Random wanderings through Microsoft Azure esp. PaaS plumbing, the IoT bits, AI on Micro controllers, AI on Edge Devices, .NET nanoFramework, .NET Core on *nix and ML.NET+ONNX
Several of my projects use the NickSwardh/YoloDotNetNuGet which supports NVIDIA CUDA but not TensorRT. The first step before “putting the NuGet on a diet” was to fix up my test application because some of the method signatures had changed in the latest release.
// load the app settings into configuration
var configuration = new ConfigurationBuilder()
.AddJsonFile("appsettings.json", false, true)
.Build();
_applicationSettings = configuration.GetSection("ApplicationSettings").Get<Model.ApplicationSettings>();
Console.WriteLine($" {DateTime.UtcNow:yy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.fff} YoloV8 Model load start : {_applicationSettings.ModelPath}");
//using (var predictor = new Yolo(_applicationSettings.ModelPath, false))
using var yolo = new Yolo(new YoloOptions()
{
OnnxModel = _applicationSettings.ModelPath,
Cuda = false,
PrimeGpu = false,
ModelType = ModelType.ObjectDetection,
});
{
Console.WriteLine($" {DateTime.UtcNow:yy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.fff} YoloV8 Model load done");
Console.WriteLine();
//using (var image = await SixLabors.ImageSharp.Image.LoadAsync<Rgba32>(_applicationSettings.ImageInputPath))
using (var image = SKImage.FromEncodedData(_applicationSettings.ImageInputPath))
{
Console.WriteLine($" {DateTime.UtcNow:yy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.fff} YoloV8 Model detect start");
var predictions = yolo.RunObjectDetection(image);
Console.WriteLine($" {DateTime.UtcNow:yy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.fff} YoloV8 Model detect done");
Console.WriteLine();
foreach (var predicition in predictions)
{
Console.WriteLine($" Class {predicition.Label.Name} {(predicition.Confidence * 100.0):f1}% X:{predicition.BoundingBox.Location.X} Y:{predicition.BoundingBox.Location.Y} Width:{predicition.BoundingBox.Width} Height:{predicition.BoundingBox.Height}");
}
Console.WriteLine();
Console.WriteLine($" {DateTime.UtcNow:yy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.fff} Plot and save : {_applicationSettings.ImageOutputPath}");
using (SKImage skImage = image.Draw(predictions))
{
//await image.SaveAsJpegAsync(_applicationSettings.ImageOutputPath);
skImage.Save(_applicationSettings.ImageOutputPath, SKEncodedImageFormat.Jpeg);
}
}
}
The YoloDotNet code was looking for specific text in the model description which wasn’t present in the description of my Ultralytics Hub trained models.
I downloaded the YoloDotNet source and included the core project in my solution so I could temporarily modify the GetModelVersion method in OnnxPropertiesExtension.cs.
/// <summary>
/// Get ONNX model version
/// </summary>
private static ModelVersion GetModelVersion(string modelDescription) => modelDescription.ToLower() switch
{
var version when version.Contains("yolo") is false => ModelVersion.V8,
var version when version.Contains("yoloV8") is false => ModelVersion.V8, // <========
var version when version.StartsWith("ultralytics yolov8") => ModelVersion.V8,
var version when version.StartsWith("ultralytics yolov9") => ModelVersion.V9,
var version when version.StartsWith("ultralytics yolov10") => ModelVersion.V10,
var version when version.StartsWith("ultralytics yolo11") => ModelVersion.V11, // Note the missing v in Yolo11
var version when version.Contains("worldv2") => ModelVersion.V11,
_ => throw new NotSupportedException("Onnx model not supported!")
};
After getting the test application running in the Visual Studio 2022 debugger it looked like the CustomMetadata Version info would be a better choice.
To check my assumption, I inspected some of the sample ONNX Model properties with Netron.
YoloV8s model 8.1.1
YoloV10s Model – 8.2.5.1
It looks like the CustomMetadata Version info increments but doesn’t nicely map to the Ultralytics Yolo version.
The initial version of the YoloV8.dll in the version 4.2 of the NuGet was 96.5KB. Most of my applications deployed to edge devices and Azure do not require plotting functionality so I started by commenting out (not terribly subtle).
