Get Started with PHP Using Laravel Framework

Set up your PHP Laravel dev environment

You must set up and install PHP, Laravel, and Plivo’s PHP SDK before you make your first call.

Install PHP

Follow the official PHP instructions to download and install PHP on macOS or Windows or Debian Linux, or use your favorite package manager to install PHP on any Linux distro.

Install Composer

We recommend using Composer, a dependency manager for PHP, as the package manager for your PHP projects.

Install Laravel and create a Laravel project

• Install Laravel.

  $ composer require laravel/installer
  

• Create a project directory and change into it.

  $ mkdir mylaravelapp
  $ cd mylaravelapp
  

• Create a Laravel project.

  $ composer create-project laravel/laravel quickstart --prefer-dist
  

  This command creates a quickstart directory with the necessary folders and files for development.

Install the Plivo PHP SDK

• To install the most recent release of the Plivo PHP SDK, run

  $ composer require plivo/plivo-php
  

• Alternatively, download the source and run

  $ composer install
  

  This command generates autoload files, which you can include in your PHP source code to start using the SDK.

  <?php
  require 'vendor/autoload.php'
  

Once you’ve set up your development environment, you can start making and receiving calls using PHLO, our visual workflow design studio, or using our APIs and XML documents. Here are three common use cases to get you started.

Make your first outbound call

You can create and deploy a PHLO to make an outbound call with a few clicks on the PHLO canvas, and trigger it with some simple code.

Create the PHLO

To create a PHLO, visit the PHLO page of the Plivo console. If this is your first PHLO, the PHLO page will be empty.

• Click Create New PHLO.

• In the Choose your use case pop-up, click Build my own. The PHLO canvas will appear with the Start node.

  Note: The Start node is the starting point of any PHLO. It lets you trigger a PHLO to start upon one of three actions: incoming SMS message, incoming call, or API request.

• From the list of components on the left side, drag and drop the Initiate Call component onto the canvas. When a component is placed on the canvas it becomes a node.

• Draw a line to connect the Start node’s API Request trigger state to the Initiate Call node.

• In the Configuration pane at the right of the canvas, configure the Initiate Call node with a caller ID in the From field. Enter the destination number you wish to call in the To field.

  Note: You can define a static payload by specifying values when you create the PHLO, or define a dynamic payload by passing values through Liquid templating parameters when you trigger the PHLO from your application.

• Once you’ve configured the node, click Validate to save the configuration.

• Similarly, create a node from the Play Audio component. Connect the Initiate Call node to the Play Audio node using the Answered trigger state.

• Configure the Play Audio node to play a message to the user by entering text in the Speak Text box in the Prompt section of the Configuration pane — for example, “Hello, you just received your first call.”

• Connect the Initiate Call node’s Answered trigger state to the Play Audio node.

• After you complete the configuration, give the PHLO a name by clicking in the upper left, then click Save.

Your PHLO is now ready to test.

Trigger the PHLO

You integrate a PHLO into your application workflow by making an API request to trigger the PHLO with the required payload — the set of parameters you pass to the PHLO. You can define a static payload by specifying values when you create the PHLO, or define a dynamic payload by passing values through parameters when you trigger the PHLO from your application.

In either case, you need your Auth ID and Auth Token, which you can get from the overview page of the Plivo console.

You also need the PHLO ID, which you can copy from the PHLO list page.

Create a Laravel controller

Change to the project directory and run this command to create a Laravel controller for outbound calls.

$ php artisan make:controller PhloController

This command generates a controller named PhloController in the app/http/controllers/ directory.

With a static payload

When you configure values when creating the PHLO, they act as a static payload.

Code

Edit app/http/controllers/phloController.php and paste into it this code.

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<?php
namespace App\Http\Controllers;
require '../../vendor/autoload.php';
use Plivo\Resources\PHLO\PhloRestClient;
use Plivo\Exceptions\PlivoRestException;

class PhloController extends Controller
{
    public function triggerPhlo()
    {
        $client = new PhloRestClient("<auth_id>", "<auth_token>");
        $phlo = $client->phlo->get("<phlo_id>");
        try {
            $response = $phlo->run();
            echo json_encode($response);
        } catch (PlivoRestException $ex) {
            echo json_encode($ex);
        }
    }
}

Replace the auth placeholders with your authentication credentials from the Plivo console. Replace the phlo_id placeholder with your PHLO ID from the Plivo console.

With a dynamic payload

To use dynamic values for the parameters, use Liquid templating parameters when you create the PHLO and pass the values from your code when you trigger it.

Code

Edit app/http/controllers/phloController.php and paste into it this code.

