One of the great features of CDYNE Phone Notify! API is the ability to customize call logic exactly the way your business needs it. It handles complex call scripts, responds to call actions in real time, and can be programmed to deliver relevant communications exclusive to your customers or clients. For many Phone Notify! applications, it is important to know when a call is placed, the call status has changed, the call is finished, or when a call is received. The best way to automate this process is to use the StatusChangePostURL command. With a StatusChangePostURL in place, Phone Notify! will post phone call information to a URL you designate.

What information does the StatusChangePostURL command post?

Phone Notify! utilizes a command called StatusChangePostURL, which will post back information about the phone call to your server. Once you’ve created a web page to handle postbacks, the URL can be set to recieve this information automatically. The following values are posted:

• QueueID – Contains the ID of the Call
• ResponseCode – 1 = Call Answered, 2 or more – Call Unanswered (see all status codes here)
• StartTime – Start time in Universal Time (UTC)
• EndTime – End time in Universal Time (UTC)
• Duration - Call Length in Seconds
• machinedetection – Currently only HUMAN, MACHINE, or FAX
• AC – Contains a status code – this is for advanced problem solving with Tech Support
• digitsdialed – contains all the digits dialed during a call
• incoming – contains true if the call was an incoming call
• [Any Variables you collected] - any additional variables that you collected during the call

Where do I assign the StatusChangePostURL?

There are three scenarios for assigning the StatusChangePostURL command. The first is when using the Advanced methods of Phone Notify! API. You can pass it in the NotifyPhoneAdvanced and NotifyMultiplePhoneAdvanced programming operations. Each operation contains a parameter named, “StatusChangePostURL” where the URL can be input. A URL must be in lower case.

The Basic methods of Phone Notify! do not contain the “StatusChangePostURL” parameter, so an alternative is to assign the URL in the script. In this case, you can include the URL within your script by using the ~\StatusChangePostURL(posturl)~ command. This should be placed at the beginning of your script.

The last scenario includes incoming phone calls. To set the URL in this case, you can log into your account online and specify a URL for each dedicated phone number assigned to your license key as shown in the image below:

For more information about CDYNE Phone Notify! API, please contact an account representative at 1-800-984-3710, inquire by email, or initiate a chat for more details.

Or sign up for a free trial license key to test CDYNE Phone Notify! API.

Developers find CDYNE Phone Notify! API integration details on the CDYNE developer’s wiki.

CDYNE Phone Notify! API is an automated API phone notification system that allows IT departments to build voice applications to deliver relevant communications to customers and clients.  It has the ability to send or receive up to 5,000 tier-1 quality phone calls per minute using text to speech (TTS) in multiple languages, recorded files, or both. With over 50 programming methods, you can build powerful applications that will handle complex phone scripts, send immediate or scheduled phone calls, respond to call actions in real time, and manage call lists. Phone Notify! allows programmers to send automated phone alerts, conduct phone surveys, perform conference calls, and integrate custom business applications into their existing system.

AN OVERVIEW

There are over 50 Phone Notify! programming operations available to build and integrate voice applications into your system. They can be categorized into the list shown below. Additionally, a detailed operation list by category may be found here.

• Send and Receive Phone Calls
• Status Report Management
• Script Management
• Sound File Management
• List Management

TUTORIALS & SCRIPTING SAMPLES

Tutorials 1 and 2 use C# in Visual Studio 2010. You may find additional source code examples and download code examples from the Phone Notify! developer’s wiki. The script samples show advance scripting features that are available with Phone Notify! API.

• Tutorial 1: Appointment Reminder

Build an appointment reminder using NotifyPhoneBasic and RecordSoundViaPhoneCall methods

• Tutorial 2: Conference Call

Integrate conference calls using NotifyPhoneAdvanced, SetIncomingCallScript, and CancelConference methods

• Script Sample: Advanced Scripting for Appointment Reminder

An advanced scripting example for automated phone reminders

Additional scripting examples for a political poll, school announcement, registration confirmation, survey, and recording sound files may be found on the CDYNE developer’s wiki.

For more information about CDYNE Phone Notify! API, please contact an account representative at 1-800-984-3710, inquire by email, or initiate a chat for more details.