This post is for Azure Function developers having issues with the SendGrid binding throwing exceptions like the one below.
System.Private.CoreLib: Exception while executing function: Functions.AzureBlobFileUploadEmailer. Microsoft.Azure.WebJobs.Extensions.SendGrid: A 'To' address must be specified for the message
I wasn’t paying close enough attention to the sample code and used the System.Text.Json rather than Newtonsoft.Json to serialize the SendGridMessage object. They use different attributes for property names etc. so the JSON generated was wrong.
namespace SendGrid.Helpers.Mail
{
/// <summary>
/// Class SendGridMessage builds an object that sends an email through Twilio SendGrid.
/// </summary>
[JsonObject(IsReference = false)]
public class SendGridMessage
{
/// <summary>
/// Gets or sets an email object containing the email address and name of the sender. Unicode encoding is not supported for the from field.
/// </summary>
//[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "from")]
[JsonPropertyName("from")]
public EmailAddress From { get; set; }
/// <summary>
/// Gets or sets the subject of your email. This may be overridden by personalizations[x].subject.
/// </summary>
//[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "subject")]
[JsonPropertyName("subject")]
public string Subject { get; set; }
/// <summary>
/// Gets or sets a list of messages and their metadata. Each object within personalizations can be thought of as an envelope - it defines who should receive an individual message and how that message should be handled. For more information, please see our documentation on Personalizations. Parameters in personalizations will override the parameters of the same name from the message level.
/// https://sendgrid.com/docs/Classroom/Send/v3_Mail_Send/personalizations.html.
/// </summary>
//[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "personalizations", IsReference = false)]
[JsonPropertyName("personalizations")]
public List<Personalization> Personalizations { get; set; }
...
}
namespace SendGrid.Helpers.Mail
{
/// <summary>
/// An email object containing the email address and name of the sender or recipient.
/// </summary>
[JsonObject(IsReference = false)]
public class EmailAddress : IEquatable<EmailAddress>
{
/// <summary>
/// Initializes a new instance of the <see cref="EmailAddress"/> class.
/// </summary>
public EmailAddress()
{
}
/// <summary>
/// Initializes a new instance of the <see cref="EmailAddress"/> class.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="email">The email address of the sender or recipient.</param>
/// <param name="name">The name of the sender or recipient.</param>
public EmailAddress(string email, string name = null)
{
this.Email = email;
this.Name = name;
}
/// <summary>
/// Gets or sets the name of the sender or recipient.
/// </summary>
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "name")]
public string Name { get; set; }
/// <summary>
/// Gets or sets the email address of the sender or recipient.
/// </summary>
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "email")]
public string Email { get; set; }
...
}
Many of the property name “mismatch” issues were in the Personalization class with the Toos, Ccs, bccs etc. properties
namespace SendGrid.Helpers.Mail
{
/// <summary>
/// An array of messages and their metadata. Each object within personalizations can be thought of as an envelope - it defines who should receive an individual message and how that message should be handled. For more information, please see our documentation on Personalizations. Parameters in personalizations will override the parameters of the same name from the message level.
/// https://sendgrid.com/docs/Classroom/Send/v3_Mail_Send/personalizations.html.
/// </summary>
[JsonObject(IsReference = false)]
public class Personalization
{
/// <summary>
/// Gets or sets an array of recipients. Each email object within this array may contain the recipient’s name, but must always contain the recipient’s email.
/// </summary>
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "to", IsReference = false)]
[JsonConverter(typeof(RemoveDuplicatesConverter<EmailAddress>))]
public List<EmailAddress> Tos { get; set; }
/// <summary>
/// Gets or sets an array of recipients who will receive a copy of your email. Each email object within this array may contain the recipient’s name, but must always contain the recipient’s email.
/// </summary>
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "cc", IsReference = false)]
[JsonConverter(typeof(RemoveDuplicatesConverter<EmailAddress>))]
public List<EmailAddress> Ccs { get; set; }
/// <summary>
/// Gets or sets an array of recipients who will receive a blind carbon copy of your email. Each email object within this array may contain the recipient’s name, but must always contain the recipient’s email.
