Wiki source code of ThingsBoard

Version 210.1 by Dilisi S on 2025/04/21 18:14

version	line-number	content
1.1	1	Table of Contents:
	2
	3	{{toc/}}
	4
16.1	5	{{warning}}
	6	Draft Document
	7	{{/warning}}
1.1	8
65.1	9
	10
	11
64.2	12	= 1. Introduction =
1.1	13
64.2	14
21.1	15	This document guides you on integrating Dragino -NB and -CB series devices data with ThingsBoard. For this guide, we use ThingsBoard Cloud, which is one of the ThingsBoard versions that allows you to try it for free.
2.1	16
21.1	17	The NB series devices end with the suffix -NB, and the CB series devices end with the suffix -CB. For example, S31B-NB is an NB device, and S31-CB is a CB device.
11.1	18
17.1	19
117.1	20	= 2. Prerequisites =
11.1	21
117.1	22	To complete this tutorial, you need to have the following:
64.2	23
121.1	24	* ThingsBoard cloud account
155.1	25	* MQTT Broker (public or private) such as,
	26	[[HiveMQ Cloud>>https://www.hivemq.com]] - You can create a free account to try it or subscribe for a paid account. - We use HiveMQ Cloud as the MQTT broker to build example in this tutorial.**
	27	** [[emqx>>https://www.emqx.com/zh/mqtt/public-mqtt5-broker]] - The public MQTT server is only used for MOTT learning and testing, and should not be used in the production environment.
	28	** [[lns1.thingseye.io>>http://lns1.thingseye.io/]] - This is Dragino's MQTT broker, which requires a CA certificate to use.
59.1	29
121.1	30	== 2.1 ThingsBoard Cloud ==
117.1	31
	32
125.1	33	Go to [[https:~~/~~/thingsboard.io/>>https://thingsboard.io/]]
121.1	34
125.1	35	Click on the Try it now.
	36
	37
	38	[[image:thingsboard-1.png]]
	39
	40
	41	Select either the North America or Europe region. Here, we use the Europe region.
	42
	43	[[image:thingsboard-2.png]]
	44
	45
129.1	46	You can sign up with your Google, GitHub, Facebook, or Apple account. If not you can create an account with providing your name, email address and a password.
125.1	47
129.1	48	Click on the Sign up button.
	49
125.1	50	[[image:thingsboard-3.png\|\|height="651" width="500"]]
	51
	52
129.1	53	You will be navigated to the following page.
	54
	55	[[image:thingsboard-5.png\|\|height="109" width="500"]]
	56
	57
	58	simultaneously, you will receive an email to confirm your email address. Click on the Activate Your Account button.
	59
	60
	61	[[image:thingsboard-4.png\|\|height="249" width="500"]]
	62
	63
	64	Now losing to the account using your credentials:
	65
	66
	67	[[image:thingsboard-6.png\|\|height="244" width="500"]]
	68
	69
121.1	70	== 2.2 HiveMQ Cloud ==
	71
155.1	72	=== 2.2.1 HiveMQ Cloud ===
121.1	73
155.1	74
117.1	75	Go to [[https:~~/~~/www.hivemq.com>>https://www.hivemq.com]]
	76
	77	Click on the Start Free button.
	78
	79	[[image:hivwmq-1.png]]
	80
	81
	82	Click on the Sign Up FREE Now button in the HIVEMQ CLOUD section.
	83
	84	[[image:hivemq-2.png]]
	85
	86
	87	Click on the Sign Up button.
	88
	89	You can sign up with HiveMQ using your GitHub, Google, or LinkedIn account.
	90
	91	If not, provide your email address and a password to create an account by clicking on the Sign Up button.
	92
	93
	94	[[image:hivemq-3.png]]
	95
	96
	97	You will receive an email to verify your email address. Click on the Confirm my account button.
	98
	99
	100	[[image:hivemq-4.jpg\|\|height="889" width="400"]]
	101
	102
	103	You will be redirected to a page asking you to complete your profile. Once done, click the Continue button.
	104
	105
	106	[[image:hivemq-5.png\|\|height="655" width="700"]]
	107
	108
	109	Select the CloudMQ Cloud plan you need. For testing purposes, select the Serverless FREE plan by clicking on the Create Serverless Cluster button.
