Attributes are where you define the characteristics of your device. This allows you to define items such as how quickly the device appears Offline in the app, the image shown to the user when adding the device, fields shown for customizing units and more.
...
Since there are a number of Attributes that can be used, the documentation is broken out into sections with additional details on attribute fields you can define. When you start a new template, the Attributes section will be empty but you will want to add at least a few from the Recommended/Required section at a minimum.
| Table of Contents |
|---|
Recommended/Required
device_type: Required for all devices. Describes the type of device defined by the template. Can be anything you want (but see notes below). Used by the application UI to key off of when setting up alerts, displaying appropriate units, etc. This also gets returned in API calls and displayed in various places within the app.💡 Note: The app has several built in values which, if used, will fallback to certain hardcoded display behavior. If you are creating a new template and want to avoid any such instances, be sure to use something here which is not one of the reserved names (see below). E.g. “Laird RSXX1” instead of the generic “Temperature/Humidity”.Reserved (Old) device types: Open/Close, Temperature/Humidity, Motion, Level Sensor, CO, CO2, Push Button, AC Current Meter, Light, Water Meter, Occupancy, Smokeinstructions: Single sentence shown to the user during the Device Setup process, meant to help the user in setting up the hardware for the first time.Example: Pull activation tab, then wait until green light flashes.image_url: Link to image of the hardware which gets displayed to the user during the Device Setup process.💡 Note: Use a shared image service so that the image is always available. Do not direct link to a manufacturer’s image since it could change if they update the model or worse, they could remove the image.Example: https://res.cloudinary.com/dctlrnwuz/image/upload/v1557784791/agoraopinion_is7f61.png
...
help_url: Link to help article which details the Installation, Setup and Reset procedures for the device. This should link to something like a ZenDesk help article specific to this piece of hardware.💡 If no such article currently exists for the hardware, or you do not want a help link to appear for this device, simply do not include this attribute and such links will be hidden from the user.Example: https://iotinabox.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360036081234-Dingtek-Bin-Sensorbroadcast_interval: How often the device sends new readings, in minutes. This is used by the app to determine proper Offline status (whether or not the device is communicating regularly as expected) for the device.Example (for 20 minutes and another for 12 hours): 20, 720videodownlink_url: Link to a Setup video that demonstrates to the user how to set up the hardware. Similar to the help_url, this should only link directly to content specific to this hardware.💡 If no such video exists, do not include this attribute and such links will be hidden from the user. We recommend linking only to YouTube videos which are directly myDevices or your control so that the video does not change or get removed unexpectedly.Example: https://youtu.be/tP_yax-oGK0commands: A list of commands that can be sent to the device to change its broadcast_interval. Per Upper Management - All new templates must have this defined. Please see full details in Downlink Commands entry.resource_links: A list of Videos, Datasheets, Guides and Help information for this device. Per Upper Management - All new templates must have this defined. Please see full details in Resource Info entry.allow_simulator: Whether or not this template should be shown under Simulated Devices. Per Upper Management - Unless this is a company-specific / one-off customized template, templates for new devices should have this defined. See the Simulator entry.
Optional
help_url: DEPRECATED - With the addition of the Resources information this item is no longer necessary and will be phased out from display.video_url: DEPRECATED - With the addition of the Resources information this item is no longer necessary and will be phased out from display.
Device Specific attributes
...
💡 Set as few or as many of these as needed for the device. For example, Tracking devices currently have both is_push_button_device and is_tracking_device since they count as both.