/// </summary>
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "bcc", IsReference = false)]
[JsonConverter(typeof(RemoveDuplicatesConverter<EmailAddress>))]
public List<EmailAddress> Bccs { get; set; }
/// <summary>
/// Gets or sets the from email address. The domain must match the domain of the from email property specified at root level of the request body.
/// </summary>
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "from")]
public EmailAddress From { get; set; }
/// <summary>
/// Gets or sets the subject line of your email.
/// </summary>
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "subject")]
public string Subject { get; set; }
...
}
The Myriota Connector only supports Direct Methods which provide immediate confirmation of the result being queued by the Myriota Cloud API. The Myriota (API) control message send method responds with 400 Bad Request if there is already a message being sent to a device.
Myriota Azure Function Environment Variable configuration
Sense and Locate Azure IoT Central Template Fan Speed Enumeration
The fan speed value in the message payload is configured in the fan speed enumeration.
Sense and Locate Azure IoT Central Command Fan Speed Selection
The FanSpeed.cs payload formatter extracts the FanSpeed value from the Javascript Object Notation(JSON) payload and returns a two-byte array containing the message type and speed of the fan.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using Newtonsoft.Json;
using Newtonsoft.Json.Linq;
public class FormatterDownlink : PayloadFormatter.IFormatterDownlink
{
public byte[] Evaluate(string terminalId, string methodName, JObject payloadJson, byte[] payloadBytes)
{
byte? status = payloadJson.Value<byte?>("FanSpeed");
if (!status.HasValue)
{
return new byte[] { };
}
return new byte[] { 1, status.Value };
}
}
Sense and Locate Azure IoT Central Command Fan Speed History
Each Azure Application Insights log entry starts with the TerminalID (to simplify searching for all the messages related to device) and the requestId a Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) to simplify searching for all the “steps” associated with sending/receiving a message) with the rest of the logging message containing “step” specific diagnostic information.
Sense and Locate Azure IoT Central Command Fan Speed Application Insights
In the Myriota Device Manager the status of Control Messages can be tracked and they can be cancelled if in the “pending” state.
Myriota Control Message status Pending
A Control Message can take up to 24hrs to be delivered and confirmation of delivery has to be implemented by the application developer.
CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[ListingsSpatialNearbyNTSLocation]
@Origin AS GEOGRAPHY,
@distance AS INTEGER
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE @Circle AS GEOGRAPHY = @Origin.STBuffer(@distance);
SELECT TOP(50) UID AS ListingUID
,[Name]
,listing_url as ListingUrl
,Listing.Location.STDistance(@Origin) as Distance
,Listing.Location
FROM Listing
WHERE (Listing.Location.STWithin(@Circle) = 1)
ORDER BY Distance
END
NetTopology Suite Microsoft.SqlServer.Types library load exception
CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[ListingsSpatialNearbyNTSSerialize]
@Origin AS GEOGRAPHY,
@distance AS INTEGER
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE @Circle AS GEOGRAPHY = @Origin.STBuffer(@distance);
SELECT TOP(50) UID AS ListingUID
,[Name]
,listing_url as ListingUrl
,Listing.Location.STDistance(@Origin) as Distance
,Location.Serialize() as Location
FROM [listing]
WHERE (Location.STWithin(@Circle) = 1)
ORDER BY Distance
END
class PointHandlerSerialise : SqlMapper.TypeHandler<Point>
{
public override Point Parse(object value)
{
var reader = new SqlServerBytesReader { IsGeography = true };
return (Point)reader.Read((byte[])value);
}
public override void SetValue(IDbDataParameter parameter, Point? value)
{
((SqlParameter)parameter).SqlDbType = SqlDbType.Udt; // @Origin parameter?
((SqlParameter)parameter).UdtTypeName = "GEOGRAPHY";
var writer = new SqlServerBytesWriter { IsGeography = true };
parameter.Value = writer.Write(value);
}
}
Once the location column serialisation was working (I could see a valid response in the debugger) the generation of the response was failing with a “System.Text.Json.JsonException: A possible object cycle was detected. This can either be due to a cycle or if the object depth is larger than the maximum allowed depth of 64″.