	110
	111
	112	[[image:hivemq-6.png]]
	113
	114
	115	You will be navigated to the Your Clusters page. Click on the Manage Cluster button.
	116
	117	[[image:hivemq-7.png]]
	118
	119
	120	In your cluster page, you can find some useful parameters you need to create a MQTT connection.
	121
	122	URL: This is the host name. Click on the copy button to copy it.
	123
	124	Port: 8883
	125
	126
121.1	127	Click on the Getting Started tab to setup the username and the password as the connection credentials.
117.1	128
	129
	130	[[image:hivemq-8.png]]
	131
	132
121.1	133	In the 'Create Connection Credentials' section, provide a username and password, then click the Add button.
117.1	134
11.1	135
121.1	136	[[image:hivemq-9.png]]
11.1	137
121.1	138
	139
	140	If everything is successful, you will see the following message.
	141
	142
	143	[[image:hivemq-10.png\|\|height="206" width="500"]]
	144
	145
	146	You will need these MQTT connection parameters when configuring the MQTT integration in the 'Add Integration' section.
	147
	148
155.1	149	=== 2.2.2 emqx ===
	150
	151
	152	The [[emqx>>https://www.emqx.com/zh/mqtt/public-mqtt5-broker]] public MQTT server is only used for MOTT learning and testing, and should not be used in the production environment.
	153
	154
	155	[[image:emqx.png\|\|height="420" width="500"]]
	156
	157
	158	=== 2.2.3 Ins1.thingseye.io ===
	159
	160	[[lns1.thingseye.io>>http://lns1.thingseye.io/]] is the Dragino's MQTT broker, which requires a CA certificate file, Certificate file, and the Private key file to use.
	161
	162	If customers need to use this MQTT connection with ThingsBoard, they need to contact the TE team to obtain three license files.
	163
	164	[[image:ins1.png\|\|height="310" width="500"]]
	165
	166
121.1	167
204.1	168	= 3. Data Converters =
121.1	169
176.1	170
204.1	171	In ThingsBoard, Data Converters are components used to transform incoming or outgoing data between different formats, typically to convert raw telemetry data from devices into a structured format that ThingsBoard can understand, or vice versa.
176.1	172
204.1	173	In this section, you will create a universal uplink data converter for all Dragino NB-IoT devices. The uplink decoder converts any MQTT message coming from a device into key-value pairs that can be used to display and visualize data using various widgets on the dashboard.
176.1	174
	175
204.1	176	== 3.1 Uplink ==
176.1	177
	178
93.1	179	In the left navigation, click Integrations center, and then click Data converters.
11.1	180
59.1	181
93.1	182	[[image:data-converters-list-empty.png]]
59.1	183
	184
204.1	185	On the Data converters page, click on the ‘+’ button, and then click on Create new converter from the dropdown menu.
59.1	186
	187
	188
93.1	189	[[image:create-new-converter-menu.png\|\|height="259" width="500"]]
59.1	190
	191
204.1	192	The Add data converter window appears.
11.1	193
204.1	194	Name it ‘MQTT Uplink Converter’ and select the Type as Uplink.
189.1	195
177.1	196	Click on the TBEL button if it has not been selected by default.
11.1	197
204.1	198	Replace the default TBEL decoder function with the following universal TBEL decoder function, which decodes MQTT payload from any Dragino NB-IoT device.
