Getting Started with AirVantage Platform

Easily send data to AirVantage

When developers start to develop a full IoT solution, the main issue they commonly face is how best to send data to AirVantage and then see data collected in the graphical interface or access them using the Web services (API).

So let’s start by explaining how you can quickly install a sample application on your smartphone or tablet (Android or Apple):

• to simulate any object
• to send data to AirVantage without the need for any other sensor, hardware, device, wireless module or embedded application.

Then we will give a first look at the API.

Any Trouble? Have a look to the AV Phone FAQ

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API Basics

REST (REpresentational State Transfer)

Request:

HTTP verb	Base URI	Resource Path	Parameters
GET	https://{server}/api/v1	/users/current	?access_token={token}

HTTP-based RESTful API calls are defined with the following syntax:

• Base URI, such as http://example.com/resources/
• An Internet media type (JSON, XML, RSS, CSV …)
• Standard HTTP verbs:
  • GET - Used for retrieving resources,
  • POST - Used for creating resources, performing custom actions,
  • PUT - Used for updating resources or collections.
  • DELETE - Used for deleting resources
• Hypertext links

(src: Wikipedia )

Response:

{
  uid: "81210eca05484d34a29bc6c34dc31bf7",
  email: "jdoe@mycompany.com",
  name: "John Doe",
  company: {
    uid: "97ba9e22078548a2847912a87152e3f4",
    name: "My Company"
  },
  profile: {
    uid: "df1c0f7d5f8c4db2b45978f98e1093ad",
    name: "Manager"
  }
}

JSON (JavaScript Object Notation)

JSON stands for JavaScript Object Notation. It is an open standard format that uses human-readable text to transmit data objects consisting of attribute-value pairs. It is used primarily to transmit data between servers and web applications, as an alternative to XML. (src: Wikipedia )

• Widely adopted
• Language-independent
• Simple (set of attribute-value pairs)
• Types
• Number, String, Boolean, Array, Object, null

GETting your system

I want to GET my first device created in AirVantage.
You will need to use the API System. The core object of AirVantage is the System: it represents the real world object or machine you want to manage. You can start to play with the API of this entity to understand how the API works.

• Get information about my system using the name:

> GET https://{server}/api/v1/systems?name=MySystem&access_token={token} 

• Copy the uid field from the response

{
   "items":    [
            {
         "uid": "3ed6cd7426604ee0bca9fe01f2521230",
         "name": "MySystem",
         "gateway":          {
            "uid": "12e4b922b0034b26a92e7f9934da13ae",
            "imei": null,
            "macAddress": null,
            "serialNumber": "458555527",
            "type": null,
            "creationDate": "1337948436603"
         },
         "subscriptions" : [{
            "uid": "bafd571985d641d7b159dc7ef3214f5d",
            "identifier" : "4569874563254156984",
            "mobileNumber": null,
            "networkIdentifier": null,
            "operator": "UNKNOWN",
            "state" : "INVENTORY"
         }]
      }

GETting raw Data

I want to see the stream of values sent from my device.

List historical values for a given data id and system:

> GET https://{server}/api/v1/systems/data/raw?
      targetIds={system_uid}&dataIds={data_id}&access_token={token}

For example: data_id can be phone.custom1

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All set!

Now you know how to GET data from AirVantage, you are ready to start creating charts and tables, or to generate alerts from custom applications, and explore the AirVantage API.

Learn how, and discover what else you can do with the API, by taking a look at the AirVantage API Reference