XML-based information services are quite common. When creating a 2-way SMS application, frequently this will involve extracting information from the received SMS and issuing an HTTP request to another server. That server might return a response in an XML format, which must be parsed in order to send an appropriate SMS response back to the original SMS sender.

This thread on the discussion board takes a look at an SMS based horoscope service. An SMS message is received, which triggers a 2-way SMS HTTP script configured in NowSMS. This ASP script parses information from the received SMS, and issues an HTTP request to the horoscope service provider. The horoscope provider returns an XML response which is parsed by the 2-way script so that an SMS response can be sent back to the original message sender.

A second example script shows how an MMS response could be sent back instead of SMS.

Even if you're not interested in horoscopes, it makes for an interesting example of integrating 2-way SMS with an XML-based information service.

We frequently get questions about how to use NowSMS to support bulk SMS applications. It has often puzzled us why we get asked these questions, because we know that this is a common application.

However, after a couple of questions on the NowSMS discussion board, it became somewhat obvious why we get these questions. The distribution list functionality in NowSMS is not very well documented.

The following thread discusses options for creating and editing NowSMS distribution lists, explaining both the file based interface and the an HTTP-based interface that can be used to update distribution lists from a remote application server.

For users, bookmarks are essential for navigating content on the mobile internet. Mobile internet users spend most of their time accessing sites that they have booked marked in their mobile devices.

But how many mobile internet users actually know how to bookmark a site in their device. Sometimes a content provider just wants to be able to send a bookmark to the user so that they can more easily return to the content provider's site.

Using the WAP OTA Bookmark function in NowSMS, you can send a bookmark to Nokia phones. However, the function is rarely supported by other manufacturers.

The following thread provides an XML Settings document that can be used to send a bookmark to newer SonyEricsson devices (and hopefully other manufactuers will decide to also support this functionality in the future as it does use an OMA Provisioning Content standard).

Sometimes the easiest way to integrate the ability to send an SMS alert into an application is via a command line interface.

The following document contains a simple Windows script that can be used to facilitate a command line interface for sending SMS via NowSMS. This script allows recipient phone numbers, and the message text, to be specified on the command line.

While the example script only supports sending text messages, it could be easily adapted to support sending other types of messages supported by NowSMS.

If you missed our previous newsletter that discussed the new features of the 2006 edition of the Now SMS/MMS Gateway, you can find out more by reading the previous edition of this newsletter at our web site via the link below.

What's new in NowSMS 2006?

• OMA Digital Rights Management v1.0
• More Robust SMPP Implementation
• Priority Message Queue Handling
• EMS Support
• MMS 1.2 & MMSC Enhancements
• OTA Enhancements
• System Alerts
• E-Mail to SMS and MMS Enhancements
• GSM & GPRS Modem Handling Updates

If you've got a technical question about NowSMS, or just want to get some ideas from how others are using NowSMS, then please visit our Discussion Board.