A fundamental concept in the EVRYTHNG Platform are actions. An action simply represents a discrete event or real-world actions performed by an app, user, or device within an brand-specific application, and usually created with a target product or a Thng to establish an association corresponding to the real world event. For example, an action created on a Thng could represent a 'shipped from warehouse' event when an item leaves a warehouse as part of its supply chain.
Each action has a type associated, which allows categorisation of actions, similar to how Thngs can be categorised by their associated product. See the Action Types section for information on the built-in action types we provide, as well as how to create your own custom action types as required. These built-in action types cover some common scenarios including consumer scanning and factory commissioning.
In the real world, actions are usually created by an Application User within an application and a Thng, product, or collection ID is specified as the target. This identifies simultaneously what happened, who triggered it, for which purpose, and where it occurred, building a coherent picture of the item's journey through a supply chain.
In addition to specifying a resource in an action, it is also possible to create an action through the resource itself using aliased actions.
Action Context
When reading actions, the ?context=true query parameter can be used to include the context field in the response. This includes useful contextual information about the creation of the action. See the ActionContextDocument Data Model section for more information.
?context=true query parameter can be used to include the context field in the response. This includes useful contextual information about the creation of the action. See the ActionContextDocument Data Model section for more information.API Status
General Availability:
/actions/:type
/actions/:type/:actionId
/products/:productId/actions/:actionType
/thngs/:thngId/actions/:actionType
/collections/:collectionId/actions/:actionType
ActionDocument Data Model
See also: LocationDocument, ScopesDocument, ReactionDocument, ActionContextDocument
Filterable Fields
This resource type can be filtered using the following fields and operators.
ActionContextDocument Data Model
ReactionDocument Data Model
Create an Action
Create a new action of the specified type.
Notes
allcan be used astype. In this case, the actiontypemust be supplied in the payload.\n\n* When using/actions/allwith a custom action type, the payload can contain only thetype, and does not require a targetthng,product, orcollection.
Read an Action
Application Users and Operators can read an action by its ID. Both the Application User and Operator API keys can be used. You can use all as the action type to access the actions of unknown type.
Read all Actions of a Type
Read all actions of a given type. For example: GET /actions/scans for all the scans actions. The result may be paginated if there are more than 30 items.
A special type all can be used to get all actions regardless of their type.
See Action Types to see how to read and manage action types.
Read an Action with Context
The ?context=true query parameter can be used to include the context field in the action read.
Delete an Action
Delete a single action by ID.
Create Multiple Actions
It is possible to create multiple actions at the same time using the /actions/all endpoint. Each action in the payload array must state the action type. Different types can be used at the same time for different actions.
Aliased Actions
It is also possible to use alias endpoints to create or read actions performed on a specific Thng, product or collection using its ID. The available endpoints are:
/products/:productId/actions/:actionType- Actions on a specific product/thngs/:thngId/actions/:actionType- Actions on a specific Thng/collections/:collectionId/actions/:actionType- Actions on a specific collection
Use the same payload as for /actions/:actionType endpoint. The action's product, thng, or collection property must match the ID that is specified in the URL, or in this special case may be omitted from the payload. The responses are of the same format as the Read all actions of a type operation.
NoteOnly custom action types can be used for aliased actions.
Create an Aliased Action
The examples below show aliased action creation on a product, but are also applicable for Thngs and collections in the same /:type/:id/actions/:actionType pattern.