<p>In the <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/blogs/tutorials/build-a-voice-bot-ivr-the-easy-and-fast-way" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">previous tutorial</a>, we have discovered how FlexIO&#8217;s Visual Designer can be used to create simple yet convincing voice bots using the built-in speech to text capability and some formatting tricks to accept wider voice inputs from callers. In this tutorial, we will discover how to increase the quality of speech recognition in your IVR and voice bot project, whether we use it thru the visual designer or in your own applications.</p>






<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets"><p class="toc_title">Contents</p><ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#Language_selection">Language selection</a></li><li><a href="#Speech_adaptation">Speech adaptation</a></li><li><a href="#Class_tokens">Class tokens</a></li></ul></div>




<h2><span id="Language_selection">Language selection</span></h2>



<p>The very first check to do, how obvious is may sound, is to make sure that you are correctly specifying the language in which the speech recognition has to be executed. It&#8217;s easy to overlook that the platform will default to English when nothing is specified, and trying to recognize French or Dutch with a speech recognition engine expecting English is a guarantee for failure.</p>



<p>When working with the Visual Designer, make sure to select the required speech recognition language from the drop down menu, just below the Speech input configuration:</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="649" height="544" src="/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/image.png" alt="Selecting the right language for speech recognition in the Visual Designer" class="wp-image-5148" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/image.png 649w, /wp-content/uploads/2021/06/image-300x251.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px" /></figure>



<p></p>



<p>When using RCML in your own code development, specify the input language as following: <em>&lt;Gather action=yourendpointUrl method=&#8221;GET&#8221; timeout=&#8221;3&#8243; input=&#8221;speech&#8221; <strong>language=&#8221;fr-FR&#8221;</strong> hints=&#8221;&#8221;&gt;</em></p>



<p>For the list of supported BCP-47 language tag (ie &#8220;fr-FR&#8221;, &#8220;en-US&#8221;, &#8230;) see the list of supported language on <a href="https://cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/docs/languages" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google&#8217;s supported STT language list</a>.</p>



<h2><span id="Speech_adaptation">Speech adaptation</span></h2>



<p>As we know, Google trains its speech to text engine on very large sets of data, however the performance might drop when we request the engine to recognize very specialized words such as used a specific domains (such as in medicine) or family names and surnames.</p>



<p>FlexIO can leverage Google Speech to Text&#8217;s <em>speech adaptation</em>. As Google explains it on this <a href="https://cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/docs/speech-adaptation" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">documention page</a>:</p>



<p><em>You can use the&nbsp;<strong>speech adaptation</strong>&nbsp;feature to help Speech-to-Text recognize specific words or phrases more frequently than other options that might otherwise be suggested. For example, suppose that your audio data often includes the word &#8220;weather&#8221;. When Speech-to-Text encounters the word &#8220;weather,&#8221; you want it to transcribe the word as &#8220;weather&#8221; more often than &#8220;whether.&#8221; In this case, you might use speech adaptation to bias Speech-to-Text toward recognizing &#8220;weather&#8221;. Speech adaptation is particularly helpful to the following use cases:</em></p>



<ul><li><em>Improving the accuracy of words and phrases that occur frequently in your audio data. For example, you can alert the recognition model to voice commands that are typically spoken by your users.</em></li><li><em>Expanding the vocabulary of words recognized by Speech-to-Text. Speech-to-Text includes a very large vocabulary. However, if your audio data often contains words that are rare in general language use (such as proper names or domain-specific words), you can add them using speech adaptation.</em></li><li><em>Improving the accuracy of speech transcription when the supplied audio contains noise or is not very clear.</em></li></ul>



<p>In FlexIO, speech adaptation is designated as &#8220;hints&#8221; or &#8220;hot words&#8221;. When working with the Visual Designer, you define your hint phrases or hot words in the configuration of the speech recognition as a comma-separated list, as illustrated here:</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="649" height="666" src="/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/image-1.png" alt="Defining hot words or sentences to enforce speech adaptation" class="wp-image-5166" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/image-1.png 649w, /wp-content/uploads/2021/06/image-1-292x300.png 292w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px" /></figure>



<p></p>



<p>When working with RCML in your own code development, make sure to include the <em>hint</em> keyword in the Gather verb: <em>&lt;Gather action=yourendpointUrl method=&#8221;GET&#8221; timeout=&#8221;3&#8243; input=&#8221;speech&#8221; language=&#8221;en-US&#8221; <strong>hints=&#8221;hydrotherapy, osteopathy, re-education,paraplegic&#8221;</strong>&gt;</em></p>



<h2><span id="Class_tokens">Class tokens</span></h2>



<p>Next to helping the speech recognition engine with hint phrases or words, it can also be that you are expecting a very specific type of input from your caller. Let&#8217;s imagine you need the caller to provide an identification number. Without any guidance, it could very well be the result of speech recognition will be &#8220;two seven five zero three one&#8221;, whereas you would have expected to receive &#8220;275031&#8221;. </p>



<p>By using <em>class tokens</em>, you can tell the speech recognition engine that you are expecting a digit sequence instead of the literal transcription. In our example, the class token for a digit sequence is <em>$OOV_CLASS_DIGIT_SEQUENCE</em>.  </p>



<p>When using the Visual Designer, you would specify the class token at the same place you define hot words or hint sentences:</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="649" height="625" src="/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/image-2.png" alt="Defining class tokens to optimize speech recognition in teh Visual Designer" class="wp-image-5169" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/image-2.png 649w, /wp-content/uploads/2021/06/image-2-300x289.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px" /></figure>



<p></p>



<p>When using RCML in your own code development, you will specify the required class token with the same &#8220;hint&#8221; definition as above: <em>&lt;Gather action=yourendpointUrl method=&#8221;GET&#8221; timeout=&#8221;3&#8243; input=&#8221;speech&#8221; language=&#8221;en-US&#8221; <strong>hints=&#8221;$OOV_CLASS_DIGIT_SEQUENCE&#8221;</strong>&gt;</em>.</p>



<p>You will find the complete list of available class token on <a href="https://cloud.google.com/speech-to-text/docs/class-tokens" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google&#8217;s documentation page</a>.</p>



<p>Note that class tokens can be combined with hot words or hint sentences. A few examples:</p>



<ul><li>&#8220;my address is $ADDRESSNUM&#8221;</li><li>&#8220;my reference code is $OOV_CLASS_ALPHANUMERIC_SEQUENCE</li></ul>

Increasing the quality of speech recognition in your IVR and voice bot project

Build a voice bot IVR the easy and fast way

<p>Learn how to create a call dispatching application using Proximus FlexIO, Node.js and the Google Calendar APIs. Thanks to this application, calls to your staff on duty will be automatically redirected to the appropriate person by gathering data from a team calendar on Google. Let&#8217;s stop this stone age process where we hand over a &#8220;on duty phone&#8221; from staff member to staff member! </p>






<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets"><p class="toc_title">Contents</p><ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#Step_1_8211_the_story">Step 1 &#8211; the story</a></li><li><a href="#Step_2_8211_Requirements">Step 2 &#8211; Requirements</a></li><li><a href="#Step_3_8211_Google_platform_account">Step 3 &#8211; Google platform account</a></li><li><a href="#Step_4_8211_Service_account_email">Step 4 &#8211; Service account email</a></li><li><a href="#Step_5_8211_Appointmentsjs">Step 5 &#8211; Appointments.js</a></li><li><a href="#Step_6_8211_Using_Nodemailer_or_FlexIO_RCML_to_send_emails">Step 6 &#8211; Using Nodemailer or FlexIO RCML to send emails</a></li><li><a href="#Step_7_8211_indexjs">Step 7 &#8211; index.js</a></li><li><a href="#Final_steps">Final steps</a></li></ul></div>




<h2><span id="Step_1_8211_the_story">Step 1 &#8211; the story</span></h2>



<p>A customer calls the official support line. According to which agent is on duty guard (information available inside <strong>Google Calendar</strong>) the calling customer will be forwarded to the number inside the  <strong>Description</strong> field of the calendar events.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="496" height="211" src="/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/image.png" alt="Google calendar events" class="wp-image-4965" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/image.png 496w, /wp-content/uploads/2021/04/image-300x128.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 496px) 85vw, 496px" /><figcaption>A Google Calendar for on duty staff</figcaption></figure>



<p>If no agent is available, a message can be left to a mailbox.&nbsp; This message will then be saved on the <em>proximusflexio.enco.io </em>account storage as a <strong>*.wav</strong> file.&nbsp; A mail will then be sent to the support mailbox containing the <strong>URL</strong> of the recorded message, which can be listened to by simply clicking on the link.</p>



<h2><span id="Step_2_8211_Requirements">Step 2 &#8211; Requirements</span></h2>



<p><strong>Important</strong>: this solution builds up on the previous tutorial “<em><a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/blogs/tutorials/creating-a-simple-ivr-application-with-node-js-and-flexio" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Creating a simple IVR/FlexIO application with Node.js</a></em>” and assumes the necessary setup is done and the related code already running. In this tutorial we will make use of this environment and will refer, especially for the final steps, to that previous tutorial. Shouldn&#8217;t you have done so already, we strongly recommend you start with that tutorial first.</p>



<p>What you need to implement the current solution:</p>



<ul><li>A Google Cloud Platform account (<a href="https://cloud.google.com/">https://cloud.google.com/</a>) ;</li><li>A Google calendar ;</li><li>The Google API’s library ;</li><li>A valid email address (Gmail or any other domain) ;</li><li>The Node mailer library in case you want to use your own SMTP server for sending out emails.</li></ul>



<h2><span id="Step_3_8211_Google_platform_account">Step 3 &#8211; Google platform account</span></h2>



<p>The following steps will guide you through the setup of a <strong>service account</strong> on the <strong>Google Cloud Platform</strong>:</p>



<ul><li>Inside the <strong>Google Cloud Platform console</strong>, go to <strong>IAM And Management</strong>, then<strong> Service accounts</strong> ;</li><li>Create a new service account by providing a name, an ID (this is also an email address we&#8217;ll need later on) and a description, the click <strong>create</strong> ;</li><li>This account doesn&#8217;t need permissions, so click <strong>continue</strong> ;</li></ul>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="837" height="315" src="/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/image-1.png" alt="Google Cloud Platform console" class="wp-image-4966" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/image-1.png 837w, /wp-content/uploads/2021/04/image-1-300x113.png 300w, /wp-content/uploads/2021/04/image-1-768x289.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px" /></figure>



