ETA Notifications with Ruby and Rails

Time to read: 2 minutes

January 10, 2017
Written by
Mario Celi
Contributor
Opinions expressed by Twilio contributors are their own
Reviewed by
Paul Kamp
Twilion
Andrew T. Baker
Twilion
Jose Oliveros
Contributor
Opinions expressed by Twilio contributors are their own
Kat King
Twilion
Stephanie Marchante
Twilion

eta-ruby-rails

Companies like Uber, TaskRabbit, and Instacart have built an entire industry around the fact that we, the customers, like to order things instantly, wherever we are. The key to those services working? Notifying customers when things change.

In this tutorial, we'll build a notification system for a fake on-demand laundry service Laundr.io using Ruby on Rails.

Let's get started!  Click the below button to begin.

Trigger the Notifications

There are two cases we'd like to handle:

  1. Delivery person picks up laundry to be delivered ( /initial_notifications )
  2. Delivery person is arriving at the customer's house ( /delivery_notifications )

In a production app we would probably trigger the second notification when the delivery person was physically near the customer, using GPS.

(In this case we'll just use a button.)

This is a migrated tutorial. Clone the code at https://github.com/TwilioDevEd/eta-notifications-rails

class OrdersController < ApplicationController
  skip_before_action :verify_authenticity_token
  before_action :load_order, only: [:show, :send_initial_notification, :send_delivery_notification, :status]
  rescue_from ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound, with: :record_not_found

  def index
    @orders = Order.all
  end

  def show
  end

  # Endpoint for Twilio callback
  def status
    @order.notification_status = params["MessageStatus"]
    @order.save
    render nothing: true
  end

  def send_initial_notification
    @order.status = :shipped
    if @order.save
      message = 'Your laundry is done and on its way to you!'
      notify(message)
    else
      redirect_with_error
    end
  end

  def send_delivery_notification
    @order.status = :dropped_off
    if @order.save
      message = 'Your laundry is arriving now.'
      notify(message)
    else
      redirect_with_error
    end
  end

  private

  def notify(message)
    MessageSender.send_message(
      @order.id, request.host, @order.phone_number, message)
    redirect_to orders_url, notice: 'Message was delivered'
  end

  def redirect_with_error
    message = "An error has occurred updating the order status"
    redirect_to orders_url, flash: { error: message }
  end

  def load_order
    @order = Order.find(params[:id])
  end

  def record_not_found
    render 'shared/404', status: 404, layout: false
  end
end

Let's look at using the Ruby Twilio REST API Client to actually send out the notifications.

Set up the Twilio REST Client

Here we create a helper class with an authenticated Twilio REST API client that we can use anytime we need to send a text message.

We initialize it with our Twilio Account Credentials stored as environment variables.  You can find the Auth Token and Account SID in the console:

Account Credentials

 

class MessageSender
  def self.send_message(order_id, host, to, message)
    new.send_message(order_id, host, to, message)
  end

  def initialize
    # To find TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID, TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN visit
    # https://www.twilio.com/console
    account_sid = ENV['TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID']
    auth_token  = ENV['TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN']
    @client = Twilio::REST::Client.new(account_sid, auth_token)
  end

  def send_message(order_id, host, to, message)
    @client.messages.create(
      from:  twilio_number,
      to:    to,
      body:  message,
      status_callback: "http://#{host}/orders/#{order_id}/status"
    )
  end

  private

  def twilio_number
    # A Twilio number you control - choose one from:
    # https://www.twilio.com/console/phone-numbers/incoming
    # Specify in E.164 format, e.g. "+16519998877"
    ENV['TWILIO_NUMBER']
  end
end

Next up: how we handle notification triggers.

Handle a Notification Trigger

This code handles the HTTP POST requests triggered by the delivery person.

