Getting Started with SMS Survey

Businesses use SMS messages to inform their customers about new and upcoming offers. Based on the response from the customers, businesses can update the customer’s account, and also respond with a confirmation. Plivo’s PHLO allows you to quickly create and configure sending SMS messages to your customers, and accept a response from the customer. An API call will trigger the PHLO and send a message to the customers with a custom message. When the customer replies to the SMS message, the incoming SMS will trigger the an HTTP Request to your application. Once the HTTP Request is successful, an SMS confirmation message will be sent to the customer.

Outline

Creating the Use Case using PHLO

With PHLO, you can quickly create a workflow that suits your use case. To use PHLO, make sure to register and log on to Plivo Console.

Use the following components to create this PHLO:

  • Send SMS

When you send an API request to the PHLO, it triggers a SMS message to the user using the Send SMS component. This is a simple use case, yet it is one of the most widely used.

Note: The Callback function provides the user details required to send the SMS message.

To create this PHLO

  1. On the top navigation bar, click PHLO. The PHLO page will appear and display your existing PHLOs, if any exist. If this is your first PHLO, then the PHLO page will be empty.
  2. Click CREATE NEW PHLO to build a new PHLO.
  3. In the Choose your use-case window, click Build my own. The PHLO canvas will appear with the Start node. Note: The Start node is the starting point of any PHLO. You can choose between the four available trigger states of the Start node; Incoming SMS, Incoming Call, and API Request. For this PHLO, we will use the API Request and the Incoming SMS trigger states.
  4. Click the Start node to open the Configurations tab and then enter the information to retrieve from the HTTP Request payload. For example, this could be a list of numbers to send an SMS message to.
  5. From the list of components on the left-hand side, drag and drop the Send SMS component onto the canvas. This will add a Send SMS node onto the canvas. Connect the Start node with the Send SMS node, using the API Request trigger state.
  6. Rename the node to Send_Survey. Note: You can rename the nodes as per your requirements. We are using specific names to help you relate to the different nodes used in this use case.
  7. Next, configure the Send SMS node to select the From and To numbers from the Start node. Note: The SMS message can be static or dynamic. In this example, we will use a combination of a static message along with some dynamic message.
  8. On the Send_Survey Configurations tab, in the Message field, enter the static message and the variable to include the dynamic text. You can choose a variable by entering two curly brackets in the Speak Text field. Note:
    • Enter two curly brackets to view all available variables.
    • The values for the From and To numbers are picked from the HTTP Request Payload. Make sure to clearly define the variables in the Start node.
  9. Click Validate to save the configurations for the node.
  10. Create a node for Branch and rename it to rename the node to Handle_Reply.
  11. Connect the Handle_Reply node with the Start node using the Incoming SMS trigger state.
  12. Configure the Handle_Reply node and select the Variable to compare as Start.sms.message. Note: Enter two curly braces to view all available variables.
  13. Click the pencil icon and enter the name for the condition as Satisfied.
  14. Under Operations, for string, enter the value as 1.
  15. Similarly, add another condition and name it Not Satisfied.
  16. Enter the value for the operation as 2.
  17. Click Validate to save the configurations for the node.
  18. Create two nodes for Send SMS and connect them to the Handle_Reply node using the Satisfied and Not Satisfied trigger states.
  19. Next, configure the Send SMS node to select the From and To numbers from the Start node. Note: The SMS message can be static or dynamic. In this example, we will use a combination of a static message along with some dynamic message.
  20. Rename the Send SMS Nodes connected to the Satisfied trigger state to Reply_Satisfied.
  21. Rename the Send SMS Nodes connected to the Not Satisfied trigger state to Reply_NotSatisfied.
  22. On the Configurations tab, in the Message field, enter the static message and the variable to include the dynamic text. You can choose a variable by entering two curly brackets in the Speak Text field. Note:
    • Enter two curly brackets to view all available variables.
    • The values for the From and To numbers are picked from the HTTP Request Payload. Make sure to clearly define the variables in the Start node.
  23. Click Validate to save the configurations for the node.
  24. Next, create a node for the HTTP Request component and connect it to the Reply_Satisfied and Reply_NotSatisfied nodes using the Sent and Failed trigger states.
  25. Configure the HTTP Request node with the URL to make the request to. You can choose from either GET, POST, PUT, or DELETE. Note:
    • Make sure to configure the Headers, Auth, Params, and Body tabs as necessary.
    • Make sure to validate the node after completing the configuration.
  26. Rename the node to Handle_Callback.
  27. Click Validate to save the configurations for the node.
  28. After you complete the configurations, click Save. You can trigger your PHLO using the PHLO URL to test it out.