<ul><li>This account doesn&#8217;t need a service account user nor admin.&nbsp; The only thing which is needed is some information on <strong>credentials</strong>.&nbsp; Please generate the <strong>key</strong> from here and download it (the generated <strong>json file</strong> will be needed at a later stage).</li></ul>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="837" height="314" src="/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/image-2.png" alt="Completing the Google service account and credentials" class="wp-image-4967" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/image-2.png 837w, /wp-content/uploads/2021/04/image-2-300x113.png 300w, /wp-content/uploads/2021/04/image-2-768x288.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px" /></figure>



<h2><span id="Step_4_8211_Service_account_email">Step 4 &#8211; Service account email</span></h2>



<p>Following steps will guide you through the setup of a <strong>service account <u>email</u></strong> on the <strong>Google Cloud Platform</strong>:</p>



<ul><li>First we need to add the service account email (ID) to the calendar (click <a href="https://support.google.com/calendar/answer/37082?hl=en">here</a> to see how to proceed) ;</li><li>The email should have the following permission: <strong><em>Make changes to events</em></strong> ;</li><li>The calendar ID can be found <a href="https://help.crystalcommerce.com/en/articles/1389811-how-to-find-your-google-calendar-id">here</a>, this one will also be needed ;</li><li>Install <strong><em>npm i -s googleapis date-fns</em></strong> (<em>date-fns</em> will be used to format and manipulate dates) from your project’s command-line.&nbsp; If you are using <strong>Visual Studio Code</strong>, this can be also achieved from the TERMINAL pane:</li></ul>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/image-3.png" alt="Terminal access in Visual Studio Code" class="wp-image-4968" width="214" height="35"/></figure>



<ul><li>Copy the <strong>credentials.json</strong> file downloaded above into the root of the project directory.</li></ul>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="156" height="160" src="/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/image-4.png" alt="Including the credentials.json file in the root directory of your project" class="wp-image-4969"/></figure>



<h2><span id="Step_5_8211_Appointmentsjs">Step 5 &#8211; Appointments.js</span></h2>



<p>This is the code which makes the integration with the <strong>Google Calendar</strong> possible.</p>



<p><strong>Please do the following:</strong></p>



<ul><li>Create a file called <strong>appointments.js</strong> inside your <strong>Node.js </strong>project under <em>api\routes</em>:</li></ul>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="180" height="182" src="/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/image-5.png" alt="Creating the appointments.js file for your call dispatcher solution" class="wp-image-4970"/></figure>



<ul><li>Copy the following code to it (line <em>4</em> shows where the link with the <a href="https://github.com/Enabling/FlexIO/blob/master/credentials.json"><strong>credentials.json</strong></a> file is made):</li></ul>


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const { google } = require(&#8216;googleapis&#8217;);<br />
const scopes = [&#8216;https://www.googleapis.com/auth/calendar&#8217;];<br />
const client = new google.auth.GoogleAuth({<br />
  keyFile: &#8216;credentials.json&#8217;,<br />
  scopes,<br />
});<br />
</code></pre>
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<p>The complete code can be found on our <a href="https://github.com/Enabling/FlexIO/blob/master/appointments.js" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">github</a>.</p>



<h2><span id="Step_6_8211_Using_Nodemailer_or_FlexIO_RCML_to_send_emails">Step 6 &#8211; Using Nodemailer or FlexIO RCML to send emails</span></h2>



<p>Once the above files are ready, <strong>mails.js</strong> has to be created in the same folder as <strong>appointments.js</strong>.</p>



<p>The following code snippet uses the <strong>Nodemailer</strong> library which makes it possible to send messages from your <strong>Gmail account</strong> to any mail address using the standard <strong>Google SMTP Server</strong>.</p>


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                <pre class="no-line-numbers"><code id="dm-code-raw" class="no-wrap language-javascript"></p>
<pre>"use strict";
const nodemailer = require("nodemailer");

async function mail(pCallSid, pFrom, pTo, pDateTime, pUrl) {
    let transporter = nodemailer.createTransport({
        host: 'smtp.googlemail.com',
        port: 465,
        secure: true,
        auth: {
            user: 'yourmail@address.be',
            pass: 'yourpassword',
        },
    });</pre>
<p></code></pre>
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<p>The full code can be found on <a href="https://github.com/Enabling/FlexIO/blob/master/mails.js" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">GitHub</a>.</p>



<p>As an alternative to nodemailer, you could also use the Proximus FlexIO <strong>Email </strong>RCML verb for the same purpose. However in such case the email will not be send from your Google gmail account. See step 7 on how to use this verb instead.</p>



<h2><span id="Step_7_8211_indexjs">Step 7 &#8211; index.js</span></h2>



<p><strong>Index.js</strong> manages the application&#8217;s start up, routing and some other features like allowing other modules to add functionalities. It can also act as a simple HTTP web server to run web applications.</p>



<p>The initial <strong>index.js</strong> code from <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/blogs/tutorials/creating-a-simple-ivr-application-with-node-js-and-flexio" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">this blog article</a> was changed a little bit to add some extra business logic and RCML handling to support the current use case.</p>



<p>The first two lines of code will import the modules necessary to integrate with the above <strong>appointments.js</strong> module (and the <strong>mails.js</strong> module in case <strong>RCML</strong> <em>&lt;Email&gt;</em> isn’t used):</p>


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                <pre class="no-line-numbers"><code id="dm-code-raw" class="no-wrap language-php"><br />
const { getAppointments } = require(&#8216;./appointments&#8217;);<br />
const { mail } = require(&#8216;./mails&#8217;);<br />
</code></pre>
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<p> </p>



<p>Using the <strong><em>post() method</em></strong>, two routes are established: ‘<strong>/’</strong> and ‘<strong>/recorded’ </strong>(this last one replaces <strong>‘/select’</strong> in the previous blog article).</p>



<p>The ‘<strong>/’</strong> route is defined using the <strong><em>Router.post()</em></strong> method which responds only to HTTP POST requests. &nbsp;&nbsp;This is the first endpoint that the FlexIO platform will query upon any new call, which in our case is an incoming phone call from a customer&nbsp;.&nbsp; The first argument to this method is the URL path while the second is a call back function that will be invoked in case an HTTP POST request with this path is received.</p>



<p>The call back function here calls <strong><em>send() </em></strong>on the response to return when we receive a POST request with path <strong><em>&#8216;/&#8217;</em></strong>.&nbsp; This will send a request body of type <strong><em>application/xml</em></strong><em> which content is </em>defined by <strong><em>let rsp</em></strong> or <strong><em>rsp2</em></strong> depending if a support agent is available (Google Calendar event) or not.</p>



<p>The <strong>/recorded</strong> inside RCML line <strong><em>&#8221;&nbsp;&nbsp; &lt;Record action=\&#8221;&#8221; + initialpath + &#8220;/recorded&#8221; + &#8220;\&#8221; maxLength=\&#8221;30\&#8221; finishOnKey=\&#8221;#\&#8221;&gt;\n&#8221;</em></strong> redirects to <strong><em>router.post(&#8216;/recorded&#8217;, (req, res, next) =&gt; {}</em></strong> where following business logic is set:</p>



<ul><li>The caller will be prompted to leave a message in case no support agent is available ;</li><li>Otherwise, the call of the customer will be redirected to the phone number inside the Google Calendar Event (see <strong>step 1</strong>).</li></ul>



<p>Please do the following:</p>



<ol type="1"><li>To use<strong> Nodemailer</strong>: replace the existing code inside <strong>index.js</strong> by following snippet under <em>api\routes</em>: <a href="https://github.com/Enabling/FlexIO/blob/master/index1.js">index.js file on github using Nodemailer</a></li><li>To use the <strong>RCML &lt;Email&gt;</strong> verb: replace the existing code inside <strong>index.js</strong> by following snippet under <em>api\routes</em>: <a href="https://github.com/Enabling/FlexIO/blob/master/index2.js" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">index.js file on github using RCML Email</a></li></ol>



<p>While reviewing your index.js file, you may wish to only try to call the on duty staff member for a limited time before switching to recording a voicemail. In such case, look for the <strong>Dial</strong> RCML verb in the code, and as explained on the <a href="https://proximusflexio.enco.io/docs/rcml/dial-rcml.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">online documentation</a> of FlexIO, just make use of the <strong>timeout</strong> parameter. Ideally, you should also include the <strong>callerId</strong> parameter to the phone number you have reserved on the FlexIO platform.</p>



<h2><span id="Final_steps">Final steps</span></h2>



<p>Once your code is ready, a few more steps are needed in order to start testing your new call dispatcher solution. Simply follow steps 7 to 10 from the blog article explaining <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/blogs/tutorials/creating-a-simple-ivr-application-with-node-js-and-flexio" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">how to build a simple IVR using Node.js</a>. </p>



<p>  </p>

Creating a call dispatcher application with Proximus FlexIO

Create a call dispatching application with Node.js and Google Calendar API

Creating a simple IVR  application with Node.js and FlexIO

<p>In this tutorial we will see how to develop a simple approach to number masking, allowing people to be called without having to disclose their real phone numbers.</p>






<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets"><p class="toc_title">Contents</p><ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#What_is_number_masking">What is number masking?</a></li><li><a href="#A_number_masking_scenario_for_field_technicians">A number masking scenario for field technicians</a></li><li><a href="#Scenario_implementation">Scenario implementation</a><ul><li><a href="#Number_pool">Number pool</a></li><li><a href="#Using_the_visual_designer">Using the visual designer</a></li><li><a href="#Creating_a_web_trigger">Creating a web trigger</a></li><li><a href="#Editing_the_web_trigger">Editing the web trigger</a></li><li><a href="#Testing_the_scenario">Testing the scenario</a></li><li><a href="#Integrating_the_number_masking_application_in_a_WFM_system">Integrating the number masking application in a WFM system</a></li><li><a href="#Call_usage_and_reports">Call usage and reports</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Advanced_number_masking">Advanced number masking</a></li></ul></div>




<h3><span id="What_is_number_masking">What is number masking?</span></h3>



<p>Number masking is a technique that allows an individual to use a temporary phone number to communicate with another party without disclosing his real phone number. Number masking answers many different real business use cases across industry sectors where communicating a real personal or even business phone number could become problematic to safeguard this person&#8217;s privacy or work effectiveness. </p>