NetTopology Suite serialisation “possible object cycle detection” exception
After fixing that issue the response generation failed with “System.ArgumentException: .NET number values such as positive and negative infinity cannot be written as valid JSON.”
CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[ListingsSpatialNearbyNTSWkb]
@Origin AS GEOGRAPHY,
@distance AS INTEGER
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE @Circle AS GEOGRAPHY = @Origin.STBuffer(@distance);
SELECT TOP(50) UID AS ListingUID
,[Name]
,listing_url as ListingUrl
,Listing.Location.STDistance(@Origin) as Distance
,Location.STAsBinary() as Location
FROM [listing]
WHERE (Location.STWithin(@Circle) = 1)
ORDER BY Distance
END
CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[ListingsSpatialNearbyNTSWkt]
@Origin AS GEOGRAPHY,
@distance AS INTEGER
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE @Circle AS GEOGRAPHY = @Origin.STBuffer(@distance);
SELECT TOP(50) UID AS ListingUID
,[Name]
,listing_url as ListingUrl
,Listing.Location.STDistance(@Origin) as Distance
,Location.STAsText() as Location
FROM [listing]
WHERE (Location.STWithin(@Circle) = 1)
ORDER BY Distance
END
class PointHandlerWkt : SqlMapper.TypeHandler<Point>
{
public override Point Parse(object value)
{
WKTReader wktReader = new WKTReader();
return (Point)wktReader.Read(value.ToString());
}
public override void SetValue(IDbDataParameter parameter, Point? value)
{
((SqlParameter)parameter).SqlDbType = SqlDbType.Udt; // @Origin parameter?
((SqlParameter)parameter).UdtTypeName = "GEOGRAPHY";
parameter.Value = new SqlServerBytesWriter() { IsGeography = true }.Write(value);
}
}
Successful Location processing with WKBReader
I have focused on getting the spatial queries to work and will stress/performance test my implementations in a future post. I will also revisit the /Spatial/NearbyGeography method to see if I can get it to work without “Location.Serialize() as Location”.
The Method Callback Delegate has different parameters, so I had to update the downlink formatter interface and update all of the sample downlink payload formatters.
public interface IFormatterDownlink
{
public byte[] Evaluate(string terminalId, string methodName, JObject? payloadJson, byte[] payloadBytes);
}
How direct methods will be processed is configured in the application settings. For each direct method name the downlink payload formatter to be invoked and an optional Javascript Object Notation(JSON) payload can be configured.
If there is no configuration for the direct method name, the payload formatter specified in Myriota device “DownlinkDefault” Attribute is used, and if that is not configured the default formatter in the payloadFormatters section of the application settings is used.
namespace devMobile.IoT.MyriotaAzureIoTConnector.Connector
{
internal class IoTHubDownlink(ILogger<IoTHubDownlink> _logger, IOptions<Models.AzureIoT> azureIoTSettings, IPayloadFormatterCache _payloadFormatterCache, IMyriotaModuleAPI _myriotaModuleAPI) : IIoTHubDownlink
{
private readonly Models.AzureIoT _azureIoTSettings = azureIoTSettings.Value;
public async Task<MethodResponse> IotHubMethodHandler(MethodRequest methodRequest, object userContext)
{
// DIY request identifier so processing progress can be tracked in Application Insights
string requestId = Guid.NewGuid().ToString();
Models.DeviceConnectionContext context = (Models.DeviceConnectionContext)userContext;
try
{
_logger.LogInformation("Downlink- TerminalId:{TerminalId} RequestId:{requestId} Name:{Name}", context.TerminalId, requestId, methodRequest.Name);
// Lookup payload formatter name, none specified use context one which is from device attributes or the default in configuration
string payloadFormatterName;