157.1	199
	200
11.1	201	{{code language="JavaScript"}}
	202	// decode payload to JSON
204.1	203	var pattern = "yyyy/MM/dd HH:mm:ss";
	204	var objdata = {};
	205	var obj1 = {};
179.1	206	var data = decodeToJson(payload);
204.1	207	var deviceName = data.IMEI;
	208	data.remove("IMEI");
	209	var modelname = "Dragino "+ data.Model;
	210	//var mod = data.mod
	211	data.remove("Model");
	212	//delete data.mod
	213	var timestamp = new Date().getTime();
	214	foreach (entry: data.entrySet()) {
	215	var key = entry.getKey();
	216	var value = entry.getValue();
	217	//objdata[key] = data[key]
	218	if(key.matches("^-?\\d+$")){ //is number
	219	obj1[key]=data[key];
	220	var index = obj1[key].length-1;
	221	obj1[key][index]=new Date(obj1[key][index],pattern).getTime();
	222	}
	223	else if (key==="bat"\|\|key==="BAT"){
	224	objdata["battery"] = data[key];
	225	}
	226	else{
	227	objdata[key] = data[key];
	228	}}
	229	var listdata = [{"ts":timestamp,"values":objdata}];
	230	foreach ( entry1: obj1.entrySet()){
	231	var key1 = entry1.getKey();
	232	var value1 = entry1.getValue();
	233	var index = obj1[key1].length-1;
	234	var ts = obj1[key1][index];
	235	if (modelname=="Dragino RS485-NB"){
	236	listdata.push({"ts":ts,"values":{"Payload":obj1[key1][0]}});
	237	}
	238	else{
	239	listdata.push({"ts":ts,"values":{"values":obj1[key1]}});
	240	}
	241	}
	242	var result = {
	243	deviceName: deviceName,
	244	deviceType: modelname,
	245	attributes: {
	246	model: modelname
	247	//customerName: "NB-CB",
	248	//groupName: "NB-CB",
	249	//integrationName: metadata['integrationName']
	250	},
	251	telemetry: listdata
177.1	252	};
	253	return result;
	254	{{/code}}
11.1	255
	256
177.1	257	Once you modify the decoder function, click on the Add button.
11.1	258
	259
204.1	260	[[image:mqtt-uplink-converter.png\|\|height="498" width="500"]]
11.1	261
	262
93.1	263
	264	You should see that the newly added MQTT Uplink converter NB/CB is listed on the Data Converters page.
	265
157.1	266
21.1	267
204.1	268	[[image:data-converters-list.png]]
21.1	269
189.1	270
204.1	271	= 4. Add Integration =
93.1	272
	273
21.1	274	In the left navigation, click Integrations center, and then click Integrations.
11.1	275
105.1	276
	277	[[image:integrations-list-empty.png]]
	278
	279
21.1	280	On the Integrations page, click on the '+' button.
11.1	281
	282
21.1	283	The Add integration window appears.
11.1	284
24.1	285	In the Add integration window, configure the following settings:
11.1	286
21.1	287
11.1	288	Basic settings:
	289
49.1	290	* Integration type: MQTT
208.1	291	* Name: MQTT integration
105.1	292	* Enable integration: YES
201.1	293	* Allow create devices or assets: YES
11.1	294
	295	Click Next button.
	296
105.1	297
11.1	298
208.1	299	[[image:add-integration-part-1.png\|\|height="483" width="500"]]
11.1	300
189.1	301
16.1	302	Uplink data converter:
11.1	303
21.1	304	* Click on the Select existing button.
49.1	305	* Uplink data converter: Select MQTT Uplink Converter NB/CB from the dropdown list.
16.1	306
	307	Click Next button.
	308
	309
105.1	310
208.1	311	[[image:add-integration-part-2.png\|\|height="484" width="500"]]
105.1	312
189.1	313
16.1	314	Downlink data converter:
	315
172.1	316	Dragino NB/CB devices don't require a downlink data converter to decode their payloads, so you can skip this step.
16.1	317
172.1	318	* Click on the Skip button in the Downlink data converter section.
16.1	319
172.1	320	Click Skip button.
