Add picture attribute or extend icon to support image/GIF paths in new-style template entities

[ilgio]

Describe the enhancement

With the new template syntax (under template: key), binary sensors, sensors and other entities are defined using a structured YAML format. However, this new format lacks support for custom images or animated GIFs that was available in the old format via entity_picture_template

Extend the icon attribute to accept local paths (/local/...) and URLs for images/GIFs, or

Add a new picture attribute to the new template syntax that works like entity_picture_template did.

Example usage

#new format
template:
  - binary_sensor:
      name: “caldaia”
      state: >
{{ is_state('switch.caldaia_switch1', 'on') }}"
       icon: >-
          {% if is_state('switch.caldaia_switch1', 'on') %}
             /local/icon/caldaia_on.gif # ❌ NOT WORKING
          {% else %}
             /local/icon/caldaia_off.gif # ❌ NOT WORKING
          {% endif %}

Current workarounds

#old format deprecate

binary_sensor:
  - platform: template
    sensors:
      caldaia:
        value_template: "{{ is_state('switch.caldaia_switch1', 'on') }}"
        entity_picture_template: >-
          {% if is_state('switch.caldaia_switch1', 'on') %}
             /local/icon/caldaia_on.gif
          {% else %}
             /local/icon/caldaia_off.gif
          {% endif %}

Anything else?

No response

[Petro31]

It supports everything you're asking for. Please read the documentation before creating feature requests.

Modern templates support everything legacy templates supported.

[ilgio]

thx , the key is

picture: