AzureIoTConnector

Connects to the Azure IoT Hub to publish and receive messages.

Typical Uses

Communicating with Azure IoT Hub to interact with IoT (Internet of Things) devices.

How does it work?

The AWSIoTConnector uses your AWS account credentials to perform various tasks:

Action	Task
Receive Cloud-to-Device Messages	Receive messages from the hub as a specified device.
Send to Azure IoT Hub	Send messages to the hub as a specified device.

Optional Input Port

This transformer has two modes, depending on whether a connector is attached to the Input port or not:

Input-driven: When input features are connected, the transformer runs once for each feature it receives in the Input port.
Run Once: When no input features are connected, the transformer runs one time.

When the Input port is in use, the Initiator output port is also enabled.

Configuration

Input Ports

Output Ports

Output

Features with added attributes, as specified in parameters and according to Action:

Action	Output - Input-Driven	Output - Run Once
Receive Cloud-to-Device Messages	Multiple features, one for each message received, with details about the message.	Multiple features, one for each message received, with details about the message.
Send to Azure IoT Hub	Input feature with details about the sent message.	One new feature with details about the sent message.

Parameters

Authentication

Credential Source

Select the type of credentials to use:

Web Connection (Recommended): Use an Azure IoT web connection.
Embedded: Embed IoT Hub Name, Primary Key, and SAS Token Expiry time as transformer parameters.

Account

When Credential Source is Web Connection, select or create a Web Connection connecting to a Azure IoT Web Service.

See Using Web Connections.

Embedded Credentials

When Credential Source is Embedded:

IoT Hub Name	Specify the IoT Hub Name.
Primary Key	Specify the Primary Key. Any symmetric key for the IoT device can be used.
SAS Token Expiry	Specify the number of seconds the generated SAS token will last.

Request

Device ID

Provide the ID of the device to connect as.

Action

Select an operation to perform. Choices include:

Receive Cloud-to-Device Messages
Send to Azure IoT Hub

QoS Level

Select the MQTT protocol Quality of Service (QoS) level to be applied:

At Most Once (0)
At Least Once (1)

Action > Receive Cloud-to-Device Messages

Receive Options

Receive Mode

Select a message receiving method:

Stream: The connector continues to receive messages indefinitely. The translation must be terminated to stop receiving.
Batch: Only a given number of messages are received before the connection is closed.

Batch Size

When Receive Mode is Batch, specify the number of messages to read per batch.

Output Attributes

Attributes to Add

Select any available attributes to be included on the output features:

_message_id	The sequential identifier for the message.
_payload	The message payload. UTF-8 string if possible to decode, otherwise binary or numeric.
_qos	The quality of service level with which the message was sent or received.

Action > Send to Azure IoT Hub

Send Options

Payload

Provide the content of the message.

This is often JSON, but can be any string, binary, integer or floating-point value.

Output Attributes

Attributes to Add

Select any available attributes to be included on the output features:

_message_id	The sequential identifier for the message.
_payload	The message payload. UTF-8 string if possible to decode, otherwise binary or numeric.
_qos	The quality of service level with which the message was sent or received.
_topic	Available when the Action is Send to Azure IoT Hub. The topic the message sent to.

Editing Transformer Parameters

Transformer parameters can be set by directly entering values, using expressions, or referencing other elements in the workspace such as attribute values or user parameters. Various editors and context menus are available to assist. To see what is available, click beside the applicable parameter.

How to Set Parameter Values

Defining Values

There are several ways to define a value for use in a Transformer. The simplest is to simply type in a value or string, which can include functions of various types such as attribute references, math and string functions, and workspace parameters.

Using the Text Editor

The Text Editor provides a convenient way to construct text strings (including regular expressions) from various data sources, such as attributes, parameters, and constants, where the result is used directly inside a parameter.

Text Editor

Using the Arithmetic Editor

The Arithmetic Editor provides a convenient way to construct math expressions from various data sources, such as attributes, parameters, and feature functions, where the result is used directly inside a parameter.

Arithmetic Editor

Conditional Values

Set values depending on one or more test conditions that either pass or fail.

Parameter Condition Definition Dialog

Content

Expressions and strings can include a number of functions, characters, parameters, and more.

When setting values - whether entered directly in a parameter or constructed using one of the editors - strings and expressions containing String, Math, Date/Time or FME Feature Functions will have those functions evaluated. Therefore, the names of these functions (in the form @<function_name>) should not be used as literal string values.

Content Types

String Functions	These functions manipulate and format strings.
Special Characters	A set of control characters is available in the Text Editor.
Math Functions	Math functions are available in both editors.
Date/Time Functions	Date and time functions are available in the Text Editor.
Math Operators	These operators are available in the Arithmetic Editor.
FME Feature Functions	These return primarily feature-specific values.
FME Parameters	FME and workspace-specific parameters may be used.
Creating and Modifying User Parameters	Create your own editable parameters.

Dialog Options - Tables

Table Tools

Transformers with table-style parameters have additional tools for populating and manipulating values.

Row Reordering

Enabled once you have clicked on a row item. Choices include:

Add a row
Remove a row
Move current row up one
Move current row down one
Move current row to top
Move current row to bottom

Cut, Copy, and Paste

Enabled once you have clicked on a row item. Choices include:

Cut a row - delete and copy to clipboard
Copy a row to the clipboard
Paste a row from the clipboard

Cut, copy, and paste may be used within a transformer, or between transformers.

Filter

Start typing a string, and the matrix will only display rows matching those characters. Searches all columns. This only affects the display of attributes within the transformer - it does not alter which attributes are output.

Import

Import populates the table with a set of new attributes read from a dataset. Specific application varies between transformers.

Reset/Refresh

Generally resets the table to its initial state, and may provide additional options to remove invalid entries. Behavior varies between transformers.

Note: Not all tools are available in all transformers.

For more information, see Transformer Parameter Menu Options.

Reference

Processing Behavior	Feature-Based
Feature Holding	No
Dependencies
Aliases
History	Released FME 2019.0

FME Online Resources

The FME Community and Support Center Knowledge Base have a wealth of information, including active forums with 35,000+ members and thousands of articles.

Search for all results about the AzureIoTConnector on the FME Community.

Examples may contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Vancouver, Open Government Licence - British Columbia, and/or Open Government Licence – Canada.