ActiveXperts SMS and MMS Toolkit Add SMS and MMS capabilities to any Windows or .NET application

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Using SMS and MMS Toolkit with Visual Basic.NET (MM1 Connection)

The SMS and MMS Toolkit is a software development kit (SDK) to enhance an application or script with SMS, MMS and Pager functionality. SMS messages can be sent using a GSM/GPRS modem, an SMPP provider, an HTTP compliant SMS provider or using a standard dialup or fixed-line SMS modem. MMS messages can be sent via a GSM/GPRS modem (MM1), an SMTP server (MM4) or an XML/SOAP compliant provider (MM7).

SMS features:

  • Send and receive numeric- and alphanumeric text SMS messages
  • Verify delivery of outgoing SMS messages
  • Support for multimedia SMS messages, including ringtones, pictures and logo's
  • Support for WAP Push, WAP Bookmarks, vCards, voicemail/e-mail/fax/MMS indications
  • Support for Unicode, to support foreign languages like Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, etc.
  • Support for multi-part messages, to allow messages longer than 160 characters
  • Support for GSM modems, GSM phones, SMS/HTTP providers, SMPP (Short Message Peer to Peer) providers, TAP/XIO and UCP dial-in SMSC providers
  • Support Multi-threading environments. The component is thread-safe, which means it can be used in a multi-threaded environment
  • Samples included for various development platforms: MS Visual Basic, MS Visual Basic .NET, MS Visual C++, MS Visual Studio C# .NET, ASP, ASP .NET, Borland Delphi, Borland C++ Builder, Windows Powershell ColdFusion and more

MMS features:

  • Support for many multimedia formats incl.: JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP, WBMP, TIF, WAV, MP3, MIDI, AC3, GP3, AVI, MPG, MP4, VCARD, VCALENDAR, JAR and more
  • Support for MM1 (MMS over WAP), MM4 (MMS over SMTP) and MM7 (MMS over HTML/SOAP)

Pager features:

  • Send alpha-numeric Pager messages through SNPP

This document describes how the SMS and MMS Toolkit can be integrated into Visual Basic.NET projects.

Step 1: Download and install the SMS and MMS Toolkit

Download the the SMS and MMS Toolkit from the ActiveXperts Download Site and start the installation. The installation guides you through the installation process.

Step 2: Create a new Visual Basic .NET Project

Launch Microsoft Visual Studio (for instance 'Microsoft Visual Studio 2005') from the Start menu. Choose 'New' from the 'File' menu and click on 'Project'. In the 'New Project' dialog, select a Visual Studio template (for instance: 'Console Application'). Select a name for the application (for instance: 'DemoApp') and a name for the solution (for instance: 'DemoSolution'). Also, select the directory where you want to store the project (for instance: 'C:\MyProjects):

(Click on the picture to enlarge)

Step 3: Refer to the SMS and MMS Toolkit Library and create the objects

Now that a new project has been created, you must add a reference to the SMS and MMS Toolkit in the project to be able to use the the SMS and MMS Toolkit objects. To do so, choose 'Add Reference...' from the 'Project' menu. In the 'Add Reference' dialog that pops up, select the 'COM' tab and select the 'ActiveXperts SMS and MMS Toolkit Type Library' as shown in the following picture:

(Click on the picture to enlarge)

Click 'OK' to close the 'Add Reference' dialog.

On top of your code, type the following line to use the SMS and MMS Toolkit namespace:

Imports AXmsCtrl

In your Main function, declare and create the following objects:

Dim objMmsProtocolMm1 As MmsProtocolMm1
Dim objMmsMessage     As MmsMessage
Dim objMmsSlide       As MmsSlide
Dim objMmsConstants   As MmsConstants
      
objMmsProtocolMm1  = New MmsProtocolMm1 ()
objMmsMessage      = new MmsMessage ()
objMmsSlide        = new MmsSlide ()
objMmsConstants    = new MmsConstants ()

Step 4: Send MMS messages

You can now send MMS messages.

