How to Delete an SMS in Ruby

The simplest way to delete SMS messages from Ruby is to use the built in HTTP/Rest SMS api of Ozeki SMS Gateway. When you use this API, you will send SMS messages by issuing a HTTP Post request to the SMS gateway. The HTTP Post request will contain a message formatted in json format. The SMS gateway will send this SMS to the recipient's phone, and it will return a HTTP 200 OK response to your request.

how to delete an sms in ruby
Figure 1 - How to Delete an SMS in Ruby

Ruby code to delete sms messages

The Ruby sms code sample below demonstrates how you can send a scheduled SMS using the http rest sms api of Ozeki SMS Gateway using the Ruby ozeki_libs_rest gem. This library is provided to you free of charge, and you may use it and modify it in any of your projects.

DeleteSms.rb 
require 'ozeki_libs_rest'

configuration = Configuration.new(
    "http_user",
    "qwe123",
    "http://127.0.0.1:9509/api"
);

msg = Message.new
msg.id = "f53efb1a-8ff6-4e62-97c3-2c1e81964b9d"

api = MessageApi.new(configuration)

result = api.delete(Folder.new.inbox, msg)

print(result)
How to use the Ruby sms example:

This Ruby sms example can be used in any ruby application. To use it, you must download the ozeki_libs_rest gem. After the gem is downloaded, you need to add a reference to it in your Ruby source code. This will allow you to use the classes provided by the ozeki_libs_rest gem. You can use the Message class to create the SMS. You can use the MessageApi class to send the SMS to the SMS gateway. The SMS gateway will forward your message to the mobile network either through a wireless connection or through the Internet.

Download DeleteSms.rb

The source code explained in this article can be downloaded and used and modified free of charge.
Download: DeleteSms.rb.zip (319B)

What is in the DeleteSms.rb.zip file?

The DeleteSms.rb.zip contains the DeleteSms.rb file, which contains the example code to show you how to send an SMS. This example code is listed below.

Figure 2 - What is inside DeleteSms.rb.zip

How to delete an SMS using Ruby (Quick steps)

To delete an SMS using Ruby:

  1. Download the DeleteSms.rb.zip file
  2. Extract the .zip file from Downloads folder
  3. Open the DeleteSms.rb file in any text editor like Windows Notepad
  4. Launch Ozeki SMS Gateway
  5. Create a HTTP API user in Ozeki
  6. Run DeleteSms.rb Ruby code using the command prompt
  7. Check the Sent box in Ozeki SMS Gateway

Install Ozeki SMS Gateway and create an HTTP API user

To be able to send SMS from Ruby, first you need to install Ozeki SMS Gateway. The SMS gateway can be installed on the same computer, where you develop your Ruby code in Visual studio. After installation, the next step is to connect Ozeki SMS Gateway to the mobile network. You can send a test sms from the Ozeki GUI to verify, that your mobile network connection works. The final step to prepare your environment is to create a HTTP sms api user. Create a user with a username of "http_user", and with a password of "qwe123" to make the example work without modification.

After the environment is setup, you can run your Ruby code.

HTTP API url to use send sms from Ruby

To send SMS from Ruby, your Ruby will have to issue an HTTP request to the SMS gateway. The API url is shown below. Note that the IP address (127.0.0.1) should be replaced to the IP address of your SMS gateway. If Ozeki SMS Gateway is installed on the same computer where the Ruby sms application is running, this can be 127.0.0.1. If it is installed on a different computer, it should be the IP address of that computer. 

http://127.0.0.1:9509/api?action=rest

HTTP authentication to use send sms from Ruby

To authenticate the Ruby sms client, you need to send the username and password in a base64 encoded string to the server in a HTTP request. The format used is: base64(username+":"+password). In Ruby you can use the following code to do this encoding: 

username_password = username + ':' + password
username_password_encoded = Base64.encode64(username_password)
'Basic ' + username_password_encoded

For example, if you encode the username 'http_user' and the password 'qwe123', you will get the following base64 encoded string: aHR0cF91c2VyOnF3ZTEyMw==. To send

HTTP request header to send SMS from Ruby

To send the SMS messages, you need to include the following lines as headers in the HTTP request. Note that we include a content type and an Authorization header. 

Content-Type: application/json
Authorization: Basic QWxhZGRpbjpvcGVuIHNlc2FtZQ==

HTTP request to send SMS from Ruby

To delete a message, your Ruby application will send an HTTP request similar to the one below. Note, that this request contains a HTTP header part and a body part. The body part contains the json encoded sms ids. 

POST /api?action=deletemsg HTTP/1.1
Content-Length: 73
Content-Type: application/json
Accept: application/json
Accept-Encoding: gzip;q=1.0,deflate;q=0.6,identity;q=0.3
Authorization: Basic aHR0cF91c2VyOnF3ZTEyMw==
Host: 127.0.0.1:9509
User-Agent: Faraday v1.5.0

{	
	"folder":	"inbox",
	"message_ids":	[
		"8ddff323-a0e1-474f-b4b1-58d7fed30009"
	]
}

HTTP response received by the Ruby sms example

Once the SMS gateway receives this request, it will generate a HTTP response. The HTTP response will contain a status code, to indicate whether the SMS submit request was successful or not. It will also return a JSON encoded structure to provide you useful details about the messages. 

User-Agent: OZEKI 10.3.123 (www.myozeki.com)
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf8
Last-Modified: Tue, 06 Jul 2021 15:58:36 GMT
Server: 10/10.3.123
Transfer-Encoding: chunked

{
	"http_code": 200,
	"response_code": "SUCCESS",
	"response_msg": "",
	"data": {
	  "folder": "inbox",
	  "message_ids": [
	    "8ddff323-a0e1-474f-b4b1-58d7fed30009"
	  ]
	}
}

Ruby sms example: DeleteSms.rb

In the next video, you will see how to download the example file. This 36-second-long video is very detailed and will show every important step you need to take to have the project file on your computer. You will have no problem following the steps.

Video 1 - How to download and open the file above (Video tutorial)

The example code

The example code below is part of the DeleteSms.rb. This Ruby code will delete the message with the ID stored in the msg.id variable (Figure 3). You can modify the variable so the code will delete another message. If you are familiar with the Ruby programming language, feel free to modify the code to your liking.

Figure 3 - DeleteSms.rb file

How to use the example project (Video tutorial)

In this video, we are going to show you how you can run a project that deletes a chosen message. It will start with launching the Ozeki SMS Gateway and will end with the empty inbox folder where the message was deleted from. This 1:12 long video explaining everything you need to do to launch the project. We are using the Ozeki SMS Gateway that offers a very intuitive user interface so you will have no problem with following the steps.

Video 2 - How to use the DeleteSms.rb file (Video tutorial)

Summary

The article above showed the steps of SMS deleting in Ruby with the help of Ozeki SMS Gateway. Keeping a balanced storage and a frequently cleaned inbox is important if you work with SMS regularly. This solution is a great example of how easy to manage Ozeki SMS Gateway with Ruby codes. It also has to be mentioned that Ozeki SMS Gateway allows you to log SMS messages into a database and offers numerous reporting capabilities to give more information about the SMS connection.

Don't finish your studies here, visit Ozeki's tutorial page and read more about things like SMS scheduling and multiple SMS sending in Ruby.

The only thing to do now is to download Ozeki SMS Gateway and let the work begin!

More information