The ftp interface is used to send single or multiple messages.  Below are the file formats for:

• sending multiple messages (to a single or multiple phones)
• sending a single message (to a single or multiple phones)
• Definitions List

This format is used when sending multiple messages to various recipients. The file may contain one or more messages. Each message will be on a new line in the file. Each line is broken into a number of fields, separated by a pipe character ( | ).  Below is a table of the format of the fields:

Example: MSISDN|message|Reference|notify|validity
             : 082xxxxxxx|Test Message|123456|1|2h

"Test Message" will be sent to cellphone 082xxxxxxx. The message will be sent immediately to the SMSC that will continue to try and deliver the message for 2 hours.  A notification message will be placed in a file in the ftp directory with the reference number 123456.

See Definitions for clarity on the structure of the various fields 

This format is used when sending a single messages to various recipients. The format is as follows:

Cellphone: 082xxxxxxx
Cellphone: 083yyyyyyy
Cellphone: 084zzzzzzz
Reference: 123456
Notify: 1
Validity:2h
[BLANK LINE]
Test Message

"Test Message" will be sent to cellphone 082xxxxxxx, 083yyyyyyy and 084zzzzzzz. The message will be sent immediately to the SMSC that will continue to try and deliver the message for 2 hours.  3 Notification messages will be placed in a notify folder in the ftp directory with the reference number 123456. This is viewed in text format only.

There is no limitation to the number of cellphones you wish to send messages to.

NB: A blank line must be left between "Validity" and the message

• MSISDN - the cellphone number that the message is to be sent to (082xxxxxxx).

• Text message - the message to be sent.  If the message is longer than 160 characters then it will be truncated.

• Internal Reference - this is an internal field used to track the messages.  This number can be used to link the message to an event.  The number is returned in the notification files.

• Notify - the status flag can be set to 0 / 1 / 2. If this field is set to 0, the customer will not receive notification of the SMS status. If this field is set to 1, the customer will receive notification in the form of a file stored in the customer's "notify" sub-directory. If this field is set to 2, the customer will receive notification via email.

• Validity - This is the duration that the message must remain active.  The validity of the message is a 2 character field. e.g. "1d" or "5m" or "6h" (m)inutes, (h)ours, (d)ays. Default and also maximum values are set at 24 hours. The validity can be set by the customer when sending out SMS's.

Field name

MSISDN

12 numeric (max)

Text message

160 characters

Internal Reference

6 numeric only

Notify

1 numeric (0/1/2)

Validity

2 character