rapidsms.contrib.httptester

The httptester contrib application allows sending fake messages to RapidSMS and seeing how RapidSMS responds.

Installation

To define and use Message Tester for your RapidSMS project, you will need to:

  1. Add "rapidsms.contrib.httptester" and "rapidsms.backends.database" to INSTALLED_APPS in your settings file:
INSTALLED_APPS = [
    ...
    "rapidsms.backends.database",
    "rapidsms.contrib.httptester",
    ...
]
  1. Add httptester URLs to your urlconf:
urlpatterns = patterns("",
    ...
    (r"^httptester/", include("rapidsms.contrib.httptester.urls")),
    ...
)
  1. Add the Database backend to INSTALLED_BACKENDS with the name "message_tester":
    INSTALLED_BACKENDS = {
    ...
    "message_tester": {
        "ENGINE": "rapidsms.backends.database.DatabaseBackend",
    },
    ...
}
  1. Create database tables for the DB backend models:
$ python manage.py syncdb
  1. Add a link to the Message Tester view from your rapidsms/_nav_bar.html template:
{% load url from future %}
<li><a href="{% "httptester-index" %}">Message Tester</a></li>

Usage

With Message Tester installed, there will be a Message Tester tab in the RapidSMS web page header. Click on that tab to bring up Message Tester.

Most of the controls for the Message Tester are in the left-side column.

The phone number field contains the phone number which will be used as the source number when you send test messages. A random number will have been filled in for you, but you can change it to anything you want.

You can send a single message by typing the message in the Single Message field and clicking Send. Or you can send multiple messages by putting each message on one line of a text file, selecting that text file with the Choose File button, and clicking Send.

The Log table on the right side of the page will show messages you send, and any messages that RapidSMS replies with. For messages that you send, the left column will show the phone number the message came from, and a double arrow pointing right, with the text of the message in the right column. For messages that RapidSMS sends, the left column will show the phone number the message was sent to, and a double arrow pointing left, with the text of the message again in the right column.

The Log table will always show the most recent messages. If there are more than will fit on a page, you can use the paging controls at the bottom of the table to page back through the messages.

You can clear the log of messages for the current phone number by selecting the Clear checkbox and clicking Send, or the entire log by selecting the Clear all checkbox and clicking Send.