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When-Then Rules

When-Then rules are used in combination with the or-rules UI component. They are meant to be used to allow application users to define 'When this, then that' statements. For example "During weekdays, when it's cold, turn on the lights 5 minutes before sunset" or "send push notification to anybody who reaches the stadium".

Manager Rules Editor

Supported actions​

On the right hand side you can trigger different types of actions:

  • Update attribute values
  • Send push- and email notifications to users, assets, or users linked to the asset triggering the rule. Notifications support multi-language notification based on the users preferred language. For details see Appearance page.
Using Placeholders in Notifications​

When configuring notifications in your rules, you can use the following placeholders to include dynamic information:

  • %TRIGGER_ASSETS% - Includes details about the assets that triggered the rule
  • %RULESET_NAME% - Inserts the name of the current ruleset
  • %RULESET_ID% - Inserts the ID of the current ruleset
  • %ASSET_ID% - Includes the ID of the triggering asset (when used in notification actions)

These placeholders are automatically replaced with actual values when the rule executes, making it easy to create dynamic, context-aware notifications.

  • Generate alarm, including assigned user, severity, status, title and message with linked assets. See more details in the Alarms documentation.
  • Link to an external system with webhooks. This can be used for e.g. for connecting to your Maintenance or Messaging service, using your ERP or CRM system.

Guide to setting up your first When-Then rule​

To get familiar with the When-Then interface we will be creating a rule that turns on lights when the temperature drops below a certain threshold and just before sunset (makes sense right?). We only want this rule to be active on weekdays. This guide assumes you are using the Demo. Otherwise you need to create some assets first.

To create an asset and configure an attribute so it can be used in rules do the following:

Creating an asset:

  • Go to the Assets page and click the + icon
  • Select the Weather Asset and name it Weather
  • Click ADD to create the asset

Enabling the rule state on an attribute so it can be used in rules:

  • Select the Weather asset and click on MODIFY
  • Click on the > icon of the temperature attribute and click on + ADD CONFIGURATION ITEMS
  • Select Rule state and click ADD
  • Click SAVE to save the changes

The remainder of the guide assumes you are using the Demo where all assets and attributes have already been created and configured:

  1. Switch from the master realm to the Smart city realm in the top. You will see the assets we use a demo setup.
  2. Navigate to the Rules page, here you will find some demo rules that are running at the moment. We will add our own.
  3. Add a new rule:
    • Click the +.
    • Select 'When-Then'.
    • Name it Cold and sunset: lights on.
  4. Create the When side of the rule:
    • Click the +, a list of asset types will appear.
    • Select Weather Asset, the next will appear showing Any of this type.
    • Switch to the asset named Weather.
    • In the next field select the attribute of interest: temperature.
    • In the next field select the operator: less than.
    • Finally set a value of 10. You have now finished the first condition. This can be combined through AND or OR with other conditions.
  5. Create a second condition to monitor the humidity:
    • Click the + in the section below where it says ADD CONDITION and select Time.
    • Select Trigger Type Sunset.
    • Set the value -5 for the Offset in minutes.
    • Select: location. You have finished the AND condition. If both conditions are met, the Then actions will trigger.
  6. Create an action on the Then side of the rule:
    • Click the + on the right in the Then section.
    • Select the Light Asset asset type.
    • Select the lights that you want to control. In this case we want to turn on all lights at once using the Lighting Noordereiland.
    • Select the attribute you want to control: On Off.
    • Toggle the switch on. The Actions are done.
  7. Set the schedule for this rule:
    • Open up the scheduler by clicking Always active next to the rules name.
    • Select Plan a repeating occurrence as we want the rule to work only on weekdays.
    • At Repeat occurrence every click the five weekdays
    • Leave the Repetition ends at Never
    • Click Apply and save the rule in the top right.

Your rule is finished! Every weekday the rule will check if both conditions are met and if so, turns on the lights of Noordereiland.

See Also​