Your complete PHLO will look like this:

SMS Survey

Triggering a PHLO from your SMS app

Once you have created and configured your PHLO, copy the PHLO Run URL. Integrate a PHLO into your application workflow by making an API request to the PHLO URL with the required payload.

Code Samples
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# without payload in request

import plivo

auth_id = 'Your AUTH ID'
auth_token = 'Your AUTH Token'
phlo_id = 'Your PHLO ID' # https://console.plivo.com/phlo/list/
phlo_client = plivo.phlo.RestClient(auth_id=auth_id, auth_token=auth_token)
phlo = phlo_client.phlo.get(phlo_id)
response = phlo.run()
print str(response)

# with payload in request

import plivo

auth_id = 'Your AUTH ID'
auth_token = 'Your AUTH Token'
phlo_id = 'Your PHLO ID' # https://console.plivo.com/phlo/list/
payload = {"from" : "+15671234567","to" : "+15671234576"}
phlo_client = plivo.phlo.RestClient(auth_id=auth_id, auth_token=auth_token)
phlo = phlo_client.phlo.get(phlo_id)
response = phlo.run(**payload)
print str(response)

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require 'rubygems'
require 'plivo'

include Plivo

AUTH_ID = 'AUTH_ID'
AUTH_TOKEN = 'AUTH_TOKEN'

client = Phlo.new(AUTH_ID, AUTH_TOKEN)

# if credentials are stored in the PLIVO_AUTH_ID and the PLIVO_AUTH_TOKEN environment variables
# then initialize client as:
# client = Phlo.new

# without payload in request
begin
    phlo = client.phlo.get('phlo_id')
    response = phlo.run()
    puts response
  rescue PlivoRESTError => e
    puts 'Exception: ' + e.message
  end

# with payload in request

begin
  phlo = client.phlo.get('phlo_id')
  #parameters set in PHLO - params
  params = {
     from: '9999999999',
     to: '0000000000'
  }
  response = phlo.run(params)
  puts response
rescue PlivoRESTError => e
  puts 'Exception: ' + e.message
end

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var plivo = require('plivo');
var PhloClient = plivo.PhloClient;

var authId = 'auth-id';
var authToken = 'auth-token';
var phloId = 'PHLO_ID';
var phloClient = phlo = null;

// without payload in request

phloClient = new PhloClient(authId, authToken);
phloClient.phlo(phloId).run().then(function (result) {
    console.log('Phlo run result', result);
}).catch(function (err) {
    console.error('Phlo run failed', err);
});

// with payload in request

var payload = {
    from: '19999999999',
    to: '18888888888'
}
phloClient = new PhloClient(authId, authToken);
phloClient.phlo(phloId).run(payload).then(function (result) {
    console.log('Phlo run result', result);
}).catch(function (err) {
    console.error('Phlo run failed', err);
});

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<?php
/**
 * Example for API Request
 */
require 'vendor/autoload.php';
use Plivo\Resources\PHLO\PhloRestClient;
use Plivo\Exceptions\PlivoRestException;
$client = new PhloRestClient("YOUR_AUTH_ID", "YOUR_AUTH_TOKEN");

// without payload in request

$phlo = $client->phlo->get("YOUR_PHLO_ID");
try {
    $response = $phlo->run();
    print_r($response);
} catch (PlivoRestException $ex) {
    print_r($ex);
}

// with payload in request

$phlo = $client->phlo->get("YOUR_PHLO_ID");
try {
    $response = $phlo->run(["field1" => "value1", "field2" => "value2"]); // These are the fields entered in the PHLO console
    print_r($response);
} catch (PlivoRestException $ex) {
    print_r($ex);
}

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import com.plivo.api.Plivo;
import com.plivo.api.PlivoClient;
import com.plivo.api.exceptions.PlivoRestException;
import com.plivo.api.models.phlo.Phlo;
import java.io.IOException;

