Creating a Thing from a Virtual Thing Service (Java SDK)

Question

Hi All,I am attempting to use the Java SDK to create a virtual thing that will create a new remote thing on the TWX server, and eventually have the virtual thing and remote thing automatically bound.I've created a service on the virtual thing (below) that should allow me to do that, but I am running into problems when I try to initiate that via the remote service browser in TWX.Here's my java code...@ThingworxServiceDefinition(name = "Create_Remote_Thing", description = "Creates a remote thing on the server")@ThingworxServiceResult(name = "result", description = "There is no result", baseType = "NOTHING")public void Create_Remote_Thing(@ThingworxServiceParameter(name = "ThingName", description = "The name of the thing that is to be created", baseType = "STRING") String name,@ThingworxServiceParameter(name = "ThingTemplate", description = "This is the name of the template that is being inherited", baseType = "THINGTEMPLATENAME") String template,@ThingworxServiceParameter(name = "Description", description = "The description for the thing being created", baseType = "STRING") String description) throws TimeoutException, ConnectionException, Exception { ValueCollection params = new ValueCollection();params.put("name", new StringPrimitive(name));params.put("thingTemplateName", new StringPrimitive(template));params.put("description", new StringPrimitive(description)); ClientConfigurator config = new ClientConfigurator(); ConnectedThingClient myclient = new ConnectedThingClient(config);myclient.invokeService(ThingworxEntityTypes.Resources, "EntityServices", "CreateThing", params, 5000);myclient.invokeService(ThingworxEntityTypes.Things, name, "EnableThing", null, 5000);myclient.invokeService(ThingworxEntityTypes.Things, name, "RestartThing", null, 5000);       }This service is now visible on the server, and property values are streaming when I open a connection.  That said, I am getting this error when trying to remotely test the service…Unable to Invoke Service Create_Remote_Thing on Simple1 : No open connections were available on endpoint 17I’m not quite sure why this would happen while data is streaming, since it seems that a connection is clearly open.  My full code can be found here:https://github.com/PTCMCheli/EdgeConnector/tree/Remote_Services/src/com/ptc/edgeconnector/simulator Also yes, I have looked extensively at the documentation here:  http://support.ptc.com/cs/help/thingworx_hc/thingworx_edge/Thanks!

billrei · Accepted Answer

While I don't have an example that is written in Java, I do have a service that I have used in the past that will allow you to create things from java.

Below is a service you can add to any Thing that you can then call from Java to create a thing from an edge device if its app key has the privileges to do so.

I usually call this service CreateThing(). Its parameters are ThingName,ThingTemplate, Tag and Description.

---------

var thingName = ThingName;

var template = ThingTemplate;

var tag = Tag;

var description = Description;

//check if thing exists

try {

var exist = Things[thingName].name;

//If Thing exists, no exception will be thrown

throw new Error("Error creating " + thingName + ". Error: \""+thingName+"\" already exists");

} catch (err) {

// Thing does not exist, does the requested template exist

try {

var exist = ThingTemplates[template].name;

} catch (err){

throw new Error("Error creating " + thingName + ". Error: ThingTemplate \""+template+"\" doesn't exist");

}

//Test is see if thingName meets name rules

// Does it start with a letter

var code = thingName.charCodeAt(0);

if ( !(((code >= 65) && (code <= 90)) //lower case letters

|| ((code >= 97) && (code <= 122)) //uper case letters

|| (code == 95) //underscore

)){

throw new Error("Error creating " + thingName + ". Error: \""+thingName+"\" is not a valid name for a Thing");

} else {

for(var i = 1; i <thingName.length; i++)

{

var code = thingName.charCodeAt(i);

if ( !( ((code >= 65) && (code <= 90)) // lower case letters

|| ((code >= 97) && (code <= 122)) //upper case letters

|| (code == 95) // underscore

|| (code == 46) // period

|| ((code >= 48) && (code <=57)) //numbers

)){

throw new Error("Error creating " + thingName + ". Error: \""+thingName+"\" is not a valid name for a Thing");

}

// Apply a Tag if provided

var applyTag;

if( tag == undefined){

applyTag = false;

} else if( tag.length>0) {

try{

var params = {

name: tag /* STRING */

};

var exist = ModelTags["Applications"].GetVocabularyTerm(params);

} catch(err){

throw new Error("Error creating " + thingName + ". Error: \""+tag+"\" is not a term in Applications");

}

applyTag = true;

} else {

applyTag = false;

}

try {

var params = {

tags: undefined /* TAGS */,

thingTemplateName: template /* THINGTEMPLATENAME */,

description: description /* STRING */,

name: thingName /* STRING */

};

// no return

Resources["EntityServices"].CreateThing(params);

} catch(err) {

throw("Error creating " + thingName + ". Error:" + err.message);

}

Things[thingName].EnableThing();

Things[thingName].RestartThing();

///Apply the tag

if(applyTag)

{

var tags = new Array();

var newTag = {};

newTag.vocabulary = "Applications";

newTag.vocabularyTerm = tag;

tags.push(newTag);

var params = {

tags: tags /* TAGS */

};

