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LibraryH3lp is software used by libraries, educators, and non-profits for better customer service.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Android SMS Gateway Updated

We just pushed a new version of our Android SMS Gateway out to the Android Market.

The gateway has been reworked to perform better under various network conditions. It also has a great deal of delivery verification code to ensure that messages get to their recipients.

The user interface has also been changed to provide better feedback about the status of the gateway.

If you're currently using this application, your phone should let you know that an update is available. You will need to reconfigure your gateway on the LibraryH3lp admin site: delete your old gateway and create a new one. We plan to leave the old gateway running for about a week, and we will email all current users to make sure they're aware of the change.

Details for getting it up and running are in our Google Docs Presentation:


If you prefer text instructions, here is a brief outline (the presentation is more complete):
  • Search the Android Market for My Customer Cloud and install the application on your phone.
  • Start the My Customer Cloud SMS Gateway app on the phone and press the MENU button. The MENU button appearance may vary depending on the phone, but it not the same as the HOME button.
  • Select Libraryh3lp, Refchatter, or My Customer Cloud, depending on which system you're using.
  • Pick Settings.
  • Provide the name of the queue you will use for this gateway in the Admin site.
  • Click the green checkmark to have the app start automatically when the phone boots.
  • Click the phone's back button to return to the main LibraryH3lp SMS Gateway app screen.
  • Press the MENU button and select Password.
  • The password is unique to your phone and cannot be changed. Any 0's are zero's.
  • Go to the LibraryH3lp Admin site and navigate to your chosen queue.
  • Add a new Android SMS gateway and give it the password from the phone. You will not be able to change the username in the gateway. That is normal.
  • On your phone, return to the main LibraryH3lp SMS Gateway app screen and press Start.
  • When the app indicates it is running, you can send your first test SMS message to the phone.
Please let us know of questions! Current users, let us know if you can't make the change in a week's time.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Pam & Eric,

The new gateway seems to have fixed my connection problems, but in the test runs users are receiving duplicate messages from the librarian.

Pam Sessoms said...

Cliff, Eric thinks he's found the problem. Basically it has to do with some of the message verification code and handling of network issues.

He plans to release a server-side fix (ie, local admins won't have to do anything) in the next couple of days. I'll update here when that's done. :)

Thanks for the bug report!

Pam Sessoms said...

OK, the application has been updated.

One correction: I was wrong about the fix being entirely server-side.

You will need to update the app on the phone, but you will NOT need to change any of the settings in the app on the phone OR in the admin site.

Try again?

Unknown said...

Hi Pam,

I'm setting up the Android SMS service, and can't seem to find the LibraryH3lp app on the Android Market. Hundreds of other apps, including several SMS related, but searching "LibraryH3lp" returns "no matches".

I'm new to the Android world, so it is probably something obvious...

AB

Pam Sessoms said...

Hi Arthur,

OK, let's get some basics to start. What model phone do you have, and what OS version?

The application requires OS v. 1.5 or higher, and Eric recommends 1.6. The Market won't show apps that don't match the phone's OS.

Let's start with that and see where we go from there.

Unknown said...

I'm with Arthur;
I have looked and looked and can't find it. I've looked on the market, on websites that search the market <>. And nothing, not a thing..

Phone: hero
Provider: Sprint
firmware 2.1up1

Pam Sessoms said...

Hi Bob, sorry about that. Way back when, Arthur and I went to email, but his phone had an out of date firmware.

The problem you're having is that we've re-branded the gateway, and I forgot to update this blog post and the documentation.

The app is now called My Customer Cloud. Search for that and I think you'll be in business. I updated the blog post and the embedded Google Docs presentation just now.