This example shows how to use the 51Degrees Cloud service to lookup the details of a device based on a given 'TAC'. More background information on TACs can be found through various online sources such as Wikipedia.
This example is available in full on GitHub.
To run this example, you will need to create a resource key. The resource key is used as shorthand to store the particular set of properties you are interested in as well as any associated license keys that entitle you to increased request limits and/or paid-for properties.
You can create a resource key using the 51Degrees Configurator.
Required NuGet Dependencies:
- FiftyOne.DeviceDetection
- Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration.Json
- Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection
- Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Console
/* *********************************************************************
* This Original Work is copyright of 51 Degrees Mobile Experts Limited.
* Copyright 2025 51 Degrees Mobile Experts Limited, Davidson House,
* Forbury Square, Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom RG1 3EU.
*
* This Original Work is licensed under the European Union Public Licence
* (EUPL) v.1.2 and is subject to its terms as set out below.
*
* If a copy of the EUPL was not distributed with this file, You can obtain
* one at https://opensource.org/licenses/EUPL-1.2.
*
* The 'Compatible Licences' set out in the Appendix to the EUPL (as may be
* amended by the European Commission) shall be deemed incompatible for
* the purposes of the Work and the provisions of the compatibility
* clause in Article 5 of the EUPL shall not apply.
*
* If using the Work as, or as part of, a network application, by
* including the attribution notice(s) required under Article 5 of the EUPL
* in the end user terms of the application under an appropriate heading,
* such notice(s) shall fulfill the requirements of that article.
* ********************************************************************* */
using FiftyOne.Pipeline.CloudRequestEngine.FlowElements;
using FiftyOne.Pipeline.Core.Configuration;
using FiftyOne.Pipeline.Core.FlowElements;
using FiftyOne.Pipeline.Engines.FiftyOne.FlowElements;
using Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration;
using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging;
using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Net.Http;
{
public class Program
{
public class Example
{
// Example values to use when looking up device details from TACs.
private const string _tac1 = "35925406";
private const string _tac2 = "86386802";
public void Run(IServiceProvider serviceProvider, TextWriter output)
{
output.WriteLine("This example shows the details of devices " +
"associated with a given 'Type Allocation Code' or 'TAC'.");
output.WriteLine("More background information on TACs can be " +
"found through various online sources such as Wikipedia: " +
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_Allocation_Code");
output.WriteLine("----------------------------------------");
var pipelineOptions = serviceProvider.GetRequiredService<PipelineOptions>();
var loggerFactory = serviceProvider.GetRequiredService<ILoggerFactory>();
// In this example, we use the FiftyOnePipelineBuilder and configure it from a file.
// For a demonstration of how to do this in code instead, see the
// NativeModelLookup example.
// For more information about builders in general see the documentation at
// https://51degrees.com/documentation/_concepts__configuration__builders__index.html
// Create the pipeline using the service provider and the configured options.
using (var pipeline = new FiftyOnePipelineBuilder(loggerFactory, serviceProvider)
.BuildFromConfiguration(pipelineOptions))
{
// Pass a TAC into the pipeline and list the matching devices.
AnalyseTac(_tac1, pipeline, output);
AnalyseTac(_tac2, pipeline, output);
}
}
static void AnalyseTac(string tac, IPipeline pipeline, TextWriter output)
{
// Create the FlowData instance.
using (var data = pipeline.CreateFlowData())
{
// Add the TAC as evidence.
data.AddEvidence(Shared.Constants.EVIDENCE_QUERY_TAC_KEY, tac);
// Process the supplied evidence.
data.Process();
// Get result data from the flow data.
var result = data.Get<MultiDeviceDataCloud>();
output.WriteLine($"Which devices are associated with the TAC '{tac}'?");
// The 'MultiDeviceDataCloud' object contains one or more instances
// implementing 'IDeviceData'.
// This is the same interface used for standard device detection, so we have
// access to all the same properties.
foreach (var device in result.Profiles)
{
var vendor = device.HardwareVendor.GetHumanReadable();
var name = device.HardwareName.GetHumanReadable();
var model = device.HardwareModel.GetHumanReadable();
output.WriteLine($"\t{vendor} {name} ({model})");
}
}
}
public void Run(PipelineOptions options, TextWriter output)
{
// Initialize a service collection which will be used to create the services
// required by the Pipeline and manage their lifetimes.
using (var serviceProvider = new ServiceCollection()
// Add the configuration to the services collection.
.AddSingleton(options)
// Make sure we're logging to the console.
.AddLogging(l => l.AddConsole())
// Add an HttpClient instance. This is used for making requests to the
// cloud service.
.AddSingleton<HttpClient>()
// Add the builders that will be needed to create the engines specified in the
// configuration file.
.AddSingleton<CloudRequestEngineBuilder>()
.AddSingleton<HardwareProfileCloudEngineBuilder>()
.BuildServiceProvider())
{
// Get the resource key setting from the config file.
var resourceKey = options.GetResourceKey();
// If we don't have a resource key then log an error.
if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(resourceKey))
{
serviceProvider.GetRequiredService<ILogger<Program>>().LogError(
$"No resource key specified on the command line or in " +
$"the environment variable '{ExampleUtils.CLOUD_RESOURCE_KEY_ENV_VAR}'. " +
$"The 51Degrees cloud service is accessed using a 'ResourceKey'. " +
$"For more information see " +
$"https://51degrees.com/documentation/_info__resource_keys.html. " +
$"TAC lookup is not available as a free service. This means " +
$"that you will first need a license key, which can be purchased " +
$"from our pricing page: https://51degrees.com/pricing. Once this is " +
$"done, a resource key with the properties required by this example " +
$"can be created at https://configure.51degrees.com/QKyYH5XT. You " +
$"can now populate the environment variable mentioned at the start " +
$"of this message with the resource key or pass it as the first " +
$"argument on the command line.");
}
else
{
new Example().Run(serviceProvider, output);
}
}
}
}
static void Main(string[] args)
{
// Use the command line args to get the resource key if present.
// Otherwise, get it from the environment variable.
string resourceKey = args.Length > 0 ? args[0] :
Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable(
ExampleUtils.CLOUD_RESOURCE_KEY_ENV_VAR);
// Load the configuration file
var config = new ConfigurationBuilder()
.AddJsonFile("appsettings.json")
.Build();
// Bind the configuration to a pipeline options instance
PipelineOptions options = new PipelineOptions();
var section = config.GetRequiredSection("PipelineOptions");
// Use the 'ErrorOnUnknownConfiguration' option to warn us if we've got any
// misnamed configuration keys.
section.Bind(options, (o) => { o.ErrorOnUnknownConfiguration = true; });
// Get the resource key setting from the config file.
var resourceKeyFromConfig = options.GetResourceKey();
var configHasKey = string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(resourceKeyFromConfig) == false &&
resourceKeyFromConfig.StartsWith("!!") == false;
// If no resource key is specified in the config file then override it with the key
// from the environment variable / command line.
if (configHasKey == false)
{
options.SetResourceKey(resourceKey);
}
new Example().Run(options, Console.Out);
}
}
}