Add support for disabling a tool in a layout template

The Problem To Be Solved

Layout templates are a great thing to re-use layouts. A template can use variables to 'configure' the template. However, the layout is still more or less fixed: one could use display: none to disable a tool run-time, but it would be nice if that could be done during configuration setup for tools that won't be needed.

Take for instance a layout with a battery icon and warning: if the sensor doesn't have a battery entity, that tool is not needed. By disabling this tool, this layout can be used for both a layout with a battery indicator (wireless sensor) and without (wired sensor).

Without this support, one would need two different - but almost identical - layout templates!

By explicitly enabling and disabling tools, one could even overlay certain tools in a single layout, and get different layouts depending on a certain variable flag.

Additional background:

By disabling a tool from the configuration, this tool is not created: ie no runtime overhead!

Related Issues (if any)

(Optional): Suggested Solution

A simple flag disabled: true/false would be enough for starters...

For the more complex use, ie enabling and disabling other tools with a single variable flag, some JavaScript is required as YAML does not allow for logical operators, ie not true or !true...

(Optional): Alternative Solutions

For the more complex use, there is a weird alternative by using two explicit settings: disabled and enabled flags.

Say we have two tools. One is enabled by a single flag, the other one disabled, and vice versa:

Flag = true, tool1 shown (default disabled, but enabled through flag), tool2 not (default enabled, but disabled by flag)

  tool1:
    default_disabled: true
    enabled: '[[flag]]' # true

  tool2:
    disabled: '[[flag]]' # true
    default_enabled: true

Flag = false, tool1 is hidden (default disabled, and not enabled through flag), tool2 is shown (default enabled and not disabled by flag)

  tool1:
    default_disabled: true
    enabled: '[[flag]]' # false

  tool2:
    disabled: '[[flag]]' # false
    default_enabled: true

This solves the simple true/false flag variable without any use of JavaScript, but what if that variable holds another value, a setting that involves more than one tool or group of tools?

Furthermore, this combined setting of flag might be confusing for users 😃, where a simple yes/no flag is not.

AmoebeLabs / swiss-army-knife-card