<p>Think about drivers for ride services, food delivery, truck transports in the logistics sector, employees working in the back office on customer cases, or caregivers and nurses in the home care sector: each of them may have valid reasons not to disclose their personal phone number. They need to guarantee a clear cut between their private and professional lives. Organizations and online platforms working with these people may as well find in number masking a way to avoid off-platform transactions (such as a customer calling a driver directly to avoid paying fees to the driver&#8217;s platform).</p>



<p>There are multiple approaches to number masking, such as one way masking (1 party is contacted thru a masked number) or two way masking (2 parties can call each other over temporary numbers assigned to each of them). And there are several ways to implement number masking with <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/flexio/overview">Proximus FlexIO</a>, using the Visual Designer or using APIs.</p>



<h3><span id="A_number_masking_scenario_for_field_technicians">A number masking scenario for field technicians</span></h3>



<p>Let&#8217;s suppose a utility company has technicians visiting customers for installation and repair operations. Technicians use a work force management solution (WFM) on their smartphone or tablet, showing the list of all planned interventions for the day. In the WFM solution, a technician can press a button next to each intervention record to trigger a phone call to that customer (1). Our number masking solution steps in and first calls the technician (2). Once the technician has picked up the phone, our number masking solution makes a call to the customer (3).  When the customer picks up the phone, both technician and customer are put together in call (4). </p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="850" height="359" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/image-1.png" alt="Number Masking call flow" class="wp-image-4897" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/image-1.png 850w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/10/image-1-300x127.png 300w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/10/image-1-768x324.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px" /><figcaption>Number Masking scenario</figcaption></figure>



<p>To both technician and customer, the call will appear as coming from the temporary number used by the number masking solution. </p>



<p>In this tutorial, we will see how we can develop such system using the Visual Designer of Proximus FlexIO.</p>



<h3><span id="Scenario_implementation">Scenario implementation</span></h3>



<h4><span id="Number_pool">Number pool</span></h4>



<p>To get started with number masking, you should have at least one phone number reserved and available on the FlexIO platform. You could also provision several numbers to have the freedom to rotate usage, like using a different number for each masked call. </p>



<p>Once logged on <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://proximusapi.enco.io?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=encoblog" target="_blank">API Solutions</a>, open a new browser tab to the <a href="https://flexionumbers.enco.io?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=encoblog">Proximus FlexIO Number Management microsite</a> and register a new phone number to your account.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="750" height="334" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/flexio-register-number.gif" alt="Reserve your phone number" class="wp-image-4639"/><figcaption>Booking a new number for Proximus FlexIO</figcaption></figure>



<h4><span id="Using_the_visual_designer">Using the visual designer</span></h4>



<p>If you have never used FlexIO and the Visual Designer before, it&#8217;s maybe best to start first with <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/blogs/tutorials/your-first-visual-designer-application-for-inbound-calls" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">this tutorial</a>. Come back here once you&#8217;re done.</p>



<p>Go to the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://proximusflexio.enco.io/" target="_blank">Proximus FlexIO console</a> and create a new blank Visual Designer Application. We&#8217;ll call this application &#8220;<strong>numberMasking</strong>&#8220;. We&#8217;ll have 2 actions in this application:</p>



<ul><li>a <em>Say</em> action, just to let the technician know the application is now going to call his customer</li><li>a <em>Dial </em>action to a <em>Number</em> where this number is defined as <em>$customernumber</em> &#8211; this dollar sign means <em>customernumber</em> is a variable, as the customer number will be different for each call</li></ul>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="900" height="486" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/image.png" alt="Number Masking application in the FlexIO Visual Designer" class="wp-image-4887" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/image.png 900w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/10/image-300x162.png 300w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/10/image-768x415.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px" /></figure>



<p>Please note the various setting cogwheels in the interface that we clicked to choose the language of our <em>Say</em> action and well as to define that we will only try to call the customer for 20 seconds before giving up. Don&#8217;t forget to save your work once this is all done.</p>



<h4><span id="Creating_a_web_trigger">Creating a web trigger</span></h4>



<p>Now that the application is created, we need to know how to trigger it easily. The objective is to have a simple trigger that takes in the number from which we will call (ie the masked number), the phone number of the technician and the phone number of the customer.  By using this trigger, we launch the whole call sequence.</p>



<p>While still being in the Visual Designer, click on the top right menu and select first&nbsp;<em>Account Settings</em>&nbsp;to verify that your Proximus FlexIO credentials are correctly set.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="150" height="310" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/image-2.png" alt="Account settings and web trigger" class="wp-image-4901" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/image-2.png 150w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/10/image-2-145x300.png 145w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 85vw, 150px" /></figure>



<p>Select again the top right menu and click on&nbsp;<em>Web trigger</em>. Enable the trigger, set an application specific token (a password), copy the URL then save and close the Web trigger setting. The password token allows to securely share our web trigger URL without having to disclose our complete credentials on Proximus FlexIO.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="900" height="518" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/numbermasking1.gif" alt="Configuring the number masking web trigger" class="wp-image-4902"/></figure>



<p>Paste the copied URL in an empty text file (such as using Notepad), and replace “mysecret” at the end of the URL by your application specific token or password.</p>



<p>Save your application. You may now close that Visual Designer window.</p>



<h4><span id="Editing_the_web_trigger">Editing the web trigger</span></h4>



<p>You will need to change a bit the URL you copied in the previous step to make it usable to trigger the masked call scenario. Go back to the text editor where you pasted your URL and:</p>



<ul><li>change&nbsp;“to=+1231231231”&nbsp;to&nbsp;“to=%2B32xxxxxxxxx”&nbsp;where&nbsp;32xxxxxxxxx&nbsp;is&nbsp;the phone&nbsp;number&nbsp;of the technician</li><li>change&nbsp;“from=12345”&nbsp;to&nbsp;“from=%2B32aaaaaaaaa”&nbsp;where&nbsp;32aaaaaaaaa&nbsp;is&nbsp;the phone&nbsp;number&nbsp;that&nbsp;you&nbsp;have&nbsp;reserved on the FlexIO platform for this application. This is the callerID that will be shown to both the technician and the customer</li><li>add &#8220;&amp;customernumber=%2B32bbbbbbbbb&#8221; at the end of the URL, where 32bbbbbbbbb is the phone number of the customer</li></ul>



<p>Your URL should look like this (we used “x” to mask sensitive information so your own content should be real):</p>



<pre class="wp-block-preformatted">https://proximusflexio.enco.io:443/visual-designer/services/apps/APxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/start?from=%2B32xxxxxxxx&amp;to=%2B32xxxxxxxxx&amp;token=somepassword&amp;customernumber=%2B32xxxxxxxxx</pre>



<h4><span id="Testing_the_scenario">Testing the scenario</span></h4>



<p>To launch the scenario, just copy your customized URL in a new browser tab and hit enter. Congratulations, your first masked number scenario is now fully working!</p>



<h4><span id="Integrating_the_number_masking_application_in_a_WFM_system">Integrating the number masking application in a WFM system</span></h4>



<p>This is obviously a task for developers or application engineers, but all it takes is to use the URL you just built and have your calling button trigger a HTTP GET request to this URL. Obviously the values after &#8220;to=&#8221; and &#8220;customernumber=&#8221; will not be fixed values anymore but variables that are resolved at each execution request.</p>



<h4><span id="Call_usage_and_reports">Call usage and reports</span></h4>



<p>You may now want to understand if and how this system is used by your technicians and get a bit of statistics on their calls. It is important that field technicians communicate regularly with their customers to let them know about their expected arrival time and warn them about delays. Good communication always increases the level of customer satisfaction! </p>



<p>Go to the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://proximusflexio.enco.io/" target="_blank">Proximus FlexIO console</a> and click on the <em>Logs </em>link on the top menu. From here, you have access to all your call records and can filter by originating number (our &#8220;from&#8221; number), destination numbers, dates etc. All of these informations are also available via API so developers can retrieve usage data on a daily basis and integrate that data in your own reporting systems.</p>



<h3><span id="Advanced_number_masking">Advanced number masking</span></h3>



<p>Proximus FlexIO also comes with <strong>advanced number masking APIs</strong>. These specific APIs makes it easier for you to manage masked number sessions between 2 participants in such a way that you don&#8217;t need to take care of most of underlying technical details. These advanced APIs are more suitable for bi-directional number masking use cases, such as the ability for a taxi driver and a customer to contact each other once a ride is reserved, or a back office employee and a customer to contact each other without compromising the direct phone number of that employee.</p>



<p>Among other, the APIs let you:</p>



<ul><li>manage your own masked number pool</li><li>create on the spot bi-directional number masking sessions and control their status and duration (such as the duration of a taxi ride)</li><li>define what happens when someone tries to contact a masked number once the session as expired (such as a customer having forgotten valuable goods in the taxi and trying to contact the driver)</li><li>automatically ban callers from number masking sessions</li><li>access integrated reporting (API and user interface) to understand how and when interactions are being used  </li></ul>



<p>If you are interested to know more and get access to our advanced number masking APIs, <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/contact-us" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">don&#8217;t hesitate to reach out to us</a>.</p>

Number masking for field technicians

<p>In this tutorial we will see how to create SIP client credentials on Proximus FlexIO that can be used to receive phone calls on softphones. We will use the Visual Designer to create a simple call cascading scenario.</p>






<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets"><p class="toc_title">Contents</p><ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#About_soft_phones">About soft phones</a></li><li><a href="#Creating_the_SIP_clients">Creating the SIP clients</a></li><li><a href="#Install_and_configure_a_soft_phone">Install and configure a soft phone</a><ul><li><a href="#Linphone_Jitsi">Linphone &amp; Jitsi</a></li><li><a href="#Configure_your_softphone">Configure your softphone</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Use_the_Visual_Designer_to_create_a_cascading_application">Use the Visual Designer to create a cascading application</a><ul><li><a href="#The_cascading_scenario">The cascading scenario</a></li><li><a href="#Using_the_Visual_Designer">Using the Visual Designer</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Link_your_FlexIO_number_to_your_application">Link your FlexIO number to your application</a></li><li><a href="#Testing_the_call_cascading_scenario">Testing the call cascading scenario</a></li></ul></div>




<h3><span id="About_soft_phones">About soft phones</span></h3>



<p>Many companies are adopting VOIP phones, and in particular soft phones, looking for efficiency and cost effective solutions for telecommunications. Softphones’ ability to make or receive phone calls using computer programs installed on a variety of internet-enabled devices is definitely a game changer.  </p>



