Adding existing and non existing fragments to devices (SmartREST)

[strasser.manfred (Manfred Strasser)]

Hi Comunity,
please see my following doubts.

What product/components do you use and which version/fix level?

Cumulocity
Backend: 1011.0.12
UI: 1010.0.24

Are you using a free trial or a product with a customer license?

License

What are trying to achieve? Please describe in detail.

Automatically add (and activate) fragments to devices, to be available in device-management.
Fragments will be received and controlled via MQTT - SmartREST

What we do
We are using <Administration/Settings/Properties Library>. We add properties and in we can activate all/some of these properties. After that, we can assign a value and the property “is part” of the device.

What we would like to do
#1
Basically, we would like to activate properties for a device via SmartREST.
We transfer the property-name and property value to a device. Then the device should have it “activated” (like manually with . Once the operator opens the device in the device manager, it should handle/display all added fragments.

#2 Additionally (this is a second, additional request):
In case #1 is OK - Is it possible to add & activate fragments, that are neither known to the device, nor they are properties from the properties Library?
Imagine I would like to add an information like
“manufacturer” : “Company xy, South-West-Something” to a device. And this information is shown in the device management.

Any input, idea how to implement this, is highly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
BR Manfred

[Murat_Bayram]

To #1:

Basically it seems you could do the southbound via e.g. a configuration file where all “allowed” property names and values" are listed. However if these get adapted this needs to update the “supportedOperations” Fragment on the device itself (see: link).
Another idea could be to define a custom Operation for showing/edit that (link for adding SmartRest Templates: Link )

The supportedOperations values thus are interpreted by the device management ui in terms of what it shows for that particular device. Just check e.g. how the array looks like for thin-edge.io or the OPCUA gateway agent. If you define custom “supportedOperations” the functionality of that tab needs to be added to the device management application via the SDK.

#2 You can basically add anything you want. However you can currently only display information within the device management (at the device info) that are within the properties library. This is not true for the cockpit application, here you can visualize any property that belongs to the particular device.