{"id":769,"date":"2025-09-21T16:31:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-21T16:31:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/protolinker.com\/?post_type=docs&#038;p=769"},"modified":"2025-09-23T09:55:01","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T09:55:01","password":"","slug":"what-is-a-link","status":"publish","type":"docs","link":"https:\/\/protolinker.com\/en\/documentation\/what-is-a-link\/","title":{"rendered":"What is a Link"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph \" style=\"\">A <strong>link<\/strong> in Protolinker defines the <strong>connection between two tags<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph \" style=\"\">While <strong>tags<\/strong> represent individual pieces of data, a <strong>link<\/strong> specifies how that data flows from one protocol to another.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph \" style=\"\">In other words, links are the &ldquo;wires&rdquo; inside Protolinker that move values between different systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"why-links-are-important\"><strong>Why Links Are Important<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph \" style=\"\">Links make it possible to translate and route information across protocols. Without links, tags would remain isolated to their original source.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph \" style=\"\">With links, you can:<\/p>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list wp-block-list\">\n<li>\n<strong>Connect legacy devices to modern platforms<\/strong> (e.g., Modbus &rarr; MQTT).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\n<strong>Synchronize values<\/strong> between two different systems.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\n<strong>Control data flow<\/strong> with transformations or conditions applied during linking.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-links-work-in-protolinker\"><strong>How Links Work in Protolinker<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n<ol start=\"1\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\n<strong>Source Tag<\/strong><ul class=\"wp-block-list wp-block-list wp-block-list\">\n<li>A link starts with a source tag, which represents the original data point (e.g., temperature from a Modbus register).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\n<strong>Destination Tag<\/strong><ul class=\"wp-block-list wp-block-list\">\n<li>The link then points to a destination tag, where the data will be delivered (e.g., sensor\/temperature on MQTT).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\n<strong>Data Flow<\/strong><ul class=\"wp-block-list wp-block-list\">\n<li>Once the link is active, every update on the source tag is automatically reflected in the destination tag.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\n<strong>Optional Transformation<\/strong><ul class=\"wp-block-list wp-block-list\">\n<li>Links can include scaling, unit conversion, filtering, or scripts to adjust values before delivery.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"example\"><strong>Example<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list wp-block-list\">\n<li>\n<strong>Source Tag:<\/strong> temperature (from Modbus, value = 25.3 &deg;C).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\n<strong>Link:<\/strong> Connects temperature &rarr; sensor\/temperature.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\n<strong>Destination Tag:<\/strong> Published over MQTT as sensor\/temperature = 25.3.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph \" style=\"\">This way, links ensure that <strong>different protocols can share the same information seamlessly<\/strong>, without manual handling or duplication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A link in Protolinker defines the connection between two tags. While tags represent individual pieces of data, a link specifies how that data flows from one protocol to another. In other words, links are the &ldquo;wires&rdquo; inside Protolinker that move values between different systems. Why Links Are Important Links make it possible to translate and &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"doc_category":[16],"doc_tag":[],"class_list":["post-769","docs","type-docs","status-publish","hentry","doc_category-links"],"year_month":"2026-07","word_count":223,"total_views":0,"reactions":{"happy":0,"normal":0,"sad":0},"author_info":{"name":"beraldoigor","author_nicename":"beraldoigor","author_url":"https:\/\/protolinker.com\/en\/author\/beraldoigor\/"},"doc_category_info":[{"term_name":"Links","term_url":"https:\/\/protolinker.com\/en\/docs-category\/links\/"}],"doc_tag_info":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/protolinker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs\/769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/protolinker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/protolinker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/docs"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/protolinker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/protolinker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/protolinker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs\/769\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/protolinker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"doc_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/protolinker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/doc_category?post=769"},{"taxonomy":"doc_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/protolinker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/doc_tag?post=769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}