plivo-ruby

The Plivo Ruby SDK makes it simpler to integrate communications into your Ruby applications using the Plivo REST API. Using the SDK, you will be able to make voice calls, send SMS and generate Plivo XML to control your call flows.

Installation

Add this line to your application's Gemfile:

gem 'plivo', '>= 4.61.2'

And then execute:

$ bundle

Or install it yourself as:

$ gem install plivo

For features in beta, use the beta branch:

$ gem install plivo --pre

If you have the 0.3.19 version (a.k.a legacy) already installed, you may have to first uninstall it before installing the new version.

Getting started

Authentication

To make the API requests, you need to create a RestClient and provide it with authentication credentials (which can be found at https://console.plivo.com/dashboard/).

We recommend that you store your credentials in the PLIVO_AUTH_ID and the PLIVO_AUTH_TOKEN environment variables, so as to avoid the possibility of accidentally committing them to source control. If you do this, you can initialise the client with no arguments and it will automatically fetch them from the environment variables:

client = RestClient.new;

Alternatively, you can specifiy the authentication credentials while initializing the RestClient.

client = RestClient.new('<auth_id>', '<auth_token>');

The basics

The SDK uses consistent interfaces to create, retrieve, update, delete and list resources. The pattern followed is as follows:

client.resources.create(params); # Create
client.resources.get(resource_identifier); # Get
client.resources.update(resource_identifier, params); # Update
client.resources.delete(resource_identifier); # Delete
client.resources.list; # List all resources, max 20 at a time

You can also use the resource directly to update and delete it. For example,

resource = client.resources.get(resource_identifier);
resource.update(params); # update the resource
resource.delete(); # Delete the resource

Also, using client.resources.list would list the first 20 resources by default (which is the first page, with limit as 20, and offset as 0). To get more, you will have to use limit and offset to get the second page of resources.

To list all resources, you can simply use the following pattern that will handle the pagination for you automatically, so you won't have to worry about passing the right limit and offset values.

client.resources.each do |resource|
  puts resource.id
end

Examples

Send a message

require "plivo"
include Plivo

client = RestClient.new
response = client.messages.create(
  src: '+14156667778',
  dst: '+14156667777',
  text: 'Hello, this is a sample text'
  )

Make a call

require 'rubygems'
require 'plivo'

include Plivo

client = RestClient.new
call_made = client.calls.create(
  '+14156667778',
  ['+14156667777'],
  'https://answer.url'
)

Lookup a number

require 'rubygems'
require 'plivo'

include Plivo

client = RestClient.new
resp = client.lookup.get('<number-here>')

Generate Plivo XML

require 'rubygems'
require 'plivo'

include Plivo::XML

response = Response.new
response.addSpeak('Hello, world!')
puts response.to_xml # Prints the XML string

xml_response = PlivoXML.new(response)
puts xml_response.to_xml # Prints XML along with XML version & encoding details

This generates the following XML:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<Response>
  <Speak>Hello, world!</Speak>
</Response>

Run a PHLO

require 'rubygems'
require 'plivo'

include Plivo

client = Phlo.new('<auth_id>', '<auth_token>')

# if credentials are stored in the PLIVO_AUTH_ID and the PLIVO_AUTH_TOKEN environment variables
# then initialize client as:
# client = Phlo.new

# run a phlo:
begin
    #parameters set in PHLO - params
    params = {
       from: '+14156667778',
       to: '+14156667777'
    }
    response = phlo.run(params)
    puts response
  rescue PlivoRESTError => e
    puts 'Exception: ' + e.message
  end

WhatsApp Messaging

Plivo's WhatsApp API allows you to send different types of messages over WhatsApp, including templated messages, free form messages and interactive messages. Below are some examples on how to use the Plivo Go SDK to send these types of messages.

Templated Messages

Templated messages are a crucial to your WhatsApp messaging experience, as businesses can only initiate WhatsApp conversation with their customers using templated messages.

WhatsApp templates support 4 components: header , body, footer and button. At the point of sending messages, the template object you see in the code acts as a way to pass the dynamic values within these components. header can accomodate text or media (images, video, documents) content. body can accomodate text content. button can support dynamic values in a url button or to specify a developer-defined payload which will be returned when the WhatsApp user clicks on the quick_reply button. footer cannot have any dynamic variables.

