Having hundreds or thousands of devices in Ubidots can seem like mountains of data that would bury anyone. But, with Device Properties, you can quickly add metadata to your Ubidots devices to efficiently organize, recall, and work with data coming from hundreds of different data sources.
1. What are device Properties?
By definition, device properties are metadata, or “a set of data that describes and gives information about other data.” In Ubidots, the properties of a device are the metadata describing a device or its settings. Properties are not variables.
A device's Variable is the specific sensor or digital data providing insights to a system or a process and are updated regularly.
A device's Properties are the specific identifying or describing attributes of a device, its location, or its characteristics. Properties tend to not change nor are device properties stored as a form of data.
Type of data | Device Properties | Device variables |
Definition |
|
|
Examples | Ubidots default:
User-defined:
| User-defined variables:
|
Ubidots Device Properties allow you to add a layer of custom metadata to your devices for efficient device identification, organization, and usability.
2. Adding new Properties to a Device
To add a new property to a device, simply click on your device then scroll until you see the “Properties” title in the left-hand device options pane. At the bottom of the pane, you will find "Add new property."
Now click on “Add Property”. A drawer window will appear where you can specify the name, description and format of the property:
Supported formats are:
Text: A text string of up to 255 characters.
List: A list of text strings, which will be presented as individual values in a drop down menu.
Number: A float number.
True or False: A boolean value.
Date
JSON: A JSON object that can be used as payload in your events.
Device: A device that can serve as a "global device".
Note the provided description will appear as a tooltip icon next to the property name. If you click on it, you’ll be able to see the property’s description:
To edit a property, simply double-click on its value:
You may want to check out Ubidots Device Types to specify a default set of Properties for any new device that is on-boarded to Ubidots.