Possible bug or expected behavior?

[Visolo]

I'm opening a new discussion to avoid cluttering the UI thread. During my testing, while creating and deleting entities (pins), I noticed something that I thought was a one-off issue, but it happens every time.

If you create a switch and tell Home Assistant to 'show it as' something else (for example, a light), HA creates a virtual light entity and hides the original switch.

If you then delete that entity (the pin) and recreate it, the new switch remains hidden and the light entity is not recreated. Technically, this is HA's expected behavior, as it preserves customizations linked to the Unique ID. However, in this case, it keeps the 'hidden' status but 'forgets' the light conversion. Consequently, the user has to manually unhide the switch to see it again.

Is this the behavior we want for this integration? If not, I can implement a check during entity creation to see if it previously existed and was hidden, and then unhide it.

[jpcornil-git]

You mean by using switch_as_x (https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/switch_as_x/) ?

[Visolo]

Yes, in my case they are all lights, so I use the 'Show as light' option. This hides the switch and displays a virtual light entity instead. If you delete the pin (the switch), both entities (the real one and the virtual one) are removed. However, if you reconfigure the same pin, only the switch is created, but it remains hidden. This is expected behavior in HA because it preserves customizations based on the Unique ID, but it feels buggy because the new switch stays hidden and isn't visible anywhere by default.

It is easy to fix and I already have a working version, but I'm not sure if this is the behavior we want to enforce or not.

[jpcornil-git]

I guess that the switch entity still exist in the "deleted_entities" section of .storage/core.entity_registry.
=> when you create it again, it reuses the existing entry (fine as it restore as well all existing settings/customizations/...) but keeps also the "hidden_by" set or something like that.

I'm not sure you want to force this within the integration as there may be other reasons to keep it hidden.

I'm also not sure that homeassistant will change that behavior (they prefer to restore old metadata than overwrite/lose these)

Why are you using switch_as_x for a on/off light btw ? (light attributes [color/intensity/... are not usable here and you can "customize" it for the icon)

[Visolo]

Regarding the use of switch_as_x: I prefer it over simply changing the icon because of how it integrates with the Home Assistant ecosystem. By defining it as a Light entity, it is automatically grouped in 'all lights' cards, works with global light commands, and populates the UI with much more context than a simple switch with a light icon. If I only change the icon, the entity still doesn't behave like a native light in the dashboard or auto-generated panels.

The issue arises when a user deletes a pin that was previously 'shown as' a light and then recreates it. As you mentioned, Home Assistant preserves the hidden_by flag in the registry. However, since the virtual light entity is not recreated automatically, the user is left with a 'ghost' configuration: the new switch is created but remains hidden, making it look like the integration failed to add anything.

To improve this experience, I’ve implemented a targeted fix that ensures the entity is visible ONLY during the initial recreation/restore step, without affecting user preferences during normal restarts.

Here is the logic:

    # Check if entity already exists in registry (to distinguish restart from new creation)
    registry = async_get_entity_registry(hass)
    already_exists = registry.async_get_entity_id("switch", DOMAIN, switch_entity.unique_id) is not None

    if await hass.async_add_executor_job(switch_entity.configure_device):
        async_add_entities([switch_entity])

    # Force entity to be visible ONLY if it didn't exist before in the current session
    if not already_exists:
        entity_id = registry.async_get_entity_id("switch", DOMAIN, switch_entity.unique_id)
        if entity_id:
            registry_entry = registry.async_get(entity_id)
            if registry_entry and registry_entry.hidden_by is not None:
                registry.async_update_entity(entity_id, hidden_by=None)

By simply clearing the hidden_by flag when the entity is being newly registered, we provide a much smoother experience. The user will see their new pin immediately, preventing confusion and the need for manual troubleshooting in the system settings.

What do you think about including this to make the integration more user-friendly?"

[jpcornil-git]

OK.thanks, I understand the switch_as_x use case better (I'm not using it).

Wrt the proposed change, I don't like to have a workaround against a default homeassistant behavior as it may have other side effets.
If the current homeassistant behavior is wrong then it is better to fix it rather than fix all switch integrations.

hidden_by property is restored in EntityRegistry.async_get_or_create(), see helpers/entity_registry.py#L1177 (from EntityPlatform._async_add_entity()entity_platform.py#L911 <- _async_add_entities() <- async_add_entities())

You may suggest to change it/open a discussion there to get their perspective and/or fix it globally.

[Visolo]

I understand your position. I agree it’s better to avoid local workarounds for global behaviors, even if they feel inconsistent in certain scenarios. I have no problem accepting this behavior now that I know exactly why it happens and how to handle it.

My only intention was to prevent new users from running into confusing 'ghost' entities while experimenting with their pin configurations. However, I’ll leave it as is to keep the integration aligned with Core standards. I might look into opening a discussion in the Core repo as you suggested.

Thanks for the feedback and for pointing out the specific code references!

[jpcornil-git]

I would open an issue rather than a discussion.

It is always good to discuss, to exchange opinions, to reconsider one's position… This is how things move in the right direction ultimately !