if (_azureIoTSettings.IoTHub.Methods.TryGetValue(methodRequest.Name, out Models.AzureIoTHubMethod? method) && !string.IsNullOrEmpty(method.Formatter))
{
payloadFormatterName = method.Formatter;
_logger.LogInformation("Downlink- IoT Hub TerminalID:{TermimalId} RequestID:{requestId} Method formatter:{payloadFormatterName} ", context.TerminalId, requestId, payloadFormatterName);
}
else
{
payloadFormatterName = context.PayloadFormatterDownlink;
_logger.LogInformation("Downlink- IoT Hub TerminalID:{TermimalId} RequestID:{requestId} Context formatter:{payloadFormatterName} ", context.TerminalId, requestId, payloadFormatterName);
}
// Display methodRequest.Data as Hex
if (methodRequest.Data is not null)
{
_logger.LogInformation("Downlink- IoT Hub TerminalID:{TerminalId} RequestID:{requestId} Data:{Data}", context.TerminalId, requestId, BitConverter.ToString(methodRequest.Data));
}
else
{
_logger.LogInformation("Downlink- IoT Hub TerminalID:{TerminalId} RequestID:{requestId} Data:null", context.TerminalId, requestId);
}
JObject? requestJson = null;
if ((method is not null) && !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(method.Payload))
{
// There is a matching method with a possible JSON payload
string payload = method.Payload.Trim();
if ((payload.StartsWith('{') && payload.EndsWith('}')) || (payload.StartsWith('[') && payload.EndsWith(']')))
{
// The payload is could be JSON
try
{
requestJson = JObject.Parse(payload);
}
catch (JsonReaderException jex)
{
_logger.LogWarning(jex, "Downlink- IoT Hub TerminalID:{TerminalId} RequestID:{requestId} Method Payload is not valid JSON", context.TerminalId, requestId);
return new MethodResponse(Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes($"{{\"message\":\"RequestID:{requestId} Method payload is not valid JSON.\"}}"), (int)HttpStatusCode.UnprocessableEntity);
}
}
else
{
// The payload couldn't be JSON
_logger.LogWarning("Downlink- IoT Hub TerminalID:{TerminalId} RequestID:{requestId} Method Payload is definitely not valid JSON", context.TerminalId, requestId);
return new MethodResponse(Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes($"{{\"message\":\"RequestID:{requestId} Method payload is definitely not valid JSON.\"}}"), (int)HttpStatusCode.UnprocessableEntity);
}
_logger.LogInformation("Downlink- IoT Hub TerminalID:{TerminalId} RequestID:{requestId} Method Payload:{requestJson}", context.TerminalId, requestId, JsonConvert.SerializeObject(requestJson, Formatting.Indented));
}
else
{
// If there was not matching method or the payload was "empty" see if the method request payload is valid
if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(methodRequest.DataAsJson))
{
string payload = methodRequest.DataAsJson.Trim();
if ((payload.StartsWith('{') && payload.EndsWith('}')) || (payload.StartsWith('[') && payload.EndsWith(']')))
{
// The payload is could be JSON
try
{
requestJson = JObject.Parse(payload);
_logger.LogInformation("Downlink- IoT Hub TerminalID:{TerminalId} RequestID:{requestId} DataAsJson:{requestJson}", context.TerminalId, requestId, JsonConvert.SerializeObject(requestJson, Formatting.Indented));
}
catch (JsonReaderException jex)
{
_logger.LogInformation(jex, "Downlink- IoT Hub TerminalID:{TerminalId} RequestID:{requestId} DataAsJson is not valid JSON", context.TerminalId, requestId);
}
}
}
}
// This "shouldn't" fail, but it could for invalid path to blob, timeout retrieving blob, payload formatter syntax error etc.
IFormatterDownlink payloadFormatter = await _payloadFormatterCache.DownlinkGetAsync(payloadFormatterName);
if ( requestJson is null )
{
requestJson = new JObject();
}
// This also "shouldn't" fail, but the payload formatters can throw runtime exceptions like null reference, divide by zero, index out of range etc.
