SMS API

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Overview

Plum offers four services for its SMS REST API:

Method

Service

Description

POST

sms/queue

Queues an SMS message and returns an SMS message resource

GET

sms/status

Returns a single SMS message resource

GET

sms/messages

Returns a filtered list of SMS message resources

GET

sms/conversation

Returns SMS messages exchanged between two defined phone numbers

Please note that each of these SMS REST APIs use HTTP AUTH for authentication. The username/password to be used for authentication are the same as your standard Plum DEV login credentials.

All of the SMS REST APIs have the same return format that includes a status (success or failure), error message and the result data.

Sample Responses

<sample>
  <status>success</status>
  <error/>
  <result>
    <!-- SAMPLE RESULT DATA -->
  </result>
</sample>

<sample>
  <status>failure</status>
  <error>Unauthorized access to sample service</error>
</sample>

{
  "status":"success",
  "error":"",
  "result": {
    // SAMPLE RESULT DATA
  }
}

{
  "status":"failure",
  "error":"Unauthorized access to sample service",
}

{
  "status":"failure",
  "error":"Invalid 'to' phone number",
}

Special Notifications

Blocked numbers & landlines

Messages to unsubscribed numbers or landlines will fail, returning the message delivery status undelivered. This also triggers an immediate notification describing why the messages failed.

The notification is for user information and will not appear as part of the response.

Examples:

Message sent to a phone number that previously sent a STOP request (i.e., unsubscribed):

{"status":"failure","error":""Attempt to send to unsubscribed recipient""}

Message sent to landline:

{"status":"failure","error":""To number: +1xxxxxxxxx, is not a mobile number""}

Sending SMS

Queue SMS

POST https://hosting.plumvoice.com/ws/sms/{resource_type}

Queues an SMS message to be sent

Path Parameters

Name

Type

Description

resource_type

string

queue.xml or queue.json

Headers

Name

Type

Description

Content-type

string

application/x-www-form-urlencoded

string

application/xml, application/json

Request Body

Name

Type

Description

string

10-digit phone number that will receive the SMS message.

from

string

Phone number that the SMS will appear from.

Note: This phone number must appear as an “SMS Number” on the “Account Configuration” page in your Plum DEV account. Any attempt to send an SMS using a number not listed as an “SMS Number” in your account will fail.

Your SMS-enabled number must be non-PCI. SMS is unencrypted, which makes SMS messaging incompatible with PCI numbers and infrastructure.

body

string

SMS message to be sent Note: messages larger than 160 characters will be split into multiple messages.

result_url

string

URL for tracking the SMS result status Note: after the SMS is sent this URL will receive a POST with the following variables: 'sms_message_id' and 'status'. This should be used to get the status of an SMS message rather than polling the status REST service.

{
  "status":"success",
  "error":"",
  "result": {
    "sms_messages": [
      {
        "sms_message_id":"e7f41fdc813d481081ec2840d68838b5",
        "to":"19998881234",
        "from":"2435678910",
        "body":"This is a notification",
        "request_timestamp":1330464356,
        "result_url":"http://myserver.com/storesmsresults.php",
        "status":"queued"
      }
    ]
  }
}

<queue>
  <status>success</status>
  <error/>
  <result>
    <sms_messages>
      <sms_message>
        <sms_message_id>e7f41fdc813d481081ec2840d68838b5</sms_message_id>
        <to>19998881234</to>
        <from>2435678910</from>
        <body>This is a notification</body>
        <request_timestamp>1330464356</request_timestamp>
        <result_url>http://myserver.com/storesmsresults.php<result_url>
        <status>queued</status>
      </sms_message>
    </sms_messages>
  </result>
</queue>

Sample Code

<?php
header("Content-type: text/xml");

$params['to'] = "19998881234";
$params['from'] = "2435678910";
$params['body'] = "This is a notification.";
$params['result_url'] = "http://myserver.com/storesmsresults.php";

// initialize curl
$ch = curl_init();

// set necessary curl options
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $params);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, "https://hosting.plumvoice.com/ws/sms/queue.xml");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_USERPWD, "username:password");

echo(curl_exec($ch));

curl_close($ch);
?>

<?php
// make sure the log file has read/write permissions from the web server
$logfile = "logs/smsresults.log"
if (!is_readable($logfile) || !is_writable($logfile)) {
  die("Unable to write to log file.");
}

if (isset($_POST['sms_message_id'], $_POST['status'])) {
  if ($fp = fopen($logfile, 'a+')) {
    $date = date("r");
    $message_id = $_POST['sms_message_id'];
    $status = $_POST['status'];
    fwrite($fp, "$date $message_id $status\n");
    fclose($fp);
  }
}
?>

curl -u username:password -d to=19998881234 -d from=2435678910 -d body='This is a notification' https://hosting.plumvoice.com/ws/sms/queue.xml

Receiving SMS

SMS Status

GET https://hosting.plumvoice.com/ws/sms/{resource_type}/{sms_message_id}

Returns the status of an SMS message

Path Parameters

Name

Type

Description

resource_type

string

status.xml or status.json

sms_message_id

string

Unique 128-bit hexidecimal identifier for this SMS message Note: this value is provided in the result of a queued SMS message

Headers

Name

Type

Description

content-type

string

application/x-www-form-urlencoded

string

application/json, application/xml

{
  "status":"success",
  "error":"",
  "result": {
    "sms_message_id":"e7f41fdc813d481081ec2840d68838b5",
    "to":"19998881234",
    "from":"2435678910",
    "body":"This is a notification",
    "request_timestamp":"1330464356",
    "response_timestamp":"1330464357",
    "status":"sent",
    "delivery_status":"delivered"
  }
}

<status>
  <status>success</status>
  <error/>
  <result>
    <sms_message_id>e7f41fdc813d481081ec2840d68838b5</sms_message_id>
    <to>19998881234</to>
    <from>2435678910</from>
    <body>This is a notification</body>
    <request_timestamp>1330464356</request_timestamp>
    <response_timestamp>1330464357</response_timestamp>
    <status>sent</status>
    <delivery_status>delivered</delivery_status>
  </result>
</status>

This method with return result status as queued, sent, received, or failed. When the value of status is sent, then the method will also return a result delivery_status as delivered or undelivered.

Statuses Explained

Message Status Types:

Queued: your message has been added to the queue to be sent.
Sent: your message has been sent.
Received: you have received an incoming message.
Failure: your message could not be sent. Failed messages can happen for a variety of reasons including queue overflows, account suspensions, etc.

Delivery Status Types:

Delivered: your message has been successfully delivered to your recipient.
Undelivered: your message was not delivered. There are many reasons why this may occur including, destination number is not a mobile number, carrier content filtering, the availability of the destination number, etc.
Unconfirmed: There is no indication whether or not your message reached your recipient.

Please be advised! The delivery status will only be available up to 7 days after the SMS message was sent.

Sample Code

<?php
header("Content-type: text/xml");

// for this example, our sms_message_id is e7f41fdc813d481081ec2840d68838b5
$sms_message_id = 'e7f41fdc813d481081ec2840d68838b5';

// initialize curl
$ch = curl_init();

// set necessary curl options
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_USERPWD, "username:password");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, "https://hosting.plumvoice.com/ws/sms/status.xml/".$sms_message_id);

echo(curl_exec($ch));

curl_close($ch);
?>

curl -u username:password https://hosting.plumvoice.com/ws/sms/status.json/e7f41fdc813d481081ec2840d68838b5

Special Notifications

Blocked numbers & landlines

Messages to unsubscribed numbers or landlines will fail, returning the message delivery status undelivered. This also triggers an immediate notification describing why the messages failed.

The notification is for user information and will not appear as part of the response.

Examples:

Message sent to a phone number that previously sent a STOP request (i.e., unsubscribed):

{"status":"failure","error":""Attempt to send to unsubscribed recipient""}

Message sent to landline:

{"status":"failure","error":""To number: +1xxxxxxxxx, is not a mobile number""}

SMS Messages

GET https://hosting.plumvoice.com/ws/sms/{resource_type}

Lists SMS messages that have been sent and/or received.

Path Parameters

Name

Type

Description

resource_type

string

messages.xml or messages.json

Query Parameters

Name

Type

Description

offset

integer

Number of SMS messages to skip before returning results

limit

integer

Maximum number of SMS messages to return. Note: minimum limit is 50, maximum limit is 1000.

order

string

Sort the SMS messages in ascending or descending order by date. Accepted values are asc, desc, or blank

start_timestamp

integer

Start timestamp to begin searching for SMS messages.

end_timestamp

integer

End timestamp to stop searching for SMS messages.

msg_type

string

Type of messages to be returned. Note: Accepted values are 'inbound', 'outbound', 'all' (for both inbound and outbound), or blank.

phone_number

integer

The phone number to filter results on.

number_type

string

Available and required only when message type is inbound or outbound AND a phone number is provided. Note: accepted values are 'account' (your SMS phone number) and 'customer' (your end user's SMS phone number)

{
  "status":"success",
  "error":"",
  "result": {
    "offset":0,
    "limit":50,
    "total":"2",
    "sms_messages": [
      {
        "sms_message_id":"e7f41fdc813d481081ec2840d68838b5",
        "to":"19998881234",
        "from":"2435678910",
        "body":"This is a notification",
        "request_timestamp":"1330464356",
        "response_timestamp":"1330464357",
        "result_url":"",
        "status":"sent"
      },
      {
        "sms_message_id":"bf811cfb5e864a2793d9b6b81ec2185f",
        "to":"19998881234",
        "from":"2435678910",
        "body":"Resending notification",
        "request_timestamp":"1330464386",
        "response_timestamp":"1330464387",
        "result_url":"",
        "status":"sent"
      }
    ]
  }
}

<messages>
  <status>success</status>
  <error/>
  <result>
    <offset>0</offset>
    <limit>50</limit>
    <total>2</total>
    <sms_messages>
      <sms_message>
        <sms_message_id>e7f41fdc813d481081ec2840d68838b5</sms_message_id>
        <to>19998881234</to>
        <from>2435678910</from>
        <body>This is a notification</body>
        <request_timestamp>1330464356</request_timestamp>
        <response_timestamp>1330464357</response_timestamp>
        <result_url/>
        <status>sent</status>
      </sms_message>
      <sms_message>
        <sms_message_id>bf811cfb5e864a2793d9b6b81ec2185f</sms_message_id>
        <to>19998881234</to>
        <from>2435678910</from>
        <body>Resending notification</body>
        <request_timestamp>1330464386</request_timestamp>
        <response_timestamp>1330464387</response_timestamp>
        <result_url/>
        <status>sent</status>
      </sms_message>
    </sms_messages>
  </result>
</messages>

Sample Code

<?php
header("Content-type: text/xml");

// initialize curl
$ch = curl_init();

// set necessary curl options
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, "https://hosting.plumvoice.com/ws/sms/messages.xml?offset=0&limit=50&start_timestamp=0&end_timestamp=0&msg_type=inbound&phone_number=xxxxxxxxxx&number_type=account");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_USERPWD, "username:password");

echo(curl_exec($ch));

curl_close($ch);
?>

curl -u username:password "https://hosting.plumvoice.com/ws/sms/messages.json/?offset=0&limit=50&start_timestamp=0&end_timestamp=0&msg_type=inbound&phone_number=xxxxxxxxxx&number_type=account"

SMS Conversation

GET https://hosting.plumvoice.com/ws/sms/{resource_type}

Lists messages between two phone numbers

Path Parameters

Name

Type

Description

resource_type

string

conversation.xml or conversation.json

Query Parameters

Name

Type

Description

offset

integer

Number of SMS messages to skip before returning results.

limit

integer

Maximum number of SMS messages to return. Note: minimum limit is 50, maximum limit is 1000.

order

string

Sort the SMS messages in ascending or descending order by date. Accepted values are asc, desc, or blank

start_timestamp

integer

Start timestamp to begin searching for SMS messages.

end_timestamp

integer

End timestamp to stop searching for SMS messages.

phone_number1

integer

First phone number to filter on for the returned conversation.

phone_number2

integer

Second phone number to filter on for the returned conversation.

