Service Providers

Using a pre-configured service provider

ExcelSend comes with a list of service providers pre-configured. If you see your Service Provider in the list follow these steps. If you cannot see your service provider in the list skip this section and go to Creating a Custom Service Provider.

Run the software and click on the Settings Tab.

Click on Pick your Service Provider.

Select your Service Provider from the list provided. In the fields available enter your account details as provided by your Service Provider.

Username
Password
API/Account ID (used by some SPs)
Sender ID

Click the Save button

Creating a Custom Service Provider Entry

If the Service Provider you wish to use is not listed you can add it as a custom provider. To do this you will need details of the Service Provider’s HTTP API.

Click on Pick your Service Provider.

Click on the Custom Provider button

Enter in the Service Provider details:

Name of the Service Provider
Simply the name you would like to call the new custom connection. Usually the company name of the service provider.

The API URL
This is the URL that each message is POSTed to. The documentation of the provider will give basic URL. You must then edit the URL so that it includes merge fields so that the software can alter the URL for each message. Available fields are listed below.

Field	Meaning
^^username^^	The user name/id of your service provider account
^^password^^	The password of your service provider account
^^account^^	The account code or API id of your service provider account (optional)
^^toAddress^^	The destination phone number of the message
^^senderId^^	The sender id of the message
^^message^^	The text/body of the message
^^sendtime^^	The date/time the message is to be sent (optional)

For example, here is a brief overview of the IFLOW.NET HTTP API.

API URL	www.iflow.net/sendsms
id	The user id of the account
auth	The authorisation code for the account
msg	The message body
fromMobile	The sender-id of the message
toMobile	The destination phone number for the message
sendtime	The datetime the message to be sent

Note that there are other fields but they are and can be ignored.

Using this information we construct the URL for the software

services.iflow.net/sendsms?id=^^username^^&auth=^^password^^&msg=^^message^^&fromMobile=^^senderId^^ &toMobile=^^toAddress^^&sendtime=^^sendtime^^

Note the first field after the base URL starts with ?. All subsequent fields start with &.

HTTP Response For Submitted
The service responds with each message submitted. The response lets you know if the submission was successful. Enter the response (or part of it) here.

e.g. OK or id:

Can Delay Sending Texts
Tick this if the Service Provider supports delayed sending of messages. Note: the URL must contain a parameter for ^^sendtime^^ also.

DateTime format of sendtime merge field
This is the format of the date and time that is sent using the ^^sendtime^^ merge field. Refer to the API documentation for what the service provider requires. THe DateTime format here uses the Microsoft .NET datetime format specifiers.

TimeZone of Service Provider
Select the timezone that the service provider operates in for the ^^sendtime^^ merge field.

Click SAVE. Next highlight the Custom Service Provider in the list. In the fields available enter your account details as provided by your Service Provider:

Username
Password
API/Account ID (used by some SPs)
Sender ID

Click the Save button