Utilizing Mobile: Installation and Use of FrontlineSMS for Basic Data Collection or Outbound Messaging (Part II)
In Part I of this Weaver sub-series, I introduced you to FrontlineSMS, provided some background and thoughts on how to utilize this software application, and finally walked through the basic installation. This section, Part II, will look more at sending and receiving messages, managing contacts, and basic setup of FrontlineSMS. Part III will examine how to use the more advanced Keyword functionality of FrontlineSMS.
Managing Tabs
If you look at the default view of FrontlineSMS, there are six basic tabs shown.
The Home tab provides provides a list of events, as well as a small window to send messages. If you are working on a low resolution screen, you may not be able to use the home tab as a way to send messages. This is because the send button is cut off. No need to worry. You can send messages from another tab, and that is what this tutorial will cover.
From the home tab you can also switch languages for the basic interface. Do so by simply clicking the flag associated with the language you wish to use.
The primary tabs we will work with here are Contacts and Messages. Keywords will be covered in a subsequent part to this sub-series on FrontlineSMS. The Phones tab lets you manage which mobile devices are connected to your computer. This was covered in Part I as a general introduction to the setup process.
Finally, there are two tabs left. One is 'E-mails'. As you might expect, its a basic e-mail client if you which to have e-mail managed side-by-side with your SMS messaging. This of course requires a network connection. We will not cover this tab in detail in any of the tutorials, but if you want to learn more, you can either experiment or view the official documentation. To simply add an e-mail account to FrontlineSMS, which will display in the 'Emails' tab, go to the Settings menu item, and then select E-mail Settings. Fill out the form as appropriate.
There is another tab which is hidden, and this tab is used to manage the powerful forms feature of FrontlineSMS. This feature lets you create distributable forms / text fields that help guide a user of a mobile device in sending back a report. So, rather than an individual having to know how to properly type an SMS, she could simply fill out a form delivered to her mobile phone. The Forms feature is rather new, and it requires mobile phones capable of installing some client software. Moreover, it does not work through SMS, but rather it relies on GPRS data services. Given the initial limited use of this feature due to technical requirements, as well as its more advanced nature, Forms will not be covered in this series. Again, however, if you want to learn more about Forms in FrontlineSMS, visit the official documentation or simply experiment.
To hide an unused tab or to show a tab that is hidden, such as forms, go to View -> Tabs. Now check those tabs you want visible and uncheck those you want to hide. For purposes of this tutorial, I will leave Forms unchecked, but I will also uncheck E-mails.
Tracking Costs
A nice little feature of FrontlineSMS is that it can help you track overall messaging costs. In the lower right you will see a 'Cost estimator'.
Note that this is an estimation only. If you are messaging across countries where rates are higher and vary, this will not be captured. Unfortunately, the cost estimator is associated with the language selected -- namely the country / currency associated with that language. For instance English is associated with the UK, so the currency is in GBP -- British Pounds Sterling. This will cause some problem if you change between languages, but as an estimator, you can probably just ignore the currency type. Just remember that your value is not tied to a currency used by FrontlineSMS.
Contacts
Before we send and receive any test messages, we'll need to establish some contacts. So, navigate to the Contacts tab. Here you will see that you can establish messaging groups (left hand side), in addition to simply adding individual contacts. Groups come in very handy as a way to mass message a number of individuals. For instance if you had a group of emergency managers you wanted to SMS with alerts, you would first add each individual as a unique contact in FrontlineSMS. You would then add each of these individuals to a Group. Individuals can belong to more than one group, so you may have different divisions / groups for different purposes. For instance perhaps you have a list of all emergency managers, but then you might have a number of groups that are specific to Provinicial or local government authorities. This simply allows you to quickly target messages without the hassle of sending a separate SMS to each individual.
Of course you should understand that in the end FrontlineSMS is still sending a separate SMS to each contact in a group. Therefore you will incur a SMS charge / fee for each individual in the group. Moreover, beware that the larger the group, the longer it will take FrontlineSMS to send out messages. This is particularly true if you only have one mobile device attached. RANET generally estimates that it takes 12 seconds a message per modem. So it could take four minutes for messages to be sent out to a group of 20 individuals. Generally this isn't a big deal, but if your meteorological service's operations are particularly time sensitive it will of course matter greatly.
Setting up contacts and groups is pretty straight forward, but I'll walk through a quick example. First, let's create a New Contact. Do so by navigating to the Contacts tab. The menu area in the right, has a tab on the bottom labeled New Contact. Click it.
