Rule Actions

What a rule does when its condition is true.

An action runs when the logic block it is linked to evaluates to true. A rule can have several actions, and a saved action can be reused in other rules.

Rule actions use the same output connectors as data flows, plus downlinks:

Notifications

Alert users by email, SMS, Microsoft Teams, or Slack.

Streaming

Forward data to a webhook, a message broker, or a cloud service.

Databases

Store data in the akenza DB or an external database.

Downlink

Send a command or configuration to a device.

The content an action sends can be customized with payload templating, for example to include the value that triggered the rule.

akenza DB action

The akenza DB action of a rule stores the rule result as a message on a device. It has two options that pass the result on, which are only available on this action.

The akenza DB rule action

Field	Description
Topic	The topic of the stored message.
Invoke Rule engine	Evaluate the rules again with the stored message. See below.
Invoke target data flow	Also send the stored message to the outputs of the target device's data flow. See below.
Target device	The device the message is stored on: Input device, the device that triggered the rule, Select device, a device you choose, or Dynamic.
Use custom payload	Store a payload template instead of the rule result.

Invoke Rule engine

When enabled, the stored message is evaluated by the rules again, so another rule can be applied to the result of this one.

If the result comes from a Custom Logic block, the emitted action needs the structure of a sample. See Re-invoking the rule engine.

The rule engine can be invoked at most 3 times in a row.

Invoke target data flow

When enabled, the message stored on the target device is also sent to the outputs of that device's data flow, such as Kafka, a webhook, or an email. Use it to pass a rule result on through the integrations of the target device.

The option is only available when:

• Invoke Rule engine is enabled, and

• the target device is set to Select device or Dynamic.

It is not available with Input device, because the triggering message would be sent to the outputs twice.

The same limit of 3 consecutive invocations applies. After the third, the outputs of the target device are not invoked either.

The outputs of the target device receive the rule result, not the custom payload. The custom payload only applies to the message stored on the device.