Stateful Operations

Sharing data between uplink decodings or rule executions

Alongside user-defined inputs and parameters for Custom Device Types and Custom Logic Blocks, the implicit event property called state is provided. Using the state allows users to persist and share data ("memory") between different uplinks (state per device) and rule executions (state per rule). This can be achieved by emitting the state which will be accessible in the next invocation. The state property is shared between uplinks of the same device or for the rule engine for runs of the same rule, regardless of the source that triggered a rule execution.

Accessing the rule state property from a Custom Device Type or Custom Logic Block script:

function consume(event) { 
    var state = event.state || {};
    //your implementation goes here...
}

Initially event.state property is an empty object!

An example of updating a rule state property from Custom Logic Block script:

function consume(event) { 
    var state = event.state || {};
    //your implementation goes here...
    state["numOfSamples"] = numOfSamples;
    emit('state', state);
}

or

function consume(event) { 
    //your implementation goes here...
    emit('state', { "numOfSamples":  numOfSamples });
}

Example Stateful Custom Logic Block

An example of a Custom Logic Block script that makes use of the state property:

function consume(event) { 
    var temperature = event.inputs["temp1"]; 
    var threshold = event.properties["tempT"]; 
    var ruleState = event.state;
    if (temperature > threshold) {
        var numOfSamples = ruleState.numOfSamples;
        if (typeof numOfSamples !== "undefined") {
            numOfSamples = numOfSamples + 1;
        } else {
            numOfSamples = 1;
        }
        emit('state', { "numOfSamples":  numOfSamples });
        //Emitting action when numOfSamples is an even number
        if (numOfSamples % 2 === 0) {
            emit('action', { "message": "Rule has triggered the action!", "addedTemp": threshold + temperature }); 
        }
    } 
}

The rule state will be reset on rule deactivation or deletion. Once a rule is activated again, the rule state property will be set to a default value.

A more advanced example of using rule state:

// rule that adaptively changes the threshold based on the average temperature
function consume(event) {
  const alpha = 0.2;
  const initialThreshold = event.properties.initialThreshold;
  const currentTemperature = event.inputs.temperature;

  let state = event.state || {};
  let movingAverage = state.movingAverage || 0;
  let threshold = state.threshold || initialThreshold;

  let numberOfSamples = state.numberOfSamples || 0;

  //compute a moving average
  movingAverage =
    (currentTemperature + numberOfSamples * movingAverage) /
    (numberOfSamples + 1);

  // let's define the threshold by 20% above the average
  const currentThreshold = movingAverage * 1.2;

  // exponentially smooth the threshold in order to account
  // for the phase where not much data is present
  threshold = alpha * currentThreshold + (1 - alpha) * threshold;
  if (currentTemperature > threshold) {
    emit("action", {
      message: `temperature (${currentTemperature}°C) is above threshold (${threshold})`,
    });
  }

  numberOfSamples += 1;
  state = { threshold, numberOfSamples, movingAverage };
  emit("state", state);
}

Event Object

Refer to Event Object in Rule Logic - Custom Logic Blocks for all available properties.