Eclipse Ditto now supports conditional message sending based on a specified condition in the request

Eclipse Ditto now supports conditional message sending based on a specified condition in the request

With the upcoming release of Eclipse Ditto version 3.1.0 it will be possible to process live messages based on conditions.

Conditional live messages

Ditto now supports conditional message sending based on a specified condition in the request. This functionality can be used via the HTTP API with an HTTP header or query parameter, as well as via the Ditto protocol, and the Ditto Java Client. For all three ways there is an example provided in this blog post.

This turns useful, if you want for example to send a message to your device, but only if its digital twin has a specific attribute set.

To be more concrete let’s say we have a thing with a feature that is measuring carbon monoxide levels, and we only want to send an alarm live message to the corresponding device, if the particle level is over 10. To achieve this the following HTTP request can be used:

POST /api/2/things/org.eclipse.ditto:coffeebrewer/inbox/mesages/co-alarm?condition=gt(features/carbon-monoxide-level/properties/ppm,10)

CO Level too high! Open your windows!

Conditions can be specified using RQL syntax to check if a thing has a specific attribute or feature property value.

In case the condition does not match to the actual state of the thing, the request will fail with HTTP status code 412 - Precondition Failed. And the message will not be processed.

If the given condition is invalid, the request will fail with HTTP status code 400 - Bad Request.

More documentation for this feature can be found here: Conditional Requests

Permissions for conditional requests

In order to execute a conditional request, the authorized subject needs to have WRITE permission at the resource that should be changed by the request.

Additionally, the authorized subject needs to have READ permission at the resource used in the specified condition. Given the condition from the introduction gt(features/carbon-monoxide-level/properties/ppm,10), read access on the single attribute would be sufficient. However, the condition can also be more complex, or include other sub-structures of the thing. Then of course, the authorized subject needs READ permission on all parameters of the specified condition.

Examples

The following subsections will show how to use conditional requests via the HTTP API, Ditto protocol, and Ditto Java Client.

To demonstrate the new conditional request, we assume that the following thing already exists:

{
  "thingId": "org.eclipse.ditto:carbon-monoxide-alarm",
  "policyId": "org.eclipse.ditto:carbon-monoxide-alarm",
  "attributes": {
    "manufacturer": "ACME demo corp.",
    "location": "Wonderland",
    "serialno": "42"
  },
  "features": {
    "carbon-monoxide-level": {
      "properties": {
        "ppm,": 2
      }
    },
    "alarm": {
      "properties": {
        "lastTriggered": "2021-09-23T07:01:56Z",
        "confirmed": false
      }
    }
  },
  "ConnectionStatus": {
    "definition": [
      "org.eclipse.ditto:ConnectionStatus:1.0.0"
    ],
    "properties": {
      "status": {
        "readySince": "2022-11-04T14:35:02.643Z",
        "readyUntil": "2022-11-04T16:35:03.643Z"
      }
    }
  }
}

Condition based on alarm/confirmed

In this example a live alarm message from the device should only be sent, if the alarm confirmed property is set to false by the end user application. This is done to prevent duplicate received alarms by the customer.

POST /api/2/things/org.eclipse.ditto:carbon-monoxide-alarm/inbox/mesages/co-alarm?condition=and(gt(features/carbon-monoxide-level/properties/ppm,10),eq(features/alarm/properties/confirmed,false))

Another use case could be to i.e. only send a message to a device when the device is connected:

POST /api/2/things/org.eclipse.ditto:carbon-monoxide-alarm/inbox/messages/doSomething?condition=gt(features/ConnectionStatus/properties/status/readyUntil,time:now)

Permissions to execute the example

For this example, the authorized subject could have READ and WRITE permissions on the complete thing resource. However, it is only necessary on the path thing:/features/alarm/properties/confirmed and thing:features/carbon-monoxide-level/properties/ppm.

Conditional requests via HTTP API

Using the HTTP API the condition can either be specified via HTTP Header or via HTTP query parameter.
In this section, we will show how to use both options.

Conditional request with HTTP Header

POST /api/2/things/org.eclipse.ditto:carbon-monoxide-alarm/outbox/messages/co-alarm
Content-Type: application/json
condition: eq(features/alarm/properties/confirmed,false)

CO Level too high! Open your windows!

Conditional request with HTTP query parameter

POST /api/2/things/org.eclipse.ditto:carbon-monoxide-alarm/outbox/messages/co-alarm?condition=eq(features/alarm/properties/confirmed,false)
Content-Type: application/json

CO Level too high! Open your windows!

Conditional request via Ditto protocol

It is also possible to use conditional requests via the Ditto protocol. Applying the following Ditto command to the existing thing will lead to the same result as in the above HTTP example.

{
  "topic": "org.eclipse.ditto/carbon-monoxide-alarm/things/live/messages/co-alarm",
  "headers": {
    "content-type": "application/json",
    "condition": "eq(features/alarm/properties/confirmed,false)"
  },
  "path": "/outbox/messages/co-alarm",
  "value": "CO Level to high! Open your windows!"
}

Using conditional requests in the Ditto Java Client

The conditional requests are also supported via the Ditto Java Client with the upcoming (Ditto Java Client version 3.1.0).

Example for a conditional update of a thing with the Ditto Java client:

String thingId = "org.eclipse.ditto:carbon-monoxide-alarm";

// initialize the ditto-client
DittoClient dittoClient = ... ;

dittoClient.live().message(Options.condition("eq(features/alarm/properties/confirmed,false)"))
        .from(thingId)
        .subject("co-alarm")
        .payload("CO Level to high! Open your windows!")
        .send(String.class, (response, throwable) -> {
    if (throwable != null) {
        LOGGER.error("Received error while sending conditional update: '{}' ", throwable.toString());
    } else {
        LOGGER.info("Received response for conditional update: '{}'", response);
    }
});

Feedback?

Please get in touch if you have feedback or questions towards this new functionality.

–
The Eclipse Ditto team