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<?php
namespace App\Http\Controllers;
require '../../vendor/autoload.php';
use Plivo\Resources\PHLO\PhloRestClient;
use Plivo\Exceptions\PlivoRestException;

class PhloController extends Controller
{
    public function triggerPhlo()
    {
        $client = new PhloRestClient("<auth_id>", "<auth_token>");
        $phlo = $client->phlo->get("<phlo_id>");
        try {
            $response = $phlo->run(["from" => "<caller_id>", "to" => "<destination_number>"]);
            echo json_encode($response);
        } catch (PlivoRestException $ex) {
            echo json_encode($ex);
        }
    }
}

Replace the auth placeholders with your authentication credentials from the Plivo console. Replace the phlo_id placeholder with your PHLO ID from the Plivo console. Replace the phone number placeholders with actual phone numbers in E.164 format (for example, +12025551234).

Test

Add a route

Edit routes/web.php and add this line at the end of the file.

Route::match(['get', 'post'], '/triggerphlo', 'PhloController@triggerPhlo');

Route::match(['get', 'post'], '/triggerphlo', 'App\Http\Controllers\PhloController@triggerPhlo');

Save the file and run your code.

$ php artisan serve

Receive your first inbound call

You can create and deploy a PHLO to receive an inbound call with a few clicks on the PHLO canvas, without writing a single line of code.

Prerequisite

To receive incoming calls, you must have a voice-enabled Plivo phone number. You can rent numbers from the Numbers page of the Plivo console, or by using the Numbers API.

Create the PHLO

To create a PHLO, visit the PHLO page of the Plivo console. If this is your first PHLO, the PHLO page will be empty.

• Click Create New PHLO.
• In the Choose your use case pop-up, click Build my own. The PHLO canvas will appear with the Start node.
  Note: The Start node is the starting point of any PHLO. It lets you trigger a PHLO to start upon one of three actions: incoming SMS message, incoming call, or API request.
• From the list of components on the left side, drag and drop the Play Audio component onto the canvas. When a component is placed on the canvas it becomes a node.
• Draw a line to connect the Start node’s Incoming Call trigger state to the Play Audio node.
• In the Configuration pane at the right of the canvas, configure the Play Audio node to play a message to the caller.
• Once you’ve configured the node, click Validate to save the configuration.
• Give the PHLO a name by clicking in the upper left, then click Save.

Assign the PHLO to a Plivo number

Once you’ve created and configured your PHLO, assign it to a Plivo number.

• On the Numbers page of the console, under Your Numbers, click the phone number you want to use for the PHLO.
• In the Number Configuration box, select PHLO from the Application Type drop-down.
• From the PHLO Name drop-down, select the PHLO you want to use with the number, then click Update Number.

Test

You can now make a call to your Plivo phone number and see how the inbound call is handled.

For more information about creating a PHLO application, see the PHLO Getting Started guide. For information on components and their variables, see the PHLO Components Library.

Forward an inbound call

You can create and deploy a workflow to implement call forwarding with a few clicks on the PHLO canvas.

Prerequisite

To receive incoming calls, you must have a voice-enabled Plivo phone number. You can rent numbers from the Numbers page of the Plivo console, or by using the Numbers API.

Create the PHLO

To create a PHLO, visit the PHLO page of the Plivo console. If this is your first PHLO, the PHLO page will be empty.

• Click Create New PHLO.
• In the Choose your use case pop-up, click Build my own. The PHLO canvas will appear with the Start node.
  Note: The Start node is the starting point of any PHLO. It lets you trigger a PHLO to start upon one of three actions: incoming SMS message, incoming call, or API request.

• From the list of components on the left side, drag and drop the Call Forward component onto the canvas. When a component is placed on the canvas it becomes a node.

• Draw a line to connect the Start node‘s Incoming Call trigger state to the Call Forward node.

• In the Configuration tab at the right of the canvas, configure the Call Forward node to select the From number using a variable. Enter two curly brackets to view all available variables, and choose the appropriate one. Enter all the numbers you want to call in the To field, separated with commas.

• Once you’ve configured the node, click Validate to save the configuration.
• Give the PHLO a name by clicking in the upper left, then click Save.

Assign the PHLO to a Plivo number

Once you’ve created and configured your PHLO, assign your PHLO to a Plivo number.

• On the Numbers page of the console, under Your Numbers, click the phone number you want to use for the PHLO.
• In the Number Configuration box, select PHLO from the Application Type drop-down.
• From the PHLO Name drop-down, select the PHLO you want to use with the phone number, then click Update Number.

Test

You can now call your Plivo phone number and see how the inbound call is forwarded.

For more information about creating a PHLO application, see the PHLO Getting Started guide. For information on components and their variables, see the PHLO Components Library.

More use cases

We illustrate more than 20 use cases with code for both PHLO and API/XML on our documentation pages.