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Question & Answers

This topic aims to clarify questions from our customers about the use of the AlertFind API.

Expand the question to find the respective answer.

General Questions

ClosedIs there any Size limit restriction when sending email or SMS from Notification API?

There are restrictions from some SMS carriers:

Element Restriction
Subject 256 characters.
Body 4096 characters. For body 4096 is the limit only for plain text characters. You can send notification with HTML content as body text with a much higher limit than 4096 characters. AlertFind converts the HTML text into plain text (plain text should not exceed 4096). Email and Mobile app support HTML text in Notification body. Voice, SMS, FAX, Pager devices will receive plain text notification.
ClosedWhat is the maximum attachment size AlertFind accepts?

AlertFind can support up to 5 attachments of 5 MB each. As of now attachments are not supported via sendNotification API. Users need to use notifications templates with attachments to achieve that.

ClosedHow many attachments can be added to a message?

AlertFind can support up to 5 attachments of 5 MB each.

ClosedDoes AlertFind notification API support both HTML and plain text format?

The API supports Plain-text only. However, the API can trigger notification templates that include rich-text and basic HTML.

ClosedDoes AlertFind support both Synchronous and Asynchronous calls?

NOTE

The information here refers to API calls, not voice calls.

AlertFind supports both kind of APIs based on usage. For example, Data Management APIs to create users is a synchronous API, while Sending Notification is an asynchronous API. Roster import is also an asynchronous API call.

Data Management APIs are synchronous API, while sendNotification API is asynchronous.

ClosedIf AlertFind supports asynchronous calls can AlertFind callback the customers' API to let them know the status of the message?

AlertFind’s API is entirely query-driven from the customer side. If the customer uses the API to query the sent notification for its status, AlertFind will return the results.

AlertFind does not provide callback functionality. A client must call queryNotificationStatus API to get latest status of an asynchronous sendNotification API call.

SendNotification Method

ClosedIf a user creates one service account for all messages, can the user send service account user ID and password instead of actual user ID and password to the sendNotification method?

Yes, you can create an admin user account as service account and use that to call sendNotification API.

ClosedWhat is the minimum and maximum value for delay parameter?

There is no minimum or maximum value for the delay parameters. However, it is recommended to keep the delay between 1 minute to a maximum of 30 minutes. Ideal delay is 5 minutes.

ClosedIf the distribution parameter has recipient details, is there any need to send the value to team name? If sending a blank value to the team name and send the value in distribution parameter what will happen?

Every customer has default team named as Global which is top in team hierarchy. If a team name is not provided, AlertFind uses the Global team context.

ClosedWhat is customEscalationType and what values we need to send to this parameter?

The customEscalationType is optional and it can have three values:

Value Description
NONE This option is the default. With this value, the Notification works based on customer/user profile/rule.
CUSTOM This option can be used to override default Notification profile/rule. This is useful if you need to send a notification to only SMS devices or any groups of devices type, irrespective of how customer/user profile/rules are configured. This option will override default customer/user profile/rule.
SKIP_DEVICES This option is used to skip provided devices type and send a notification to the rest of them based on default customer/user profile/rule.
ClosedWhich fields are there in the personalEscalationSteps class?

Information about personalEscalationSteps type is missing. The class details are not in the documentation.

This class has two fields:

  • String deviceName
  • long timeoutMsec
ClosedWhat are the expected return values for sendNotification Method?

This method returns notification ID on successful submission of sendNotification request. If it fails due to any reason, then it will return error response with proper description.

Later on, you can use the notificationId to check the status of notification.

Notification Class

ClosedParameter stopOnResponses. What value we need to assign to this parameter and how it works?

This value is a boolean field – possible values are 0 and 1.

It is used to stop escalation when the first response is received from the user.

ClosedParameter authenticationRequired. Is it a unique PIN for the user or for every message the PIN varies?

NOTE

A PIN is created for each user and not for each notification.

The PIN may or may not be unique per user. If notification is sent with PIN enabled functionality, then the user need to enter the  PIN before they access notification on devices. Notification with authentication required as false, do not ask for PIN before delivering notification to user’s devices.

ClosedMethod Responses. What are the possible response values we can send to AlertFind?

It is up to the customer what sort of response they want to send for each notification. Response options may vary for each notification. A response option has abbreviation and full text. User on receiving notification can choose any response option to reply to notification message. The reply for each user gets logged in the AlertFind application. Check response options in sample API call below.

Recipient Class

ClosedWhat value should be sent to the ID parameter? From where to get the ID value?

The ID would be the username for a user. A username is typically <<name>>@<<domainname>>

Each user is created with unique username in AlertFind. Customer while creating a user from any platform always need to provide the username.

ClosedDo we have any sample test API calls?

Here is an example of SOAP API call to send notification.

					<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:aler="http://messageone.com/af/wsdl/v2/AlertFindNotificationService">
						<soapenv:Header/>
						<soapenv:Body>
							<aler:sendNotification>
								<sender>admin@mydomain.com</sender>
								<password>xxxxxxxxxxx</password>
								<teamName></teamName>
								<message>
									<authenticationRequired>false</authenticationRequired>
									<body>This is sample notiication body</body>
									<confCallMeetingId></confCallMeetingId>
									<confCallNumber></confCallNumber>
									<responses>
										<!--Zero or more repetitions:-->
										<item>
											<abbreviation>Confirm</abbreviation>
											<allowRecipientData>0</allowRecipientData>
											<bridgeToConfCall>0</bridgeToConfCall>
											<description>I confirm that I have received this message.</description>
											<maxRecipients>0</maxRecipients>
										</item>
									</responses>
									<stopOnResponses>0</stopOnResponses>
									<subject>This is test subject for notification</subject>
								</message>
								<distribution>
									<!--Zero or more repetitions:-->
									<item>
										<delayAfter>0</delayAfter>
										<id>1@mydomain.com</id>
										<type>user</type>
									</item>
								</distribution>
								<delay>0</delay>
								<customEscalationType>CUSTOM</customEscalationType>
									<personalEscalationSteps>
										<!--Zero or more repetitions:-->
										<item>
											<deviceName>Work Email</deviceName>
											<timeoutMsec>1000</timeoutMsec>
										</item>
									</personalEscalationSteps>
							</aler:sendNotification>
						</soapenv:Body>
					</soapenv:Envelope>
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