Did you know how easy it is with Windows App Development Tools like RAD Studio Delphi to add robust, enterprise-grade real-time streaming to and from IoT devices?  We’re going to show you how to get your apps to talk to IoT devices securely and in a robust fashion in just a few easy steps.

IoT and Delphi – linking the “internet of things”

IoT is very popular these days and the number of connected devices is growing at an unprecedented rate. We can find “things” connected to the internet and used for all sorts of applications in our homes, offices, industry, and commerce. In fact, they’re so ubiquitous we sometimes don’t even notice them, and the form factor they take can be non-obvious too, taking such ephemera as ‘smart’ dog collars, luggage tags, or even automated egg monitors in chicken farms. These physical devices usually have integrated software to allow them to communicate with each other and of course to provide useful information to humans. Many are designed to do that with little to no human intervention. I took a look at a small internet search for “connected devices” to see what would come up:

• Google Home Voice Controller
• Amazon Echo Plus Voice Controller
• Amazon Dash Button
• August Doorbell Cam
• August Smart Lock
• Kuri Mobile Robot
• Belkin WeMo Smart Light Switch
• Footbot Air Quality Monitor
• Flow by Plume Labs Air Pollution Monitor
• Nest Smoke Alarm

IoT devices have a common theme

IoT devices have two things in common:

1. Capability to connect to the internet. After all, it’s the “I” in “IoT”.
2. Having some inbuilt technology to provide their functionality such as sensors, functional software and the connectivity.

The market for IoT devices is increasing surprisingly. We have now reached the stage where there are more IoT devices than humans.

What is IPWorks IoT?

IPWorks IoT is a light-weight library which you can use in your Delphi and C++ builder applications to easily integrate IoT communication protocols. It supports all of the common protocols.

• AMQP
• MQTT
• MQTT-SN
• STOMP
• CoAP

IPWorks has a long history and has been a very reliable framework for over 25 years now. These IoT components are based on those IPWorks framework so you don’t have to worry about their security and reliability. Another great feature is the components do not depend on any external libraries or similar dependencies. Also the components are thread safe which is an added bonus when dealing with multiple devices with potentially simultaneous flows of real-time data. The icing on the cake is that IPWorks has a great active online knowledge base.

Where can I get IoT components for Delphi?

You can get IPWorkis IoT from Getit libraries:

https://getitnow.embarcadero.com/trial-ipworks-iot-2020-delphi-edition/

How do I implement MQTT with IPWorks IoT?

MQTT stands for MQ Telemetry Transport. MQTT is the OASIS standard for IoT messaging. MQTT is basically designed for low resources scenarios such as microcontrollers. MQTT use less bandwidth than other protocols such as HTTP. Message headers are smaller and the overhead in sending/receiving them is correspondingly lightweight too. MQTT is bidirectional. Also it allows message broadcasting. Messaging is very reliable. There are three levels of QoS.

• At most once (0)
• At least once (1)
• Exactly once (2)

MQTT is very useful in unreliable networks. With MQTT persistent sessions, you can reduce the bandwidth and response time. Also you can setup TLS and transfer data securely. IPWorks MQTT support restore session data.

Is there an MQTT IoT component for Delphi?

IPWorks IoT provides Delphi TiotMQTT with all the MQTT functionality we mentioned above. It’s just an instant implementation. You simply drag and drop the the component, set the properties in the IDE. Also you will get a working Demo of MQTT out of the box.

You can get more information about their components from this link:

https://www.nsoftware.com/ipworks/iot/

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Join the IoT revolution! RAD Studio Delphi makes communicating with IoT devices really easy. Why not download a trial copy today?