MQTT: Add device_class timestamp to attributes for first/last connection

[NightMean]

Is there an existing issue for this?

• [X] I have searched the existing open and closed issues

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe

Currently, MQTT sends the data to HomeAssistant for first/last_connection as a string in format 2024-10-01 15:56:15+02:00. This shows in HA as a simple text instead of a date entity that HA supports.

Describe the solution you'd like

Modify the MQTT data to also send device_class as timestamp for first/last_connection with the correct time format as 2024-10-01T15:56:15+02:00

Describe alternatives you've considered

None

Anything else?

With the help of ChatGPT, I managed to create a concept that already does this but it has a bug where the data is being sent twice. First in incorrect format that is currently in prod and afterwards in the format with the device_class. Unfortunately after many tries, I'm not able to fix it myself nor with ChatGPT as he is also bit lost on this :/ (I'm sure that for someone else the issue it will be obvious..) Of course, there might be a better way to do this but as I don't have enough knowledge in Python, this is what I managed to create with ChatGPT.

Here is the changed code for mqtt.py

```python from datetime import datetime # Function to adjust datetime format (adds 'T' between date and time) def adjust_datetime_format(datetime_str): # Convert "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS±HH:MM" to "YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS±HH:MM" return datetime_str.replace(' ', 'T') #------------------------------------------------------------------------------- for device in devices: # Create devices in Home Assistant - send config messages deviceId = 'mac_' + device["dev_MAC"].replace(" ", "").replace(":", "_").lower() devDisplayName = re.sub('[^a-zA-Z0-9-_\\s]', '', device["dev_Name"]) # Adjust datetime format as soon as we fetch it from the device object first_connection_time = adjust_datetime_format(str(device["dev_FirstConnection"])) last_connection_time = adjust_datetime_format(str(device["dev_LastConnection"])) # Prepare the devJson payload (including first_connection and last_connection) devJson = { "last_ip": device["dev_LastIP"], "is_new": str(device["dev_NewDevice"]), "vendor": sanitize_string(device["dev_Vendor"]), "mac_address": str(device["dev_MAC"]), "first_connection": first_connection_time, "last_connection": last_connection_time } # First connection sensor with device_class: timestamp first_connection_sensor = create_sensor(mqtt_client, deviceId, devDisplayName, 'sensor', 'first_connection', 'calendar-start', device["dev_MAC"]) first_connection_sensor.message["device_class"] = "timestamp" # Set device_class for first_connection # Publish first_connection sensor config (but don't send the state separately) publish_mqtt(mqtt_client, first_connection_sensor.topic, first_connection_sensor.message) # Last connection sensor with device_class: timestamp last_connection_sensor = create_sensor(mqtt_client, deviceId, devDisplayName, 'sensor', 'last_connection', 'calendar-end', device["dev_MAC"]) last_connection_sensor.message["device_class"] = "timestamp" # Set device_class for last_connection # Publish last_connection sensor config (but don't send the state separately) publish_mqtt(mqtt_client, last_connection_sensor.topic, last_connection_sensor.message) # Publish all device data (including first_connection and last_connection) in one JSON object to the same state_topic publish_mqtt(mqtt_client, first_connection_sensor.state_topic, devJson) # Create and update is_present sensor sensorConfig = create_sensor(mqtt_client, deviceId, devDisplayName, 'binary_sensor', 'is_present', 'wifi', device["dev_MAC"]) publish_mqtt(mqtt_client, sensorConfig.state_topic, { "is_present": to_binary_sensor(str(device["dev_PresentLastScan"])) } ) # Handle device_tracker sensorConfig = create_sensor(mqtt_client, deviceId, devDisplayName, 'device_tracker', 'is_home', 'home', device["dev_MAC"]) # are only valid states state = 'away' if to_binary_sensor(str(device["dev_PresentLastScan"])) == "ON": state = 'home' publish_mqtt(mqtt_client, sensorConfig.state_topic, state) # Publish device_tracker attributes publish_mqtt(mqtt_client, sensorConfig.json_attr_topic, devJson) ```

With the device_class = timestamp, the entities first and last_connection will look like this.

Am I willing to test this? 🧪

• [X] I will do my best to test this feature on the netlertx-dev image when requested within 48h and report bugs to help deliver a great user experience for everyone and not to break existing installations.

Can I help implement this? 👩‍💻👨‍💻

• [ ] Yes
• [X] No

[jokob-sk]

Thanks for the detailed description, this helps a lot!

This should be available in the next release. It would be great if you could test this. Can you please switch to the netalertx-dev docker image (backup everything at first), in about 15 minutes (or after the last action finishes) from now.

Make sure you refresh your browser cache - and click the 🔄 refresh button in the top right corner.

Thanks in advance, j

[NightMean]

Just tested this, works better than my implementation :) (Knew there would be a better way) Thank you!