16.1	321
105.1	322
172.1	323	[[image:integration-dl-skip.png\|\|height="511" width="500"]]
105.1	324
172.1	325
	326
16.1	327	Connection:
	328
208.1	329	* Host: Host URL (Eg, //011731f7xxxxxxxxxxxfbbedfc63f4.s1.eu.hivemq.cloud//)
	330	* Port: 8883 (the port number may differ based on your MQTT broker)
182.1	331	* Credentials type: Basic
93.1	332	* Username: Username (from your HiveMQ Cloud Cluster with your credentials)
	333	* Password: Password (from your HiveMQ Cloud Cluster with your credentials)
182.1	334	* Enable SSL: YES
208.1	335	* Topic: # (the # symbol indicates that it filters all topics).
93.1	336	* QoS: 0-At most once
105.1	337
189.1	338
	339
208.1	340	[[image:add-integration-4.png\|\|height="484" width="500"]]
	341
	342
105.1	343	Click on the Advanced settings button.
	344
151.1	345	* Clean session: YES
	346	* Retained: YES
16.1	347
105.1	348	[[image:add-integration-connection-advanced-settings.png\|\|height="510" width="500"]]
	349
	350
49.1	351	Click on the Check connection button to verify the MQTT connection using the provided parameters.
16.1	352
49.1	353
105.1	354	[[image:check-connection.png\|\|height="83" width="300"]]
	355
	356
117.1	357	If the connection is successful, you will see the Connected message. If not, check your connection parameters again.
49.1	358
105.1	359
	360	[[image:connection-success.png\|\|height="511" width="500"]]
	361
	362
16.1	363	Click on the Add button.
	364
59.1	365	You should see that the newly added integration is listed on the Integrations page.
49.1	366
59.1	367	Since we haven't received data from a device yet, the integration Status is shown as Pending.
49.1	368
	369
193.1	370	[[image:integration-added.png]]
117.1	371
	372
193.1	373
204.1	374	= 5. Verifying the receipt of data from virtual devices =
49.1	375
16.1	376
204.1	377	== 5.1 How does it work? ==
64.1	378
141.1	379
130.1	380	We use the Mosquitto MQTT client to simulate MQTT messages, acting as a virtual device. First, install the Mosquitto client on your computer from [[this link>>url:https://mosquitto.org/download/]]. The Mosquitto client publishes messages to the MQTT broker (HiveMQ) on a specified MQTT topic. ThingsBoard subscribes to these messages using the same topic.
	381
182.1	382	The Mosquitto client publishes messages (payloads) on the topic /device/a. Of course, you can use any topic for testing.
130.1	383
182.1	384	(% id="cke_bm_37386S" style="display:none" %) (%%)The MQTT payload format is as follows:
130.1	385
64.1	386	{{code language="none"}}
182.1	387	{"IMEI": "350693903995577", "temperature":25, "humidity":80, "pressure":1005}
64.1	388	{{/code}}
	389
182.1	390	Once ThingsBoard receives this message, it forwards this payload to the matching device through the integration.
130.1	391
159.1	392
130.1	393	== 5.2 Sending messages ==
	394
	395
193.1	396	On your computer's terminal, issue the following MQTT command which simulates the device 'Device A'. The message payload contains the fields IMEI, temperature, humidity, and pressure, which hold the values 350693903995577, 30, 80, and 1005 respectively. This payload is also (technically) known as telemetry.
130.1	397
	398	{{code language="none"}}
182.1	399	mosquitto_pub -d -q 1 -h 011731f7928xxxxx.s1.eu.hivemq.cloud -p 8883 -u "xxxxx" -P "xxxxx" -t "device/a" -m '{"IMEI":"350693903995577", "temperature":30, "humidity":80, "pressure":1005}'
130.1	400	{{/code}}
	401
141.1	402	If the integration was performed without errors, the status of the integration changes to 'Active' after the first telemetry transmission.
	403
	404
	405	[[image:integration-active.png]]
	406
	407
204.1	408	== 5.3 Viewing messages ==
141.1	409
	410
167.1	411	Go back to the Integrations page.
