It would be great to have an “Alias” value we can assign in configs to allow interfaces like mainsail, fluidd etc to show alternate names for inputs and outputs without bricking referencing macros. This makes it easier to manage i/o on machines that have them listed as fan1, fan0, fan2, led1, led2, temp1 etc (creality k1 series for example.) I understand the company leaves a bad taste in the mouth and developers do not want to support them or their modified software, but end users should not be punished especially if we didnt know until it was too late and many of us have converted to standard klipper. Alias values would be useful for all printers, not just creality.
Here is an example of the alias value in a printer.cfg file:
[output_pin fan0]
alias: Nozzle Fan
pin: !nozzle_mcu: PB8
pwm: True
cycle_time: 0.0100
hardware_pwm: false
value: 0.00
scale: 255
shutdown_value: 0.0
[temperature_fan chamber_fan]
alias: Rear Fan
pin: PC0
This would allow third party developers like mainsail. fluidd etc to do what they want with the assigned alias - rename from “fan0” to “Nozzle Fan” or append it in the interface.
We could also utilize an “aliastype” value for filtering and sorting (for example hiding all led and thermostat outputs, or quickly showing all fans)