<p>Softphones makes it easier to support a variety of requirements and usage scenarios that would be more difficult or expensive to implement using standard phone systems. To take just a couple of examples:</p>



<ul><li>support to service mobility : when on the go business or technical users need to stay connected to their professional phone numbers, wherever they are</li><li>better customer interactions : you can choose where your calls ring and how. For instance, you might select the first few rings to be forwarded to your office. If you don’t answer the call, it will then be transmitted to a second or third device</li><li>faster call pickup : have a call ring on multiple phones or devices at the same time</li></ul>



<h3><span id="Creating_the_SIP_clients">Creating the SIP clients</span></h3>



<p>Go the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://proximusflexio.enco.io" target="_blank">Proximus FlexIO console</a> and select the <em>Clients</em> section in the main menu. For our scenario we will create 2 clients. Let&#8217;s call them <em>bob</em> and <em>alice</em>. Take note of the password you assign to them.</p>



<h3><span id="Install_and_configure_a_soft_phone">Install and configure a soft phone</span></h3>



<h4><span id="Linphone_Jitsi">Linphone &amp; Jitsi</span></h4>



<p>As we will need 2 soft phones up and running to support this call cascading scenario, you will install 2 different soft phones on your computer:</p>



<ul><li><a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.linphone.org/" target="_blank">Linphone</a>, a freeware under &nbsp;<a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Licence_publique_g%C3%A9n%C3%A9rale_GNU">GNU GPL 2</a> licence that is available for multiple operating systems, including mobiles and standard desktops</li><li><a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://desktop.jitsi.org/Main/Download" target="_blank">Jitsi Desktop</a>, also available for a variety of desktop operating systems</li></ul>



<p>If you are searching for a mobile soft phone, you could try out <em>Zoiper</em> on both iOS and Android. </p>



<h4><span id="Configure_your_softphone">Configure your softphone</span></h4>



<p>Whether you use Jitsi, Linphone or Zoiper, all of these will let you add your own SIP account. Simply use the credentials you created earlier on Proximus FlexIO, <em>bob</em> and <em>alice</em> respectively for each soft phone you configure. The SIP domain is <em>proximusflexio.enco.io</em> and the transport must be set to <em>TCP</em> (TLS will be implemented in a later phase).</p>



<h3><span id="Use_the_Visual_Designer_to_create_a_cascading_application">Use the Visual Designer to create a cascading application</span></h3>



<h4><span id="The_cascading_scenario">The cascading scenario</span></h4>



<p>The scenario will be the following: when someone calls your FlexIO phone number, Bob is going to be called first. If he doesn&#8217;t pick up the phone within 10 seconds, Alice&#8217;s softphone will ring. And if Alice doesn&#8217;t pick up too, then a SMS will be sent to your mobile phone to let you know you missed a call.</p>



<h4><span id="Using_the_Visual_Designer">Using the Visual Designer</span></h4>



<p>Go to the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://proximusflexio.enco.io" type="URL" id="https://proximusflexio.enco.io" target="_blank">Proximus FlexIO console</a> and create a new blank Visual Designer Application, like you have learned from our <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/flexio/documentation#buildvisualdesigner?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=encoblog" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">online documentation</a> or through the various tutorials of this blog. You can keep the first default <em>Say</em> action and use it to give an announcement such as &#8220;Thank you for contacting us, please wait while we connect you to one of our collaborators&#8221;. Don&#8217;t forget to specify your preferred TTS engine and voice, like you have already done so in previous tutorials. </p>



<p>Drag a <em>Dial </em>action, and configure it to call a <em>Client</em> called <em>Bob</em> with a timeout of <em>10 seconds</em>, as shown below :</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="800" height="486" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/sipfwd1.gif" alt="Calling a SIP FlexIO Client from the Visual Designer" class="wp-image-4751"/></figure>



<p>If the call is not picked up by Bob, we want to do the same, but calling <em>Alice</em> this time. Add another <em>Dial</em> action and configure it just as we did above, this time calling the Client <em>Alice</em>. </p>



<p>Next, create a new <em>Module</em> called &#8220;send SMS&#8221;, and add the actions <em>Say</em>, <em>SMS</em> and <em>Hang Up</em>, configured as shown on the picture. </p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="849" height="582" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image-9.png" alt="Configuring the send SMS module for our FlexIO call cascading scenario" class="wp-image-4753" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image-9.png 849w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image-9-300x206.png 300w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image-9-768x526.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px" /></figure>



<p>For the <em>SMS</em> action, please mind:</p>



<ul><li>we use the system variable <em>$core_From</em> to include the phone number of the caller in the message</li><li>obviously, set your own mobile phone number in the <em>To</em> field without omitting the country code</li><li>For the <em>From</em> field, you have to specify a FlexIO number that you own, even if this is not a mobile number. That number will be substituted by our systems and the SMS will be shown to the recipient as coming from a short code number (4 digits number). Failure to set a valid FlexIO number will result in the SMS not to be sent.</li></ul>



<p>Finally, go back to the &#8220;Welcome&#8221; module, and configure that last <em>Dial </em>action (the one calling Alice) to <em>Continue to</em> &#8220;send SMS&#8221;:</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="800" height="168" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image-10.png" alt="Configure SMS sending if second dial attempt fails in the call cascading scenario" class="wp-image-4754" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image-10.png 800w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image-10-300x63.png 300w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image-10-768x161.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px" /></figure>



<p>Save your application.</p>



<h3><span id="Link_your_FlexIO_number_to_your_application">Link your FlexIO number to your application</span></h3>



<p>Back to the Proximus FlexIO console, go to the &#8220;Numbers&#8221; section, pick up one of your available number and associate it to your call cascading application, like you learned to do it multiple times in previous tutorials.</p>



<h3><span id="Testing_the_call_cascading_scenario">Testing the call cascading scenario</span></h3>



<p>Give a call to your FlexIO number and don&#8217;t answer any of the incoming calls on your SIP phones. In this case, the scenario goes to the end meaning the caller is warned vocally that no one could be contacted and a SMS is sent to your mobile phone.</p>



<p>Now give it some other tries, letting or Bob, or Alice answer the incoming call. When any of the two picks up the call, the scenario is stopped when any of the party hangs up the line, and the remaining of the scenario (&#8220;we&#8217;re sorry&#8230;&#8221; message and the SMS sending) is not executed.</p>



<p>Now consider that several people could be connecting their soft phone application <span style="text-decoration: underline;">using the same credentials</span> at the same time. So instead of Bob and Alice, as individuals, you could have a <em>sales</em> and a <em>support</em> Client accounts. When a call is forward to the FlexIO Client <em>sales</em>, all soft phones connected with that credential will ring, but of course the call will go on only with the one person from the <em>sales</em> team who picks up the call.</p>

A simple call cascading scenario to soft phones

<p>In this tutorial we will learn how to use the Proximus FlexIO Visual Designer to put an incoming call into a conference room, then bring in two additional parties into that room. Without coding, you will create your own conference call system.</p>






<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets"><p class="toc_title">Content of the article</p><ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#Book_a_number">Book a number</a></li><li><a href="#Create_the_inbound_call_application">Create the inbound call application</a></li><li><a href="#Create_the_conference_call_leg_application">Create the conference call leg application</a></li><li><a href="#Link_the_applications_together">Link the applications together</a><ul><li><a href="#Prepare_the_URLs">Prepare the URLs</a></li><li><a href="#Update_the_inboundConference_application">Update the inboundConference application</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Link_your_phone_number_and_test">Link your phone number and test</a></li></ul></div>




<h3><span id="Book_a_number">Book a number</span></h3>



<p>Once logged on <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://proximusapi.enco.io?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=encoblog" target="_blank">API Solutions</a>, open a new browser tab to the <a href="https://flexionumbers.enco.io?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=encoblog">Proximus FlexIO Number Management microsite</a> and register a new phone number to your account.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="750" height="334" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/flexio-register-number.gif" alt="Reserve your phone number" class="wp-image-4639"/><figcaption>Booking a new number for Proximus FlexIO</figcaption></figure>



<h3><span id="Create_the_inbound_call_application">Create the inbound call application</span></h3>



<p>Go to the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://proximusflexio.enco.io/" target="_blank">Proximus FlexIO console</a> and create a new blank Visual Designer Application, like you have learned from our <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/flexio/documentation#buildvisualdesigner?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=encoblog">online documentation</a> or through the various tutorials of this blog. We&#8217;ll call this application &#8220;<strong>inboundConference</strong>&#8220;. </p>



<p>You can keep the first default <em>Say</em> action and use it to give an announcement such as &#8220;Please wait while we bring you in a conference room and bring in the other participants&#8221;. Don&#8217;t forget to specify your preferred TTS engine and voice, like you have already done so in previous tutorials.</p>



<p>Drag a <em>Dial </em>action, and configure it to call a <em>conference</em> called <em>testconference</em>, as shown below:</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="800" height="486" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/inboundconference1.gif" alt="" class="wp-image-4766"/></figure>



<p>This action create the conference room <em>testconference</em> and bring the caller in it. Save this application, and keep this browser window opened.</p>



<h3><span id="Create_the_conference_call_leg_application">Create the conference call leg application</span></h3>



<p>To dial the other parties and bring them in the room, we first need to create a new Visual Designer application. Go back to the Proximus FlexIO console and create a new blank Visual Designer application, named &#8220;<strong>conferenceLeg</strong>&#8220;. Delete the first default <em>Say</em> action from the welcome module, and add a <em>Dial</em> action that will dial a <em>conference</em> named <em>testconference</em>.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="800" height="486" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/inboundconference2.gif" alt="Bringing the call legs into the conference room" class="wp-image-4767"/></figure>



<p>Save this application.</p>



<p>We need now to get the web trigger URL for this application. Please refer to the section &#8220;outbound call scenario&#8221; under <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/flexio/documentation#buildvisualdesigner?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=encoblog" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Building your first visual designer application</a> in our documentation to understand more about the concept of web trigger URL.</p>



<p>Click on the top right menu, and select first <em>Account Settings</em> to verify that your PRoximus FlexIO credentials are correctly set. </p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="300" height="341" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image-11.png" alt="Setting up the application web trigger" class="wp-image-4769" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image-11.png 300w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image-11-264x300.png 264w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px" /></figure>



