HTTP API - 'receivemessage' action

This action can be used to receive SMS messages from the SMS Gateway using HTTP polling. HTTP polling means that you download SMS messages from the inbox folder of the gateway like you would download a webpage. In this section you can get information about how you can use the receivemessage action, what are the parameters, and you will be presented with an example HTTP request to download incoming messages.

Description

To download incoming text messages, use the following URL format:

https://127.0.0.1:9508/api?action=receivemessage&username=UUUUU&password=PPPPP&
folder=inbox&limit=2&afterdownload=delete

For 127.0.0.1, you should substitute the host name or the IP address of the computer your SMS gateway is installed on. The port number 9508 is the default HTTP port number of the Ozeki SMS gateway. Its port number can be configured in the user interface of Ozeki 10 SMS Gateway, by clicking on the Advanced button in the toolbar.

The username and the password should be substituted for "UUUUU" and "PPPPP". The username and password identifies the user you have created in the SMS gateway. When you invoke the receivemessage action by calling the URL, you will download messages from the inbox of the user specified in the query with the username and the password.

The folder parameter of the message should be set to inbox.

The limit parameter specifies the number of messages that will be downloaded. It is recommended to download less than 1000 messages in a single request. You can download the remaining messages in subsequent requests.

The afterdownload parameter can be used to remove messages from the SMS gateway once they have been successfully downloaded.

Example URL Request

https://127.0.0.1:9508/api?action=receivemessage&username=admin&password=abc123&
folder=inbox&limit=2&afterdownload=delete

Example Response

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/xml
Content-Length: 824

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE response PUBLIC "-//OZEKI//DTD XML 1.0//EN" "http://www.ozekisms.com/DTD/response.xml">
<response>
   <action>receivemessage</action>
   <data>
   <message>
   <messageid>ERFAV23D</messageid>
   <originator>06301234567</originator>
         <recipient>06201112222</recipient>
         <messagetype>SMS:TEXT</messagetype>
         <messagedata>Hello world</messagedata>
         <senttime>2008-01-16 10:04:00</senttime>
         <receivedtime>2008-01-18 20:58:04</receivedtime>
      </message>
      <message>
         <messageid>GYT4455D</messageid>
         <originator>06209994444</originator>
         <recipient>06201112222</recipient>
         <messagetype>SMS:TEXT</messagetype>
         <messagedata>Second message</messagedata>
         <senttime>2008-01-16 10:08:00</senttime>
         <receivedtime>2008-01-18 20:58:05</receivedtime>
      </message>
   </data>
</response>

Request parameters

Parameter Description Possible values Example M/O*
action Specifies the HTTP API command receivemessage action=receivemessage M
username Specifies the username. The username and password parameters are used to authenticate the user. Once the user is authenticated messages will be downloaded from his inbox. The value must be url-encoded. string value, maximum length is 16 characters username=admin M
password Specifies the password. The username and password parameters are used to authenticate the user. Once the user is authenticated messages will be downloaded from his inbox. The value must be url-encoded. string value, maximum length is 16 characters password=abc123 M
folder Specifies the name of the folder. By default, messages will be downloaded from the inbox folder. You can use the receivemessage action to download messages from other folders as well. inbox (default)
outbox
deliveredtonetwork
deliveredtohandset
deliveryfailed
 folder=inbox O
limit Specifies the maximum number of messages to be downloaded from the server within the request. You can download the remaining messages with subsequent requests. integer value, the default limit is 1000 limit=10 O
afterdownload Specifies the way messages should be handled after a successful download. Messages can be deleted from the SMS gateway; they can be marked as downloaded and they can be left untouched. If they are left untouched, the next time you initiate a download request they will be downloaded again.
 delete (default)
mark
untouch
 afterdownload=delete O
responseformat You can specify the format of the user's incoming messages. xml, html, url-encoded responseformat=xml O

* M = Mandatory parameter, O = Optional parameter

Response parameters
(xml response format)

Parameter Description Possible values Example
message Contains a single message. The data section can contain many messages. The number of messages in the message data can is less than or equal to the value of the limit parameter   
<message>
    <messageid>ERFAV23D</messageid>
    <originator>06301234567</originator>
    <recipient>06201112222</recipient>
    <messagetype>SMS:TEXT</messagetype>
    <messagedata>Hello world</messagedata>
    <senttime>2028-01-16 10:04:00</senttime>
    <receivedtime>2028-01-18 20:58:04</receivedtime>
</message>
message.messageid Contains a message reference that can be used to track the message in the SMS gateway. This message reference is also used to identify delivered to network and delivered to handset reports or to query information about the message. string value, maximum length is 16 characters <messageid>ERFAV23D</messageid>
message.originator Contains the sender telephone number. This is the telephone number of the cell phone the sent the message. string value, maximum length is 16 characters <recipient>06301234567</recipient>
message.recipient Contains the recipient address. This is the telephone number that was used to send the message to. string value, maximum length is 16 characters <recipient>06201112222</recipient>
message.messagetype Contains the message type identifier specified in the Mobile Message Type Specification. In most cases this will be SMS:TEXT. string value, maximum length is 1024 characters <recipient>SMS:TEXT</recipient>
message.messagedata Contains the message data. For text messages this is the text of the SMS messages. For other message types this is an XML structure specified in the Mobile Message Type Specification. The message data is encoded as UTF8. string value <messagedata>Hello world</messagedata>
message.senttime Contains the timestamp that tells when the message was submitted from the sender phone. Date time value in the following format: YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss <senttime>2028-01-16 10:04:00</senttime>
message.receivedtime Contains the timestamp that tells when the message was received by the SMS gateway. Date time value in the following format: YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss <senttime>2028-01-18 20:58:04</senttime>

Summary

In this article, you found all the information necessary to use the ‘receivemessage’ action with our HTTP SMS API.

With this solution, you can utilize the benefits of http polling to receive the incoming text messages. We did our very best to make it simple and to walk you through all the details as painlessly as possible. If you have already completed the steps, you have seen the benefits of using our HTTP SMS API. If you yet to start working on completing your SMS system using API, do not waste any time. Start now!

If you would like to get to know more useful insights about the advantages of other similar SMS solutions, please open the page about sending messages with the same system.

I hope this page will be useful to all the readers and especially to beginners.

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