Using SMS and MMS Toolkit with Visual Basic.NET (MM4 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 objMmsProtocolMm4 As MmsProtocolMm4
Dim objMmsMessage     As MmsMessage
Dim objMmsSlide       As MmsSlide
Dim objMmsConstants   As MmsConstants
      
objMmsProtocolMm4   = New MmsProtocolMm4 ()
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:

Imports AXmsCtrl

Public Class Form1
    Inherits System.Windows.Forms.Form

#Region " Windows Form Designer generated code "
#End Region

    Public objMmsProtocol As MmsProtocolMm4
    Public objMmsMessage    As MmsMessage

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

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

        objMmsProtocol = New MmsProtocolMm4
        objMmsMessage  = New MmsMessage

        If (TextAccount.TextLength()) Then
            CheckAuthentication.Checked = True
        End If

        EnableControls()

        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 = "mm4"
            .Filter = "MMS Connection Files|mm4"
        End With

        If SaveFileDialog1.ShowDialog() = DialogResult.OK Then
            With objMmsProtocol
                .LogFile = TextLogfile.Text
                .ProviderHost = TextHost.Text
                .ProviderAccount = TextAccount.Text
                .ProviderPassword = TextPassword.Text
                .ProviderPort = System.Int32.Parse(TextPort.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 = ".mm4"
            .Filter = "MMS Connection Files|*.mm4"
        End With

        If OpenFileDialog1.ShowDialog() = DialogResult.OK Then
            objMmsProtocol.LogFile = TextLogfile.Text
            objMmsProtocol.ProviderProviderLoadConfig(OpenFileDialog1.FileName)

            If (GetResult() = 0) Then
                TextHost.Text = objMmsProtocol.ProviderHost
                TextAccount.Text = objMmsProtocol.ProviderAccount
                TextPassword.Text = objMmsProtocol.ProviderPassword
                TextPort.Text = objMmsProtocol.ProviderPort.ToString()
                
                If (TextAccount.TextLength()) Then
                    CheckAuthentication.Checked = True
                End If

                EnableControls()
            End If
        End If
    End Sub

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

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

        TextResponse.Text = objMmsProtocol.ProviderResponse

        GetResult = objMmsProtocol.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 objMmsProtocol
            .ProviderHost = TextHost.Text
            .ProviderAccount = TextAccount.Text
            .ProviderPassword = TextPassword.Text
            .ProviderPort = System.Int32.Parse(TextPort.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

        objMmsProtocol.Send(objMmsMessage)

        GetResult()

        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

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

    Private Sub CheckAuthentication_CheckedChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles CheckAuthentication.CheckedChanged
        EnableControls()
    End Sub

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

    Private Sub EnableControls()
        TextAccount.Enabled = CheckAuthentication.Checked
        TextPassword.Enabled = CheckAuthentication.Checked
    End Sub

    Private Sub GroupBox2_Enter(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles GroupBox2.Enter

    End Sub
End Class

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.

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