When True is not true

Not sure if this should be here or in the Python section......

Little snippet of code I wrote that had me baffled for ages due to case of True and False on Indigo Timers.

Why does the Indigo Timer Device need to be True (as opposed to true) when the states output show all the bool states as false or true (lower case) but to test it needs to be True (Upper case)?

states : States : (dict)
longStatusString : inactive (string)
timeLeftDays : 0 (integer)
timeLeftHours : 0 (string)
timeLeftMinutes : 0 (string)
timeLeftSeconds : 0 (string)
timerStartValueSeconds : 14400 (string)
timerStatus : inactive (string)
timerStatus.active : false (bool)
timerStatus.inactive : true (bool)
timerStatus.paused : false (bool)


varDrier3 = indigo.variables[983248758] # "varDrier3"
dev4HrTimer = indigo.devices[871078152] # "Bedroom 3 Drier 4 Hour Timer"

if varDrier3.value == "true" and (unicode(dev4HrTimer.states["timerStatus.inactive"])) == "True":
indigo.server.log("true and True")
indigo.server.log(str(varDrier3.value))
indigo.server.log(unicode(dev4HrTimer.states["timerStatus.active"]))
else:
indigo.server.log("not true")
indigo.server.log(str(varDrier3.value))
indigo.server.log(unicode(dev4HrTimer.states["timerStatus.active"]))

Proper case True and False are Python requirements, if you use Python code then they must be used like that:

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if varDrier3.value == "true" and (unicode(dev4HrTimer.states["timerStatus.inactive"])) == "True":


Isn't needed when dealing with an actual boolean field (now if you are dealing with a string field, then perhaps):

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if varDrier3.value == True:
if varDrier3.value:


Both of these statements resolve the same, no need for double quotes (that is for strings)

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if varDrier3.value == True:
if varDrier3.value:
if varDrier3.value == False:
if varDrier3.value != True:
if dev4HrTimer.states["timerStatus.inactive"]:
if dev4HrTimer.states["timerStatus.inactive"] == True:


If you Unicode them then you are turning them essentially into a string, so you would then have to use "True" or "true" (or str.lower()). Does that help?

Yes, thanks for that, I have a long way to go!!!!!!! but I will add that to the 'snippets' folder I am building up.
So if I stick to Upper case I will be fine but lower case can (and did) cause problems.

So if I stick to Upper case I will be fine but lower case can (and did) cause problems.

Well, not UPPER, but Proper or Mixed would be a better term because those mean something too. True in upper is TRUE and in lower is true and in mixed/proper is True. You can do it the way you have been doing it using unicode and that's fine, but to make your life easier do something like this:

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if varDrier3.value.lower() == "true" and (unicode(dev4HrTimer.states["timerStatus.inactive"])).lower() == "true":


If you use the .lower() then you only ever have to resolve to a single value of "true" rather than having to worry about if it is "True" or if it is "true". That being said, it's easier to simply deal with boolean values in their native form of simply True or False (without any quotes whatsoever).

Thanks again, I like the .lower() solution, I can understand that better.

Awesome . If you have a small snippet of code that you want to re-do then let me know and I'll fix it up so you can use it as an example going forward.

[jay (support)]

A few more tips::

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a_variable = true    # Syntax error since true isn't a built-in
a_variable = True    # Correct since True is the built-in boolean value
a_variable = 'true'  # a_variable will evaluate to true because it's not an empty string or None
a_variable = 'false' # a_variable will evaluate to true because it's not an empty string or None

# Whenever you see a device state value listed as 'bool', then you compare the state directly to
# the built-in boolean representations in Python. In reality, you just inspect the value directly
# (no need to specify == True) since it will evaluate correctly:

varDrier3 = indigo.variables[983248758] # "varDrier3"
dev4HrTimer = indigo.devices[871078152] # "Bedroom 3 Drier 4 Hour Timer"

if dev4HrTimer.states['timerStatus.active']:   # Will directly evaluate the state's boolean value
    # Will evaluate correctly since the state is a boolean
    # do true things here when true

# On the other hand, the value of Indigo variables is always a string since there's no
# way for a user to specify what the correct type is.

if varDrier3.value.lower() == 'true':
   # correct way to make sure the value of the variable is equal to the string 'true'
   # ignoring case
   # do things here when true

# An alternate way to ask Indigo to attempt to coerce the variable value for you:

if varDrier3.getValue(bool):
    # Will evaluate correctly because Indigo will convert it to a boolean for you
    # do things here when true


[MODERATOR NOTE] moved to the Python Scripting forum

Thanks to both of you, I have read through all of that several times and it is now starting to make sense, I can now see where I was getting confused and now have a load more for the snippets folder

Py is pretty easy to wrap your head around, but your question can be difficult at first because when you are talking booleans there are a number of ways to deal with them, as both Jay and I posted in our examples. The way you are handling it is probably the way an awful lot of people who are new to Python do it, comparing strings is something we can all wrap our head around, but once you start to do a lot of lines of code you'll evolve out of necessity to doing it other ways too. Just the fact that you are doing it at all is awesome!