Or sign up for a free trial license key to test CDYNE Phone Notify! API.

Developers find CDYNE Phone Notify! API integration details on the CDYNE developer’s wiki.

With over 50 programming methods, you can build powerful applications with Phone Notify! that will handle complex phone scripts, send immediate or scheduled phone calls, respond to call actions in real time, and manage call lists. Phone Notify! allows programmers to send automated phone alerts, conduct phone surveys, perform conference calls, and integrate custom business applications into their existing system.

The following list shows Phone Notify! operations by category. You may view each method’s parameters, data type, and sample input and output data on the Phone Notify! developer’s wiki . A compiled list of operation notes may also be found in the Phone Notify! Specification PDF.

Send and Receive Phone Calls

Basic Methods for Single or Multiple Calls

NotifyPhoneBasic
This method will call any phone number in the US/Canada and read the TextToSay to that phone number.

NotifyPhoneBasicWithTryCount
Same as NotifyPhoneBasic with a number of times it will retry the call. The max is 3.

NotifyPhoneBasicWithTransfer
This method will call any phone number in the US/Canada and read the TextToSay to that phone number. It also allows you to transfer a call by pressing 0.

NotifyPhoneEnglishBasic
This method will call any phone number in the US/Canada and read the TextToSay to that phone number using the voice of Diane (VoiceID: 0). PhoneNumberToDial must be filled in (They can be in any format as long as there is 10 digits).

NotifyMultiplePhoneBasic
This method will call phone numbers with a default of 3,000 calls per minute (delimited by a semicolon) in the US/Canada and read the TextToSay to that phone number.

NotifyMultiplePhoneBasicWithCPM
This method includes a way to set the calls per minute (CPM) when calling phone numbers in the US/Canada, and will read the TextToSay to that phone number.

Advanced Methods for Single or Multiple Calls

NotifyPhoneAdvanced
Allows you to control notifies with a class. This method allows for the maximum combinations of using Phone Notify! API.

NotifyMultiplePhoneAdvanced
Allows you to control notifies with a class. This function allows multiple notifies to be sent at one time. This allows for the maximum combinations of using Phone Notify! API. We suggest using our list management features for batches over 100.

Additional Methods

CancelNotify
Cancels a single notify. This will not cancel completed calls or calls in progress. You will receive credit for any successfully cancelled notify that returns “true.”

getVoices
This method will list all the voices available for your notification. Use the VoiceID for the Notification Methods

GetIncomingCallScript
Allows you to get the call script for incoming calls for a particular number. You must have incoming phone numbers set by CDYNE Staff.

CancelConference
Cancels a conference by conference key.

Status Report Management

GetQueueIDStatus
Returns a status on a particular QueueID.

GetQueueIDStatusWithAdvancedInfo
Returns a status on a particular QueueID. This also includes variable information and more.

GetQueueIDStatusesByPhoneNumber
Returns the last 10 phone notifications for a particular phone number.

GetMultipleQueueIdStatus
This method returns information about the status of multiple notifies via QueueID (delimited by a semicolon). The QueueID returns a specific phone call ID.

GetResponseCodes
This method will list all of the response codes.

Script Management

ScriptDelete
Script Management – Delete a script.

ScriptList
Script Management – Lists the scripts belonging to a license key. Set IncludeGlobalScripts to true if you would like CDYNE global scripts to be included.

ScriptLoad
Script Management – Load a script’s text.

ScriptSave
Script Management – Save a script (Scriptname can only be 50 characters or less). Saving a script with an existing name will overwrite the old script.

SetIncomingCallScript
Allows you to update a Call Script for incoming calls. You must have incoming phone numbers set by CDYNE Staff.

Sound File Management

UploadSoundFile
Sound file upload. Our system accepts WAV (PCM, U-law, A-law, MS ADPCM) Files. To use the sound file in the notify put ~ around it and start it with a ^.Example “Hello ~^soundfile~, you are cool.”(This would TextToSay “Hello,” and “you are cool,” adding the sound file in the middle).

GetSoundFile
Sound file retrieval.

GetSoundFileInMP3
Sound file retrieval (returns an MP3 encoded in 32,64, or 128).

GetSoundFileInUlaw
Sound file retrieval (returns ULAW encoded file).

