Sending Texts in Bulk

RE: Sending Texts in Bulk

benjamins0003 — Thu, 13 Jun 2019 14:15:40 GMT

I'll check the nodes. Thanks

RE: Sending Texts in Bulk

Steven Miccile — Thu, 13 Jun 2019 12:33:50 GMT

It is likely either a node configuration mistake or a Twilio limitation since it worked for 1 phone number.

Are you the owner of all 4 phone numbers? Also did you verify all numbers in Twilio?

https://www.twilio.com/docs/usage/tutorials/how-to-use-your-free-trial-account

RE: Sending Texts in Bulk

benjamins0003 — Wed, 12 Jun 2019 19:52:55 GMT

Steven Miccile Is it possible that it's not sending multiple text messages because I'm on a test account?

RE: Sending Texts in Bulk

benjamins0002 — Tue, 11 Jun 2019 17:46:53 GMT

Yes, I'm using pv!phoneNumber[tp!instanceindex.

The process model is reporting no errors. The Send Twilio SMS node has the correct number of instances (below). The variables look correct. This is how the phone number variable are listed (I'm sending a message to four recipients):

1222222222;1333333333;1444444444;1555555555

According to the readme, this is the right format (11 digits, "1" following the phone number). Any ideas? Could you look this over, please? Thanks, everyone.

RE: Sending Texts in Bulk

Steven Miccile — Tue, 11 Jun 2019 13:49:43 GMT

Did you also try pv!phoneNumber[tp!instanceindex]?

Now you need to start debugging your instances to figure out how it is running. When you monitor the process instance:

How many times does the node run (right click on it)?

What does the pv!phoneNumber variable value look like (go to variables)?

RE: Sending Texts in Bulk

benjamins0002 — Tue, 11 Jun 2019 13:31:47 GMT

Hi, Steven Miccile

I configured the below as you showed, but I still can't send multiple text messages. I think I'm out of ideas. Do you have any? Thanks.

RE: Sending Texts in Bulk

Steven Miccile — Mon, 10 Jun 2019 20:00:02 GMT

pv!phoneNumber has "Multiple?" set to "No". Click on that variable and click the checkbox to make it a multiple.

RE: Sending Texts in Bulk

benjamins0002 — Mon, 10 Jun 2019 19:11:38 GMT

Hello Steven Miccile.I really appreciate your help on this; I have no prior experience as a coder and this online community has proven invaluable.

I noticed in your snapshot that you have a multi-value variable to choose from in the drop-down box. I've attached my own snapshot; I don't seem to have this option. I added a process variable, however (snapshot included). Could you advise? I think I'm getting very close to the answer

RE: Sending Texts in Bulk

Steven Miccile — Mon, 10 Jun 2019 18:27:16 GMT

I don't think you are hearing us regarding moving away from this plugin and using the Appian Integration Object instead. But if you just want this to work as is... you do not have to create a manual loop in the process. You can configure to node to run multiple times on the node configuration itself.

Then put pv!arrayOfPhoneNumbers (or pv!arrayOfPhoneNumbers[tp!instanceindex] if that doesn't work) in the value of the "To" field on the "Data" -> "Inputs" tab.

RE: Sending Texts in Bulk

benjamins0002 — Mon, 10 Jun 2019 15:38:46 GMT

Hi, Jim. Thanks for helping me out on Friday (I think it was you). As you and Steven suggested, I'm trying to loop the process model so that I can send a single SMS to multiple phone numbers. The relevant portion of my process model and the XOR configuration are shown below. As configured, the email is sent to the address hundreds of times, and the SMS is never sent at all. Quite a combination! Any ideas on how to properly configure the looping? Thank you

RE: Sending Texts in Bulk

Jim Schweitzer — Mon, 10 Jun 2019 15:01:07 GMT

Let me just say I wrote this Twilio Utilities plugin before Appian Integration Objects were a thing. This is definitely the preferred way to go with modern Appian.

RE: Sending Texts in Bulk

benjamins0003 — Mon, 10 Jun 2019 13:43:24 GMT

Thanks, Steven. So let me just confirm. I've been able to create an expression rule that filters applicants by phone number, and if there's only one phone number in the system, the SMS message is sent fine. If there's more than one number, none of the messages get sent. My team has reviewed the expression rule and has found no errors.

