Updates: what’s new in November 2021

Some important changes happened to Wialon Hosting in November: we improved the video module (now you can manually select video files that you want to save) and worked on the notification triggering mechanism. Also, we changed the expiration time of the password link. In Hecterra, it has become easier to track the progress of several campaigns simultaneously. And Logistics now has a new notification type. 

Wialon Hosting

Saving a video file manually from the MDVR memory

The ability to watch a video file and save it manually is one of the major advantages of the Wialon video module. However, it was not available to the owners of MDVR models that don’t support playback, like some Jimi IoT (Concox) models or SmartWitness KP1. And if you couldn’t watch a recorded video file from an MDVR, you couldn’t save it. 

Therefore, we added the ability to request and save videos without their preview. You can choose the Save requested file to Files option, specify the time of the event and the duration of the video clip before and after it, and then click on the Request button.

The device receives the command and provides a video file for the requested period if the MDVR's memory contains it.

Along with other video files, you can find this one displayed on the Files tab and use it in reports and messages.

Password reset link expiration 

You can easily find the Forgot your password? button on the authorization page. Once you click on it, you receive an email with a link to reset your password.

Previously, the password reset link had no expiration time. It was convenient but posed security risks: a hacker could get access to your mail, you could change your email address or even forget it, while the link at the same time remained active.

To avoid these risks, we have reduced the link expiration time to 2 hours and made it a one-time use. When the time is over, you should request the link again. Have you already followed the link? It won't open for the second time, even if you haven't changed your password yet.

Notification mechanism improvement 

The main purpose of notifications is to inform you of a change. Once a message arrives with a new parameter value or something changes in a sensor, Wialon sends a notification about it.

The logic is simple, but in practice, the platform used to send notifications when nothing changed. It occurred for various reasons. For example, a tracker sent coordinates in the first message and parameters in the second. The platform considered the first message with no parameter as a change in this parameter and, accordingly, a state change, therefore, it generated a notification. Although in reality the parameter did not change and there was no state change.

Now Wialon searches for the latest parameter value in messages and sends notifications only when it is changed. In case there is no parameter value in the message, Wialon won’t see any reason to send a notification.

As a result, you receive only relevant and correct notifications.

For all the changes in the work of Wialon Hosting, visit the Gurtam forum. You can use it to send your suggestions for further platform improvement as well.  

Hecterra

Campaign progress on the Dashboard

Previously, if you ran several campaigns in Hecterra, you had to go to a separate page for each of them to watch the progress. Now you can monitor multiple campaigns at the same time on the Dashboard page. 

To do this, click on the icon next to the campaign name.

Here’s how Hecterra’s Dashboard page would look like after that.

This allows you to monitor several campaigns simultaneously on a single page without wasting time on opening multiple tabs.

Be the first to know about the new Hecterra functionality on the forum. And feel free to leave your comments and suggestions there.

Logistics

Server notifications and new tags

Notifications keep you updated on important delivery events. But you get charged for text messages, while email notifications are relevant only if you are spending a lot of time at your PC.

To increase the availability of notifications, we have added server notifications. You receive them on your server and use them further at your discretion: send a notification via messengers, to your own application, or other channels.

Example: now you can set up notifications in WhatsApp when a courier leaves the warehouse to the delivery address. The notification in the messenger will contain the courier’s name, their phone number, and the expected delivery time. It is convenient for the recipient who has made the order because they know who will bring the order and when, and can quickly contact the courier. Also, it's a good solution the company, as the message is delivered from its own server, and they don’t need to pay for it.

On the Notifications tab in the settings, we have added a new External server notifications section.

In the External server section, you can use ready-made tags, including new ones, for example, notification ID.

Thus, you and your customers now have a more economical and versatile way to send notifications.

You can read more about external server notifications in the Help Center, Logistics section.

If you have more questions, please visit the forum, we’ll try to help you figure out the new functionality.

We hope you’ll enjoy the changes to Wialon Hosting, Hecterra, and Logistics. You can always leave comments on the forum. It would help us a lot in our work.