The Ubidots Events Engine is a complete set of tools that allows you to enable passive monitoring, generation of complex alerts, device control, and the triggering of different actions within and outside Ubidots.
By combining different types of events, triggers, and actions you can create a setup that oversees your operation and reacts to any anomaly based on variable's values, the inactivity of a device, scheduled responses, and more.
This guide provides a breakdown of how the Events Engine works. You'll learn about the different types of events, triggers, and actions, as well as an overview of the plan’s capacity and event billing details.
1. Types of events
Ubidots offers three types of events:
Conditional: These allow you to dictate the circumstances under which an event is triggered based on the activities of one or multiple variables within a device.
Global: These events work as conditionals, with the difference that global events can oversee hundreds of devices at the same time.
Scheduled: This type of event allows you to execute actions on a predefined, weekly basis.
2. Types of triggers
For Conditional and Global events you can choose the type of “triggers” that will define how the event works. You can configure individual triggers in a detailed way and use multiple triggers in the same event to set up an “AND/OR” logic, ensuring that no conditions are left uncovered. Scheduled events don’t have the same type of triggers since their activation logic is fixed and predefined.
There are also three types of triggers:
Value based (e.g., if the variable’s value is greater than X).
Inactivity (e.g., if the variable has not been updated in X amount of time).
Geofence (if the device enters/exits a defined area in a map).
3. Types of actions
After defining the conditions that trigger the event, it’s time to decide what actions will take place as a result. Actions range from alerting relevant parties of anomalies, controlling device responses, activating webhooks, or triggering UbiFunctions for complex calculations.
As with triggers, you can choose one or multiple actions for the same event out of these available options:
4. When and how does an event trigger?
There are two concepts that define how and when events trigger: active windows and thresholds (both of which are determined by you).
An active window defines when an event can be activated. This could be anytime or narrowed down to specific hours within a week. Remember, an event can only be activated within the defined windows.
A threshold combines certain conditions that activate the event, such as a specific temperature value, device inactivity period, or geographical location. Once these limits are reached or exceeded, the event activates.
The figure below depicts how the Events Engine triggers alerts inside an active event window. Note that data (blue line) passes through the threshold and, thus, triggers an event. The data must then fall below the threshold before Ubidots triggers the event again.
After an event is activated, subsequent data that meets the threshold conditions will not trigger it again. A second activation only takes place if the conditions “fall” below the threshold and then exceed it again:
If you require an action to trigger repeatedly while the event conditions are above the threshold, you can use the “repeat action” feature found in the configuration section of every action.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Be aware that repeated event actions also count as “event executions” and may carry additional costs.
As said before, events can ONLY be triggered in an active window as depicted below.
The previous image also shows how a variable whose incoming values don’t go below the defined threshold will still activate the event when a new value arrives during the next active window. In this case, active windows work as a “threshold resetter”.
Events based on inactivity triggers will ONLY become active if the inactivity happens within the active window.
5. Event options (log, copy, edit, etc.)
Ubidots events come equipped with additional features that further extend their utility. These include:
A log to check the type of activity (changes made to the event, activations, and triggered actions), the date at which the activity happened, and the status of the activity. A list of the logs of all your events can also be accessed from the page's subheader.
A button to assign the event to an organization.
An option to edit the event to make any required changes.
A button to copy the event instead of creating a new one from scratch. Note that if the original event was already linked to an organization, then the new event will also be part of the same organization.
The option to disable the event in case you want to keep the event around but don’t want it to activate. It can later be enabled again.
If the event won’t be needed again, you can permanently delete it.
6. Plan's capacity and features
| Professional | Industrial | Enterprise |
Event executions | 1,000 ($10 per million extra) | 1,000 ($10 per million extra) |
Agreed |
Email and Telegram actions | 100 ($2 per thousand extra) | 100 ($2 per thousand extra) |
Agreed |
SMS and voice call actions | 10 (Pricing based on receiving country) | 10 (Pricing based on receiving country) |
Agreed |
Events with multiple AND/OR triggers |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
Scheduled events | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Inactivity triggers | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Events with dynamic thresholds |
✘ |
✔ |
✔ |
Contact methods for end users | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ |
Global events | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ |