Send a SMS via a link by clicking a button on a form

Question

When the operator issue an invoice or Order for a customer in my application I want to send him/her a confirmation SMS. Some SMS providers provide a link for this work like this:

http://www.behinpay.com/APISend.aspx?Username=$UserName&Password=$password&From=$FromNumber&To=$ToNumber&Text=$Text

I should fill the red items in this link:

Username: That is my user name in the SMS provider panel.

Password: That is my password in the SMS provider panel.

From: That is the unique number that we bought from this provider like 5000900 that is the number that SMS is sent from it.

To: The recipient number.

Text: The text that should be sent.

I want that when the operator click a button, I collect all information from database and create a link as above mentioned format, but I don't know how I can send this link for the SMS provider company or activate it.

---

Karim Vaziri Regards,

Answer 1

Hi Karim,

There are a lot of ways to send the link. The simplest approach is to try the FollowHyperlink method first. For example:

Application.FollowHyperlink strURL

Hope it helps...

Answer 2

Dear DBguy,

It is very good but I don't want that the button opens a browser. I want that the SMS be sent after clicking the button and the user doesn't see any browser, because if I want to send for example 10 SMS simultaneously, it should open 10 browser or tabs. Is there any way that no browser opens.

 

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Karim Vaziri Regards,

Answer 3

Hi Karim,

Yes. The next approach is to try and use the HttpRequest Class so you don't see any browser window open.

Let us know how it goes...

Answer 4

Dear DBguy,

Thank you very much. I sent SMS via HttpRequset class but unfortunately the SMS is in machine (strange characters) language. The SMS text is in Persian/Farsi language and when I send it, it is unreadable in recipient phone.

---

Karim Vaziri Regards,

Answer 5

Hi Karim,

Sounds like before you execute the .Send method, you'll need to assign the correct character set in the header. For example:

xhr.open "GET", thisRequest, False
xhr.setRequestHeader = "accept-charset","UTF-8"
xhr.send

Hope it helps...

Answer 6

Dear Dbguy,

Unfortunately, it didn't solve the problem and the SMS is in strange characters.

The SMS provider company said you should use URL Encoder that you can send Farsi or Arabic SMS!

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Karim Vaziri Regards,

Answer 7

Oh, I see what you're saying. Because of this part in the URL:

...&Text=$Text

Yes, they're correct, you'll have to convert your message into a URL safe format. For example, a space character becomes %20 when URL encoded.

So, looks like you'll need to add a function to your application for converting the message to a URL encoded text.

Good luck!

Answer 8

Hi Karim,

Here's a possible reference for you on URL Encoding.

Hope it helps...

Answer 9

Dear Dbguy,

After several hours hard work, finally this URLEncoder and your help solved the problem.

thanks a lot for your help and support.

Public Function URLEncode( _
   StringVal As String, _
   Optional SpaceAsPlus As Boolean = False _
) As String
  Dim bytes() As Byte, b As Byte, i As Integer, space As String

  If SpaceAsPlus Then space = "+" Else space = "%20"

  If Len(StringVal) > 0 Then
    With New ADODB.Stream
      .Mode = adModeReadWrite
      .Type = adTypeText
      .Charset = "UTF-8"
      .Open
      .WriteText StringVal
      .Position = 0
      .Type = adTypeBinary
      .Position = 3 ' skip BOM
      bytes = .Read
    End With

    ReDim result(UBound(bytes)) As String

    For i = UBound(bytes) To 0 Step -1
      b = bytes(i)
      Select Case b
        Case 97 To 122, 65 To 90, 48 To 57, 45, 46, 95, 126
          result(i) = Chr(b)
        Case 32
          result(i) = space
        Case 0 To 15
          result(i) = "%0" & Hex(b)
        Case Else
          result(i) = "%" & Hex(b)
      End Select
    Next i

    URLEncode = Join(result, "")
  End If
End Function

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Karim Vaziri Regards,

Answer 10

Hi Karim,

Congratulations! Glad to hear you got it sorted out. Your code should also help others in the same situation.

Good luck with your project.