byte[] payloadBytes = payloadFormatter.Evaluate(context.TerminalId, methodRequest.Name, requestJson, methodRequest.Data);
// Validate payload before calling Myriota control message send API method
if (payloadBytes is null)
{
_logger.LogWarning("Downlink- IoT Hub TerminalID:{TerminalId} Request:{requestId} Evaluate returned null", context.TerminalId, requestId);
return new MethodResponse(Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes($"{{\"message\":\"RequestID:{requestId} payload evaluate returned null.\"}}"), (int)HttpStatusCode.UnprocessableEntity);
}
if ((payloadBytes.Length < Constants.DownlinkPayloadMinimumLength) || (payloadBytes.Length > Constants.DownlinkPayloadMaximumLength))
{
_logger.LogWarning("Downlink- IoT Hub TerminalID:{TerminalId} RequestID:{requestId} PayloadBytes:{payloadBytes} length:{Length} invalid, must be {DownlinkPayloadMinimumLength} to {DownlinkPayloadMaximumLength} bytes", context.TerminalId, requestId, BitConverter.ToString(payloadBytes), payloadBytes.Length, Constants.DownlinkPayloadMinimumLength, Constants.DownlinkPayloadMaximumLength); ;
return new MethodResponse(Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes($"{{\"message\":\"RequestID:{requestId} payload evaluation length invalid.\"}}"), (int)HttpStatusCode.UnprocessableEntity);
}
// Finally send Control Message to device using the Myriota API
_logger.LogInformation("Downlink- IoT Hub TerminalID:{TerminalId} RequestID:{requestID} PayloadBytes:{payloadBytes} Length:{Length} sending", context.TerminalId, requestId, BitConverter.ToString(payloadBytes), payloadBytes.Length);
string messageId = await _myriotaModuleAPI.SendAsync(context.TerminalId, payloadBytes);
_logger.LogInformation("Downlink- IoT Hub TerminalID:{TerminalId} RequestID:{requestId} Myriota MessageID:{messageId} sent", context.TerminalId, requestId, messageId);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
_logger.LogError(ex, "Downlink- IoT Hub TerminalID:{TerminalId} RequestID:{requestId} IotHubMethodHandler processing failed", context.TerminalId, requestId);
return new MethodResponse(Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes($"{{\"message\":\"TerminalID:{context.TerminalId} RequestID:{requestId} method handler failed.\"}}"), (int)HttpStatusCode.InternalServerError);
}
return new MethodResponse(Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes($"{{\"message\":\"TerminalID:{context.TerminalId} RequestID:{requestId} Message sent successfully.\"}}"), (int)HttpStatusCode.OK);
}
}
}
public class FormatterDownlink : PayloadFormatter.IFormatterDownlink
{
public byte[] Evaluate(string terminalId, string methodName, JObject payloadJson, byte[] payloadBytes)
{
byte? status = payloadJson.GetValue("FanSpeed", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase)?.Value<byte>();
if (!status.HasValue)
{
return new byte[] { };
}
return new byte[] { 1, status.Value };
}
}
The FanSpeed.cs payload formatter extracts the FanSpeed value from the JSON payload and returns a two byte array containing the message type and speed of the fan.
Azure Function application displaying Diagnostic information for control message
Each logging message starts with the TerminalID (to simplify searching for all the direct methods invoked on a device) and the requestId a Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) to simplify searching for all the “steps” associated with sending a message) with the rest of the logging message containing “step” specific diagnostic information.
Azure Application Insights displaying information diagnostic information
Myriota Device manager control message history displaying pending control message
The Azure IoT Explorer payload for an empty message contained two ” characters which is a bit odd. I will have to build a test application which uses the Azure IoT Hub C2D direct method API to see if this is a “feature”.
Each logging message starts with the TerminalID (to simplify searching for all the messages sent to a device) and the message LockToken (to simplify searching for all the “steps” associated with sending a message) with the rest of the logging message containing “step” specific diagnostic information.
Successful Azure IoT Explorer C2D JSON Message
If there is no PayloadFormatter attribute the default in the PayloadFormatters section of the function configuration is used.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using Newtonsoft.Json;
using Newtonsoft.Json.Linq;
public class FormatterDownlink : PayloadFormatter.IFormatterDownlink
{
public byte[] Evaluate(IDictionary<string, string> properties, string terminalId, JObject payloadJson, byte[] payloadBytes)
{
byte? status = payloadJson.Value<byte?>("FanSpeed");
if (!status.HasValue)
{
return new byte[] { };
}
return new byte[] { 1, status.Value };
}
}
The FanSpeed.cs payload formatter extracts the FanSpeed value from the JSON payload and returns a two byte array containing the message type and speed of the fan.
