Skip to content

USPS Informed Delivery Image

Jump to bottom
moralmunky edited this page Feb 24, 2021 · 11 revisions

Jump to: Getting the image | Displaying the image

Getting the image

Option 1: GIF

Use the sensor.mail_image_url in situations where an internet accessible url is needed to view your image file.

Requirements:

  • Allow external image use must be checked
  • Internal_URL or External_URL must be configured in Home Assistants general configuration

Where to use it

*Privacy / Security Note

Please note that files stored in the www Home Assistant folder are publicly accessible unless you have taken security measures outside of Home Assistant to secure it. For increased security and simplicity the USPS Informed Delivery image name is random by default and no longer has the option to turn it on/off.

Option 2: Camera Entity

A camera entity can be used in various Lovelace cards that display images or cameras. Using a camera entity requires Local file camera entity and an automation to update the camera with the current file name of the GIF are manually created.

Camera Entity

Add to the camera: portion of configuration.yaml.

  - platform: local_file
    file_path: /<config path>/custom_components/mail_and_packages/mail_none.gif
    name: mail_usps

Camera Automation

The image file is generated with a random file name and supplies this with the sensor.mail_image_system_path. To keep the camera updated with the correct file name, add the following automations to the automation: portion of configuration.yaml or recreate it in the GUI.

  - alias: "Update USPS Mail Camera Path on Hass Restart"
    trigger:
      - platform: state
        entity_id: sensor.mail_updated
      - platform: homeassistant
        event: start
    action:
      - service: local_file.update_file_path
        data_template:
          entity_id: camera.mail_usps
          file_path: "{{ states('sensor.mail_image_system_path') }}"

Displaying the image

Please note, that the browser cache can be a blocker to get the image to display in certain configurations.

GIF and Custom Card

Mail and Packages Custom Card can be installed manually or through HACS. Use the sensor.mail_image_url for the GIF Sensor or the camera entity you created earlier to display the USPS Informed Delivery image.

Standard Lovelace Cards

You can create your own card using the entities generated by the integration and the front end Lovelace editor provided by Home Assistant. A few options provided by the community are provided below.

Note: The local file camera reloads the file after 10 seconds. If the gif is langer than 10 seconds not all mail with be shown. Please use a picture entity card with the camera view set to live.

Example 1: Vertical Stack Card 

type: vertical-stack
cards:
  - type: picture-entity
    entity: camera.mail_usps
    aspect_ratio: 50%
    name: Mail
    camera_view: live
    show_name: false
    show_state: false
  - type: entity-filter
    state_filter:
      - operator: '>'
        value: '0'
    entities:
      - entity: sensor.mail_usps_mail
        name: USPS Mail
      - entity: sensor.mail_usps_packages
        name: USPS Packages
      - entity: sensor.fedex_packages
        name: FedEx Packages
      - sensor.mail_ups_packages
      - sensor.mail_packages_in_transit
      - sensor.mail_packages_delivered
      - entity: sensor.mail_updated

Example 2: Vertical Stack Custom Card 

- type: custom:vertical-stack-in-card
      title: Mail & Package Tracking
      cards:
        - aspect_ratio: 50%
          camera_view: live
          entity: camera.mail_usps
          name: Mail
          type: picture-entity
        - type: entity-filter
          state_filter:
            - operator: ">"
              value: '0'
          entities:
           - entity: sensor.mail_usps_mail
             name: "Today's Mail"
           - entity: sensor.mail_packages_in_transit
             name: "Today's Package Delivery"
           - entity: sensor.mail_usps_delivering
             icon: 'mdi:package-variant-closed'
             name: USPS
           - entity: sensor.mail_fedex_delivering
             icon: 'mdi:package-variant-closed'
             name: FedEx
           - entity: sensor.mail_ups_delivering
             icon: 'mdi:package-variant-closed'
             name: UPS
           - entity: sensor.mail_updated
             state_filter:
               - operator: "regex"
                 value: 20

Example 3: Vertical Stack Custom Card 

cards:
  - cards: null
    entities:
      - entity: sensor.mail_usps_mail
        name: Todays USPS Mail
      - entity: sensor.mail_packages_in_transit
        name: Todays Package Delivery
    type: entities
  - cards: null
    entities:
      - entity: sensor.mail_usps_delivering
        icon: 'mdi:package-variant-closed'
        name: USPS
      - entity: sensor.mail_fedex_delivering
        icon: 'mdi:package-variant-closed'
        name: FedEx
      - entity: sensor.mail_ups_delivering
        icon: 'mdi:package-variant-closed'
        name: UPS
    show_header_toggle: false
    type: glance
  - aspect_ratio: 50%
    camera_view: live
    entity: camera.mail_usps
    name: Mail
    type: picture-entity
  - cards: null
    entities:
      - entity: sensor.mail_updated
    type: entities
title: Mail & Package Tracking
type: 'custom:vertical-stack-in-card'

Example 4: Picture Elements Card (with image overlays)

You may want to overlay the camera with some images to make the image a little more fancy here's an example of how to do so with the included overlays in a picture element card.

type: picture-elements
elements:
  - type: image
    entity: null
    camera_image: camera.mail_usps
    camera_view: live
    style:
      top: 50%
      left: 50%
      width: 100%
  - type: image
    entity: null
    image: local/mail_and_packages/overlay.png
    style:
      top: 50%
      left: 50%
      width: 100%
  - type: image
    entity: camera.mail_usps
    image: local/mail_and_packages/vignette.png
    style:
      top: 50%
      left: 50%
      width: 100%
image: local/mail_and_packages/white.png
entity: camera.mail_usps
tap_action:
  action: more_info
hold_action:
  action: none
Clone this wiki locally