TODO list get items

[GraffJosh]

Feedback

Todo list is a neat feature, and one that comes at a fortuitous moment as I'm building out a thermal printer for HA.

However, I can't for the life of me figure out how to get the entities in a todo list into a template, or out into other services. Maybe it's my own inexperience, but this page really doesn't help (and it's a new feature so the forums don't have examples either).

URL

https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/todo/

Version

2023.12.3

Additional information

No response

[home-assistant]

Hey there @home-assistant/core, mind taking a look at this feedback as it has been labeled with an integration (todo) you are listed as a code owner for? Thanks!

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[dbeltman]

Running into this as well

[GraffJosh]

Running into this as well

I found a way to do it. I don't really like it, and it kind of works in some ways:

Here is a script that reads the values from an input todo list, and then puts them out onto mqtt:

I had it also putting it into a text helper, but for some reason that script isn't working anymore (open to suggestions). The MQTT version works well, though, so maybe it's a help to you.

alias: FillTodoListHelper
sequence:
  - service: todo.get_items
    data:
      status:
        - needs_action
    response_variable: allTasks
    target:
      entity_id: "{{todolistname}}"
    enabled: true
  - service: mqtt.publish
    data:
      qos: 0
      retain: false
      payload_template: |2-
          {{"Here is a list of my current tasks: \n"}}    
          {%- set ns =namespace(taskCounter=0,tasks=[]) %}
          {% set ns.tasks =  allTasks.values()| list %}   
          {% for task in ns.tasks[0]['items'] -%}   
            {%- set ns.taskCounter = ns.taskCounter + 1 %}     
            {{ns.taskCounter}}{{": " +  task['summary']}}   
            {%- if task['description'] -%}   
              {{":\n"}}     
              {%- set descriptions = task['description'].split("\n") -%}          
              {% for subtask in descriptions-%}       
                {{"    - "+subtask+'\n'}}         
              {%- endfor %}      
            {%- endif%}
            {{"\n"}} 
          {%- endfor %}
      topic: robot/addContext
  - service: input_text.set_value
    data_template:
      entity_id: input_text.tasklist
      value: >-
          {{"Here is a list of my current tasks: \n"}}    
          {%- set ns =namespace(taskCounter=0,tasks=[]) %}
          {% set ns.tasks =  allTasks.values()| list %}   
          {% for task in ns.tasks[0]['items'] -%}   
            {%- set ns.taskCounter = ns.taskCounter + 1 %}     
            {{ns.taskCounter}}{{": " +  task['summary']}}   
            {%- if task['description'] -%}   
              {{":\n"}}     
              {%- set descriptions = task['description'].split("\n") -%}          
              {% for subtask in descriptions-%}       
                {{"    - "+subtask+'\n'}}         
              {%- endfor %}      
            {%- endif%}
            {{"\n"}} 
          {%- endfor %}
    enabled: false
mode: single
fields:
  todolistname:
    selector:
      entity: {}
    name: TodoListname
    default: todo.my_tasks

[dbeltman]

@GraffJosh Thanks for the reply. I've also done some digging and have found that there is a character limit for the input_text entity.

This might be the reason it has stopped working for you. I haven't found any alternative solutions sadly

[dannytsang]

@GraffJosh and use of response_variable should work if you were using it to process and pass the list items onto other services.

@dbeltman what are you trying to with the items in the todo list?

[GraffJosh]

The response variable is fine, but IMHO just. The reason I want to store it is because I often want to use a formatted version of the data, but I don't want to duplicate my formatting code everywhere.

If there were a "get Todo list pretty" service it would be a useful extension. Perhaps I can leverage the scripts to make that happen somehow (I'm new to HA scripts and templates generally so maybe it's more obvious than I imagine.)

Thanks.

[manunited10]

I made a template sensor that reads the items from the todo list and packs them in a comma-separated string. Basically uses what @GraffJosh explained above.
I should admit that service-call-return-values are difficult to parse.

template:
  - trigger:
      - platform: state
        entity_id: todo.bunnings
    action:
      - service: todo.get_items
        data:
          status: needs_action
        target:
          entity_id: todo.bunnings
        response_variable: items
    sensor:
      - name: Bunnings Items
        unique_id: bunnings_items
        state: "{{ (items.values() | list)[0]['items'] | map(attribute='summary') | list | join(', ') | truncate(255) }}"

Output is something like: Hammer, Pliers, Saw.

[github-actions]

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[GraffJosh]

Programmatic interface with todo lists should be improved.

[Cybyst]

Oh, not stale...

Definitely need guidance on method to reference ToDo list items via template for use in a blueprint.

Thanks

[mfed3]

Not only this is a problem, but there is no way to see what was last changed in todo items except the one special case that was created for "shopping_list". Why does shopping list have a special event called shopping_list_updated where I can get the last item added or removed, but regular todo lists and local_todo don't have these events? Doesn't make any sense to make one a special case and the others only fire the "state_changed" event.

[benjamin-dcs]

Am also looking for a solution and ended up here searching. Based on the previous ideas I created this sensor:
This sensor puts the items in an attributes instead of the state. Attributes don't have the 255 limit and this is (for me at least) the way I would expect the todo.* domain entities to report back their active items

template:
  - trigger:
    - platform: state
      entity_id: todo.my_list
    action:
      - service: todo.get_items
        data:
          status: needs_action
        target:
          entity_id: todo.my_list
        response_variable: items
    sensor:
      - name: Todo Items - My List
        unique_id: bf95920f-27d6-4832-920b-463fcb3954ef
        state: "{{ states('todo.my_list') | int }}"
        attributes:
          items: "{{ (items.values() | list)[0]['items'] | map(attribute='summary') | list }}"