diff --git a/blog/2021-10-26-config-entity.md b/blog/2021-10-26-config-entity.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..5518432d --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/2021-10-26-config-entity.md @@ -0,0 +1,35 @@ +--- +author: Erik Montnémery +authorURL: https://github.com/emontnemery +title: "Device configuration URL and entity categories" +--- + +Home Assistant Core 2021.11 introduces two new concepts to make managing devices easier, +device configuration URL and entity categories. + +### Device configuration URL + +It's now possible to provide a configuration_url as part of the device registry information. +The configuration_url is used in the device card to allow the user to visit the device +for configuration or diagnostics which is not available in Home Assistant. +Note that the URL linked to is not proxied by Home Assistant, so this typically won't work +when connecting to Home Assistant remotely. + +[![Screenshot showing visit device](/img/en/blog/2021-10-26-config-entity/configuration_url.png)](/img/en/blog/2021-10-26-config-entity/configuration_url.png) + +### Entity categories + +Entities now have an optional property `entity_category` for classifying non-primary +entities. Set to `config` for entities that allow changing the configuration of a device, +for example, a switching entity making it possible to turn the background illumination of a +switch on and off. Set to `diagnostic` for an entity exposing some configuration parameter +or diagnostics of a device but does not allow changing it, for example, a sensor showing +RSSI or MAC address with allowed values. + +Entities which have the `entity_category` set: +- Are not included in a service call targetting a whole device or area. +- Are, by default, not exposed to Google Assistant or Alexa. +- Are shown on a separate card on the device configuration page. +- Do not show up on the automatically generated Lovelace Dashboards. + +[![Screenshot showing seperation of entity categories](/img/en/blog/2021-10-26-config-entity/entity_categories.png)](/img/en/blog/2021-10-26-config-entity/entity_categories.png) \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/static/img/en/blog/2021-10-26-config-entity/configuration_url.png b/static/img/en/blog/2021-10-26-config-entity/configuration_url.png new file mode 100644 index 00000000..a4ccf78f Binary files /dev/null and b/static/img/en/blog/2021-10-26-config-entity/configuration_url.png differ diff --git a/static/img/en/blog/2021-10-26-config-entity/entity_categories.png b/static/img/en/blog/2021-10-26-config-entity/entity_categories.png new file mode 100644 index 00000000..2816599a Binary files /dev/null and b/static/img/en/blog/2021-10-26-config-entity/entity_categories.png differ