Ubidots
Low-code application development for the Internet of Things
More Control Over Your Global Properties
Sensitive credentials deserve stronger safeguards. That’s why Global Properties now support Secret properties, a new capability designed to better safeguard sensitive information such as API keys, tokens, and shared credentials within your UbiFunctions configuration. With a simple toggle, you can mark any global property as “Secret,” ensuring its value is treated as sensitive data from the moment it’s created. The way you invoke it in your code doesn’t change. The protection happens behind the scenes.
When a property is marked as Secret, its value is permanently hidden from the Global Properties module and excluded from listing endpoint responses. It cannot be viewed or edited again through the interface; if you need to update it, you simply create a new Secret property and assign it to your function. At runtime, however, it behaves like any other environment variable and is accessible to your code, so proper logging practices remain essential. The result is stronger protection for stored credentials, without sacrificing the flexibility and simplicity that make Global Properties so powerful.
AI: Coding Assistant
As we wrap up the year and look ahead to what's next, we're excited to introduce one of our most forward-looking additions yet: the AI Assistant for UbiFunctions. Embedded directly in the function editor, this assistant understands the context of your code and provides real-time guidance to help you build, debug, and deploy faster. Whether you’re writing Python or Node.js, you can ask the assistant to review your logic, generate sample payloads, or suggest improvements. All without switching tabs or digging through documentation.
The AI Assistant is built with developers in mind. Each UbiFunction has its own chat thread, so your interactions stay focused and persistent. The assistant has been trained on Ubidots-specific knowledge and supported libraries, giving it the precision to help with everything from basic syntax to advanced use cases. With this new addition, writing and managing UbiFunctions just became smarter and a lot more seamless.
Downloadable Functions
You can now download the full code of your UbiFunctions as a Zip file, making it easier to back up, share, or version-control your custom logic. Whether you're collaborating with teammates or simply documenting your work, having your code packaged and ready to go helps streamline development and maintain flexibility in how you manage functions.
Introducing File Storage
Elevate your workflows with a dedicated file storage service that can be used with your Ubidots functions. This feature lets you store, retrieve, and manage files seamlessly through a dedicated API, enabling advanced solutions without worrying about limited or temporary storage.
Store your machine learning models for real-time inference. Collect and maintain datasets for custom analytics. Preserve configuration files that have to be used again in the future. Simply put, the new File Storage API opens up a world of possibilities to enrich the capabilities of your applications.
Here are some key highlights of this new service:
- Permanent Storage: Files remain available for as long as you need them.
- Easy to Use: Upload and manage files with simple GET, POST, and DELETE methods. This makes data handling straightforward and efficient.
- Secure Access: All file transactions run over secure endpoints, protecting both your data and the integrity of your workflows.
- Versatile Use Cases: From ML models to reference datasets, any file that can enhance your project’s value can be safely stored for immediate or scheduled access.
File Storage seamlessly fits into your existing workflows, broadening your possibilities when building robust solutions. By combining the power of serverless computing with persistent file access, your applications can now reach new levels of sophistication and reliability.
Better Functions
This Functions update brings two new ways to simplify your development workflow. First, you can now directly upload files from your computer. This addition makes it easy to include any assets you rely on for your business logic. For example, this enables scenarios like adding a Machine Learning model in a binary file (.ipk, for example), which was previously not possible.
Second, you can rearrange files and folders by simply dragging and dropping them within the Files pane. This new feature keeps everything organized and accessible, reducing clutter and helping you locate resources faster.
Both enhancements boost productivity and make Functions more flexible for a wide range of use cases. Spend less time wrestling with file management and more time building impactful solutions.
New UbiFunctions Features
Following the recent changes made to the UbiFunctions page, we’re happy to announce the introduction of two new additions to this important module: The ability to change the background color of the code editor between light and dark modes, and the ability to use multiple files when coding your functions.
These new features enhance the process of creating UbiFunctions by making the whole process more comfortable and organized. In particular and by significantly improving the readability of the functions, the ability to use multiple files greatly improves the overall process by allowing you to split the code between different types of files:
- Source files
- Configuration files
- Data files
Functions Are Glowing Up
UbiFunctions has quickly become one of our most beloved modules, empowering our users with the flexibility and control required to tailor their IoT data to their needs.
From custom uplink decoders, to scheduled ETLs, to data analysis for predictive scoring, UbiFunctions gives you the superpowers to build sophisticated IoT solutions without the DevOps hassle.
A fresh new design
The new Functions’ UI design modernizes its appearance and prepares it for more upcoming novelties. This new design breaks down functions into three convenient tabs:
- Code editor: A wider, cleaner look gives you more room to visualize your code, while giving you access to common settings such as the function's URL and runtime.
- Settings: We migrated all settings to a dedicated view, including the new "environment variables", which can be created using the Global Properties module.
- Logs: With their own tab, now the execution logs of your functions are not only more prominent but also easier to leverage.
New feature: Custom Cron Schedules
We are thrilled to announce the ability to specify cron jobs for UbiFunctions!
In the new settings tab, you'll find the ability to set custom schedules for your functions. Whether you are looking to automate data extraction/loading from/into 3rd party systems, perform regular data analysis for predictive maintenance, or generate scheduled reports, crontab expressions are here to help.
Introducing Global Properties
We're thrilled to introduce Global Properties, a new module to easily store global variables that can be accessed from various places in your account. Starting with UbiFunctions, you may now access Global Properties from your function's code, making them useful to store and retrieve:
- Constants
- Look-up tables, using JSON objects
- Credentials shared across functions
Improved UbiFunctions
During 2023 we worked on a new architecture for our UbiFunctions module to improve their overall speed and stability.
When you create an UbiFunction for the first time, a lot of things happen backstage. A special container is created with your own code, so it can run every time the function is invoked. Meanwhile, a dedicated API endpoint is generated so you can call your function using HTTP or MQTT. All of this needs to happen in just a few seconds, in order to comply with your reliability and speed expectations.
Additionally, there are now more available runtimes:
- Node.js 16 Base
- Node.js 16 Lite
- Python 3.11 Base
- Python 3.11 Lite
- Python 3.9 Base
- Python 3.9 Lite
Since some of the runtimes are lighter than others, your function may therefore be faster.
Our Latest Cloud Functions Additions
Ubidots Cloud Functions (or UbiFunctions) is a serverless computing environment for the IoT, enabling you to run on-demand custom functions directly from Ubidots. Although originally designed as a custom decoding tool, it has grown into an integration and analytics powerhouse. Our latest additions to it include:
-Securely access your token from the function's code (avoiding copy-pasting API tokens in the code).
-User-defined time outs.