GetSoundFileLength
Gets a sound file length in seconds.

GetSoundFileURL
Sound file retrieval. Returns a URL to listen to a particular sound file in MP3.

GetTTSInMP3
Allows you to convert text into a MP3 encoded sound file. Returns an MP3 encoded in 32,64, or 128 (May require a additional License Key).

GetTTSInULAW
Allows you to convert text into a ULAW encoded sound file (May require an additional License Key).

RecordSoundViaPhoneCall
Request the system to call you to record a sound file. SoundfileIDs can only be lowercase and contain normal file characters. The CallerIDName will be the SoundFileID and the number will be 8000000000.

RemoveSoundFile
Sound file delete.

RenameSoundFile
Sound file rename.

ReturnSoundFileIDs
Get available sound files that you can add to your stream via a license key.

List Management

LM_AddListMember
List Management – Allows you to add contacts to a List. You will need the ListID. The only required fields are ListID, PhoneNumber, and LicenseKey. Returns a List Member ID.

LM_AddNewList
List Management – Allows you to add a list that can contain members (Contacts). You can also attach this list to be apart of a Parent List, otherwise leave ParentList ID = 0.

LM_AlterListID
List Management – Allows you alter a ListMember, use 0 if you do not want to have a ParentListID, and -1 if you do not wish to change the ParentListID.

LM_AlterListMember
List Management – Allows you alter a ListMember.

LM_DeleteList
List Management – Deletes a List and its sub-lists (The lists that have is as a ParentListID).

LM_DeleteListMember
List Management – Deletes a List’s Member (or contact).

LM_DialList
List Management – Dial a List by ListID. Returns a Batch ID for the list and begins dialing at the scheduled time. Scheduled times are in UTC.

LM_DialListAdvanced
List Management – Dial a list by ListID that allows you to set more advanced properties.

LM_GetListIDsByLicensekey
List Management – Obtains all list IDs from a specific License key.

LM_GetListMembersByListID
List Management – Gets all the phone numbers with their first and last names.

For more information about CDYNE Phone Notify! API, please contact an account representative at 1-800-984-3710, inquire by email, or initiate a chat for more details.

Or sign up for a free trial license key to test CDYNE Phone Notify! API.

Developers find CDYNE Phone Notify! API integration details on the CDYNE developer’s wiki.

With over 50 programming methods, you can build powerful applications with Phone Notify! that will handle complex phone scripts, send immediate or scheduled phone calls, respond to call actions in real time, and manage call lists. One of the features included in Phone Notify! is the ability to create a conference, add a call to a conference, and cancel the conference. This tutorial will show the programming methods used along with sample call scripts.

This tutorial uses C# in Visual Studio 2010. You can find additional source code examples and download code examples from the Phone Notify! developer’s wiki.

Phone Notify! Operations Used

• NotifyPhoneAdvanced
• SetIncomingCallScript
• CancelConference

Step 1: Consuming Phone Notify! Web Service

• Open a new or existing project in Visual Studio 2010
• From the top tool bar, go to Project>Add Service Reference, which will open up the following screen:

• Click on the Advanced button in the lower left-hand corner, which will open up another screen:

• Click on the Add Web Reference button, which will open up a third screen:

• Add the Phone Notify WSDL URL: http://ws.cdyne.com/NotifyWS/PhoneNotify.asmx?wsdl to the URL box, and click on the green arrow. This will pull up the Phone Notify! Web Service Description as shown in the next screen:
• Name the web reference. In this case, we named it WSDL. Then click the Add Reference button.

Step 2: Start Conference

The following example uses the NotifyPhoneAdvanced method to receive an incoming phone call, and the SetIncomingCallScript method to set the call script which will initiate a conference call. A dedicated phone number assigned to your account license key is required to receive phone calls.

The script in the code above uses advanced Notify commands that are available with Phone Notify! API. The following list includes notes on these commands:

~\statuschangepostURL(“User’s specified URL”)~
This posts information about the call to a URL you specify. Using this method is highly suggested if you have a server to postback to on the web. The posturl must be in lower case. In this instance, when an inbound call is placed a conference key is posted to the URL specified here.

