I'm new to twilio and I'm struggling with one task. I want to do the following
User A calls a twilio number
User A is asked to type in a specific ID which he got assigned already beforehand by mail
Twilio requests the URL www.mycompany.com/api/twilio/get_recipient_number.php?id=[here the typed in ID] to get the phone number of the recipient
Twilio forwards the caller to the phone number which was provided by the script
Is it possible to do this with twilio? What would be the best way?
Twilio employee here.
Yes, this is possible with Twilio. However you have to do step 3 slightly differently.
Allow me to explain the process step by step:
User A calls your Twilio phone number.
The phone number requests some TwiML that uses the < Gather > tag to gather the digits User A types. You will want to use some TwiML similar to this:
<Response>
<Gather action="/route_after_input.php" finishOnKey="*">
Please enter your 4 digit code and press enter
</Gather>
</Response>
The action url will be called once the * key is pressed. At this URL (do change it from the example above to suit your needs) you can then get the digits type in by inspecting the incoming Twilio request parameter called "Digits"
Use your own code to route the call correctly and return the correct TwiML response.
Related
Ok guys, I've been viewing twilio tutorials for the last couple hours and I seem to just not get it. Can someone give me a basic rundown on how to do the following?
I want to create an app that uses the microphone/speaker of my computer to receive a call.
I have a twilio account with a twilio voice phone # but I just don't seem to get how to connect a JS Device object to a phone #. I think it has something to do with a capability/auth token but can someone give me a step by step on how a phone # can be called and the headset will receive a voice call and begin the conversation. The tutorials show how you can make twilio speak a written statement in twiML but I don't understand how to make it make an actual voice call.
My current guess is that I need to do the following in the browser to accept a call. But I'm not sure what needs to be inside the token.
//I don't know what needs to be in the token in order to connect this
//web page twilio 'Device' to. I use c# but if you have a node.js or php example that would be fine
fetch('https://mybackend/getPhoneToken').then((token) => {
const device = new Device(token);
device.on('incoming', call => {
call.accept();
});
});
Thank you for your help.
This is my first answer, let's see if I can help.
First you have to generate the access token by giving the Voice grant.
Generate access token with your account sid, API key ,API key secret and identity.
access_token = AccessToken(<Account_sid>, <api_key>,<api_secret>, identity=identity)
Note: Identity Should be unique for each user. You can put identity as twiliophonenumber_userid
Grant the Voice incoming Access.
voice_grant = VoiceGrant(outgoing_application_sid=<twiml_sid>,incoming_allow=True)
Add grant to the access_token
access_token.add_grant(voice_grant)
Initialise the Twilio device with this access_token. Then you can make the incoming call to the twilio number and receive the call on browser.
You just need only one Twiml App for all the twilio phone numbes. Create a Twiml App with Request Url and method. (Whenever the js device make/receive calls, then twilio will send a request to this URL to get further instructions)
In the above Request URL function, you have to tell twilio what needs to do with the request. Here is a sample function
function handle_calls():
if outgoing_call:
dial.number(customer_phone_number)
else:
# handle incoming call
dial.client(identity) # This is the same identity which we have given while generating access_token. This will trigger "incoming" event on Js device.
To differentiate between outgoing / incoming calls, you can send extra parameters to twilio while making outgoing calls and handle the request accordingly in the above function (pt. 6). See below sample function.
var params = {"direction":"Outgoing"} # Based on this parameter you can differentiate between outgoing/incoming calls.
device.connect(params)
You can setup status_callback events to better handle the call progress. have a look at this article...https://www.twilio.com/docs/voice/twiml/number#attributes-status-callback-event
Have a look at this article, you can get some more information - https://www.twilio.com/blog/generate-access-token-twilio-chat-video-voice-using-twilio-functions
I have this idea where I need to connect customer A (who is hiring) with customer B (who is to be hired) via a direct phone call with just a push of a button, and customer B (who is to be hired) don't want anyone to just have access to his personal phone number (to avoid spam calls).
Well, to make this work I found out that Twilio can handle programmable voice calls which I implemented using ASP.NET Core but that's not exactly what i wanted because customer A (who is hiring) is not allowed to speak directly with customer B (who is to be hired) while the TwiML is at work.
Using Twilio, is there a way for these two customers to communicate via direct calls while hiding the phone number of customer B (who is to be hired) from customer A (who is hiring)? To throw more light to this, on behalf of customer A I want to place a call to customer B's phone number using Twilio's phone number. Any help will be appreciated, thank you.
Twilio developer evangelist here.
You absolutely can connect two customers via a direct call while hiding customer B's number.
I'll give you the very basics first, then suggest some ways to make it more scalable.
To create a number that A can call that will connect A to B you need to buy that number from Twilio and configure it so that when a call comes in to A it returns TwiML that connects to B. For this initial example, you could use a TwiML Bin or some static TwiML that you host. The TwiML needs to use <Dial> and <Number>, like this:
<Response>
<Dial callerID="YOUR_TWILIO_NUMBER">
<Number>Customer B's phone number</Number>
</Dial>
</Response>
Now, when A calls the number they will get connected to B. And if you set the callerId to your Twilio number it will also appear to B to come from your Twilio number, keeping their phone number private too.