// without payload 

public class Example
{
    private static final String authId = "Your AUTH ID";
    private static final String authToken = "Your AUTH Token";
    private static PlivoClient client = new PlivoClient(authId, authToken);
    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException, PlivoRestException
    {
        String phloId = "Your PHLO ID";
        Plivo.init(authId, authToken);
        Phlo phlo = Phlo.getter(phloId).client(client).get();
        PhloUpdateResponse response = Phlo.updater(phloId).payload().run();
    }
}

// with payload 

public class Example
{
    private static final String authId = "Your AUTH ID";
    private static final String authToken = "Your AUTH Token";
    private static PlivoClient client = new PlivoClient(authId, authToken);
    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException, PlivoRestException
    {
        String phloId = "Your PHLO ID";
        Plivo.init(authId, authToken);
        Phlo phlo = Phlo.getter(phloId).client(client).get();
        Map<String, Object> payload = new HashMap<>();
        payload.put("phone", "+1111111111");
        payload.put("to", "+1111111112");
        PhloUpdateResponse response = Phlo.updater(phloId).payload(payload).run();
    }
}

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package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"plivo-go"
)

// Initialize the following params with corresponding values to trigger resources

const authId = "auth_id"
const authToken = "auth_token"
const phloId = "phlo_id"

// without payload in request

func main() {
	testPhloRunWithoutParams()
}

func testPhloRunWithoutParams() {
	phloClient, err := plivo.NewPhloClient(authId, authToken, &plivo.ClientOptions{})
	if err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}
	phloGet, err := phloClient.Phlos.Get(phloId)
	if err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}
	response, err := phloGet.Run(nil)
	if err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}
	fmt.Printf("Response: %#v\n", response)

}

// with payload in request

func main() {
	testPhloRunWithParams()
}

func testPhloRunWithParams() {
	phloClient, err := plivo.NewPhloClient(authId, authToken, &plivo.ClientOptions{})
	if err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}
	phloGet, err := phloClient.Phlos.Get(phloId)
	if err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}
	//pass corresponding from and to values
	type params map[string]interface{}
	response, err := phloGet.Run(params{
		"from": "111111111",
		"to":   "2222222222",
	})

	if err != nil {
		println(err)
	}
	fmt.Printf("Response: %#v\n", response)
}

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using System;
using Plivo;

// without payload 

namespace test_PHLO_dotnet
{
    class Program
    {
        public static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            var phloClient = new PhloApi("auth_id", "auth_token");
            var phloID = "phlo_id";
            var phlo = phloClient.Phlo.Get(phloID);   
            Console.WriteLine(phlo.Run());
        }
    }
}

// with payload 

namespace test_PHLO_dotnet
{
    class Program
    {
        public static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            var phloClient = new PhloApi("auth_id", "auth_token");
            var phloID = "phlo_id";
            var phlo = phloClient.Phlo.Get(phloID); 
            var data = new Dictionary<string, object>
            {
                { "from", "19999999999" },
                { "to", "18888888888" }

            };  
            Console.WriteLine(phlo.Run(data));
        }
    }
}

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curl --request POST \
  --user AUTH_ID:AUTH_TOKEN \
  --url 'https://phlorunner.plivo.com/v1/account/{auth_id}/phlo/{phlo_id}' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{"from": "1111111111","to": "1111111112"}'

You can install the server SDKs and setup your development environment by referring to the instructions available in the below links:

Server SDKs
Setup your development environment

You can get your Auth_ID and Auth_token from your dashboard

AuthID

You can find the PHLO_ID on the PHLO Listing page.

Phlo Listing

Triggering the PHLO on Incoming SMS

Once you have created and configured your PHLO, assign your PHLO to a number. To assign a PHLO to a number

  1. Login to your Console
  2. On the Product Navigation bar, click Phone Number.
  3. On the Numbers page, under Your Numbers, click the phone number you wish to use for the PHLO.
  4. In the EDIT NUMBERS window, select PHLO from the App Type list.
  5. From the PHLO list, select the PHLO you wish to use with the phone number, and then click Update.

You can now send an SMS to your phone number to test your PHLO.

If you have not purchased a phone number yet, you can buy a phone number(s) by referring to the instructions available here.

For more information about creating a PHLO app, see the PHLO User Guide. For information on components and their variables, see the PHLO Components Library.

Uses of this PHLO

You can also use this PHLO structure for other use cases, like:

  • Subscriptions/User confirmation