A long Code is a 10 digit number dedicated to receiving SMS messages. Perfect for equipment and devices that are restricted from sending messages to a short code.
A short code is a 5 digit catchy number dedicated to receiving SMS messages. Perfect for competitions as well as getting information from your customers.
Standard Rate Long/Short Code Overview
This is fully defined as: Standard rate long/short code for MO (Mobile Originating) SMS.
This service enables you to receive incoming SMS messages sent from a mobile phone to a 5 digit short code or a 10 digit long code assigned to you by WinSMS.
Each long/long code assigned requires a once off setup fee, and is rented to you for a monthly subscription fee.
Incoming SMS messages are billed to the sender at standard network rates (ie. This IS NOT a premium rated long/short code service).
The incoming messages are stored in a log on the WinSMS servers.
This log can be viewed and downloaded by you after logging on to the WinSMS Client Zone.
In addition to the incoming SMS message log, there are various routing options available. These routing options can be applied by you to enable a more proactive approach to retrieving and responding to incoming SMS messages.
These routing options can be managed by you after logging on to the WinSMS Client Zone.
They are detailed in the following sections
Forward to Email
If this option is enabled, the details of the incoming SMS message will immediately be sent to the email addresses specified. You can forward incoming SMS messages to a maximum of 20 email addresses, separated by a comma (,).
The following details of the incoming SMS message will be included:
- Date and Time that the message was received. (GMT+2)
- The sender's mobile number.
- The message that was sent.
Forward to SMS
If this option is enabled, the details of the incoming SMS message will immediately be sent to the mobile numbers specified. You can forward incoming SMS messages to a maximum of 20 mobile numbers, separated by a comma (,).
The following details of the incoming SMS message will be included:
- The message that was sent.
- The sender's mobile number.
The cost of the SMS to the number specified will be deducted from your WinSMS credits. If you have 0 credits, the SMS will not be sent.
To ensure that this never happens, it is best to set the Low Credit Notification Level under “My Profile” in the Client Zone.
Auto Reply SMS
If this option is enabled, a static response SMS will immediately be sent to the sender's mobile number.
This response will be specified by you, and can be a maximum of 918 characters long.
The cost of the response SMS will be deducted from your WinSMS credits. If you have 0 credits, the response SMS will not be sent.
To ensure that this never happens, it is best to set the Low Credit Notification Level under “My Profile” in the Client Zone.
Forward to URL
This advanced option allows software developers to further integrate incoming SMS messages, and customise responses.
By creating and hosting a dynamic web page (written in asp.NET, perl, asp, PHP etc.), you can have incoming SMS messages interact with your internal systems, and dynamically create appropriate responses to the sender. Customised responses can be sent from your dynamic web page using the WinSMS HTTP API or REST API.
To enable ‘Forward to URL' functionality, you must first develop the dynamic web page, and then host it on a server. Once this is done, you can test that your page is working correctly using the tools in the Client Zone, and then save the page URL in the Forward to URL field.
Every time a new incoming SMS message is received by WinSMS, the specified URL will immediately be called with the following parameters (using the HTTP/S GET method):
- Date and Time that the message was received. (GMT+2)
- The sender's mobile number.
- The message that was sent.
Input / Ouput details
Parameters sent using HTTP/S GET to the URL specified:
- date – Message time stamp, formatted YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS. (GMT+2)
- from – Telephone number from which the message was sent.
- text – Text of the message.
The dynamic web page called should generate an HTML response page confirming success or describing an error, using the following format:
Success:
returnCode=OK
Error:
returnCode=Error
errorCode=500
errorDescription=Internal server error
The HTML tags are purely for legibility while you are testing. The only requirement of the WinSMS gateway is that the following text appears somewhere in the response (case and space sensitive):
returnCode=
You will not be able to save changes to the Forward to URL field unless a valid response is returned by your page.
Please test your page, to ensure a valid response, before saving changes.
Testing Forward to URL setting:
To test the dynamic web page that you have created, log on to the WinSMS Client Zone, select the “Short/Long Codes” tab, select the Short Code, and click the “Configure Short/Long Code” button.
Here you can enter the URL of your page in the Forward to URL field. Remember to include ‘http://' or ‘https://' depending on the protocol you are using.
Click the “Test” button next to the Forward to URL field.
A message will be displayed showing the results of the test.
The URL specified will be called with 3 dummy parameters:
- date=20130107-153552
- from=27825555555
- text=Sample Text from WinSMS Client Zone
The test results displayed will contain the following information:
- The result of the call to the URL specified. The result will be one of the following:
- Success – The URL is valid, and returns a valid response.
- Invalid URL specified for callback – The URL specified does not exist, or an invalid protocol was specified, or no protocol was specified.
- Invalid Response from URL callback page – The URL exists, but an invalid response was returned. Ie. ‘returnCode=‘ was not in the response.
- The complete response from the URL specified.
If you are in the process of developing a page, this display could be handy, as you can include debug information in the html response generated.
Applying for a Short Code or a Long Code Number
To apply for a Short Code or a Long Code number please contact us here with your requirements and we will send you the pricing and necessary application forms.
** Please note that short codes are not available in all countries. Contact us to see if they are available in your country.