<p>Select again the top right menu and click on <em>Web trigger</em>. Enable the trigger, set an application specific token (like &#8220;somepassword&#8221;), copy the URL then save and close the Web trigger setting.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="800" height="486" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/inboundconference3.gif" alt="b trigger and its security token" class="wp-image-4770"/></figure>



<p>Paste the copied URL in an empty text file (notepad), and replace &#8220;mysecret&#8221; at the end of the URL by  your application specific token.</p>



<p>Save your application and close that Visual Designer window.</p>



<h3><span id="Link_the_applications_together">Link the applications together</span></h3>



<h4><span id="Prepare_the_URLs">Prepare the URLs</span></h4>



<p>We will need to change a bit the URL we copied in the previous step. In your text file:</p>



<ul><li>change&nbsp;&#8220;to=+1231231231&#8221;&nbsp;to&nbsp;&#8220;to=%2B32xxxxxxxxx&#8221;&nbsp;where&nbsp;32xxxxxxxxx&nbsp;is&nbsp;the phone&nbsp;number&nbsp;to&nbsp;be&nbsp;called</li><li>change&nbsp;&#8220;from=12345&#8221;&nbsp;to&nbsp;&#8220;from=%2B32aaaaaaaaa&#8221;&nbsp;where&nbsp;32aaaaaaaaa&nbsp;is&nbsp;the FlexIO&nbsp;phone&nbsp;number&nbsp;that&nbsp;you&nbsp;have&nbsp;reserved for this application</li></ul>



<p>Your URL should look like this (we used &#8220;x&#8221; to mask sensitive information only, your own content should be real):</p>



<pre class="wp-block-preformatted">https://proximusflexio.enco.io:443/visual-designer/services/apps/APxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/start?from=%2B32xxxxxxxx&amp;to=%2B32xxxxxxxxx&amp;token=somepassword</pre>



<p>This will be used to drag this number into the conference room. If you want to add another person, just copy/paste the URL that you just modified and change the &#8220;to&#8221; number.</p>



<h4><span id="Update_the_inboundConference_application">Update the inboundConference application</span></h4>



<p>Go back to the browser tab with the Visual Designer application <strong>inboundConference</strong>. Copy the first URL you prepared, and add it as destination of an <em>External Service</em> action that you add to your module:</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="800" height="486" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/inboundconference4.gif" alt="" class="wp-image-4773"/></figure>



<p>Quick summary so far : after the application answers the phone, greets the caller and adds him in a conference room called <em>testconference</em>, the application will make a call to our second application, <strong>conferenceLeg</strong>, and have it dial our second party and add him into the same room.</p>



<p>If you prepared another URL for another party to be added to the conference room, just add another <em>External Service</em> action exactly the same way. You can add as many as you want, each with their own <em>External Service</em> action.</p>



<p>Save your application.</p>



<h3><span id="Link_your_phone_number_and_test">Link your phone number and test</span></h3>



<p>Go to the <a href="https://proximusflexio.enco.io" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Proximus FlexIO Console</a> and select the <em>Numbers</em> section. Select the number you want to use for receiving calls and associate the <strong>inboundConference</strong> application to it.</p>



<p>You are now ready to test your conference call system!</p>

Create a conference call system with the Proximus FlexIO Visual Designer

<p>In this tutorial we will learn how to use the Proximus FlexIO Visual Designer to make queries to external systems. By reserving a phone number on the platform, we can implement a simple voicebot that will give the weather forecast to the caller for any Belgian region.</p>






<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets"><p class="toc_title">Content of the article</p><ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#Book_a_new_number">Book a new number</a></li><li><a href="#Create_the_FlexIO_Visual_Designer_application">Create the FlexIO Visual Designer application</a><ul><li><a href="#Creating_the_blank_application">Creating the blank application</a></li><li><a href="#Configuring_the_modules">Configuring the modules</a></li><li><a href="#Collecting_the_user_input">Collecting the user input</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Fetch_and_extract_the_weather_data">Fetch and extract the weather data</a><ul><li><a href="#Telling_the_weather_to_the_caller">Telling the weather to the caller</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Link_your_FlexIO_phone_number_to_the_application">Link your FlexIO phone number to the application</a></li></ul></div>




<p class="has-small-font-size"><em>Integrating with external systems is typically done via API (Application Programming Interface). This tutorial doesn&#8217;t require code development skills, but introduces data manipulation. Less experienced users may wish to start with simpler tutorials first.</em></p>



<h3><span id="Book_a_new_number">Book a new number</span></h3>



<p>Once logged on <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://proximusapi.enco.io?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=encoblog" target="_blank">API Solutions</a>, open a new browser tab to the <a href="https://flexionumbers.enco.io?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=encoblog">Proximus FlexIO Number Management microsite</a> and register a new phone number to your account.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="750" height="334" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/flexio-register-number.gif" alt="Reserve your phone number" class="wp-image-4639"/><figcaption>Booking a new number for Proximus FlexIO</figcaption></figure>



<h3><span id="Create_the_FlexIO_Visual_Designer_application">Create the FlexIO Visual Designer application</span></h3>



<h4><span id="Creating_the_blank_application">Creating the blank application</span></h4>



<p>Go to the &#8220;Applications&#8221; section of the Proximus FlexIO console, and click on the &#8220;+ Add New App&#8221; button, then &#8220;Create a Visual Designer Application&#8221;. Select the &#8220;Blank&#8221; template in the Template Gallery. </p>



<p>Give your application a new name and make sure the type &#8220;voice&#8221; is selected before clicking on &#8220;Create&#8221;.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/vda-weather1-1024x486.png" alt="Create your own new voicemail application" class="wp-image-4677" width="768" height="365" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/vda-weather1-1024x486.png 1024w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/08/vda-weather1-300x142.png 300w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/08/vda-weather1-768x364.png 768w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/08/vda-weather1-1200x569.png 1200w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/08/vda-weather1.png 1373w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px" /><figcaption>Give a name to your new voice application</figcaption></figure>



<p>The Visual Designer window opens in a new tab. We can see several components in this window:</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="650" height="354" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/flexio-vda-editor.png" alt="The Proximus FlexIO Visual Designer" class="wp-image-4643" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/flexio-vda-editor.png 650w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/08/flexio-vda-editor-300x163.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px" /><figcaption>The Proximus FlexIO Visual Designer</figcaption></figure>



<ul><li><strong>Building blocks</strong> on the left: these are all action types that you can execute in your scenario, like “Play” for playing an audio file, “Say” to use text to speech, “Collect” to gather input from the caller, etc</li><li>These action blocks can be dragged in the main screen, one below the other. They can be reordered on the screen and will be executed in sequence.</li><li><strong>Modules </strong>can be created and are ways to regroup action blocks together. There is always a startup module that will execute first. When creating a new application, the default module is called &#8220;Welcome&#8221;. Modules can be linked together using specific actions in some building blocks.</li></ul>



<h4><span id="Configuring_the_modules">Configuring the modules</span></h4>



<p>When people will call your weather voicebot we will need 3 modules to support the application:</p>



<ul><li>a <strong>welcome</strong> module will greet the callers with a welcome message and ask them for the postal code of the city for which they want a weather forecast</li><li>a second module, let&#8217;s call it &#8220;<strong>datafetch</strong>&#8221; will use an external weather provider to retrieve the forecast</li><li>a third module, &#8220;<strong>sayweather</strong>&#8221; will share the forecast with the caller than will hang up the phone</li></ul>



<p>Let&#8217;s prepare the ground and create the needed empty modules:</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="750" height="455" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/weather-vda-modules.gif" alt="Creating modules for our weather voicebot in the FlexIO Visual Designer" class="wp-image-4680"/></figure>



<h4><span id="Collecting_the_user_input">Collecting the user input</span></h4>



<p>We go back to our welcome menu, delete the unnecessary &#8220;Say&#8221; action and drag a &#8220;Collect&#8221; action from our building block palette. Within the Collect action we will drag a Say action and fill it in with our invite message : &#8220;Welcome to your personal weather voicebot. Please type in the 4 digits of your city&#8217;s postal code&#8221;. Don&#8217;t forget to use the settings of the Say action to choose the right text to speech engine and voice type:</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="750" height="455" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/weather-vda-collect1.gif" alt="Collect input from the caller using digits" class="wp-image-4683"/></figure>



<p>We need to continue configuring the Collect action by:</p>



<ul><li>specifying you want to collect digits &#8211; and not run a menu</li><li>state that we want to collect 4 digits, not less, not more</li><li>assign the collected digits to a variable that we will call &#8220;postalcode&#8221; that should be available everywhere in the application, and not only in this very specific module</li><li>branch to the module &#8220;datafetch&#8221; once the input is collected</li></ul>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="750" height="455" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/weather-vda-collect2.gif" alt="Completing the user input configuration for the weather voicebot" class="wp-image-4684"/></figure>



<p>We have left many possible options on the side for now in this Collect action, but you can see this single action can be rather complex, allowing to handle error conditions, to collect user input by speech to text instead of digits, etc.</p>



<h3><span id="Fetch_and_extract_the_weather_data">Fetch and extract the weather data</span></h3>



<p>We will to OpenWeather Map service to query our data. We need first to create an account on that platform. Go to <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://home.openweathermap.org/users/sign_up" target="_blank">Open Weather Map sign up page</a>  and sign up for an account. Once your account is validated, we will receive a mail that contains your API key to use with this service, so we save that email. In case we loose the email, we can find the API key again by going to <a href="https://home.openweathermap.org/api_keys">https://home.openweathermap.org/api_keys</a></p>



<p>To fetch the data, we will need to address our queries to the following API URL: </p>



<p><a href="http://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/weather?zip=$postalCode,be"><code>http://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/weather?zip=$postalCode,be</code></a></p>



<p>We go to our &#8220;fetchdata&#8221; module in the Visual Designer, and add the action &#8220;External Service&#8221;, then configure it with the API URL above and 2 <em>service parameters</em>: &#8220;appid&#8221; with the value of our API key and &#8220;units&#8221; to specify we work with &#8220;metric&#8221;units:</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="750" height="455" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/weather-vda-ext1.gif" alt="Fetching external weather data from the FlexIO Visual Designer" class="wp-image-4685"/></figure>



