime state attribute on the camera entity in question.

I think (i) is potentially cleaner as it automatically applied to all entities for that device (and I assume channel is effectively a device-level construct). But then as I'm not sure if these channel IDs are fixed (if I pull a camera from a system, do the channel ID change?) -- if so the runtime state attribute is a simple approach, it just wouldn't be present on other entities (e.g. sensors).

I'll prepare a PR if you're happy with either of these, or another approach.

[starkillerOG]

I will ask around, I dont think HA allows semi-static info like the channel number as state attributes.

The reason for switching from channel number to UID is because the channel number can indeed change when adding/removing additional cameras or when a device is unplugged for too long.