~\ActOnDigitPress(false)~ 
Turns off Message Interruption for digit commands (i.e., 1 for repeat). This is useful for a message that, for example, says “enter your zip code” and it won’t jump around in the Dial Plan when the digits are pressed.

~\ClearDTMF()~
Provides a clean slate for Acting on DTMF Commands. This will clear the default of “press 1 to repeat.”

~\Label(MainMenu)~
Sets the label, “MainMenu,” which states in TTS “Thank you for calling CDYNE Corporation. Please choose a selection from one of the following options.”

~\AssignDTMF(1|Join)~
Assigns 1 on the dial pad to go to the label “Join.” In this script, the star (*) is subsequently assigned to the label “MainMenu” and the pound sign (#) is assigned to go to the label “EndCall.”

~\WaitForDTMF(5)~
This function will wait 5 seconds for a DTMF Command ( it accepts only one digit). Make sure that ActOnDigitPress(true) is set (It is true by default).

~\Goto(MainMenu)~
This will go to a label defined by the Label command. In this instance, if the recipient does not press a designated digit within 5 seconds, the Goto command instructs the script to go to the MainMenu.    

~\Label(Join)~
Sets the label, “Join,” which states in TTS “Please wait while you are connected to the conference call.”     

~\Conference()~
Provides a way to conference multiple Notifies together. The first Notify that uses the conference command will return a ConfKey variable (you must use StatusChangePostURL to get it). You can then start other Notifies with the same ConfKey to join the person to the same room using the ~\SetVar(ConfKey|the confkey guid)~ command.  

~\Label(Unavailable)~
 Sets the label, “Unavailable,” which states in TTS “We’re sorry no one is available at this time.”  

~\Label(EndCall)~
Sets the label, “EndCall,” which will end the call.                                                               

Step 3: Add a Caller to Conference

In the example below, an outbound call to an operator or representative is initiated to let them know that the caller in Step 2 is in queue. This is done with the NotifyPhoneAdvanced method. If the operator or representative accepts the call, both calls will be joined in a conference.

~\SetVar(ConfKey|”Conference Key”)~
The conference key is placed here. In most cases the servers handling the process will know to grab the conference key generated and posted to the URL during the phone call in Step 2.

Step 4: Cancel Conference

The CancelConference operation cancels the conference if the inbound call (from Step 2) is not accepted by the operator or representative in Step3. It will play the message, “We’re sorry no one is available at this time.” This is specified in Step 2 to play in the event the conference is cancelled.

For more information about CDYNE Phone Notify! API, please contact an account representative at 1-800-984-3710, inquire by email, or initiate a chat for more details.

Or sign up for a free trial license key to test CDYNE Phone Notify! API.

Developers find CDYNE Phone Notify! API integration details on the CDYNE developer’s wiki.

Phone Notify! Web Service supports 50 operations to build customizable and scalable voice applications. It’s designed to enable any business application to send or receive up to 5,000 tier-1 quality phone calls per minute using text to speech, recorded files, or both. This article will take a look at 2 operations to build a basic voice application that will use text to speech and a recorded sound file to send out an appointment reminder.

This tutorial uses  C# in Visual Studio 2010. You can find additional source code examples and download code examples from the Phone Notify! developer’s wiki.

Phone Notify! Operations Used 

• NotifyPhoneBasic
• RecordSoundViaPhoneCall

 Step 1: Consuming Phone Notify! Web Service 

• Open a new or existing project in Visual Studio 2010
• From the top tool bar, go to Project>Add Service Reference, which will open up the following screen:

• Click on the Advanced button in the lower left-hand corner, which will open up another screen:

• Click on the Add Web Reference button, which will open up a third screen:

• Add the Phone Notify WSDL URL: http://ws.cdyne.com/NotifyWS/PhoneNotify.asmx?wsdl to the URL box, and click on the green arrow. This will pull up the Phone Notify! Web Service Description as shown in the next screen:
• Name the web reference. In this case, we named it WSDL. Then click the Add Reference button.

Step 2: Setting Up a Basic Notify

The example below shows the code used to send a Basic Notify using the NotifyPhoneBasic method.

