Skip to main content

Control Automations

info

Note that this entire section is only necessary if using View Assist with video enabled satellites. It is not necessary to install these for voice only satellites.

View Assist is controlled using core control automations per view device. Other automations control things like alarms and reminders. This page details the installation and configuration of some of these automations

Installation​

View Assist device control through Python set_state​

The View Assist satellite devices hold data and settings. These devices and their attributes are updated using a python script called set_state . This will involve file manipulation so if you need help you can watch this video for installing file editor addon in HASSOS. Here is how to install this python script for use with View Assist

Image

Detailed install video: https://youtu.be/iDJH2bn_Wao

  • Download the set_state.py by right clicking this link and choose 'save link as': set_state.py
  • Open the configuration.yaml file located in the 'homeassistant' config directory in a file editor
  • Add a line to the bottom of the configuration file containing python_script: and save the file
  • Go back into file editor and create a new folder in the config directory called python_scripts
  • Find that new folder and click it to enter
  • Use the upload file option and upload the 'set_state.py' file into the 'python_scripts' folder you created
  • Restart Home Assistant
  • Check that the service is installed by going to Developer Tools -> Services and search for 'set_state'. You should see the service listed in the results as 'Python Scripts: set_state'

Note that for HASSOS users the configuration folder shows up as homeassistant where other installs have this defined as /config

For more information see the set_state Github page at: https://github.com/xannor/hass_py_set_state

Per device display control​

The View Assist display satellites have different modes for how screens are shown on the device and for how long. This behavior is controlled by an automation. Each View Assist visual device will need its own control automation.

Image

Detailed install video: https://youtu.be/Vrm4TCotEqA

These are the configuration parameters needed for configuration:

Device Definitions​

  • Satellite -The View Assist device entity to control (example sensor.viewassist_living_room)
  • Group Entity - The View Assist group that contains the list of satellites (example group.viewassist_satellites)
  • Weather Entity - The weather entity to display on this View Assist satellite(example weather.home)
  • Display Device - The browsermod display device used by View Assist (example sensor.browsermod_livingroom_browser_path)
  • Timer - The associated timer device entity for this satellite (example timer.viewassist_living_room)
  • Intent - The associated entity intent sensor for this satellite (example sensor.viewassist_living_room_intent)
  • Microphone Type - The microphone provider type (example HassMic)

Dashboard Definitions​

  • Dashboard - The base dashboard for View Assist (default /dashboard-viewassist/)
  • Default Home screen - The screen to return to after timeout (default /dashboard-viewassist/clock)
  • Default Music View screen - The view to return to when in music mode (default /dashboard-viewassist/music)
  • Intent View Screen - The view to display for default HA actions for displaying those entities (default /dashboard-viewassist/intent)
  • Assist Prompt - The Assist prompt style to use for wake word and intent processing (default blur pop up)
  • Rotate Background - Allows for the background to be rotated at a timed interval set below. Note you must set either the rotation time in minutes or hours but not both. You also must set the background image directory devices (default off)
  • Rotate Background every XX minutes (Optional) - Select a time value to rotate background image every XX minutes (/5 rotates every 5 minutes). You must put the / character before the number. Valid values are 1-59 only. Note you can either select to rotate by minute or hour but not both Leave option blank if not using.
  • Rotate Background every XX hours (Optional) - Select a time value to rotate background image every XX hours (/10 rotates every 10 hours). You must put the / character before the number. Note you can either select to rotate by minute or hour but not both Leave option blank if not using.
  • Background Directory - The path to the directory containing the background images to randomly select for background image for this device. Only necessary if using timed rotation options above
  • Use local backgrounds? - By default we will load backgrounds from your background directory, but if you turn this off we will automatically get random backgrounds from unsplash.it.
  • Maximum downloaded background images to keep (only applies if you don't use local images) - Set the maximum number of downloaded background images to keep. Only applies if not using local backgrounds. Defaults to 10, should be at least 1.

Note for rotating background you will need Pyscript script installed and the select_random_image.py script stored in your pyscripts directory

Default Definitions​

  • Default Mode - The default mode for this satellite device (default normal)
  • View Timeout - The default time out value for this satellite device in seconds before returning to default view (default 20)
  • Do Not Disturb - Default state for do not disturb mode (default off)
  • Launch Icons - Advanced option! List of custom launch icons to set on start up. Do not change this if you do not know what you are doing (default [])
  • Status Icons Size - Size of the icons in the status icon display (default Medium)
  • Font Style - The default font to use for this satellite device. Font name must match perfectly and be available (default Roboto)
  • Use 24 Hour Time - Sets clock display to 24 hour time when enabled (default off)
  • Use Announce - Some media player devices like BrowserMod and Squeezelite cannot use the Home Assistant announce feature while media is playing. This option allows for turning off announce messages if problems arise. Default is on.

Stream Assist specific (Optional)​

  • Unmute Mic - Unmute microphone on HA start/restart. This is helpful for Stream Assist devices which default to muted on HA start
  • Mic device - The microphone entity to unmute on HA start/restart. (example switch.viewassist_living_room_mic) Only needed if Unmute Mic option is turned on

Below is the blueprint that will configure these automations for each device. Click the link to import the blueprint:

Open your Home Assistant instance and show the blueprint import dialog with a specific blueprint pre-filled.

After importing, click on the newly imported blueprint and set the configuration options as detailed above. Hit save to write out an automation based on that blueprint. Change the word 'template' in the name to your device name so it can be unique and identifiable.