8 min read

(For more resources related to this topic, see here.)

Sending a message from a website

Sending messages from a website has many uses; sending notifications to users is one good example. In this example, we’re going to present you with a form where you can enter a phone number and message and send it to your user. This can be quickly adapted for other uses.

Getting ready

The complete source code for this recipe can be found in the Chapter6/Recipe1/ folder.

How to do it…

Ok, let’s learn how to send an SMS message from a website. The user will be prompted to fill out a form that will send the SMS message to the phone number entered in the form.

  1. Download the Twilio Helper Library from https://github.com/twilio/twilio-php/zipball/master and unzip it.
  2. Upload the Services/ folder to your website.
  3. Upload config.php to your website and make sure the following variables are set: 
    <?php
$accountsid = ''; // YOUR TWILIO ACCOUNT SID
$authtoken = ''; // YOUR TWILIO AUTH TOKEN
$fromNumber = ''; // PHONE NUMBER CALLS WILL COME FROM
?>
  4. Upload a file called sms.php and add the following code to it: 
    <!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Recipe 1 – Chapter 6</title>
</head>
<body>
<?php
include('Services/Twilio.php');
include("config.php");
include("functions.php");
$client = new Services_Twilio($accountsid, $authtoken);
if( isset($_POST['number']) && isset($_POST['message']) ){
  $sid = send_sms($_POST['number'],$_POST['message']);
  echo "Message sent to {$_POST['number']}";
}
?>
<form method="post">
<input type="text" name="number" placeholder="Phone Number...." 
/><br />
<input type="text" name="message" placeholder="Message...." /><br 
/>
<button type="submit">Send Message</button>
</form>
</body>
</html>
  5. Create a file called functions.php and add the following code to it: 
    <?php
function send_sms($number,$message){
  global $client,$fromNumber;
  $sms = $client->account->sms_messages->create(
       $fromNumber, 
       $number,
       $message
  );
  return $sms->sid;
}

How it works…

In steps 1 and 2, we downloaded and installed the Twilio Helper Library for PHP. This library is the heart of your Twilio-powered apps. In step 3, we uploaded config.php that contains our authentication information to talk to Twilio’s API.

In steps 4 and 5, we created sms.php and functions.php, which will send a message to the phone number we enter. The send_sms function is handy for initiating SMS conversations; we’ll be building on this function heavily in the rest of the article.

Allowing users to make calls from their call logs

We’re going to give your user a place to view their call log.

We will display a list of incoming calls and give them the option to call back on these numbers.

Getting ready

The complete source code for this recipe can be found in the Chapter9/Recipe4 folder.

How to do it…

Now, let’s build a section for our users to log in to using the following steps:

  1. Update a file called index.php with the following content: 
    <?php
session_start();
include 'Services/Twilio.php';
require("system/jolt.php");
require("system/pdo.class.php");
require("system/functions.php");
$_GET['route'] = isset($_GET['route']) ? '/'.$_GET['route'] : '/';
$app = new Jolt('site',false);
$app->option('source', 'config.ini');
#$pdo = Db::singleton();
$mysiteURL = $app->option('site.url');
$app->condition('signed_in', function () use ($app) {
        $app->redirect( $app->getBaseUri().'/login',!$app->store('user'));
});
$app->get('/login', function() use ($app){
        $app->render( 'login', array(),'layout' );
});
$app->post('/login', function() use ($app){
  $sql = "SELECT * FROM `user` WHERE `email`='{$_POST['user']}' 
AND `password`='{$_POST['pass']}'";
  $pdo = Db::singleton();
$res = $pdo->query( $sql );
  $user = $res->fetch();
  if( isset($user['ID']) ){
    $_SESSION['uid'] = $user['ID'];
    $app->store('user',$user['ID']);
        $app->redirect( $app->getBaseUri().'/home');
    }else{
        $app->redirect( $app->getBaseUri().'/login');
    }
});
$app->get('/signup', function() use ($app){
        $app->render( 'register', array(),'layout' );
});
$app->post('/signup', function() use ($app){
  $client = new Services_Twilio($app->store('twilio.accountsid'), 
$app->store('twilio.authtoken') );
  extract($_POST);
  $timestamp = strtotime( $timestamp );
  $subaccount = $client->accounts->create(array(
    "FriendlyName" => $email
  ));
  $sid = $subaccount->sid;
  $token = $subaccount->auth_token;
  $sql = "INSERT INTO 'user' SET `name`='{$name}',`email`='{$email
}',`password`='{$password}',`phone_number`='{$phone_number}',`sid`
='{$sid}',`token`='{$token}',`status`=1";
  $pdo = Db::singleton();
  $pdo->exec($sql);
  $uid = $pdo->lastInsertId();
  $app->store('user',$uid );
  //  log user in
    $app->redirect( $app->getBaseUri().'/phone-number');
});
$app->get('/phone-number', function() use ($app){
  $app->condition('signed_in');
  $user = $app->store('user');
  $client = new Services_Twilio($user['sid'], $user['token']);
  $app->render('phone-number');
});
$app->post("search", function() use ($app){
  $app->condition('signed_in');
  $user = get_user( $app->store('user') );
$client = new Services_Twilio($user['sid'], $user['token']);
  $SearchParams = array();
  $SearchParams['InPostalCode'] = !empty($_POST['postal_code']) ? 
trim($_POST['postal_code']) : '';
  $SearchParams['NearNumber'] = !empty($_POST['near_number']) ? 
trim($_POST['near_number']) : '';
  $SearchParams['Contains'] = !empty($_POST['contains'])? trim($_
POST['contains']) : '' ;
  try {
    $numbers = $client->account->available_phone_numbers->getList('US',
     'Local', $SearchParams);
    if(empty($numbers)) {
      $err = urlencode("We didn't find any phone numbers by that 
search");
      $app->redirect( $app->getBaseUri().'/phone-number?msg='.$err);
      exit(0);
    }
  } catch (Exception $e) {
    $err = urlencode("Error processing search: 
{$e->getMessage()}");
    $app->redirect( $app->getBaseUri().'/phone-number?msg='.$err);
    exit(0);
  }
  $app->render('search',array('numbers'=>$numbers));
});
$app->post("buy", function() use ($app){
  $app->condition('signed_in');
  $user = get_user( $app->store('user') );
  $client = new Services_Twilio($user['sid'], $user['token']);
  $PhoneNumber = $_POST['PhoneNumber'];
  try {
    $number = $client->account->incoming_phone_numbers->create(array(
      'PhoneNumber' => $PhoneNumber
    ));
    $phsid = $number->sid;
    if ( !empty($phsid) ){
      $sql = "INSERT INTO numbers (user_id,number,sid) VALUES('{$u
ser['ID']}','{$PhoneNumber}','{$phsid}');";
      $pdo = Db::singleton();
      $pdo->exec($sql);
$fid = $pdo->lastInsertId();
      $ret = editNumber($phsid,array(
        "FriendlyName"=>$PhoneNumber,
        "VoiceUrl" => $mysiteURL."/voice?id=".$fid,
        "VoiceMethod" => "POST",
      ),$user['sid'], $user['token']);
    }
  } catch (Exception $e) {
    $err = urlencode("Error purchasing number: 
{$e->getMessage()}");
    $app->redirect( $app->getBaseUri().'/phone-number?msg='.$err);
    exit(0);
  }
  $msg = urlencode("Thank you for purchasing $PhoneNumber");
  header("Location: index.php?msg=$msg");
  $app->redirect( $app->getBaseUri().'/home?msg='.$msg);
  exit(0);
});
$app->route('/voice', function() use ($app){
});
$app->get('/transcribe', function() use ($app){
});
$app->get('/logout', function() use ($app){
        $app->store('user',0);
        $app->redirect( $app->getBaseUri().'/login');
});
$app->get('/home', function() use ($app){
  $app->condition('signed_in');
  $uid = $app->store('user');
  $user = get_user( $uid );
  $client = new Services_Twilio($user['sid'], $user['token']);
  $app->render('dashboard',array(
    'user'=>$user,
    'client'=>$client
  ));
});
$app->get('/delete', function() use ($app){
  $app->condition('signed_in');
});
$app->get('/', function() use ($app){
  $app->render( 'home' );
});
$app->listen();
  2. Upload a file called dashboard.php with the following content to your views folder: 
    <h2>My Number</h2>
<?php
  $pdo = Db::singleton();
  $sql = "SELECT * FROM `numbers` WHERE `user_
id`='{$user['ID']}'";
  $res = $pdo->query( $sql );
  while( $row = $res->fetch() ){
    echo preg_replace("/[^0-9]/", "", $row['number']);
  }
  try {
?>
    <h2>My Call History</h2>
    <p>Here are a list of recent calls, you can click any number 
to call them back, we will call your registered phone number and 
then the caller</p>
    <table width=100% class="table table-hover tabled-striped">
    <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>From</th>
      <th>To</th>
      <th>Start Date</th>
      <th>End Date</th>
      <th>Duration</th>
    </tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
<?php
    foreach ($client->account->calls as $call) {
#      echo "<p>Call from $call->from to $call->to at $call->start_time of
     length $call->duration</p>";
      if( !stristr($call->direction,'inbound') )
   continue;
      $type = find_in_list($call->from);
?>
      <tr>
        <td><a href="<?=$uri?>/call?number=<?=urlencode($call->from)?>">
    <?=$call->from?></a></td>
        <td><?=$call->to?></td>
        <td><?=$call->start_time?></td>
        <td><?=$call->end_time?></td>
        <td><?=$call->duration?></td>
      </tr>
<?php
    }
?>
    </tbody>
    </table>
<?php
  } catch (Exception $e) {
    echo 'Error: ' . $e->getMessage();
  }
?>
  <hr />
  <a href="<?=$uri?>/delete" onclick="return confirm('Are you sure 
you wish to close your account?');">Delete My Account</a>

How it works…

In step 1, we updated the index.php file.

In step 2, we uploaded dashboard.php to the views folder. This file checks if we’re logged in using the $app->condition(‘signed_in’) method, which we discussed earlier, and if we are, it displays all incoming calls we’ve had to our account. We can then push a button to call one of those numbers and whitelist or blacklist them.

Summary

Thus in this article we have learned how to send messages and make phone calls from your website using Twilio.

Resources for Article:

Further resources on this subject:

Packt

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here