This will bring up a smaller window with basic contact information.
For now I will leave Groups empty, as I've not created a Group yet. For the phone number, if you are messaging within a country, you probably do not need to have the country dialing code. At least in the United States I was able to send messages to contacts both when the number was preceded by the international country code (1) and when it was not. In any case if you have difficulties, you might attempt to either add or remove the international dialing code for your country. Specifics may vary by carrier.
Click save after filling out the form, and now create a Group. Do so by clicking the New Group button in the lower left of the Contacts tab.
This brings up a simple window that only allows you to provide a name.
Since there is not an option to provide meta-data, if you plan on having multiple groups, you should try to be as descriptive as possible. This description should include the purpose of the group, the who of the group, and geolocation; if and as applicable.
Now, let's go back to the first contact we created. Do so in the Groups sub-window of the Contacts tab. Highlight either 'FrontlineSMS Contacts' or 'Ungrouped Contacts'.
As you select different Groups, your list of contacts in the sub-window to the right will change. If you highlight the group folder you just created, there shouldn't be any contacts listed. So, now highlight the contact you created, click the edit button in the lower right; or right click to edit. Now in the Groups field, add the name of the Group you created. Save. Your contact should now be a member of the Group you created.
In my example, I added myself as a contact, and then I created a Group simply called RANET. Then I went back and added myself to the RANET group. Clearly, now as I add new Contacts, if I want them to be part of my RANET messaging Group, I will associate them with the Group when I'm first adding them into the FrontlineSMS database. A contact can belong to multiple groups.
Sending a Message
Okay, we have a Contact and a Group. This means we have someone to message. Within FrontlineSMS you can actually send a message from a few different areas. As noted there is a window to do so on the Home tab, but if your screen resolution is low, the send button will not be available to you. The easiest way is in the Contacts tab, although you can also start a message in the Messages tab.
Navigate to the Contacts tab. If you simply want to SMS a single individual, highlight under Groups the "FrontlineSMS Contacts" menu item at the very top. Doing this will list all of your contacts.
Now, select the contact you want to message from the list in the right sub-window of Contacts. You can either click the Send SMS button, or you can right click and select Send SMS. Basically, anywhere you can select a user, you can right click to send an SMS to that specific user. Similarly, anywhere in FrontlineSMS that you can highlight a group, you can right click to send an SMS to every contact associated with that messaging group.
It's pretty straight forward from here. Type your message, ensure the recipient information is correct, and press send. Depending upon your device and network speed, you may have to wait 30 seconds or so for the message to go out from the FrontlineSMS mobile device, and then to be receive on your mobile device used in testing. If you click on the Messages tab, you can see the status of the message, as well as other basic information.
Messages can be filtered by Contact, Group, and Keywords. Additionally, you can filter by dates.
I won't go through each option, but just be aware that these exist. These search filters will become invaluable as your database of messages grows. To view details of a message, simply double click the message listed in the right sub-window in the Messages tab.
We can also track messages through the Latest Events list shown on the Home Tab.
Hopefully now you have successfully sent a message using FrontlineSMS. It's easy and straightforward, but there is one thing to which I'd like to draw your attention. A standard SMS is limited to 160 characters. In this 160 characters, spaces count. As a result messages are often pretty short and limited. Most networks and devices support sending and receiving of multi-part SMS. FrontlineSMS provides this capability as well.
If you start a new message, you will see three mail envelops as shown in the image below.
FrontlineSMS will let you send a multi-part SMS that is composed of three SMSs. So, you can in theory send messages that are 480 characters long. In the same window, FrontlineSMS will tell you how many characters you have remaining. While a nice feature, just be aware that if you send a message that is 480 characters long, you will be charged for three SMSs to every recipient. Additionally, be sensitive to the fact that older mobile phones may not display multi-part messages well, or that long messages may be difficult to read on a mobile device.
Messages Received
There isn't much to receiving a message. FrontlineSMS handles this for you. Use a mobile phone to send your FrontlineSMS modem / phone a SMS. This message will be displayed by user in Messages tab. Again, you can filter by user, and similarly, you can view all messages recieved by simply highlighting All Messages in the left sub-window.
That is all there is to it. You now have a basic work station that will enable you to quickly send and receive mobile text messages. Again, with the power of groups, you can setup workflows for sending out forecasts, alerts, and other predefined contact lists. The next section (Part III) will look at using Keywords. Keywords extend the functionality of FrontlineSMS from a basic messaging client, to an automated application for gathering data, sending auto-replies, and similar.
