Use DescribeThing with an Amazon SDK or CLI

//! Describe an AWS IoT thing.
/*!
  \param thingName: The name for the thing.
  \param clientConfiguration: AWS client configuration.
  \return bool: Function succeeded.
 */
bool AwsDoc::IoT::describeThing(const Aws::String &thingName,
                                const Aws::Client::ClientConfiguration &clientConfiguration) {
    Aws::IoT::IoTClient iotClient(clientConfiguration);

    Aws::IoT::Model::DescribeThingRequest request;
    request.SetThingName(thingName);

    Aws::IoT::Model::DescribeThingOutcome outcome = iotClient.DescribeThing(request);

    if (outcome.IsSuccess()) {
        const Aws::IoT::Model::DescribeThingResult &result = outcome.GetResult();
        std::cout << "Retrieved thing '" << result.GetThingName() << "'" << std::endl;
        std::cout << "thingArn: " << result.GetThingArn() << std::endl;
        std::cout << result.GetAttributes().size() << " attribute(s) retrieved"
                  << std::endl;
        for (const auto &attribute: result.GetAttributes()) {
            std::cout << "  attribute: " << attribute.first << "=" << attribute.second
                      << std::endl;
        }
    }
    else {
        std::cerr << "Error describing thing " << thingName << ": " <<
                  outcome.GetError().GetMessage() << std::endl;
    }

    return outcome.IsSuccess();
}

To display detailed information about a thing

The following describe-thing example display information about a thing (device) that is defined in the Amazon IoT registry for your Amazon account.

aws iot describe-thing --thing-name "MyLightBulb"

Output:

{
    "defaultClientId": "MyLightBulb",
    "thingName": "MyLightBulb",
    "thingId": "40da2e73-c6af-406e-b415-15acae538797",
    "thingArn": "arn:aws:iot:us-west-2:123456789012:thing/MyLightBulb",
    "thingTypeName": "LightBulb",
    "attributes": {
        "model": "123",
        "wattage": "75"
    },
    "version": 1
}

For more information, see How to Manage Things with the Registry in the Amazon IoT Developers Guide.

    /**
     * Describes an IoT Thing asynchronously.
     *
     * @param thingName The name of the IoT Thing.
     *
     * This method initiates an asynchronous request to describe an IoT Thing.
     * If the request is successful, it prints the Thing details.
     * If an exception occurs, it prints the error message.
     */
    private void describeThing(String thingName) {
        DescribeThingRequest thingRequest = DescribeThingRequest.builder()
            .thingName(thingName)
            .build();

        CompletableFuture<DescribeThingResponse> future = getAsyncClient().describeThing(thingRequest);
        future.whenComplete((describeResponse, ex) -> {
            if (describeResponse != null) {
                System.out.println("Thing Details:");
                System.out.println("Thing Name: " + describeResponse.thingName());
                System.out.println("Thing ARN: " + describeResponse.thingArn());
            } else {
                Throwable cause = ex != null ? ex.getCause() : null;
                if (cause instanceof IotException) {
                    System.err.println(((IotException) cause).awsErrorDetails().errorMessage());
                } else if (cause != null) {
                    System.err.println("Unexpected error: " + cause.getMessage());
                } else {
                    System.err.println("Failed to describe Thing.");
                }
            }
        });

        future.join();
    }

suspend fun describeThing(thingNameVal: String) {
    val thingRequest =
        DescribeThingRequest {
            thingName = thingNameVal
        }

    // Print Thing details.
    IotClient.fromEnvironment { region = "us-east-1" }.use { iotClient ->
        val describeResponse = iotClient.describeThing(thingRequest)
        println("Thing details:")
        println("Thing name: ${describeResponse.thingName}")
        println("Thing ARN:  ${describeResponse.thingArn}")
    }
}