A few notes about using the NotifyPhoneBasic method:

• This method will call any phone number in the US/Canada and read the TextToSay to that phone number
• PhoneNumberToDial and CallerID must be filled in (they can be in any format as long as there is 10 digits)

When the program below is run with a license key, CDYNE Corporation will call 3215554757 with a text to speech message stating, “John Williams has an appointment with Dr. Smith on Tuesday, May 13 at 3pm.” The strings written in red in the screenshot is made up of the following components:

• Phone number to dial – “3215554757″
• Script -  “John Williams has an appointment with Dr. Smith on Tuesday, May 13 at 3pm.”
• Caller ID - “7575449510″
• Caller ID Name - “CDYNE Corporation.”
• Voice ID - “4″
• License Key – this is required to send or receive phone calls with Phone Notify! Web Service.

This notify uses voice ID 4, named Callie, and represents a US English female voice, age 30.You can invoke all voices available with Phone Notify! with the getVoices method. You may also listen to the voices at http://cepstral.com/demos/. Please note that the Cepstral website may contain voices not currently available with the Phone Notify! Web Service.

WSDL.PhoneNotify pn = new WSDL.PhoneNotify();

            WSDL.NotifyReturn nr = pn.NotifyPhoneBasic(“3215554757″,

            “John Williams has an appointment with Dr. Smith on Tuesday, May 13 at 3pm.”,

           ”17575449510″, “CDYNE Corporation”, “4″, “LicenseKey”);

Step 3: Request a Phone Call to Record a Sound File

One way to make automated phone reminders more personal is to use a recorded voice. Although text to speech can be very useful in some applications, it is a mechanical and impersonal sounding messaging tool for some customer interactions. In this step, we will use the RecordSoundViaPhoneCall method to call a designated phone number and record a sound file. The sound file recording states, “has an appointment with Dr. Smith on,” and leaves out the customer’s name, and the date and time of the appointment. These three values will remain as text to speech when we put the script together in Step 4.

A few notes about the RecordSoundViaPhoneCall method:

• SoundfileIDs can only be lowercase and contain normal file characters
• The CallerIDName will be the SoundFileID
• The CallerID will be an 800 or 866 number

When this program is run with a license key, the phone number designated in the code (3215554757) will receive a phone call with instructions to record sound file “smith1.” Once recorded, the file will play back and the user has the option to accept or rerecord the message. We’ll access this file in the next step.

WSDL.PhoneNotify pn = new WSDL.PhoneNotify();

            WSDL.RecordSoundViaPhoneCall(“3215554757″, “smith1″, “LicenseKey”);

Step 4: Putting Together the Script

In the final step, we’ll use the NotifyPhoneBasic method to combine the text to speech and recorded file, which we named smith1.

When the program below is run with a license key, CDYNE Corporation will call 3215554757 with a recorded message combined with text to speech variables. The variables include, “John Williams” and “Tuesday, May 13 at 3pm.”

WSDL.PhoneNotify pn = new WSDL.PhoneNotify();

            WSDL.NotifyReturn nr = WSDL.NotifyPhoneBasic(“3215554757″,

            “John Williams ~^smith1~ Tuesday, May 13 at 3pm.”,

            “17575449510″, “CDYNE Corporation”, “4″, ” LicenseKey”);

For more information about CDYNE Phone Notify! API, please contact an account representative at 1-800-984-3710, inquire by email, or initiate a chat for more details.

Or sign up for a free trial license key to test CDYNE Phone Notify! API.

Developers find CDYNE Phone Notify! API integration details on the CDYNE developer’s wiki.

PostBackURLs allow Phone Notify! and SMS Notify! API customers to instantly know when an end user responds to a message or notification.  When a notification is sent out, CDYNE servers send a message back to the company’s designated PostBackURL noting the message has been sent.  When an end user responds, the results are also posted to the PostbackURL.

PostbackURL Assignment

A PostBackURL can be assigned to SMS Notify! and/or Phone Notify! request by using the advanced methods.  The advanced method for each service will have a property called StatusPostBackURL which is set with a link to the webpage created to handle a post back.  In addition, for incoming calls and text messages to a dedicated line that are not responses to previous messages, a StatusPostBackURL can be assigned directly to a customer’s DID (Phone number) allowing all end user generated traffic to go directly to the post back page.  This can be set up by contacting an account representative at 1-800-984-3710, sending an email inquiry or initiating a chat.