So is it safe to say that this error is because the standard SMS API only sends a single message to a single number? And would I then have to loop the process model to solve this? Thanks

RE: Sending Texts in Bulk

Steven Miccile — Mon, 10 Jun 2019 13:20:08 GMT

Sending a text to a different phone number based on application status should not be difficult. The node takes an input called "To" that does not have to be a constant. It can be a process variable that can be populated however you want.

As for sending to multiple people, the standard SMS API (https://www.twilio.com/docs/sms/api) only sends one SMS to one number. If you are going to be sending to under 1,000 people, you can set up MNI in Appian on that node to loop over your "To" numbers.

Twilio also seems to have a "messaging service" feature in beta (https://www.twilio.com/docs/sms/services/api), but it looks to me like this is for a static group of numbers you always send messages to, not your dynamic use case.

RE: Sending Texts in Bulk

benjamins0003 — Fri, 07 Jun 2019 18:31:47 GMT

I have an update. I was able to filter, but I can't send to more than one phone number. If I add more than one, the message is sent to neither. I may have to try and loop the process model, but I would like to work within the plug-in if possible. Do you know how I can send the message to more than one phone number? Thanks

RE: Sending Texts in Bulk

benjamins0003 — Fri, 07 Jun 2019 16:27:33 GMT

Steven Miccile Hello, Steven! I resolved the HTML problem with the fix you mentioned.

I'd like to be able to have my text messages filter according to applicant status. Basically, the user will use my messaging application and select the status of the applicant, and I've configured it so that the email is sent to the applicant whose email corresponds with that status. Is there a way to do the same thing with Twilio Utilities 2.0? Or is that not possible because phone numbers are hard-coded as constants? Thanks

RE: Sending Texts in Bulk

benjamins0003 — Thu, 06 Jun 2019 17:44:04 GMT

Okay, thanks, Steven

RE: Sending Texts in Bulk

Steven Miccile — Thu, 06 Jun 2019 17:35:40 GMT

It says "Sent from your Twilio trial account" because your are using a trial account and that's how Twilio behaves. You will need a real account to get that removed.

Also, I am not sure, but I wouldn't expect SMS to support HTML tags. You could strip them using Appian's stripHtml() function or do some SMS/Twilio research on if it is possible to pass line breaks.

RE: Sending Texts in Bulk

benjamins0003 — Thu, 06 Jun 2019 17:26:12 GMT

Fixed. It sends the messages now. However, there are just two remaining problems. The messages begin with "Sent from your Twilio trial account" and when there's formatting in the message, the HTML tags (<p>, <br>, etc) appear. Do you know how I could resolve this? Thank you

RE: Sending Texts in Bulk

Steven Miccile — Thu, 06 Jun 2019 16:30:15 GMT

Mmm based on the screenshot, you have nothing in the "value" field for the "To" parameter.

RE: Sending Texts in Bulk

benjamins0003 — Thu, 06 Jun 2019 16:01:55 GMT

Steven Miccile If I may, I have one other question. I want this message to be sent to my phone as an SMS. I tried entering my number in the value box (shown below), but nothing. What am I missing? Thanks

RE: Sending Texts in Bulk

benjamins0003 — Thu, 06 Jun 2019 15:16:19 GMT

I don't know how you knew it, but it worked. Thanks so much!

RE: Sending Texts in Bulk

Steven Miccile — Thu, 06 Jun 2019 15:05:27 GMT

If you look at the readme for the component, you can name the key for the system (left side of the screen) whatever you want, but you need to have the key for the credential field (right side of the screen) be "authToken" since this is likely referenced directly in the plugin.

RE: Sending Texts in Bulk

benjamins0003 — Thu, 06 Jun 2019 14:49:07 GMT

I've entered the following into "Third Party Credentials" but it still gives me the same error during debugging. Any ideas?

RE: Sending Texts in Bulk

benjamins0003 — Thu, 06 Jun 2019 13:59:18 GMT

Okay. Also, how can I find the SCS key?

RE: Sending Texts in Bulk

Steven Miccile — Thu, 06 Jun 2019 13:56:09 GMT

No this is independent from ICC. You can simply use a connected system and/or integration object to make a RESTful webservice call to Twilio's REST APIs.