{
  "status":"success",
  "error":"",
  "result":{
    "offset":"0",
    "limit":"50",
    "total":"4",
    "sms_messages":[
      {
        "sms_message_id":"b84b2dbfadcc49e1a697aabfdb1f2730",
        "to":"19998881234",
        "from":"2435678910",
        "body":"GREAT",
        "request_timestamp":"1594662275",
        "response_timestamp":"1594662276",
        "result_url":"",
        "type":"inbound",
        "status":"received"
      },
      {
        "sms_message_id":"4beb4b8ace954ff694bdadb8cca99ac9",
        "to":"2435678910",
        "from":"19998881234",
        "body":"Thanks for visiting us today! Tell us how we did. Reply back with \"OK\", \"GOOD\", \"GREAT\" or \"EXCELLENT\".",
        "request_timestamp":"1594662276",
        "response_timestamp":"1594662279",
        "result_url":"",
        "type":"outbound",
        "status":"sent"
      },
      {
        "sms_message_id":"dd2ee079413f48b49e45879241af09d4",
        "to":"19998881234",
        "from":"2435678910",
        "body":"CONFIRM",
        "request_timestamp":"1594662276",
        "response_timestamp":"1594662276",
        "result_url":"",
        "type":"inbound",
        "status":"received"
      },
      {
        "sms_message_id":"6b8e2bd2e9e5485d9123ec929f462efd",
        "to":"2435678910",
        "from":"19998881234",
        "body":"This is a notification of your appointment tomorrow. Please reply with \"CONFIRM\", to confirm your appointment.",
        "request_timestamp":"1594662313",
        "response_timestamp":"1594662314",
        "result_url":"",
        "type":"outbound",
        "status":"sent"
      }
    ]
  }
}

<conversation>
    <status>success</status>
    <error></error>
    <result>
        <offset>0</offset>
        <limit>50</limit>
        <total>4</total>
        <sms_messages>
            <sms_message>
                <sms_message_id>b84b2dbfadcc49e1a697aabfdb1f2730</sms_message_id>
                <to>19998881234</to>
                <from>2435678910</from>
                <body>GREAT</body>
                <request_timestamp>1594662275</request_timestamp>
                <response_timestamp>1594662276</response_timestamp>
                <result_url></result_url>
                <type>inbound</type>
                <status>received</status>
            </sms_message>
            <sms_message>
                <sms_message_id>4beb4b8ace954ff694bdadb8cca99ac9</sms_message_id>
                <to>2435678910</to>
                <from>19998881234</from>
                <body>Thanks for visiting us today! Tell us how we did. Reply back with "OK", "GOOD", "GREAT" or "EXCELLENT".</body>
                <request_timestamp>1594662276</request_timestamp>
                <response_timestamp>1594662279</response_timestamp>
                <result_url></result_url>
                <type>outbound</type>
                <status>sent</status>
            </sms_message>
            <sms_message>
                <sms_message_id>dd2ee079413f48b49e45879241af09d4</sms_message_id>
                <to>19998881234</to>
                <from>2435678910</from>
                <body>CONFIRM</body>
                <request_timestamp>1594662276</request_timestamp>
                <response_timestamp>1594662276</response_timestamp>
                <result_url></result_url>
                <type>inbound</type>
                <status>received</status>
            </sms_message>
            <sms_message>
                <sms_message_id>6b8e2bd2e9e5485d9123ec929f462efd</sms_message_id>
                <to>2435678910</to>
                <from>19998881234</from>
                <body>This is a notification of your appointment tomorrow. Please reply with "CONFIRM", to confirm your appointment.</body>
                <request_timestamp>1594662313</request_timestamp>
                <response_timestamp>1594662314</response_timestamp>
                <result_url></result_url>
                <type>outbound</type>
                <status>sent</status>
            </sms_message>
        </sms_messages>
    </result>
</conversation>

Be sure to filter based on your Plum-provided SMS number and the end-user's phone number to yield the correct results. Use the phone_number1 or phone_number2 parameters with either filtered number.

Sample Code

<?php
header("Content-type: text/xml");

// initialize curl
$ch = curl_init();

// set necessary curl options
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, "https://hosting.plumvoice.com/ws/sms/conversation.xml?offset=0&limit=50&start_timestamp=0&end_timestamp=0&phone_number1=xxxxxxxxxx&phone_number2=xxxxxxxxxx");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_USERPWD, "username:password");

echo(curl_exec($ch));

curl_close($ch);
?>

curl -u username:password "https://hosting.plumvoice.com/ws/sms/messages.json/?offset=0&limit=50&start_timestamp=0&end_timestamp=0&phone_number1=xxxxxxxxxxx&phone_number2=xxxxxxxxxx"

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