Using hard-coded TwiML like this doesn't scale though. You have a few options to improve this.
First, you could have A initiate the call from your application, by clicking a button. That button could trigger a call to A using the REST API and pass it the TwiML above so that when A answers the phone
it then dials B. Like:
using System;
using Twilio;
using Twilio.Rest.Api.V2010.Account;
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
// Find your Account SID and Auth Token at twilio.com/console
// and set the environment variables. See http://twil.io/secure
string accountSid = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID");
string authToken = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN");
string twilioNumber = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("TWILIO_NUMBER");
TwilioClient.Init(accountSid, authToken);
var call = CallResource.Create(
twiml: new Twilio.Types.Twiml($"<Response><Dial callerId='{twilioNumber}'><Number>CUSTOMER_B_NUMBER</Number></Dial></Response>"),
to: new Twilio.Types.PhoneNumber(CUSTOMER_A_NUMBER),
from: new Twilio.Types.PhoneNumber(twilioNumber)
);
Console.WriteLine(call.Sid);
}
}
Another alternative is to let A call directly from within your application using Twilio Client to make the phone calls from your browser.
To dig a bit deeper, you can also use Twilio Proxy to create a session between the two customers and your Twilio number, creating a connection that would allow either of A or B to call the Twilio number and get connected to the other for the duration of the session. Under the hood Proxy works to automate the delivery of the TwiML described above whilst also maintaining the session between the users until it is done with and the number can be reused by customer A to connect to a new customer. Check out the Proxy quickstart to get a better idea how it works.
Using one of Twilio Proxy or Twilio Client is probably the best for your application, but it depends on the interface you want to provide for your users.
Using Twilio Autopilot, I see in the documentation that you can get the caller/originator from the UserIdentifier in a Twilio Function. Is it possible to get the phone number the destination (one of my twilio numbers) messaged or dialed which kicked off the autopilot session?
My use case is to respond from the function with a greeting with different company names (bots would be identical except for company name. ie. "Thanks for contacting COMPANY NAME 1." or "Thanks for contacting COMPANY NAME 2." etc. (In this case each company has their own distinct phone #).
My fallback is to create a bot for each company name that answers/greets, then redirects to the common workflow main task.
Thoughts?
It looks like Inbound Context could be used to place this information in Autopilots Memory. The Autopilot Request documentation doesn't seem to call out the To parameter. You could always capture the Autopilot Request and verify the parameters it is sending your application, to verify this is the case.
I used this as my helpguide: Twilio: Forward received SMS to URL
But the problem is I cannot extract anything from the set of parameters.
I'm using Classic ASP and I'm try to capture anything that exists in the Request.QueryString by placing it into a database.
All I want to do is to insert the from phone number and body/text message into my database every time a message is received. All I get is an empty record in the database.
By default when Twilio receives an SMS to your Twilio phone number it makes a POST request to your ASP page, sending a set of form-encoded values. This means you should use:
Request.Form("Body")
If you want Twilio to make a GET request instead, allowing you to use Request.Querystring, you can configure that on the phone number configuration page in your Twilio Console.
According to the docs, the default value for Twilio's StatusCallbackMethod is POST, so unless you've specified otherwise, you will be receiving your desired parameters in the POST body, not in the query string.
If you just want to forward an SMS to a URL or Rest API there are few android apps that do just that, most of them are paid ones.
This is one example:
https://www.forward-sms-to-rest-api.com
I am facing a problem with Twilio to detect the Twilio Browser client Available or not.
If Twilio client is not available then need to send the voicemail otherwise I am using to accept the call.
Twilio.Device.incoming(function (conn);
Thanks.
Sounds like you need agent presence. There are a couple ways to go about this. One (Recommended) is to use Twilio TaskRouter. https://www.twilio.com/taskrouter. This will handle agent presence for you (online, offline, busy, etc..) and much more
Your other option is to use a service like PubNub http://www.pubnub.com/ and bind the clint so you can get state information (online, offline, busy, etc..). This is more wok since you have to handle state yourself.
The following steps can be followed to achieve this
1. Set a valid url to the action attribute of the Dial verb of the client
Eg., The TwiMl to dial the client must be
<Response>
<Dial action="myapp/statusCallBack">
<Client>jenny</Client>
</Dial>
</Response>
2. If the client jenny is available, the connection object can be received via
Twilio.Device.incoming(function (conn){conn.accept();});
3. If the client jenny is unavailable, Twilio will request to the statusCallBack url with the parameter 'DialCallStatus=no-answer'. Now the following
twiml can be returned to say Unavailable message.
<Response>
<Say>
Please leave your name and number along with a short message.
</Say>
<Record maxLength="3600" action="myapp/recordedUrl">
</Record>
</Response>
4. Now the voicemail url can be stored when the "myapp/recordedUrl" is called once the caller recorded the voicemail. For more info on record verb, visit this site
Note that the voice mail is recorded on two cases, if the client is unavailable or the client does not accept the call.