Using a PostBackURL with Phone Notify!

PostBackURLs can be very useful with the Phone Notify! API. It prevents the need to use the GetQueueIDStatus or GetMultipleQueueIDStatus methods. When using these methods, the customer’s server calls the methods multiple times as the customer would not know when the call has finished. With a PostBackURL in place, this allows the customer to have a webpage that will accept a POST from the Phone Notify! API when a call is placed, the call status has changed, the call is finished, or when a call is received (if using an Incoming DID).

When sending notifications, the PostBackURL can be set by using either the ~\StatusChangePostURL()~ script command at the beginning of the call script (especially when using NotifyPhoneBasic), or the StatusChangePostURL parameter in the NotifyPhoneAdvanced operation. When using an Incoming DID with the Phone Notify! API, a CDYNE account representative can assign a PostBackURL to that Incoming DID assigned to the customer’s account.

All available operations for the Phone Notify! API can be found here: http://ws.cdyne.com/NotifyWS/PhoneNotify.asmx, and advanced scripting commands can be found here: http://wiki.cdyne.com/index.php/Phone_Notify!_TextToSay_Advanced_Commands

Using a PostBackURL with SMS Notify!

With SMS Notify! There are several advantages to setting a StatusPostBackURL.  When a user responds to a message, CDYNE will immediately notify the SMS Notify! API customer via a post to the StatusPostBackURL. This eliminates the need for the customer to constantly query CDYNE servers for responses.

SMS Notify! API customers will receive a sent post with a PostBackUrl set in the request. The sent Post simply states the status of the SMS message at that time, and whether or not there were any minor errors in the request.  When this request is properly formatted, then the SMS message will be queued in the CDYNE system awaiting processing by the carrier.

If the recipient responds after the message has been sent, CDYNE will post the response post as well. The response post contains the recipient’s message and can be handled however your business model demands (i.e. storing the information in a database, or responding with another message).

The StatusPostBackURL can also be used with a dedicated line. A CDYNE representative can assign a customer’s designated StatusPostBackURL to their DID. Then, any incoming traffic to that number will result in a post to the designated StatusPostBackURL.  This is the preferred way to accommodate business models that want to make use of mobile originated messages.

There are two methods in SMS Notify! that makes use of a StatusPostBackUrl: http://sms2.cdyne.com/sms.svc/help/operations/AdvancedSMSsend.  http://sms2.cdyne.com/sms.svc/help/operations/SimpleSMSsendWithPostback.

CDYNE has upgraded its existing text-to-speech (TTS) voices, as well as added three new voices to the text-to-speech engine. With the addition of TTS voices Miguel, Jean-Pierre, and Matthias, your business can add scalable, multilingual, and customizable voice calls to your application. All voices have an 8kHz sampling rate. This is best suited to telephony applications because it eliminates the overhead that is incurred when using voices of a higher sampling rate.

New voices details:

• Miguel (Americas Spanish), Male, Age 30 –  sample
• Jean-Pierre (Canadian French) , Male, Age 30 - sample
• Matthias (German) , Male, Age 30 – sample

All voices may be found here.

CDYNE’s text-to-speech engine converts raw text to written-out words, and then assigns phonetic transcriptions to those words. Text-to-speech can also be combined with recorded .wav files to create relevant call scripts according to your phone messaging web service needs. Call 704-323-7777 to listen to a sample recorded file and text-to-speech example.

Request a trial key to test Phone Notify! API for free by calling 1-800-984-3710, inquire or initiate a chat.

Did you know that CDYNE provides inbound phone lines as well as interactive outbound autodialing with the Phone Notify! Web Service?

Need to set up a number for your customers or applicants to call when they receive your alerts?  Do it all in one place.  Portable, permanently assigned numbers hosted by CDYNE can help you communicate, track, and direct your calls.  You can purchase a toll-free number or a standard one, even set yourself up with local caller ID in the areas you call.

Cost? Very affordable: $50 one-time setup fee for up to 5 lines. $100 for unlimited lines. $5 per month to maintain.

Want to know more? Contact us at info@cdyne.com, or start a live chat or post an inquiry on www.cdyne.com.