141.1	412
167.1	413	Click on the MQTT integration NB/CB in the Integrations page to see its details.
141.1	414
167.1	415	Click on the Edit button (//pen icon//).
141.1	416
167.1	417	Click on the Disabled button in the upper-right corner.
141.1	418
167.1	419	Turn on the All messages (15 min) option. This will enable displaying all messages in the Events tab. This setting will expire in 15 minutes, and you will need to repeat the same steps if you want to view the messages in the Events tab later.
141.1	420
167.1	421	Click on the Apply button.
141.1	422
167.1	423	Then click on the Apply changes (//tick icon//) button.
141.1	424
167.1	425
193.1	426	[[image:debug-enabled.png\|\|height="301" width="700"]]
167.1	427
	428
193.1	429
	430
167.1	431	Now go to the Events tab.
	432
193.1	433	Select the Event type as Debug from the dropdown list.
167.1	434
193.1	435	Publish another message (of course, you can repeat the previous message by pressing the UP arrow on your keyboard and then press Enter key) to your MQTT broker from your terminal, for example:
167.1	436
193.1	437	{{code language="none"}}
	438	mosquitto_pub -d -q 1 -h 011731f7928xxxxx.s1.eu.hivemq.cloud -p 8883 -u "xxxxx" -P "xxxxx" -t "device/a" -m '{"IMEI":"350693903995577", "temperature":30, "humidity":80, "pressure":1005}'
	439	{{/code}}
167.1	440
193.1	441	Now you can see that uplink message in the Events tab (Click the refresh button if you didn't see any messages in the Events tab). The status should be OK if there is no errors in your integration.
	442
	443
182.1	444	[[image:Screenshot 2025-03-26 at 19.49.31.png]]
167.1	445
	446
182.1	447
167.1	448	Then click on the three dots (...) in the Message column. You can see the uplink message's payload in the Message window.
	449
	450
182.1	451	[[image:Screenshot 2025-03-26 at 19.47.52.png]]
141.1	452
	453
182.1	454
	455
164.1	456	Now, you have successfully tested your integration with a simulated uplink payload and verified that it is received by ThingsBoard, and the device is provisioned.
141.1	457
	458
204.1	459	= 6. Creating a Dashboard =
141.1	460
145.1	461	ThingsBoard Dashboards provide a powerful way to visualize and monitor real-time and historical data from connected devices. They allow users to create interactive, customizable panels displaying telemetry data, device status, and other key metrics. With a variety of widgets, including charts, maps, and tables, dashboards help users gain insights, track trends, and manage IoT deployments efficiently.
141.1	462
	463
145.1	464	This section guides you on how to create a dashboard to display temperature and humidity data from the device on a time-series chart. You may also use other widgets in ThingsBoard to display data according to your requirements.
141.1	465
145.1	466
169.1	467	First simulate a few messages using MQTT. This time, we have added the 'humidity' field to the payload. Eg:
	468
196.1	469	{{code language="none"}}mosquitto_pub -d -q 1 -h 011731f7928xxxxx.s1.eu.hivemq.cloud -p 8883 -u "xxxxx" -P "xxxxx" -t "device/a" -m '{"IMEI":"350693903995577", "temperature":22, "humidity":80, "pressure":1005}'{{/code}}
169.1	470
	471
145.1	472	In ThingsBoard, from the left navigation menu, click Dashboards. Then, click the + button and select Create new dashboard from the dropdown menu.
	473
	474
141.1	475	[[image:dashboard-1.png]]
	476
	477
	478	In the Title text box, enter NB/CB Test Dashboard as the title of the dashboard.
	479
	480	Click on the Add button.
	481
	482
	483	[[image:dashboard-2.png\|\|height="526" width="500"]]
	484
	485
	486	Click on the Add widget / Add new widget button.
	487
	488
	489	[[image:dashboard-3.png]]
	490
	491
145.1	492	In the Select widgets bundle window, click Charts.
