Handling Cloud to Device(D2C) Azure IoT Central messages (The Things Industries(TTI) downlink) is a bit more complex than Device To Cloud(D2C) messaging. The format of the command messages is reasonably well documented and I have already explored in detail with basic telemetry, basic commands, request commands, and The Things Industries Friendly commands and Digital Twin Definition Language(DTDL) support.
public class IoTHubApplicationSetting
{
public string DtdlModelId { get; set; }
}
public class IoTHubSettings
{
public string IoTHubConnectionString { get; set; } = string.Empty;
public Dictionary<string, IoTHubApplicationSetting> Applications { get; set; }
}
public class DeviceProvisiongServiceApplicationSetting
{
public string DtdlModelId { get; set; } = string.Empty;
public string GroupEnrollmentKey { get; set; } = string.Empty;
}
public class DeviceProvisiongServiceSettings
{
public string IdScope { get; set; } = string.Empty;
public Dictionary<string, DeviceProvisiongServiceApplicationSetting> Applications { get; set; }
}
public class IoTCentralMethodSetting
{
public byte Port { get; set; } = 0;
public bool Confirmed { get; set; } = false;
public Models.DownlinkPriority Priority { get; set; } = Models.DownlinkPriority.Normal;
public Models.DownlinkQueue Queue { get; set; } = Models.DownlinkQueue.Replace;
}
public class IoTCentralSetting
{
public Dictionary<string, IoTCentralMethodSetting> Methods { get; set; }
}
public class AzureIoTSettings
{
public IoTHubSettings IoTHub { get; set; }
public DeviceProvisiongServiceSettings DeviceProvisioningService { get; set; }
public IoTCentralSetting IoTCentral { get; set; }
}
Azure IoT Central appears to have no support for setting message properties so the LoRaWAN port, confirmed flag, priority, and queuing so these a retrieved from configuration.
Models.Downlink downlink;
Models.DownlinkQueue queue;
string payloadText = Encoding.UTF8.GetString(message.GetBytes()).Trim();
if (message.Properties.ContainsKey("method-name"))
{
#region Azure IoT Central C2D message processing
string methodName = message.Properties["method-name"];
if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(methodName))
{
_logger.LogWarning("Downlink-DeviceID:{0} MessagedID:{1} LockToken:{2} method-name property empty", receiveMessageHandlerContext.DeviceId, message.MessageId, message.LockToken);
await deviceClient.RejectAsync(message);
return;
}
// Look up the method settings to get confirmed, port, priority, and queue
if ((_azureIoTSettings == null) || (_azureIoTSettings.IoTCentral == null) || !_azureIoTSettings.IoTCentral.Methods.TryGetValue(methodName, out IoTCentralMethodSetting methodSetting))
{
_logger.LogWarning("Downlink-DeviceID:{0} MessagedID:{1} LockToken:{2} method-name:{3} has no settings", receiveMessageHandlerContext.DeviceId, message.MessageId, message.LockToken, methodName);
await deviceClient.RejectAsync(message);
return;
}
downlink = new Models.Downlink()
{
Confirmed = methodSetting.Confirmed,
Priority = methodSetting.Priority,
Port = methodSetting.Port,
CorrelationIds = AzureLockToken.Add(message.LockToken),
};
queue = methodSetting.Queue;
// Check to see if special case for Azure IoT central command with no request payload
if (payloadText.IsPayloadEmpty())
{
downlink.PayloadRaw = "";
}
if (!payloadText.IsPayloadEmpty())
{
if (payloadText.IsPayloadValidJson())
{
downlink.PayloadDecoded = JToken.Parse(payloadText);
}
else
{
downlink.PayloadDecoded = new JObject(new JProperty(methodName, payloadText));
}
}
logger.LogInformation("Downlink-IoT Central DeviceID:{0} Method:{1} MessageID:{2} LockToken:{3} Port:{4} Confirmed:{5} Priority:{6} Queue:{7}",
receiveMessageHandlerContext.DeviceId,
methodName,
message.MessageId,
message.LockToken,
downlink.Port,
downlink.Confirmed,
downlink.Priority,
queue);
#endregion
}
The reboot command payload only contains an “@” so the TTTI payload will be empty, the minimum and maximum command payloads will contain only a numeric value which is added to the decoded payload with the method name, the combined minimum and maximum command has a JSON payload which is “grafted” into the decoded payload.


Pingback: Smartish Edge Camera – Azure IoT Direct Methods | devMobile's blog
Pingback: .NET Core web API + Dapper – Distributed Cache | devMobile's blog