Send SMS using nexmo gem from input field in rails - ruby-on-rails

Question

I am trying to send an sms to a number entered in an input field using Nexmo gem
This is what I have so far and it doesn't seem to work
pages/test.html.erb
<%= form_tag "/pages/send_sms" do -%>
<%= text_field_tag "number" %>
<%= submit_tag "Send" %>
<% end -%>
routes.rb
Rails.application.routes.draw do
get 'pages/home'
post '/pages/send_sms', as: 'send_sms'
get 'test', to: 'pages#test'
root 'pages#home'
# For details on the DSL available within this file, see http://guides.rubyonrails.org/routing.html
end
pages_controller.rb
def send_sms
#number = params[:number]
nexmo = Nexmo::Client.new(
key: ENV['NEXMO_API_KEY'],
secret: ENV['NEXMO_API_SECRET']
)
notification = "Download the app through this link"
response = nexmo.send_message(
from: "GLAM360",
to: params['number'],
text: notification
)
if response['messages'].first['status'] == '0'
redirect_to root_path
end
end
This is what I see in the terminal
Started POST "/pages/send_sms" for 127.0.0.1 at 2017-10-08 00:35:45 +0400
Processing by PagesController#send_sms as HTML
Parameters: {"utf8"=>"✓", "authenticity_token"=>"zPj5PcZrD+uNYxvvfDio8B5uNWitg0vMw+3Vm8KbvQumbNWzsgN4sBJDKsi2srx0rSatiOISegWHQFE860
JxcA==", "number"=>"[phone]", "commit"=>"Send"}
No template found for PagesController#send_sms, rendering head :no_content
Completed 204 No Content in 803ms
Any help will be highly appreciated here

Answer 1

The error itself tells you what to do. You have few options.
First for your case, just add another redirect if the last check
condition fails. In your case, its failing and so asking for default template. If you specify an else clause, in which you
describe where should it go to (say to the form again with an alert message), rails will itself take care of that.
if response['messages'].first['status'] == '0'
redirect_to root_path
else
redirect_to test_path
end
I used your script and added a send_sms.html.erb with a status
variable being passed from the controller according to the response
of the nexmo.send_message function. Like "Success" or failure and
everything works fine, on the webpage it informs me about the status and I received a text message as well. This is what I will prefer for a better UX.
.
If I have to do it, there would be a lot of changes I would do to the script. A suggestion would be to never rely on an external API, always wrap the interactions you do to an external API in an interface. I will wrap the Nextio scripts, take it out of the controller and place them in an interface (Have a class in either lib or a wrapper function in helper and use interface to interact with it) and will interact with it through my controller. Try not to put logic in your controller. I would also use begin rescue block for interactions with external API and will read about all the errors and think about how to handle them. Lastly for the flow, I would give users more information and not keep them hanging. I would redirect them to another page like send_sms and give them status or use alert messages to tell them whats the status.
Lastly, I would use background tasks for these jobs (which can take sometime depending upon external servers). Use something like sidekiq.