Variables+History

aka. variable

A Home Assistant Integration to declare and set/update variables.

Forked and updated from initial integration developed by rogro82

Home Assistant versions starting with v2024.7.2 will prevent Variables+History versions earlier than v3.4.5 from working. Be sure to upgrade.

Upgrading from v2 to v3

Existing variables will remain as yaml variables but instead of starting with variable., they will now start with sensor. If you would like to manage the variable using the UI configuration, you will need to delete the entity from your yaml and recreate it in the UI. This is also the only change needed when migrating from rogro82's version to this one

Installation

HACS (recommended)

1. Ensure that HACS is installed
2. Click Here to directly open Variables+History in HACS or
     a. Navigate to HACS
     b. Click + Explore & Download Repositories
     c. Find the Variables+History integration
   
3. Click Download
4. Restart Home Assistant
5. See Configuration below

Preferred Configuration

1. Click Here to directly add a Variables+History sensor or
     a. In Home Assistant, go to Settings -> Integrations
     b. Click + Add Integrations and select Variables+History
   
2. Add your configuration (see Configuration Options below)
3. Click Submit
   • Repeat as needed to create additional Variables+History sensors
   • Options can be changed for existing Variables+History sensors in Home Assistant Integrations by selecting Configure under the desired Variables+History sensor.

Configuration Options

First choose the variable type.

Services

There are instructions and selectors when the service is called from the Developer Tools or within a Script or Automation.

variable.update_sensor

Used to update the value or attributes of a Sensor Variable

variable.update_binary_sensor

Used to update the value or attributes of a Binary Sensor Variable

variable.update_device_tracker

Used to update the value or attributes of a Device Tracker Variable

variable.toggle_binary_sensor

Used to toggle the state or update attributes of a Binary Sensor Variable. If the binary_sensor state is None, the toggle service will not change the state.

Example service calls

action:
  - service: variable.update_sensor
    data:
      value: 30
    target:
      entity_id: sensor.test_timer

action:
  - service: variable.update_sensor
    data:
      value: >-
        {{trigger.to_state.name|replace('Motion Sensor','')}}
      attributes:
        history_1: "{{states('sensor.last_motion')}}"
        history_2: "{{state_attr('sensor.last_motion','history_1')}}"
        history_3: "{{state_attr('sensor.last_motion','history_2')}}"
    target:
      entity_id: sensor.last_motion

action:
  - service: variable.update_binary_sensor
    data:
      value: true
      replace_attributes: true
      attributes:
        country: USA
    target:
      entity_id: binary_sensor.test_binary_var

Example timer automation

• Create a sensor variable with the Variable ID of test_timer and Initial Value of 0

script:
  schedule_test_timer:
    sequence:
      - service: variable.update_sensor
        data:
          value: 30
        target:
          entity_id: sensor.test_timer
      - service: automation.turn_on
        data:
          entity_id: automation.test_timer_countdown

automation:
  - alias: test_timer_countdown
    initial_state: 'off'
    trigger:
      - platform: time_pattern
        seconds: '/1'
    action:
      - service: variable.update_sensor
        data:
          value: >
            {{ [((states('sensor.test_timer') | int(default=0)) - 1), 0] | max }}
        target:
          entity_id: sensor.test_timer
  - alias: test_timer_trigger
    trigger:
      platform: state
      entity_id: sensor.test_timer
      to: '0'
    action:
      - service: automation.turn_off
        data:
          entity_id: automation.test_timer_countdown

Examples

More examples can be found in the examples folder.