The following code shows how to send a MMS message:

Public objMMSConnection As MmsProtocolMm1
Public objMmsMessage    As MmsMessage

'//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
	Dim n, nNumDevices

	objMMSConnection = New MmsProtocolMm1()
	objMmsMessage = New MmsMessage()

	nNumDevices = objMMSConnection.GetDeviceCount()

	For n = 0 To nNumDevices - 1
		ComboDevice.Items.Add(objMMSConnection.GetDevice(n))
		ComboDevice.SelectedIndex = 0
	Next

	TextLogfile.Text = System.IO.Path.GetTempPath() & "MMSLog.txt"
End Sub

'//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Private Sub ButtonSaveCfg_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles ButtonSaveCfg.Click
	With SaveFileDialog1
		.DefaultExt = "mm1"
		.Filter = "MMS Connection Files|mm1"
	End With

	If SaveFileDialog1.ShowDialog() = DialogResult.OK Then
		With objMMSConnection
			.ProviderMMSC = TextServerAddress.Text
			.ProviderAPN = TextServerAPN.Text
			.ProviderWAPGateway = TextServerGateway.Text
			.ProviderAPNAccount = TextServerLogin.Text
			.ProviderAPNPassword = TextServerPassword.Text
			.ProviderSaveConfig(SaveFileDialog1.FileName)
		End With
	End If
End Sub

'//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Private Sub ButtonLoadCfg_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles ButtonLoadCfg.Click
	With OpenFileDialog1
		.DefaultExt = ".mm1"
		.Filter = "MMS Connection Files|*.mm1"
	End With

	If OpenFileDialog1.ShowDialog() = DialogResult.OK Then
		objMMSConnection.ProviderProviderLoadConfig(OpenFileDialog1.FileName)

		If (GetResult() = 0) Then
			TextServerAddress.Text = objMMSConnection.ProviderMMSC
			TextServerAPN.Text = objMMSConnection.ProviderAPN
			TextServerGateway.Text = objMMSConnection.ProviderWAPGateway
			TextServerLogin.Text = objMMSConnection.ProviderAPNAccount
			TextServerPassword.Text = objMMSConnection.ProviderAPNPassword
		End If
	End If
End Sub

'//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Private Function GetResult()
	If (objMMSConnection.LastError = 0) Then
		TextResult.Text = "SUCCESS"
	Else
		TextResult.Text = "ERROR #" & objMMSConnection.LastError _&
		& " (" & objMMSConnection.GetErrorDescription(objMMSConnection.LastError) & ")"
	End If

	TextResponse.Text = objMMSConnection.ServerResponse

	GetResult = objMMSConnection.LastError
End Function

'//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Private Sub ButtonSend_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles ButtonSend.Click
	Dim objMmsSlide As MmsSlide

	'Set connection parameters
	With objMMSConnection
		.Device = ComboDevice.Text
		.ProviderMMSC = TextServerAddress.Text
		.ProviderAPN = TextServerAPN.Text
		.ProviderWAPGateway = TextServerGateway.Text
		.ProviderAPNAccount = TextServerLogin.Text
		.ProviderAPNPassword = TextServerPassword.Text
		.LogFile = TextLogfile.Text
	End With

	'Create MMS Message and add slide including text and image
	With objMmsMessage
		.Clear()
		.AddRecipient(TextRecipient.Text)
		.From = TextSender.Text
		.Subject = TextSubject.Text
	End With

	objMmsSlide = new MmsSlide ()

	objMmsSlide.AddText(TextBody.Text)
	objMmsSlide.AddAttachment(TextAttachment.Text)

    objMmsMessage.AddSlide ( objMmsSlide )

	Cursor.Current = Cursors.WaitCursor

	'Connect to MMSC
	objMMSConnection.Connect()

	If (GetResult() = 0) Then

		objMMSConnection.Send(objMmsMessage)

		GetResult()

		objMMSConnection.Disconnect()

	End If

	Cursor.Current = Cursors.Default

End Sub

'//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Private Sub ButtonView_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles ButtonView.Click
	If (System.IO.File.Exists(TextLogfile.Text.ToString())) Then
		System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(TextLogfile.Text)
	End If
End Sub

'//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Private Sub ButtonBrowse_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles ButtonBrowse.Click
	With OpenFileDialog1
		.Filter = "All Multimedia Files|*"
	End With

	If OpenFileDialog1.ShowDialog() = DialogResult.OK Then
		TextAttachment.Text = OpenFileDialog1.FileName
	End If
End Sub

'//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

There are many working samples included with the product. You can also find them on the ActiveXperts FTP site: ftp.activexperts-labs.com/samples/XmsToolkit.

NOTE: Demo Projects are created with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005

The MMS Toolkit project ships with a set of Microsoft Visual Studio .NET samples, including samples for Microsoft Visual Basic .NET. The projects are created with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005.

Users with a later version of Microsoft Visual Studio can open such a project. The Visual Studio Conversion Wizard will guide you through the process of converting the project to the version used.