Data Explorer

Visualize, monitor, and troubleshoot MQTT topics and payloads.

The Data Explorer displays Connectware's MQTT message flow. Use it to verify that data is flowing correctly, debug integration issues, and understand the structure of your data streams.

The Data Explorer provides a centralized interface to visualize, monitor, and troubleshoot MQTT messages in Connectware. Messages are organized into topics, enabling structured data flow between publishers and consumers.

Key features

• Browse and subscribe to any MQTT topic in your Connectware instance.

• View message payloads.

• Track message history with timestamps.

• Copy topic paths and JSON payloads for use in configurations.

When to use the Data Explorer

• Verify that newly configured devices are publishing data correctly.

• Monitor live data streams to ensure systems are functioning.

• Identify where data flow issues occur in your architecture.

• Understand message structures when building new connections.

For monitoring the MQTT topics of a single service, use the Live Data tab instead.

Shared subscriptions are disabled in the Data Explorer to ensure stable operation for all clients connected to the same topics.

Opening the Data Explorer

• To open the Data Explorer, click Data in the navigation panel.

Monitoring Your First Topic

1. In the Available Topics section (left), browse the topic tree.

2. Click the down arrows to expand topic branches.

3. Check the checkbox next to any topic that you want to monitor.

4. The topic appears in Monitored Topics (right) with its latest value.

5. Watch the History section (bottom) to see updates as they arrive.

Data Explorer at a Glance

The Data Explorer is divided into the following sections:

• Available Topics (left): Browse the topic tree and choose what to monitor.

• Monitored Topics (right): See the latest values for your selected topics.

• History (bottom): A log of updates received for the monitored topics.

Overview of Data Explorer sections: Available Topics, Monitored Topics, and History.

Available Topics

The Available Topics section displays all MQTT topics that are available in Connectware in a hierarchical structure. Topics are organized from general to specific, with base topics at the highest level.

Available Topics section showing hierarchical topic tree.

Wildcard Topics

MQTT supports wildcard subscriptions that let you monitor multiple related topics at once. In the Data Explorer, topics that use named wildcards will not display these labels. Instead, the wildcards will be displayed as + in the topic tree.

Example: hamburg/+factory/+floor/+sensor is displayed as hamburg/+/+/+.

Monitored Topics

The Monitored Topics section displays the most recent payload for each topic you have subscribed to. Values update automatically whenever new messages arrive.

The data values displayed in the Monitored Topics section correspond to the data type of their topic.

Monitored Topics section displaying latest values for selected topics.

Adding Topics to Monitor

1. Navigate to the Available Topics section.

2. Check the checkbox next to the topic that you want to monitor.

Result: The topic appears in the Monitored Topics list.

Removing Topics from Monitoring

To stop monitoring a topic, use either method:

Method 1 - From Available Topics:

1. Navigate to the topic in the Available Topics section.

2. Uncheck its checkbox.

Method 2 - From Monitored Topics:

1. Hover your mouse over the topic in the Monitored Topics section.

2. Click the Unsub button that appears.

Copying Topic Data to the Clipboard

To copy the data of a topic to your clipboard:

1. Hover over any topic data in the Data column of the Monitored Topics section.

2. Click the Copy icon that appears.

Clipboard icon appears for JSON objects to enable easy copying.

Copying Topic Paths to the Clipboard

To copy a complete topic path to your clipboard:

1. Hover over any topic in the Topics column of the Monitored Topics section.

2. Click the Copy icon that appears.

3. Use the copied path in service configurations, protocols, or mappings.

Clipboard icon appears for topic paths to enable easy copying.

History

The History section allows you to view logs of all updates from the currently monitored topics. Every time an update to a monitored topic is available, a new log line will be appended to the history.

The data values displayed in the History section correspond to the data type of their topic.

History section showing log of monitored topics.

Pausing or Resuming Log Updates

You can pause the log updates to inspect specific log lines.

• To temporarily stop live updates, click the Pause icon in the top-right of the History section. Click again to resume.

Clearing the Log

• To remove all recorded log lines, click the Trash icon in the top-right of the History section.

Displaying More or Fewer Log Lines

• To set how many of the most recent log entries the History section should display, adjust the Tail Size value.