Sending a character string ?

Is it possible to send a character string (non-numeric) in a field? Of course, no numerical analysis would be possible and it would not be possible to plot the data in a graphic, but I would need that as sort of a log file for special events.

[KSSV]

What field? Are you talking about a structure?

[Stéphan Clark]

Hi,

Using the simple REST interface with a GET, I'd like to send a string rather that just a number in a data field, for instance, field1. The sent string could be stored by the ThingSpeak server in a file or otherwise for further processing. From what I can see, it only seems possible to send numbers (or dates). Am I missing something ?

[Christopher Stapels]

You can send strings. As you said, the automatic field plots wont work but string data is accepted. To read the data in MATLAB, use thingSpeakRead(...'outputformat','timetable') to get the string data. When you read with the REST API, no modification is required for the string data.

Answer 1

[Stéphan Clark]

Thank you Christopher.

I was hoping there would already be a way to easily read those strings (alike there is for viewing numerical data in graphics, in a simple text file or something). If it's not the case, then I'll have not other solution than to dig into your suggestion.

Answer 2

[Christopher Stapels]

Write the data to the status field (...&status=myStatus... ), and then set 'show status" in your channel settings.

[Stéphan Clark]

Sounds like a reasonnable workaround. I'll try that.

Thank you.