Azure IoT Function running waiting for a C2D message
After re-reading the SetMethodHandlerAync documentation I refactored the code (back to the approach used a couple of branches ago) with the “using” wrapping the try/catch.
public async Task AzureIoTHubMessageHandler(Message message, object userContext)
{
Models.DeviceConnectionContext context = (Models.DeviceConnectionContext)userContext;
_logger.LogInformation("Downlink- IoT Hub TerminalId:{TermimalId} LockToken:{LockToken}", context.TerminalId, message.LockToken);
using (message) // https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/microsoft.azure.devices.client.deviceclient.setreceivemessagehandlerasync?view=azure-dotnet
{
try
{
// Replace default formatter with message specific formatter if configured.
if (!message.Properties.TryGetValue(Constants.IoTHubDownlinkPayloadFormatterProperty, out string? payloadFormatterName) || string.IsNullOrEmpty(payloadFormatterName))
{
_logger.LogInformation("Downlink- IoT Hub TerminalID:{TermimalId} LockToken:{LockToken} Context formatter:{payloadFormatterName} ", context.TerminalId, message.LockToken, payloadFormatterName);
payloadFormatterName = context.PayloadFormatterDownlink;
}
else
{
_logger.LogInformation("Downlink- IoT Hub TerminalID:{TermimalId} LockToken:{LockToken} Property formatter:{payloadFormatterName} ", context.TerminalId, message.LockToken, payloadFormatterName);
}
// If GetBytes fails payload really badly broken
byte[] messageBytes = message.GetBytes();
_logger.LogInformation("Downlink- IoT Hub TerminalID:{TerminalId} LockToken:{LockToken} Message bytes:{messageBytes}", context.TerminalId, message.LockToken, BitConverter.ToString(messageBytes));
// Try converting the bytes to text then to JSON
JObject? messageJson = null;
try
{
// These will fail for some messages, payload formatter gets bytes only
string messageText = Encoding.UTF8.GetString(messageBytes);
try
{
messageJson = JObject.Parse(messageText);
_logger.LogInformation("Downlink- IoT Hub TerminalID:{TerminalId} LockToken:{LockToken} JSON:{messageJson}", context.TerminalId, message.LockToken, JsonConvert.SerializeObject(messageJson, Formatting.Indented));
}
catch (JsonReaderException jex)
{
_logger.LogInformation(jex, "Downlink- IoT Hub TerminalID:{TerminalId} LockToken:{LockToken} not valid JSON", context.TerminalId, message.LockToken);
}
}
catch (ArgumentException aex)
{
_logger.LogInformation(aex, "Downlink- IoT Hub TerminalID:{TerminalId} LockToken:{LockToken} message bytes not valid text", context.TerminalId, message.LockToken);
}
// This shouldn't fail, but it could for invalid path to blob, timeout retrieving blob, payload formatter syntax error etc.
IFormatterDownlink payloadFormatter = await _payloadFormatterCache.DownlinkGetAsync(payloadFormatterName);
// This will fail if payload formatter throws runtime exceptions like null reference, divide by zero, index out of range etc.
