The Hologram Dashboard and API provide ways to simulate messages coming from a device with any data and topics. Simulated messages will trigger routes just as any real message from a device. This effectively eliminates the need to use a physical device and connection to debug and control the effects of its communication, namely Routes.
From the dashboard
From the devices list, find the device you’d like to simulate and click on it to view the Device page. Select the Messaging tab and scroll to the Simulate a Message from This Device to the API card, then complete the form.
Note: A simulated message will automatically include the REST_API and DEVICE_<id> topics.
After successfully submitting the form, open the Activity drawer at the bottom of your dashboard to see your message. If you want to see all the routes triggered by this message, make sure All activity is selected in the console filters.
You can easily run a previously logged device message by clicking the Simulate button shown in the above screenshot from the outbound message row in the console, which will take you back to the simulate form with the fields pre-filled for you.
Note: Simulating topics, such as _SIMPLESTRING_ or _SMS_, is currently not allowed.
From the API
Under the hood, the dashboard is using Hologram’s REST API. The documentation for this endpoint is here.