<p>When the OpenWeather Map service is called with these parameters, it will answer with a data structure, in a format called &#8220;json&#8221;. Here is an example of a typical output:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-preformatted">{
    "coord": {
        "lon": 4.38,
        "lat": 50.85
    },
    "<strong>weather</strong>": <strong>[</strong>
        {
            "id": 803,
            "main": "Clouds",
            "<strong>description</strong>": "broken clouds",
            "icon": "04d"
        }
    <strong>]</strong>,
    "base": "stations",
    "<strong>main</strong>": {
        "<strong>temp</strong>": 24.18,
        "feels_like": 22.48,
        "temp_min": 23,
        "temp_max": 25,
        "pressure": 1018,
        "humidity": 38
    },
    "visibility": 10000,
    "wind": {
        "speed": 2.1,
        "deg": 0
    },
    "clouds": {
        "all": 64
    },
    "dt": 1595504099,
    "sys": {
        "type": 1,
        "id": 1227,
        "country": "BE",
        "sunrise": 1595476584,
        "sunset": 1595533272
    },
    "timezone": 7200,
    "id": 0,
    "name": "Bruxelles Schaarbeek",
    "cod": 200
}</pre>



<p>From this data structure, we will want to extract 2 elements:</p>



<ul><li>The temperature, “<em>temp</em>”, which is under the element “<em>main</em>”</li><li>The weather description, “<em>description</em>”, which is under the element “<em>weather</em>”. That “<em>weather</em>” element is an array that could hold multiple weather descriptors</li></ul>



<p>Let us first assign the temperature (&#8220;temp&#8221;) to a variable called &#8220;temperature&#8221; that we want to be accessible to the whole application, not only to the current module. Pay caution to the way we specify how we reach this value in the data structure:</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="750" height="455" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/weather-vda-ext2-1.gif" alt="" class="wp-image-4690"/></figure>



<p>Now let us take the same approach to get the value of the object called <em>description</em> located at the array index 0 contained in the object called <em>weather</em>:</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="750" height="455" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/weather-vda-ext3.gif" alt="Extracting the weather description variable out of the json object" class="wp-image-4691"/></figure>



<p>Finally, we tell the External Service action to jump to our module &#8220;sayweather&#8221; once the data extraction is done and the values assigned to our variables. Note again that this action block can be much more configured in order to deal with error conditions and dynamic branching based on the content of the variables, but we will leave this aside for this tutorial:</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="750" height="482" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/weather-vda-extend.png" alt="Making a routing decision" class="wp-image-4693" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/weather-vda-extend.png 750w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/08/weather-vda-extend-300x193.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px" /></figure>



<h4><span id="Telling_the_weather_to_the_caller">Telling the weather to the caller</span></h4>



<p>For this final step, we go to our <em>sayweather</em> module and add a simple <em>Say</em> action. The text we paste in this action is shown below, where use the variables <em>weather</em> and <em>temperature</em> that we created in the former step: </p>



<pre class="wp-block-preformatted">The weather today will be <strong>$weather </strong>with an expected temperature of <strong>$temperature</strong> degrees. Thank you for using our services. Goodbye now.</pre>



<p>And finally add a <em>Hangup</em> action to close the call.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image-1024x615.png" alt="The action blocks from our last weather voicebot module" class="wp-image-4699" width="768" height="461" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image-1024x615.png 1024w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image-300x180.png 300w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image-768x461.png 768w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image-1200x721.png 1200w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image.png 1339w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px" /></figure>



<p>Do not forget to save your application before closing the Visual Designer.</p>



<h3><span id="Link_your_FlexIO_phone_number_to_the_application">Link your FlexIO phone number to the application</span></h3>



<p>The final step is to tell Proximus FlexIO that it needs to trigger this new application once the platform receives a call for your number. To do so, we go back to the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://proximusflexio.enco.io/" target="_blank">FlexIO Console</a> and select the &#8220;Numbers&#8221; section to find our newly reserved number and click on it. From the drop down list next to &#8220;Voice request&#8221;, we select our application then click on &#8220;save changes&#8221;:</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="750" height="416" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image-1.png" alt="Linking your FlexIO number to your weather voicebot application" class="wp-image-4701" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image-1.png 750w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image-1-300x166.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px" /></figure>



<p>Give it a try ! Now is a good time to call your number to test that everything is working well.</p>

Build a simple weather voicebot with Proximus FlexIO

<p>Check out how the turnkey <a href="https://blog.enco.io/updates/flexio-voicemail-takes-care-of-your-callers-when-you-cant/">FlexIO Voicemail solution </a>improves the user &amp; caller experience, and brings value to a &#8216;legacy telco feature&#8217;, or build your own voicemail application, with the Visual Designer of <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/flexio/documentation?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=encoblog" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Proximus FlexIO</a> there is no need to be an engineer or a developer to create your own new voicemail. A system that will mail you the messages and allow to retrieve the recordings with a simple mail or SMS link.</p>



<p>All you need to get started is subscription to <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/flexio/overview?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=encoblog" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Proximus FlexIO</a>. Here is how it works.</p>






<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets"><p class="toc_title">Content of the article</p><ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#Book_a_new_number">Book a new number</a></li><li><a href="#Create_a_new_FlexIO_Visual_Designer_application">Create a new FlexIO Visual Designer application</a><ul><li><a href="#Creating_the_blank_application">Creating the blank application</a></li><li><a href="#Configuring_the_welcome_module">Configuring the welcome module</a></li><li><a href="#Recording_then_branching">Recording then branching</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Link_your_FlexIO_phone_number_to_the_application">Link your FlexIO phone number to the application</a><ul><li><a href="#Configure_Your_Phone">Configure Your Phone</a></li></ul></li></ul></div>




<h3><span id="Book_a_new_number">Book a new number</span></h3>



<p>Once logged on <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://proximusapi.enco.io?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=encoblog" target="_blank">API Solutions</a>, open a new browser tab to the <a href="https://flexionumbers.enco.io?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=encoblog">Proximus FlexIO Number Management microsite</a> and register a new phone number to your account.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="750" height="334" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/flexio-register-number.gif" alt="Reserve your phone number" class="wp-image-4639"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Booking a new number for Proximus FlexIO</figcaption></figure>



<h3><span id="Create_a_new_FlexIO_Visual_Designer_application">Create a new FlexIO Visual Designer application</span></h3>



<h4><span id="Creating_the_blank_application">Creating the blank application</span></h4>



<p>Go to the &#8220;Applications&#8221; section of the Proximus FlexIO console, and click on the &#8220;+ Add New App&#8221; button, then &#8220;Create a Visual Designer Application&#8221;. Select the &#8220;Blank&#8221; template in the Template Gallery. </p>



<p>Give your application a new name and make sure the type &#8220;voice&#8221; is selected before clicking on &#8220;Create&#8221;.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/flexio-new-vmapp-1024x538.png" alt="Create your own new voicemail application" class="wp-image-4642" width="512" height="269" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/flexio-new-vmapp-1024x538.png 1024w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/08/flexio-new-vmapp-300x158.png 300w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/08/flexio-new-vmapp-768x403.png 768w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/08/flexio-new-vmapp-1200x630.png 1200w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/08/flexio-new-vmapp.png 1342w" sizes="(max-width: 512px) 85vw, 512px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Give a name to your new voicemail application</figcaption></figure>



<p>The Visual Designer window opens in a new tab. We can see several components in this window:</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="650" height="354" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/flexio-vda-editor.png" alt="The Proximus FlexIO Visual Designer" class="wp-image-4643" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/flexio-vda-editor.png 650w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/08/flexio-vda-editor-300x163.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The Proximus FlexIO Visual Designer</figcaption></figure>



<ul>
<li><strong>Building blocks</strong> on the left: these are all action types that you can execute in your scenario, like “Play” for playing an audio file, “Say” to use text to speech, “Collect” to gather input from the caller, etc</li>



<li>These action blocks can be dragged in the main screen, one below the other. They can be reordered on the screen and will be executed in sequence.</li>



<li><strong>Modules </strong>can be created and are ways to regroup action blocks together. There is always a startup module that will execute first. When creating a new application, the default module is called &#8220;Welcome&#8221;. Modules can be linked together using specific actions in some building blocks.</li>
</ul>



<h4><span id="Configuring_the_welcome_module">Configuring the welcome module</span></h4>



<p>When people will call your new voicemail you will want to greet them with a welcome message. You can use the &#8220;Say&#8221; action, which is already added by default to your Welcome module, to use speech to text. Alternatively you could delete that &#8220;Say&#8221;action and drag instead a &#8220;Play&#8221; action, to play a prerecorded wav file. We&#8217;ll go on with the speech to text option, but you prefer to use a wav file you need to make sure your file is <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://proximusflexio.enco.io/docs/rcml/play-rcml.html" target="_blank">correctly encoded</a>, then add to the application by dragging the file in the &#8220;Media resources&#8221; box.</p>



<p>Configure the Say action with your own welcome message, and select your preferred text to speech engine and voice type (male/female) from the action&#8217;s settings:</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="750" height="455" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/vm-vda-say1.gif" alt="Greeting the caller in our new voicemail to mail application" class="wp-image-4648"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Because we can, let&#8217;s add another Say action with a message in a different language, such as French, by dragging a new Say action into our module:</figcaption></figure>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="750" height="455" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/vm-vda-say2.gif" alt="Greeting in multiple languages" class="wp-image-4649"/></figure>



<h4><span id="Recording_then_branching">Recording then branching</span></h4>



<p>Now that have greeted our callers, we want to record their message then receive this message by email. Triggering the recording will be done in our &#8220;Welcome&#8221; module, and once this is done we&#8217;ll need another module to take up from there and do the sending. Let&#8217;s create a new module we will call &#8220;email&#8221;:</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="750" height="455" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/vm-vda-createmodule.gif" alt="voicemail to mail configuration" class="wp-image-4652"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">We can now go back to our &#8220;Welcome&#8221; module, and add the action to trigger the recording and tell the application to branch to our &#8220;email&#8221; module once the recording is completed:</figcaption></figure>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/vm-vda-record.gif" alt="Recording the caller's message in your new voicemail application" class="wp-image-4655" width="630" height="382"/></figure>



<p>Finally, we go back to the email module, drag an &#8220;Email&#8221; action to it and fill in its fields. Our email content text will be:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-preformatted">You have new message from <strong>$core_From</strong>.
Here is the URL to access your message: <strong>$core_PublicRecordingUrl</strong></pre>



