🚀 Virtual v0.10.0-alpha.1 — Visual Device Editor & Core Architecture Modernization

⚠️ Alpha Release & Community Testing Notice

Virtual v0.10 is a major modernization featuring a dedicated web-based Visual Device Editor, native Home Assistant entity models, and non-blocking asynchronous state storage.

This is an active alpha pre-release — please expect evolving features, edge cases, and ongoing polish.

Community testing and feedback are essential! If you encounter any bugs, state restoration regressions, or configuration issues, please open a GitHub issue with your configuration snippet and debug logs.

(Legacy v0.9 documentation is archived in README_v9.md).

🌟 Highlights

1. Interactive Web-Based Visual Device Editor

Configure your virtual devices with an intuitive visual tree interface instead of editing raw YAML files:

• Hosted Cloud Builder: Live on Google App Engine at https://virtual-dot-twrecked-tools.nn.r.appspot.com.
• One-Click Sync via Home Assistant: In Home Assistant, click Configure on any Virtual group to launch the editor with your existing devices preloaded. Click Save & Return, and the editor automatically updates your file on disk and reloads the integration via an authenticated webhook.
• Preset Device Templates ("Quick Adds"): One-click generation of common multi-entity devices:
  • Motion Sensor (binary_sensor + battery sensor)
  • Contact Sensor (binary_sensor + battery sensor)
  • Dimmable & RGB Color Lights
  • Ceiling Fan (speed count, direction, oscillation)
  • Window Blind & Water Valve (timed durations and tick intervals)
  • Smart Power Outlet (switch + power & energy sensors)
  • Weather Station (temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure)
• Collapsible Device Cards: Expand or collapse individual devices, or use the Collapse All / Expand All action when managing large configuration files.
• Local & Offline Friendly:
  • Local LAN Mode: Run the editor locally using python main.py in the virtual-device-editor/ folder with zero data leaving your local network.
  • Manual Copy-Paste Fallback: No webhooks or network access required—edit visually, click Copy or Download, and paste into your /config/virtual.yaml.

2. Core Entity Architecture & Bug Squashing

• Native Platform Inheritance:
  • VirtualNumber refactored to inherit from (VirtualEntity, NumberEntity), using native properties (_attr_native_value, _attr_native_min_value, _attr_native_max_value) and purely asynchronous state updates, eliminating threadpool worker overhead.
  • VirtualSensor refactored to inherit from (VirtualEntity, SensorEntity) using native properties (_attr_native_value, _attr_native_unit_of_measurement).
• Fixed Lock Freezing: Fixed a bug where configuring a locking_time left locks permanently stuck in a locking/unlocking transition due to a coroutine callback error. Added timer cleanup on entity removal.
• Fixed Lock async_open Crash: Resolved an AttributeError in lock.open.
• Immediate State Writing: Added missing async_write_ha_state() calls across light, switch, fan, and number service actions.
• Fixed Service Registration Lookup: Replaced dictionary hasattr checks across platforms with proper key lookups, preventing duplicate service registrations.
• Cleaned Entity Attributes: Removed redundant duplication of native Home Assistant properties (device_class, unit_of_measurement, brightness, color_mode, etc.) into extra_state_attributes.

3. Non-Blocking Storage & Asynchronous Core

• Home Assistant Store for Trackers: Replaced hardcoded storage file paths and synchronous blocking file writes in event listeners with Home Assistant's managed non-blocking Store helper and async_delay_save.
• Zero Unmanaged Dependencies: Replaced aiofiles with standard UTF-8 file operations running safely in the threadpool executor via hass.async_add_executor_job.
• Eliminated Global Tracker State: Removed mutable module-level global tracker_states in favor of scoped state.
• Removed Startup Delays: Eliminated arbitrary asyncio.sleep(1) delay during integration setup.
• Resolved Tracker Deprecation Warning: Replaced deprecated location_name property override on VirtualDeviceTracker with standard @property def state.

4. Global Units & Future HA Standards

• Centralized Device Class Units: Unified unit mappings under DEVICE_CLASS_UNITS using Home Assistant's global unit constants (UnitOfTemperature.CELSIUS, UnitOfDensity, UnitOfRatio).
• Temperature Unit Auto-Healing: Replaced hardcoded "C" defaults with UnitOfTemperature.CELSIUS ('°C'). Added automatic normalization so that any existing configuration or restored state with "C", "c", or "°C" automatically upgrades to '°C' without triggering Home Assistant warnings.
• HACS & Manifest Modernization:
  • Added "render_readme": true to hacs.json so modern HACS displays the full documentation directly in the HACS interface.
  • Added "integration_type": "helper" to manifest.json.
  • Added full Python 3.12 type annotations (from __future__ import annotations).
  • Eliminated all wildcard imports (from .const import *).

🛠️ Testing Checklist for Alpha Testers

1. State Restoration: Verify that entities (lights, fans, covers, sensors, numbers, switches) maintain their values across a Home Assistant restart with persistent: true.
2. Visual Device Editor: Test opening the editor via Settings -> Devices & Services -> Virtual -> Configure, adding a device or template, and verifying that clicking Save & Return updates your YAML file and reloads the devices automatically.
3. Manual Fallback: Test building devices in the editor, clicking Copy, pasting into /config/virtual.yaml, and reloading via Developer Tools -> YAML -> Reload Virtual Components.
4. Lock & Cover Timers: Test virtual covers and locks configured with duration/timing transitions to confirm smooth operation.