Fields

What is a Field?

In the Datacake Cloud the measured values of your devices are stored in "Fields". These are entries in our time-series database. Depending on your subscription plan, a certain number of fields can be created per device. This are also the so-called "datapoints".

Creating a new Field

To create your own field, open any device and navigate to its configuration area using the tab bar.

There you scroll down a little until you see the "Fields" panel:

Just click on the blue button "Add Field" to create a new field. The following dialog should appear:

Type

We support following field types:

Integer

Stores natural numbers, called in computer science integers, for example, 1234567.

Float

Stores numbers with decimal places, even floating point, such as 1234.56. This type is suitable for storing values with fractions, such as

• Temperature

• Pressure

• Air quality

String

Save complete character strings. like Sensor OK, Your own payload information, A83B8CFH38420. These are being stored unprocessed in the database including a timestamp.

Use this data type to store e.g.:

• status messages

• events

• Your own payload data

In addition, strings can be used in conjunction with mapping fields to convert numeric sensor values into a status via look-up table.

Boolean

Via Boolean fields you can store measured values of digital signals that are either only 0 or 1, or True or False. Use these for:

• Status-Signals of digital Inputs

• True / False conditions

• Events

Geolocation

This field type stores geolocation coordinates, which are provided by GPS modules, for example, and can be used to display positions on maps.

If you choose to store coordinates using a location field, the field expects you to deliver the data as a string and formatted as follows:

"(latitude,longitude)" // Structure
"(52.0123,4.124521)" // Example

Name

This is the displayed, readable name as it can be used in the portal, e.g. to give widgets on dashboards a title or in other places.

You can change this name at any time later.

Identifier

The identifier is a unique designation that is used for storing data in the database.

Once the field is created, the identifier cannot be changed. If you still want to change it, you must delete the field.

Unit

Use the input field to define the unit of the measured values that are being recorded into that field. Thanks to a free text field, you can define any units here, whether °C, PPM, Bar, Fahrenheit or cake, biscuits, whatever.

Conversion

You want to convert units into another one? No problem! Use mapping fields for the conversion of your measurement values via scaling, look-up table or linear scaling of a value range. Use Formula Option of a field to do simple mathematical operations.

Mapping FieldsFormulas

Role

The roles assigned allow you to visualise the most important fields of your devices on the list, grid and map views. Learn more about them:

Field Roles

Formula

Each field has the function of a formula. Here, simple mathematical operations can be used to combine measured values from other fields or to perform special calculations. More on this topic is given in the following section:

Formulas