<p> Since you are sending a mail to yourself, mind that the <em>from</em> address should be the same as the <em>to</em> address. The domain of the <em>From</em> address must exist on the network.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/vda-vm-email-1024x486.png" alt="Sending the mail with the recorded voicemail message" class="wp-image-4656" width="768" height="365" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/vda-vm-email-1024x486.png 1024w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/08/vda-vm-email-300x142.png 300w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/08/vda-vm-email-768x365.png 768w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/08/vda-vm-email-1200x570.png 1200w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/08/vda-vm-email.png 1354w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px" /></figure>



<p>Note the use of 2 internal variables in the email content:</p>



<ul>
<li>$core_From: this will insert the phone number of the caller (if not a private or masked number)</li>



<li>$core_PublicRecordingUrl: the URL to the audio recording. Public URL means you can access the recording without providing any authentication in your browser</li>
</ul>



<p>You could use many other internal variables in the Visual Designer to support your scenarios. Refer to our <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/flexio/documentation#vdavariables?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=blog|utm_campaign=encoblog">online documentation</a> for more examples.</p>



<p>Finally, let&#8217;s confirm to the caller that the message has been sent, then hangup the call. Simply add and configure a new Say action that you add under the Email action, and finally drag a Hangup action at the end. Make sure you save your application:</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/vda-vm-save.png" alt="Finishing the voicemail application" class="wp-image-4661" width="659" height="296" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/vda-vm-save.png 879w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/08/vda-vm-save-300x134.png 300w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/08/vda-vm-save-768x344.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px" /></figure>



<h3><span id="Link_your_FlexIO_phone_number_to_the_application">Link your FlexIO phone number to the application</span></h3>



<p>The final step is to tell Proximus FlexIO that it needs to trigger this new application once the platform receives a call for your number. To do so, go back to the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://proximusflexio.enco.io" target="_blank">FlexIO Console</a> and select the &#8220;Numbers&#8221; section. Find your newly reserved number and click on it. From the drop down list next to &#8220;Voice request&#8221;, select your application then click on &#8220;save changes&#8221;:</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="650" height="366" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/vda-vm-assnumber.png" alt="Linking your FlexIO phone number to your voicemail application" class="wp-image-4667" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/vda-vm-assnumber.png 650w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/08/vda-vm-assnumber-300x169.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px" /></figure>



<p>Give it a try ! Now is a good time to call your number to test that everything is working well.</p>



<h4><span id="Configure_Your_Phone">Configure Your Phone</span></h4>



<p>For the final step, you will want your mobile phone to redirect unanswered calls to your new voicemail number. This operation may be different depending on your phone OS. On an Android smartphone, you would search in your dialer&#8217;s settings for the call &#8220;Transfer&#8221; settings:</p>



<ul>
<li>if busy : put your FlexIO phone number instead of &#8220;+32475151525&#8221; (for a Proximus customer)</li>



<li>if no answer: put your FlexIO phone number instead of &#8220;+32475151516&#8221; (for a Proximus customer)</li>



<li>if not reachable: put your FlexIO phone number instead of &#8220;+32475151525&#8221; (for a Proximus customer)</li>
</ul>



<p>Depending on your mobile operator such options can also be configured used <a href="https://www.proximus.be/support/en/id_sfaqr_call_divert/personal/support/telephony/voicemail-and-call-management/call-management/divert-calls-on-your-mobile-or-landline.html" data-type="URL" data-id="https://www.proximus.be/support/en/id_sfaqr_call_divert/personal/support/telephony/voicemail-and-call-management/call-management/divert-calls-on-your-mobile-or-landline.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">special dial codes</a>.</p>

Build your own voicemail to mail with Proximus FlexIO

<p>In this tutorial we will learn the very basic steps required to build an application using the Visual Designer that will answer inbound phone calls. If you are getting started with Proximus FlexIO, this is the right place to start.</p>






<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets"><p class="toc_title">Content of this article</p><ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#Getting_a_phone_number">Getting a phone number</a></li><li><a href="#Creating_the_Visual_Designer_application">Creating the Visual Designer application</a><ul><li><a href="#Starting_with_a_blank_template">Starting with a blank template</a></li><li><a href="#Discovering_the_Visual_Designer">Discovering the Visual Designer</a></li><li><a href="#Configuring_our_welcome_module">Configuring our welcome module</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Associating_the_phone_number_to_the_application">Associating the phone number to the application</a></li><li><a href="#Testing_it_out">Testing it out</a></li><li><a href="#Do_you_want_to_change_anything">Do you want to change anything ?</a></li></ul></div>




<h3><span id="Getting_a_phone_number">Getting a phone number</span></h3>



<p>To implement this first application you will to have a <a href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/flexio/documentation#flexiosubscribe?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=encoblog" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">valid subscription</a> to the Proximus FlexIO service. Once this is done, you will need to have a least one available reserved phone number on the platform. To do so, log on Proximus <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=encoblog" target="_blank">API Solutions</a>, then open a new browser tab to the <a href="https://flexionumbers.enco.io/?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=encoblog" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Proximus FlexIO Number Management microsite</a> and register a new phone number to your account:</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="750" height="334" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/flexio-register-number.gif" alt="" class="wp-image-4639"/></figure>



<h3><span id="Creating_the_Visual_Designer_application">Creating the Visual Designer application</span></h3>



<h4><span id="Starting_with_a_blank_template">Starting with a blank template</span></h4>



<p>Now that we have a phone number, we need to create an application using the Visual Designer. This application will define the scenario that will be executed when someone calls your number.</p>



<p>Log into with <a href="https://proximusflexio.enco.io" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Proximus FlexIO console</a> with the user credentials you received after subscribing to the service. Go to the &#8220;Applications&#8221; section of the console, and click on the &#8220;+ Add New App&#8221; button, then &#8220;Create a Visual Designer Application&#8221;. Finally, select the &#8220;Blank&#8221; template in the Template Gallery. </p>



<p>Give your application a new name (like &#8220;hello world&#8221; or anything meaningful to you) and make sure the type &#8220;voice&#8221; is selected before clicking on &#8220;Create&#8221;.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="800" height="485" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image-12.png" alt="Creating our first inbound call application" class="wp-image-4779" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image-12.png 800w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image-12-300x182.png 300w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image-12-768x466.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px" /></figure>



<h4><span id="Discovering_the_Visual_Designer">Discovering the Visual Designer</span></h4>



<p>The Visual Designer window opens in a new tab. We can see several components in this window:</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="850" height="473" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/flexio-vda-explain.png" alt="Proximus FlexIO Visual Designer" class="wp-image-4860" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/flexio-vda-explain.png 850w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/09/flexio-vda-explain-300x167.png 300w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/09/flexio-vda-explain-768x427.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px" /><figcaption>Proximus FlexIO Visual Designer</figcaption></figure>



<ul><li>Action b<strong>uilding blocks</strong> on the left: these are all action types that you can execute in your scenario, like “Play” for playing an audio file, “Say” to use text to speech, “Collect” to gather input from the caller, etc</li><li><strong>Modules </strong>can be created and are ways to regroup action blocks together. More complex scenarios or applications typically use several modules where each module is composed of several actions. There is always a <em>startup module</em> that will execute first when the application is triggered. When creating a new application, the default startup module is called &#8220;Welcome&#8221;. Modules are linked together using specific actions in some building blocks.</li><li>The action blocks can be <strong>dragged</strong> in the active module screen, one below the other. They can be reordered on the screen and will be executed in sequence.</li></ul>



<h4><span id="Configuring_our_welcome_module">Configuring our welcome module</span></h4>



<p>When people will call your new <em>hello world</em> application, you will want to greet them with a welcome message. You can use the &#8220;Say&#8221; action &#8211; which is already added by default to your Welcome module &#8211; to use speech to text.</p>



<p>Let&#8217;s enter &#8220;Welcome to my first inbound application on Proximus FlexIO&#8221; as text to be spoken out. Notice the little cogwheel icon at the bottom left of this &#8220;Say&#8221; action ? Clicking on it will allow to define additional parameters, specific to each action. In our case, we&#8217;ll select the &#8220;Google English British Wavenet B&#8221; voice and click on the man icon (man voice). </p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="750" height="455" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/helloworld-vda-1-1.gif" alt="Configuring the first speech to text action" class="wp-image-4784"/></figure>



<p>Notice all the possible voices and text to speech engines that can be used in your scenarios. With Proximus FlexIO, you are free to use any of the listed TTS engines and voices. Please note that TTS providers may not always provide both man and woman voices for all the different voices they propose.</p>



<p>Let&#8217;s assume that after our English spoken greeting, we want to greet the caller also in French. Simply add another &#8220;Say&#8221; action by dragging the action from the left menu under the first Say action. Notice the thick velvet bar that appears to show you where the dragged action will be inserted. Add the French greeting (&#8220;Bienvenue sur ma première application réalisée sur Proximus FlexIO&#8221;) and select the french voice of your liking after clicking on the cogwheel:</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="750" height="455" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/helloworld-vda-2.gif" alt="Adding a new text to speech action to the application module" class="wp-image-4782"/></figure>



<p>Save the application by clicking on the <em>save</em> link on the top of the screen. Once this is done, you can close the Visual Designer window.</p>



<h3><span id="Associating_the_phone_number_to_the_application">Associating the phone number to the application</span></h3>



<p>Now that you have both a phone number and an application, you need to associate these two together. This will let Proximus FlexIO know which application must be triggered when it receives a phone call to that number. </p>



<p>To do this association, go back to the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://proximusflexio.enco.io/" target="_blank">FlexIO Console</a> and select the &#8220;Numbers&#8221; section. Find your newly reserved number and click on it. From the drop down list next to &#8220;Voice request&#8221;, select your &#8220;hello world&#8221; application then click on &#8220;save changes&#8221;:</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="750" height="455" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/helloworld-vda-3.gif" alt="" class="wp-image-4783"/></figure>



<h3><span id="Testing_it_out">Testing it out</span></h3>



<p>That&#8217;s it, your application is now ready to use! Pick up your phone and call your number.</p>



<h3><span id="Do_you_want_to_change_anything">Do you want to change anything ?</span></h3>



<p>Should there be anything in your application you are not satisfied with, from the FlexIO Console just go back to the Applications section, click on the application you want to update then simply click on the <em>Design </em>button. The Visual Designer will open again, and any change you apply will become directly active after you press on <em>save</em>.</p>

Your first Visual Designer application for inbound calls

<p>Learning something new is usually most effective with a hands on approach rather than only reading documentation. But hands on may be tricky in a developer&#8217;s context as you don&#8217;t always have all resources at hand. In this tutorial, we&#8217;ll learn a quick trick to understand the basics of RCML testing without the need for having application servers up and running.</p>






