Processing SMS Application

[justinblake@mailinator.com]

Hello,

I want to write an application that can accept and process sms
messages sent to it from cell phones.

But I have no idea how to setup and link a specific phone number to my
application. I searched this group and found numeous posts about how
to send out sms messages but not how to accept them.


If anyone could point me to the right direction i would greatly
appreciate it.

Cheers,
Justin

[Toby A Inkster]

Re: Processing SMS Application

justinblake wrote:

I want to write an application that can accept and process sms
messages sent to it from cell phones.

The easiest way is to buy a cheap mobile phone and place it in the server
room. Plug it in to the wall so that it doesn't run out of batteries, and
switch Bluetooth on. Then buy a USB Bluetooth dongle for your server --
usually about £10-15.

Now you write a script that polls your phone for new messages, does
something with them (e.g. inserts them into a database), and then deletes
them off the phone. Depending on how often you expect to receive new
messages, set cron to run this script every 1, 5, 15 or 30 minutes.

Writing the script is the hard part, but open source tools like gnokii make
it a bit easier.

If you're using a shared server, then the cheap solution above will likely
not work, as you won't have physical access to the server. You'll probably
need to find a third-party SMS-to-email gateway, and then write a script
to poll a POP3 e-mail account.

--
Toby A Inkster BSc (Hons) ARCS
[Geek of HTML/SQL/Perl/PHP/Python/Apache/Linux]
[OS: Linux 2.6.12-12mdksmp, up 95 days, 16:02.]

Non-Intuitive Surnames

http://tobyinkster.co.uk/blog/2007/05/25/non-intuitive-surnames/

[=?iso-8859-1?Q?Kim_Andr=E9_Aker=F8?=]

Re: Processing SMS Application

justinblake@mai linator.com wrote:

Hello,
>
I want to write an application that can accept and process sms
messages sent to it from cell phones.
>
But I have no idea how to setup and link a specific phone number to my
application. I searched this group and found numeous posts about how
to send out sms messages but not how to accept them.
>
If anyone could point me to the right direction i would greatly
appreciate it.

As Toby pointed out, you could get a mobile phone and attach it to your
server. But a simpler way is to hook up with an SMS gateway service
that supports incoming and outbound (two-way) SMS.

I've been quite satisfied with these:

http://www.clickatell.com/

More specifically, you'd be looking for this service:

http://www.clickatell.com/products/two_way.php

They're based out of South Africa, but they also offer shortcodes in
the USA.

--
Kim André Akerø
- kimandre@NOSPAM betadome.com
(remove NOSPAM to contact me directly)

[Rami Elomaa]

Re: Processing SMS Application

justinblake@mai linator.com kirjoitti:

Hello,
>
I want to write an application that can accept and process sms
messages sent to it from cell phones.
>
But I have no idea how to setup and link a specific phone number to my
application. I searched this group and found numeous posts about how
to send out sms messages but not how to accept them.
>
>
If anyone could point me to the right direction i would greatly
appreciate it.
>

You might want to check this out:
Kannel: Open Source WAP and SMS gateway

http://www.kannel.org/

That's what we use in our business. Basicly the sms' are transformed
into http requests, and whatever you reply is sent in return message, so
you can route them to a php page, handle the message with php and
respond something. You should ask your local SMS operators.

--
Rami.Elomaa@gma il.com

"Wikipedia on vähän niinq internetin raamattu, kukaan ei pohjimmiltaan
usko siihen ja kukaan ei tiedä mikä pitää paikkansa." -- z00ze

[justinblake@mailinator.com]

Re: Processing SMS Application

Thanks everyone for all the great info.

All of your input is a great help,

Cheers,
Rob

[Johny Begood]

Re: Processing SMS Application

>Now you write a script that polls your phone for new messages, does

>something with them (e.g. inserts them into a database), and then deletes
>them off the phone. Depending on how often you expect to receive new
>messages, set cron to run this script every 1, 5, 15 or 30 minutes

Hi Toby,

Any examples of such scripts?

Cheers

"Toby A Inkster" <usenet200703@t obyinkster.co.u kwrote in message
news:9uovi4-8bc.ln1@ophelia .g5n.co.uk...

justinblake wrote:
>

I want to write an application that can accept and process sms
messages sent to it from cell phones.

>
The easiest way is to buy a cheap mobile phone and place it in the server
room. Plug it in to the wall so that it doesn't run out of batteries, and
switch Bluetooth on. Then buy a USB Bluetooth dongle for your server --
usually about £10-15.
>
Now you write a script that polls your phone for new messages, does
something with them (e.g. inserts them into a database), and then deletes
them off the phone. Depending on how often you expect to receive new
messages, set cron to run this script every 1, 5, 15 or 30 minutes.
>
Writing the script is the hard part, but open source tools like gnokii

make

it a bit easier.
>
If you're using a shared server, then the cheap solution above will likely
not work, as you won't have physical access to the server. You'll probably
need to find a third-party SMS-to-email gateway, and then write a script
to poll a POP3 e-mail account.
>
--
Toby A Inkster BSc (Hons) ARCS
[Geek of HTML/SQL/Perl/PHP/Python/Apache/Linux]
[OS: Linux 2.6.12-12mdksmp, up 95 days, 16:02.]
>
Non-Intuitive Surnames
http://tobyinkster.co.uk/blog/2007/0...tive-surnames/

[Toby A Inkster]

Re: Processing SMS Application

Johny Begood wrote:

Any examples of such scripts?

Afraid not. I've written such things for polling POP3 accounts in the
past. The principle is the same; only the protocol is different.

--
Toby A Inkster BSc (Hons) ARCS
[Geek of HTML/SQL/Perl/PHP/Python/Apache/Linux]
[OS: Linux 2.6.12-12mdksmp, up 96 days, 5:03.]

Non-Intuitive Surnames

http://tobyinkster.co.uk/blog/2007/05/25/non-intuitive-surnames/