Example 1:

require "plivo"
include Plivo

api = RestClient.new("<auth_id>","<auth_token>")

template={ 
            "name": "template_name",
            "language": "en_US",
            "components": [
                {
                    "type": "header",
                    "parameters": [
                        {
                            "type": "media",
                            "media": "https://xyz.com/s3/img.jpg"
                        }
                    ]
                },
                {
                    "type": "body",
                    "parameters": [
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "text": "WA-Text"
                        }
                    ]
                }
            ]
          }

response = api.messages.create(
        src: "+14156667778",
        dst:"+14156667777",
        type:"whatsapp",
        template:template,
        url: "https://<yourdomain>.com/whatsapp_status/",
)
puts response

Example 2:

require "plivo"
require "plivo/template"
include Plivo

api = RestClient.new("<auth_id>","<auth_token>")

header_media_param = Parameter.new(type: "media", media: "https://xyz.com/s3/img.jpg")
body_text_params = [ Parameter.new(type: "text", text: "WA-Text") ]
​
header_component = Component.new(type: "header", parameters: [header_media_param])
body_component = Component.new(type: "body", parameters: body_text_params)
​
template = Template.new(name: "template_name", language: "en_US", components: [header_component, body_component])
​
response = api.messages.create(
    src: "+14156667778",
    dst:"+14156667777",
    type:"whatsapp",
    template:template,
    url: "https://<yourdomain>.com/whatsapp_status/",
)
puts response

Note: It is also possible to create and manage objects directly within the SDK for whatsapp, providing a structured approach to message creation.

Free Form Messages

Non-templated or Free Form WhatsApp messages can be sent as a reply to a user-initiated conversation (Service conversation) or if there is an existing ongoing conversation created previously by sending a templated WhatsApp message.

Free Form Text Message

Example:

require "plivo"
include Plivo

api = RestClient.new("<auth_id>","<auth_token>")
response = api.messages.create(
        src: "+14156667778",
        dst:"+14156667777",
        type:"whatsapp",
        text:"Hello, this is sample text",
        url: "https://<yourdomain>.com/whatsapp_status/",
)
puts response

Free Form Media Message

Example:

require "plivo"
include Plivo

api = RestClient.new("<auth_id>","<auth_token>")
response = api.messages.create(
        src: "+14156667778",
        dst:"+14156667777",
        type:"whatsapp",
        text:"Hello, this is sample text",
        media_urls:["https://sample-videos.com/img/Sample-png-image-1mb.png"],
        url: "https://<yourdomain>.com/wa_status/",
)
puts response

Interactive Messages

This guide shows how to send non-templated interactive messages to recipients using Plivo’s APIs.

Quick Reply Buttons

Quick reply buttons allow customers to quickly respond to your message with predefined options.

Example:

require "rubygems"
require "/usr/src/app/lib/plivo.rb"
include Plivo

api = RestClient.new("<auth_id>","<auth_token>")

interactive= {
        "type": "button",
        "header": {
            "type": "media",
            "media": "https://xyz.com/s3/img.jpg"
        },
        "body": {
            "text": "Make your selection"
        },
        "action": {
            "buttons": [
                {
                    "title": "Click here",
                    "id": "bt1"
                },
                {
                    "title": "Know More",
                    "id": "bt2"
                },
                {
                    "title": "Request Callback",
                    "id": "bt3"
                }
            ]
        }
    }

response = api.messages.create(
        src: "+14156667778",
        dst:"+14156667777",
        type:"whatsapp",
        interactive:interactive
)
puts response

Interactive Lists

Interactive lists allow you to present customers with a list of options.

Example:

require "rubygems"
require "/usr/src/app/lib/plivo.rb"
include Plivo

api = RestClient.new("<auth_id>","<auth_token>")

interactive= {
        "type": "list",
        "header": {
            "type": "text",
            "text": "Welcome to Plivo"
        },
        "body": {
            "text": "You can review the list of rewards we offer"
        },
        "footer": {
            "text": "Yours Truly"
        },
        "action": {
            "buttons": [{
                "title": "Click here"
            }],
            "sections": [
                {
                    "title": "SECTION_1_TITLE",
                    "rows": [
                        {
                            "id": "SECTION_1_ROW_1_ID",
                            "title": "SECTION_1_ROW_1_TITLE",
                            "description": "SECTION_1_ROW_1_DESCRIPTION"
                        },
                        {
                            "id": "SECTION_1_ROW_2_ID",
                            "title": "SECTION_1_ROW_2_TITLE",
                            "description": "SECTION_1_ROW_2_DESCRIPTION"
                        }
                    ]
                },
                {
                    "title": "SECTION_2_TITLE",
                    "rows": [
                        {
                            "id": "SECTION_2_ROW_1_ID",
                            "title": "SECTION_2_ROW_1_TITLE",
                            "description": "SECTION_2_ROW_1_DESCRIPTION"
                        },
                        {
                            "id": "SECTION_2_ROW_2_ID",
                            "title": "SECTION_2_ROW_2_TITLE",
                            "description": "SECTION_2_ROW_2_DESCRIPTION"
                        }
                    ]
                }
            ]
        }
    }

response = api.messages.create(
        src: "+14156667778",
        dst:"+14156667777",
        type:"whatsapp",
        interactive:interactive
)
puts response