141.1	493
	494
145.1	495	[[image:dashboard-4.png\|\|height="537" width="700"]]
	496
	497
	498
	499	In the Charts: select widget window, click Time series chart.
	500
	501
	502	[[image:dashboard-5.png\|\|height="525" width="700"]]
	503
	504
	505	Configure the Time series chart widget as follows:
	506
196.1	507	* Datasource - select Device A device you provisioned.
149.1	508	* Series:
145.1	509	temperature** - you can see this key by default.
149.1	510	humidity - Click Add series button. Then add the humidity for the key and then type %** as its unit.
145.1	511	* Click on the Add button.
	512
200.1	513	{{info}}
	514	You can add only the relevant fields from the device's payload to display data on a widget. These fields are called 'keys'.
	515	{{/info}}
145.1	516
198.1	517	[[image:Screenshot 2025-03-31 at 06.51.15.png\|\|height="485" width="700"]]
	518
	519
149.1	520	The time-series chart will appear in edit mode. Resize it by clicking and dragging the lower-right corner.
	521
	522	Click the Save button to add the widget to the dashboard.
	523
	524
	525	[[image:timeseries-3.png\|\|height="347" width="700"]]
	526
	527
	528	Now send the following MQTT messages from the terminal to simulate the data.
	529
	530
	531	{{code language="none"}}
196.1	532	mosquitto_pub -d -q 1 -h 011731f7928xxxxx.s1.eu.hivemq.cloud -p 8883 -u "xxxxx" -P "xxxxx" -t "device/a" -m '{"IMEI":"350693903995577", "temperature":22, "humidity":70, "pressure":1005}'
149.1	533
196.1	534	mosquitto_pub -d -q 1 -h 011731f7928xxxxx.s1.eu.hivemq.cloud -p 8883 -u "xxxxx" -P "xxxxx" -t "device/a" -m '{"IMEI":"350693903995577", "temperature":27, "humidity":72, "pressure":1005}'
149.1	535
196.1	536	mosquitto_pub -d -q 1 -h 011731f7928xxxxx.s1.eu.hivemq.cloud -p 8883 -u "xxxxx" -P "xxxxx" -t "device/a" -m '{"IMEI":"350693903995577", "temperature":19, "humidity":80, "pressure":1005}'
149.1	537	{{/code}}
	538
	539	The chart will update with the values in realtime, as shown in the below image.
	540
	541
	542	[[image:timeseries-4.png\|\|height="316" width="700"]]
	543
	544
198.1	545	= 8. Configure Physical NB-IoT Sensor =
146.1	546
	547
172.1	548	Now, let's experiment with sending data to ThingsBoard using a real NB-IoT device. For example, we will use the TS01-NB.
146.1	549
	550	First, configure the NB-IoT device with the necessary MQTT settings using AT commands. Below is a list of AT commands you can use.
	551
	552
	553	AT Commands
	554
149.1	555	* AT+PRO=3,3 ~/~/ Use MQTT to connect to ThingsBoard. Payload Type set to 3.
175.1	556	* AT+SUBTOPIC=<MQTT subscribe topic> Eg: TS01-NB
169.1	557	* AT+PUBTOPIC=<MQTT publish topic> Eg: TS01-NB
150.1	558	* AT+CLIENT=null
	559	* AT+UNAME=<MQTT Username>
	560	* AT+PWD=<MQTT Password>
152.1	561	* AT+SERVADDR=<Broker address, Port>
146.1	562
150.1	563	Test your uplink by pressing the ACT button for 1 second.
172.1	564
167.1	565
	566
196.1	567	The following image shows the uplink payload of a real Dragino device. The publish topic is 'TS01-NB' that contains fields in the payload, IMEI, IMSI, Model, temperature, etc. Note that we have created a device named TS01-NB in the Devices section in advance.
167.1	568
172.1	569
169.1	570	[[image:image-4.png]]

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