<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets"><p class="toc_title">Content of this article</p><ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#Access_to_development_resources">Access to development resources</a></li><li><a href="#Introducing_Beeceptor">Introducing Beeceptor</a></li><li><a href="#Testing_your_RCML_response">Testing your RCML response</a><ul><li><a href="#Book_a_new_number">Book a new number</a></li><li><a href="#Prepare_your_Beeceptor_endpoint">Prepare your Beeceptor endpoint</a></li><li><a href="#Prepare_your_RCML_response">Prepare your RCML response</a></li><li><a href="#Link_your_phone_number_to_our_endpoint">Link your phone number to our endpoint</a></li></ul></li></ul></div>




<h3><span id="Access_to_development_resources">Access to development resources</span></h3>



<p>In the &#8220;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://proximusapi.enco.io/asset/flexio/documentation#gettingstartedwithapplications?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=encoblog" target="_blank">Getting Started with Applications</a>&#8221; section of the Proximus FlexIO documentation, we have learned that developers may need to leverage 3 elements in order to integrate flexible communications in their applications:</p>



<ul><li>FlexIO APIs: to reserve and release numbers, trigger outbound calls, send SMSes or manipulate ongoing calls</li><li>RCML: a XML data structure that gives instructions to Proximus FlexIO about what to do with calls</li><li>Web endpoints: exposed by your application and answering to Proximus FlexIO queries by returning RCML instructions</li></ul>



<p>That documentation includes typical example flows for inbound and outbound calls. Sometimes however it&#8217;s better to try for yourself, but what if you don&#8217;t want to spin up an app server and have rapid development environment such as Node Red at hand ?</p>



<h3><span id="Introducing_Beeceptor">Introducing Beeceptor</span></h3>



<p><a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://beeceptor.com/" target="_blank">Beeceptor</a> allows to build a mock Rest API mocking in seconds, without coding required. The web site allows to create a named endpoint, then to define rules for how the endpoint will answer based on POST/GET/OPTIONS/&#8230; conditions.</p>



<p><em>Mind that Beeceptor, in its free usage, creates public endpoints. You should NOT send sensitive data in your requests.</em></p>



<p>Other similar endpoint mocking services are available such as <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://kara.rest" target="_blank">kara.rest</a>, <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://get.mocklab.io/" data-type="URL" data-id="http://get.mocklab.io/" target="_blank">MockLab</a>, <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.mockable.io/" data-type="URL" data-id="https://www.mockable.io/" target="_blank">Mockable</a>, etc. This tutorial will focus on Beeceptor but all of the above would work in a similar way.</p>



<h3><span id="Testing_your_RCML_response">Testing your RCML response</span></h3>



<h4><span id="Book_a_new_number">Book a new number</span></h4>



<p>The first thing is to have a phone number available on the FlexIO platform. You can use our number management APIs, or just use the microsite. For the latter, once logged on <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://proximusapi.enco.io?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=encoblog" target="_blank">API Solutions</a>, open a new browser tab to the <a href="https://flexionumbers.enco.io?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=encoblog">Proximus FlexIO Number Management microsite</a> and register a new phone number to your account.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="750" height="334" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/flexio-register-number.gif" alt="Reserve your phone number" class="wp-image-4639"/><figcaption>Booking a new number for Proximus FlexIO</figcaption></figure>



<h4><span id="Prepare_your_Beeceptor_endpoint">Prepare your Beeceptor endpoint</span></h4>



<p>Go to <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://beeceptor.com" data-type="URL" data-id="https://beeceptor.com" target="_blank">beeceptor.com</a>, sign in with your Google account or create a new account. Create a new endpoint giving it whatever name you want &#8211; for instance &#8220;flexiorcml&#8221;. Your endpoint is now live:</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="750" height="382" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image-4.png" alt="Creating a web endpoint in Beeceptor" class="wp-image-4726" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image-4.png 750w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image-4-300x153.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px" /></figure>



<p></p>



<h4><span id="Prepare_your_RCML_response">Prepare your RCML response</span></h4>



<p>The REST Communications Markup Language represents a set of instructions you can use to tell Proximus FlexIO what to do when you receive an incoming call. Calls from a Proximus FlexIO number to an outside number are also controlled using RCML, in the same manner as incoming calls.</p>



<p>For example, the following will say a short message, and then record the caller’s voice:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-preformatted">&lt;?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?&gt;
&lt;Response&gt;
    &lt;Say voice="woman"&gt;Please leave a message after the tone.&lt;/Say&gt;
    &lt;Record maxLength="20" /&gt;
&lt;/Response&gt;</pre>



<p>You can read more about RCML and all the available <em>verbs</em> or actions you can use on the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://proximusflexio.enco.io/docs/rcml/overview.html" target="_blank">Proximus FlexIO documentation site</a>.</p>



<p>Let&#8217;s assume we want to test the following simple RCML instruction set:</p>



<pre id="block-29346038-f350-45f9-84a6-d9e801f46862" class="wp-block-preformatted">&lt;?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
&lt;Response>
    &lt;Say language="google.en-US-Wavenet-B" voice="woman">Hey there, this is a test on Proximus FlexIO. What a wonderful day&lt;/Say>
    &lt;Hangup/>
&lt;/Response></pre>



<p>On the Beeceptor endpoint page above, click on &#8220;Mocking Rules&#8221;, then &#8220;Create a new rule&#8221; : when a POST (A) request is done on our endpoint flexiorcml.free.beeceptor.com/helloworld (B), Beeceptor will answer with a status 200 OK, specify the answer is of time text/xml (C) and paste the RCML from above in D:</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="799" height="483" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image-3.png" alt="" class="wp-image-4724" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image-3.png 799w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image-3-300x181.png 300w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image-3-768x464.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px" /></figure>



<p>Let&#8217;s save and proceed.</p>



<h4><span id="Link_your_phone_number_to_our_endpoint">Link your phone number to our endpoint</span></h4>



<p>Go to the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://proximusflexio.enco.io" target="_blank">Proximus FlexIO Console</a>, in the &#8220;Numbers&#8221; section. Click any of your available phone numbers, not already associated to any other application. Select &#8220;RCML URL&#8221; for the voice request, then type in the URL of your Beeceptor endpoint together with the &#8220;/helloworld&#8221; you just created:</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="750" height="378" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image-5.png" alt="" class="wp-image-4728" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image-5.png 750w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image-5-300x151.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px" /></figure>



<p>Save the settings, then call your number. That&#8217;s it !</p>



<p>Back on your Beeceptor endpoint page, you will find a log for all incoming requests. Click on any of them to see additional information, including information that was transmitted from FlexIO to &#8220;your application&#8221; as well as the RCML response that was sent back to FlexIO. Interesting to see which type of data is received by an application for any new call! (obviously sensitive data has been masked in this example).</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="850" height="499" src="/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image-6.png" alt="" class="wp-image-4729" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image-6.png 850w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image-6-300x176.png 300w, /wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image-6-768x451.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px" /></figure>



<p></p>

Simulating web endpoints to understand RCML

<p>In most cases, an IoT Telco operator allows you access the data from your sensors by pushing this data to your application over HTTP. We have seen in previous articles that Proximus CloudEngine makes it possible to benefit from other integration capabilities, ranging from Microsoft Azure and SAP IoT Cloud down to various protocols such as sFTP and mail. To the already existing CloudEngine&#8217;s ability to use its own MQTT client to connect to your MQTT broker, we add now the ability for your MQTT client to connect to the CloudEngine&#8217;s broker.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Using the CloudEngine&#8217;s MQTT Broker simple and straightforward.</p>
<h4>Step 1 &#8211; Define your client&#8217;s credentials</h4>
<p>The first step is to create the <strong>credentials</strong> for your MQTT client. In the CloudEngine&#8217;s microsite, click on Settings then select &#8220;MQTT&#8221; in the Inbound Endpoint type list. Add a new configuration item and give it a name and password. Be careful and take a note of that password as it won&#8217;t be displayed once the item uis saved.</p>
<p><figure id="attachment_4500" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-4500" style="width: 598px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-4500 size-full" src="/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/cloemqttsettings.png" alt="" width="598" height="296" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/cloemqttsettings.png 598w, /wp-content/uploads/2019/12/cloemqttsettings-300x148.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 598px) 85vw, 598px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-4500" class="wp-caption-text">CloudEngine MQTT settings</figcaption></figure></p>
<h4>Step 2 &#8211; Integrate our MQTT Broker module in your script</h4>
<p>The second step is to <strong>integrate the MQTT Broker outbound module in your CloudEngine visual flow or script</strong>. In the creator of the MQTT Broker object, you include the reference to the credentials that we just created in the step above (&#8220;<em>mqttbrotest</em>&#8221; in the example below) and the MQTT topic to which the data will be published (&#8220;<em>lorasensors/pxsmythings</em>&#8221; in the example below). Topics can have several levels if needed, such as &#8220;<em>mytopic/level2/level3&#8243;</em>. You must also specify the <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/33480730/understanding-mqtt-subscriber-qos" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">MQTT QoS</a> (0 for best effort delivery, 1 for at least one or 2 for exactly once).</p>
<p><figure id="attachment_4503" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-4503" style="width: 799px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-4503 size-full" src="/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/cloescriptmqttbroker.png" alt="" width="799" height="535" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/cloescriptmqttbroker.png 799w, /wp-content/uploads/2019/12/cloescriptmqttbroker-300x201.png 300w, /wp-content/uploads/2019/12/cloescriptmqttbroker-768x514.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-4503" class="wp-caption-text">CLOE script including the MQTT Broker module</figcaption></figure></p>
<h4>Step 3 &#8211; Connect your MQTT client to our broker</h4>
<p>The final step is obviously to <strong>connect your MQTT client to our broker</strong> and start receiving your messages. The URL of our broker is simply &#8220;mqtt.enco.io&#8221;, using a secured connection on port 8883, or unsecured on port 1883. Credentials for your client have been defined as first step and the topic to which it should register <strong>must include the username</strong>, so in our example <em>lorasensors/pxsmythings </em>becomes <em>mqttbrotest/lorasensors/pxsmythings</em>.</p>
<p><strong>Enjoy more secure &amp; reliable data transfer </strong></p>
<p>Now it&#8217;s your turn to leverage our new MQTT Broker and leverage the reliability, security and flexibility of the MQTT protocol !</p>

How to retrieve your IoT data with a MQTT client ?

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