Interactive CTA URLs

CTA URL messages allow you to send links and call-to-action buttons.

Example:

require "rubygems"
require "/usr/src/app/lib/plivo.rb"
include Plivo

api = RestClient.new("<auth_id>","<auth_token>")

interactive= {
        "type": "cta_url",
        "header": {
            "type": "media",
            "media": "https://xyz.com/s3/img.jpg"
        },
        "body": {
            "text": "Know More"
        },
        "footer": {
            "text": "Plivo"
        },
        "action": {
            "buttons": [
                {
                    "title": "Click here",
                    "cta_url": "https:plivo.com"
                }
            ]
        }
    }

response = api.messages.create(
        src: "+14156667778",
        dst:"+14156667777",
        type:"whatsapp",
        interactive:interactive
)
puts response

Location Messages

This guide shows how to send templated and non-templated location messages to recipients using Plivo’s APIs.

Templated Location Messages

Example:

require "rubygems"
require "/usr/src/app/lib/plivo.rb"
require "/usr/src/app/lib/plivo/template.rb"
include Plivo

api = RestClient.new("<auth_id>","<auth_token>")

template= {
        "name": "plivo_order_pickup",
        "language": "en_US",
        "components": [
            {
                "type": "header",
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "type": "location",
                        "location": {
                            "longitude": "122.148981",
                            "latitude": "37.483307",
                            "name": "Pablo Morales",
                            "address": "1 Hacker Way, Menlo Park, CA 94025"
                        }
                    }
                ]
            }
        ]
    }

response = api.messages.create(
        src: "+14156667778",
        dst:"+14156667777",
        type:"whatsapp",
        template:template
)
puts response

Non-Templated Location Messages

Example:

require "rubygems"
require "/usr/src/app/lib/plivo.rb"
require "/usr/src/app/lib/plivo/location.rb"
include Plivo

api = RestClient.new("<auth_id>","<auth_token>")

location= {
        "longitude": "122.148981",
        "latitude": "37.483307",
        "name": "Pablo Morales",
        "address": "1 Hacker Way, Menlo Park, CA 94025"
    }

response = api.messages.create(
        src: "+14156667778",
        dst:"+14156667777",
        type:"whatsapp",
        location:location
)
puts response

More examples

More examples are available here. Also refer to the guides for configuring the Rails server to run various scenarios & use it to test out your integration in under 5 minutes.

Reporting issues

Report any feedback or problems with this version by opening an issue on Github.

Local Development

Note: Requires latest versions of Docker & Docker-Compose. If you're on MacOS, ensure Docker Desktop is running.

1. Export the following environment variables in your host machine:

export PLIVO_AUTH_ID=<your_auth_id>
export PLIVO_AUTH_TOKEN=<your_auth_token>
export PLIVO_API_DEV_HOST=<plivoapi_dev_endpoint>
export PLIVO_API_PROD_HOST=<plivoapi_public_endpoint>

2. Run make build. This will create a docker container in which the sdk will be setup and dependencies will be installed.

The entrypoint of the docker container will be the setup_sdk.sh script. The script will handle all the necessary changes required for local development.

3. The above command will print the docker container id (and instructions to connect to it) to stdout.
4. The testing code can be added to <sdk_dir_path>/ruby-sdk-test/test.rb in host
   (or /usr/src/app/ruby-sdk-test/test.rb in container)
5. The sdk directory will be mounted as a volume in the container. So any changes in the sdk code will also be reflected inside the container.

To use the local code in the test file, import the sdk in test file using:
require "/usr/src/app/lib/plivo.rb"

6. To run test code, run make run CONTAINER=<cont_id> in host.
7. To run unit tests, run make test CONTAINER=<cont_id> in host.

<cont_id> is the docker container id created in 2. (The docker container should be running)

Test code and unit tests can also be run within the container using make run and make test respectively. (CONTAINER argument should be omitted when running from the container)