Regarding FAQ and Calling Scripts

[ronfarbernewman]

Hey there! Love this project, so thank you for your hard work!

I was just reading the FAQ looking for something else when I stubbled upon this question and answer:

Can Firemote controls be exposed to scripts and voice commands?
No. As far as I'm aware, there isn't a way to glue a card's buttons and functions to a script or voice command.

I actually didn't come across this during my initial setup of my Firemotes a few weeks ago, which is good, because I definitely used scripts on a few of my buttons, haha. But I also recall seeing "script" support in the examples within the README. Is this "no scripts" note in the FAQ a legacy limitation? If so should it be removed?

While on the topic of calling scripts, I will say the suggested way of linking a button to a script with the script: parameter of an individual button definition is a little limiting. I found myself wanting to pass a variable into my script as to use the same script for a few different buttons (selecting different inputs on my media_player entity), but could not for the life of me figure out how to pass data in. I ended up doing it by linking my button to a service – the script.turn_on service, like below:

custom_launchers:
  - friendly_name: Source Change - XBox
      label: XBox
      service: script.turn_on
      target:
        entity_id: script.family_room_universal_change_source
      data:
        variables:
          source: XBox

By calling scripts with the script.turn_on service, you're able to pass in data under variables and have them available in the scripts.

Is there an easier way to do this by passing in a script under scripts: or is this perhaps a better way for all scripts to be called? I'd be happy to suggest edits to the docs if so!

Thanks again for your work on this!

[PRProd]

Greetings @ronfarbernewman!

Looking at your profile, we're practically neighbors in real life! That's pretty neat!

Hey there! Love this project, so thank you for your hard work!

Thanks! It's a passion project of mine, and I'm always encouraged when I hear kind words like yours, and notification I automated in HA that plays every time I get a new GitHub star. ⭐

Can Firemote controls be exposed to scripts and voice commands?
No. As far as I'm aware, there isn't a way to glue a card's buttons and functions to a script or voice command.

I actually didn't come across this during my initial setup of my Firemotes a few weeks ago, which is good, because I definitely used scripts on a few of my buttons, haha. But I also recall seeing "script" support in the examples within the README. Is this "no scripts" note in the FAQ a legacy limitation? If so should it be removed?

I completely understand what you are saying, thank you for pointing it out! This repeated question was commonly phrased as written, so that's why I put it in the FAQ that way. The actual intent of the question was asking if it was possible to write a Home Assistant script that called the Firemote card to do something. I think it's time for me to re-write that question to make it clearer. Thanks.

Regarding the topic of calling scripts and passing values, great minds think alike! User @manonstreet brought this topic up in issue #293, so it's definitely on my list. I love that you were able to make it work the way that you did! Maybe that should be the solution for #293, or at least a temporary one? It's a great discussion topic for sure.

Speaking of discussions, since you titled this as "Discussion" but opened it as an issue instead of a discussion, I'm going to convert it to a discussion now. After that, I'll work on updating the FAQ so it makes more sense, and then hopefully @manonstreet and others will join us in a fun debate about the best way to handle passing values.

Thanks for reaching out! I hope to hear from you soon!

-Doug

[manonstreet]

Indeed it is a temporary solution - one that I am already using 😉. I noted in my FR that variables can be passed in the same manner. So essentially we're both requesting a cleaner shorthand method to accomplish the same thing.

[PRProd]

Thanks @manonstreet! I was only slightly confused. My fault, not yours. 😄

[manonstreet]

No worries. Thank you for all your work on this project!

[PRProd]

@ronfarbernewman -

Does this FAQ update sound better/clearer?

[ronfarbernewman]

@PRProd Hey Doug!

Thanks for graciously changing this into a discussion; I've been a web dev for 10 years but I don't spend a ton of time on public Github and thought all discussions took place on "issues." Truth be told, didn't realize there was a dedicated spot for just discussions, haha. TIL. 😅

A part of me wondered if that's what was meant by the FAQ, but figured it would be worded more akin to your proposed edit if so.... Which is to say, I think that's a much more clear explanation. Looks good! Ship it!

I starred the project so hopefully your automation was working and it brought a smile to your face!

Cheers!
Ron

[PRProd]

Thanks! In a very fitting manner for a web dev, you are star number 404!

[PRProd]

I'm going to close this discussion for now.

Let's continue over at #293