byte[] payloadBytes = payloadFormatter.Evaluate(message.Properties, context.TerminalId, messageJson, messageBytes);
// Validate payload before calling Myriota control message send API method
if (payloadBytes is null)
{
_logger.LogWarning("Downlink- IoT Hub TerminalID:{TerminalId} LockToken:{LockToken} payload formatter:{payloadFormatter} Evaluate returned null", context.TerminalId, message.LockToken, payloadFormatterName);
await context.DeviceClient.RejectAsync(message);
return;
}
if ((payloadBytes.Length < Constants.DownlinkPayloadMinimumLength) || (payloadBytes.Length > Constants.DownlinkPayloadMaximumLength))
{
_logger.LogWarning("Downlink- IoT Hub TerminalID:{TerminalId} LockToken:{LockToken} PayloadBytes:{payloadBytes} length:{Length} invalid must be {DownlinkPayloadMinimumLength} to {DownlinkPayloadMaximumLength} bytes", context.TerminalId, message.LockToken, Convert.ToHexString(payloadBytes), payloadBytes.Length, Constants.DownlinkPayloadMinimumLength, Constants.DownlinkPayloadMaximumLength);
await context.DeviceClient.RejectAsync(message);
return;
}
// Finally send Control Message to device using the Myriota API
_logger.LogInformation("Downlink- IoT Hub TerminalID:{TerminalId} LockToken:{LockToken} PayloadBytes:{payloadBytes} Length:{Length} sending", context.TerminalId, message.LockToken, BitConverter.ToString(payloadBytes), payloadBytes.Length);
string messageId = await _myriotaModuleAPI.SendAsync(context.TerminalId, payloadBytes);
_logger.LogInformation("Downlink- IoT Hub TerminalID:{TerminalId} LockToken:{LockToken} MessageID:{messageId} sent", context.TerminalId, message.LockToken, messageId);
await context.DeviceClient.CompleteAsync(message);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
_logger.LogError(ex, "Downlink- IoT Hub TerminalID:{TerminalId} LockToken:{LockToken} MessageHandler processing failed", context.TerminalId, message.LockToken);
await context.DeviceClient.RejectAsync(message);
}
}
}
...
// Finally send Control Message to device using the Myriota API
_logger.LogInformation("Downlink- IoT Hub TerminalID:{TerminalId} LockToken:{LockToken} PayloadBytes:{payloadBytes} Length:{Length} sending", context.TerminalId, message.LockToken, BitConverter.ToString(payloadBytes), payloadBytes.Length);
string messageId = await _myriotaModuleAPI.SendAsync(context.TerminalId, payloadBytes);
...
Azure IoT Function successfully sending downlink message.
The Encoding.UTF8.GetString and JObject.Parse are processed in a single Try with a specialised catch for when the payload cannot be converted to text. If the payload cannot be converted to JSON only the payloadBytes parameter of payload formatter is populated.
The Azure IoT Hub downlink message handler was a partial class and part of implementation of the IDeviceConnectionCache which was a hangover from one of the initial versions.
The myriotaAzure IoT Hub Cloud Identity Translation Gateway uplink message handler Azure Storage Queue Trigger Function wasn’t processing “transient” vs. “permanent” failures well. Sometimes a “permanent” failure message would be retried multiple times by the function runtime before getting moved to the poison queue.
After some experimentation using an Azure Storage Queue Function Output binding to move messages to the poison queue looked like a reasonable approach. (Though, returning null to indicate the message should be removed from the queue was not obvious from the documentation)
[Function("UplinkMessageProcessor")]
[QueueOutput(queueName: "uplink-poison", Connection = "UplinkQueueStorage")]
public async Task<Models.UplinkPayloadQueueDto> UplinkMessageProcessor([QueueTrigger(queueName: "uplink", Connection = "UplinkQueueStorage")] Models.UplinkPayloadQueueDto payload, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
{
...
// Process each packet in the payload. Myriota docs say only one packet per payload but just incase...
foreach (Models.QueuePacket packet in payload.Data.Packets)
{
// Lookup the device client in the cache or create a new one
Models.DeviceConnectionContext context;
try
{
context = await _deviceConnectionCache.GetOrAddAsync(packet.TerminalId, cancellationToken);
}
catch (DeviceNotFoundException dnfex)
{
_logger.LogError(dnfex, "Uplink- PayloadId:{0} TerminalId:{1} terminal not found", payload.Id, packet.TerminalId);
return payload;
}
catch (Exception ex) // Maybe just send to poison queue or figure if transient error?
{
_logger.LogError(ex, "Uplink- PayloadId:{0} TerminalId:{1} ", payload.Id, packet.TerminalId);
throw;
}
...
// Proccessing successful, message can be deleted by QueueTrigger plumbing
return null;
}
After building and testing an Azure Storage Queue Function Output binding implementation I’m not certain that it is a good approach. The code is a bit “chunky” and I have had to implement more of the retry process logic.
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