// no return

Things[thingName].AddTags(params);

}

-------

You would call it from java with a function that looked like this:

/**
* Create a thing on the server if the ThingName does not already exist. Assumes that a thing
* exists on the server called Mobile_Utilities with a service called CreateThing.
* @param client a client with a connection to the server
* @param ThingName the name of the thing to create
* @param ThingTemplate the ThingTemplate to base this thing on
* @param Tag a tag to give this thing like "Applications:myApp"
* @param Description a test description of this thing
* @throws Exception
*/
public void createThing(ConnectedThingClient client, String ThingName,String ThingTemplate, String Tag , String Description) throws Exception {

ValueCollection paramValues = new ValueCollection();

paramValues.put("ThingName", new StringPrimitive(ThingName));

paramValues.put("ThingTemplate", new StringPrimitive(ThingTemplate));

paramValues.put("Tag", new StringPrimitive(Tag));

paramValues.put("Description", new StringPrimitive(Description));

client.invokeService(RelationshipTypes.ThingworxEntityTypes.Things, "Mobile_Utilities", "CreateThing", paramValues, REMOTE_TIMEOUT);

}

I have found this method to be very robust and have used it, generally in mobile applications to register phones but it should work fine in any situation where you need to create a thing to allow your device to auto bind with it.

MarkCheli · Answer

Hi All,Just wanted to close this out for anyone who might reference this in the future. I've got this working by creating a Thing on the server side called "EdgeConnectorUtility" which has a service which creates things. Create_Thing service code:var thingName = ThingName;var template = ThingTemplate;var tag = Tag;var description = Description;//check if thing existstry { var exist = Things[thingName].name; //If Thing exists, no exception will be thrown throw new Error("Error creating " + thingName + ". Error: \""+thingName+"\" already exists");} catch (err) { // Thing does not exist, does the requested template exist try { var exist = ThingTemplates[template].name; } catch (err){ throw new Error("Error creating " + thingName + ". Error: ThingTemplate \""+template+"\" doesn't exist"); } //Test is see if thingName meets name rules // Does it start with a letter var code = thingName.charCodeAt(0); if ( !(((code >= 65) && (code <= 90)) //lower case letters || ((code >= 97) && (code <= 122)) //uper case letters || (code == 95) //underscore )){ throw new Error("Error creating " + thingName + ". Error: \""+thingName+"\" is not a valid name for a Thing"); } else { for(var i = 1; i = 65) && (code <= 90)) // lower case letters || ((code >= 97) && (code <= 122)) //upper case letters || (code == 95) // underscore || (code == 46) // period || ((code >= 48) && (code <=57)) //numbers )){ throw new Error("Error creating " + thingName + ". Error: \""+thingName+"\" is not a valid name for a Thing"); } } } // Apply a Tag if provided var applyTag; if( tag == undefined){ applyTag = false; } else if( tag.length>0) { try{ var params = { name: tag /* STRING */ }; var exist = ModelTags["Applications"].GetVocabularyTerm(params); } catch(err){ throw new Error("Error creating " + thingName + ". Error: \""+tag+"\" is not a term in Applications"); } applyTag = true; } else { applyTag = false; } try { var params = { tags: undefined /* TAGS */, thingTemplateName: template /* THINGTEMPLATENAME */, description: description /* STRING */, name: thingName /* STRING */ }; // no return Resources["EntityServices"].CreateThing(params); } catch(err) { throw("Error creating " + thingName + ". Error:" + err.message); } Things[thingName].EnableThing(); Things[thingName].RestartThing(); ///Apply the tag if(applyTag) { var tags = new Array(); var newTag = {}; newTag.vocabulary = "Applications"; newTag.vocabularyTerm = tag; tags.push(newTag); var params = { tags: tags /* TAGS */ }; // no return Things[thingName].AddTags(params); }}This service is then remotely called from my Java application via the SDK. This is the service definition for my virtual thing on the edge...public void createThing(ConnectedThingClient client, String ThingName,String ThingTemplate, String Tag , String Description) throws Exception { ValueCollection paramValues = new ValueCollection(); paramValues.put("ThingName", new StringPrimitive(ThingName)); paramValues.put("ThingTemplate", new StringPrimitive(ThingTemplate)); paramValues.put("Tag", new StringPrimitive(Tag)); paramValues.put("Description", new StringPrimitive(Description)); client.invokeService(ThingworxEntityTypes.Things, "EdgeConnectorUtility", "Create_Thing", paramValues, 5000); }And finally that service is called when I start my connection in my Thing client code. Here's the call here...SimpleThing thing = new SimpleThing(thingName, "A basic virtual thing", client); //Create a new RemoteThing. This is using the server-side service //called "Create_Thing" in the "UtilityThing" Thing thing.createThing(client, thingName, "RemoteThing", "", "This is a test using the virtual thing"); // Bind the VirtualThing to the client. This will tell the // Platform that the RemoteThing 'Simple1' is now connected and // that it is ready to receive requests. client.bindThing(thing);I hope this was helpful for anyone trying to set this up in the future.

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