Triggers bring 'push' capabilities to Pachube

The introduction of triggers to Pachube's suite of features is a major update that takes it to a whole new level. Read more about more about how and why to use them here: http://community.pachube.com/node/289

Also known as webhooks ("User-defined HTTP callbacks for push, pipes and plugins") and notifications, we're calling them triggers because we want to make clear that they enable Pachube datastreams actually to plug into and provoke (i.e. trigger) remote actuators, devices, scripts, buildings, etc. Skip here for a short tutorial on using triggers or read on for why you should be using them!

Up until now, Pachube has largely been a "pull" service: you've been able to send data to us as and when you want (i.e. "push" to us) or have us request data from you as necessary (i.e. we "pull" from you), but in order to get data out of Pachube you had to repeatedly poll (i.e. you could only "pull" from) Pachube to discover datastream changes. With the introduction of triggers, Pachube is now just as good at receiving (and storing) data as it is at acting upon (and sending out) data to remote devices, actuators and buildings: just what a "patchbay" should be!

With triggers, you set up conditions on datastreams (on anyone's datastreams, not just your own), and when those conditions have been satisfied (e.g. change of value, value is greater than threshold,value equals etc.) Pachube will push (by HTTP POST) a notification to the URL of your choice. This might be a php script that sends an email; or that posts to twitter; or connects to an SMS gateway to send a message to your mobile phone; or it might be a microcontroller that is able to act on the HTTP POST to actuate some physical device (like a lightswitch, a garage door, a window louvre, etc.).

You can add triggers to anyone's datastreams (not just your own), to build alarm systems, notifications, decision systems, etc. This gets closer than ever towards our vision of patching the planet and being able to plug anything into anything else!

Read on here for details: http://community.pachube.com/node/289