twilio node voice outgoing quickstart fails silently - twilio

Question

I know this is a complete n00b question but I'm stumped.
I've created an account and cut/pasted the node quickstart code into a make_call.js file. I've put in my account info and the correct from (my twilio number) and to (my home) phone numbers.
when I run via 'node make_call.js' there is a slight pause and then a shell prompt, no output, no phone call.
if I modify the account fields so they are wrong, either one, I get the same results so it seems like this code is not communicating with the twilio servers at all?
any pointers on how to figure out what's going on?
here's my code, literally copied/pasted from the example with 4 fields changed.
// Download the Node helper library from twilio.com/docs/node/install
// These consts are your accountSid and authToken from twilio.com/user/account
const accountSid = 'ACxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx';
const authToken = '0bxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx';
const Twilio = require('twilio');
const client = new Twilio(accountSid, authToken);
client.api.calls
.create({
url: 'http://demo.twilio.com/docs/voice.xml',
to: '+1212xxxxxxx',
from: '+1929xxxxxxx',
})
.then((call) => console.log(call.sid));

Answer 1

Looks like the quick start guide and the REST API docs for node are different. What happens if you try the code for an outbound call from the REST docs?
// Download the Node helper library from twilio.com/docs/node/install
// These identifiers are your accountSid and authToken from
// https://www.twilio.com/console
const accountSid = 'accountSid';
const authToken = 'your_auth_token';
const client = require('twilio')(accountSid, authToken);
client.calls.create({
url: 'http://demo.twilio.com/docs/voice.xml',
to: '[phone]',
from: '[phone]',
})
.then((call) => process.stdout.write(call.sid));

Answer 2

I have no idea why this code wasn't working and silently failing yesterday but I just ran the (unchanged) code again today and it worked (and output the sid at the end.)

Answer 3

The problem with the example make_call.js is that it does not catch any errors. Here is a slightly modified version with error catching that greatly helps debugging.
const accountSid = 'Your account sid';
const authToken = 'Your auth token';
const Twilio = require('twilio');
const client = require('twilio')(accountSid, authToken);
client.api.calls
.create({
url: 'http://demo.twilio.com/docs/voice.xml',
to: 'your mobile',
from: 'your twilio number',
}, function(err, call){
if(err) {
console.log(err);
} else {
console.log(call.sid);
}
})