It uses our MessageSender class to send an SMS message to the customer's phone number, which we have registered in our database.  Simple!

class OrdersController < ApplicationController
  skip_before_action :verify_authenticity_token
  before_action :load_order, only: [:show, :send_initial_notification, :send_delivery_notification, :status]
  rescue_from ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound, with: :record_not_found

  def index
    @orders = Order.all
  end

  def show
  end

  # Endpoint for Twilio callback
  def status
    @order.notification_status = params["MessageStatus"]
    @order.save
    render nothing: true
  end

  def send_initial_notification
    @order.status = :shipped
    if @order.save
      message = 'Your laundry is done and on its way to you!'
      notify(message)
    else
      redirect_with_error
    end
  end

  def send_delivery_notification
    @order.status = :dropped_off
    if @order.save
      message = 'Your laundry is arriving now.'
      notify(message)
    else
      redirect_with_error
    end
  end

  private

  def notify(message)
    MessageSender.send_message(
      @order.id, request.host, @order.phone_number, message)
    redirect_to orders_url, notice: 'Message was delivered'
  end

  def redirect_with_error
    message = "An error has occurred updating the order status"
    redirect_to orders_url, flash: { error: message }
  end

  def load_order
    @order = Order.find(params[:id])
  end

  def record_not_found
    render 'shared/404', status: 404, layout: false
  end
end

Next, let's look closer at how we push out the SMSes.

Send an SMS (or MMS)

Here we demonstrate how we actually send the SMS.

Picture worth 1,000 words?  We can add a picture of the laundry by adding:

media_url: "http://lorempixel.com/image_output/fashion-q-c-640-480-1.jpg"

In addition to the required parameters (and the optional media), we can pass a status_callback url to let us know if the message was delivered.

class MessageSender
  def self.send_message(order_id, host, to, message)
    new.send_message(order_id, host, to, message)
  end

  def initialize
    # To find TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID, TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN visit
    # https://www.twilio.com/console
    account_sid = ENV['TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID']
    auth_token  = ENV['TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN']
    @client = Twilio::REST::Client.new(account_sid, auth_token)
  end

  def send_message(order_id, host, to, message)
    @client.messages.create(
      from:  twilio_number,
      to:    to,
      body:  message,
      status_callback: "http://#{host}/orders/#{order_id}/status"
    )
  end

  private

  def twilio_number
    # A Twilio number you control - choose one from:
    # https://www.twilio.com/console/phone-numbers/incoming
    # Specify in E.164 format, e.g. "+16519998877"
    ENV['TWILIO_NUMBER']
  end
end

Message status updates are interesting - let's look there next.

Handle a Callback from Twilio

Twilio will make a POST request to this controller each time our message status changes to one of the following: queued, failed, sent, delivered, or undelivered.

We then update this notification_status on the Order and let the business logic take over. This is a great place to add logic that would resend the message if it failed or send out an automated survey soon after a customer receives his or her clothes.

class OrdersController < ApplicationController
  skip_before_action :verify_authenticity_token
  before_action :load_order, only: [:show, :send_initial_notification, :send_delivery_notification, :status]
  rescue_from ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound, with: :record_not_found

  def index
    @orders = Order.all
  end

  def show
  end

  # Endpoint for Twilio callback
  def status
    @order.notification_status = params["MessageStatus"]
    @order.save
    render nothing: true
  end

  def send_initial_notification
    @order.status = :shipped
    if @order.save
      message = 'Your laundry is done and on its way to you!'
      notify(message)
    else
      redirect_with_error
    end
  end

  def send_delivery_notification
    @order.status = :dropped_off
    if @order.save
      message = 'Your laundry is arriving now.'
      notify(message)
    else
      redirect_with_error
    end
  end

  private

  def notify(message)
    MessageSender.send_message(
      @order.id, request.host, @order.phone_number, message)
    redirect_to orders_url, notice: 'Message was delivered'
  end

  def redirect_with_error
    message = "An error has occurred updating the order status"
    redirect_to orders_url, flash: { error: message }
  end

  def load_order
    @order = Order.find(params[:id])
  end

  def record_not_found
    render 'shared/404', status: 404, layout: false
  end
end

That's all, folks! We've just implemented an on-demand notification service that alerts our customers when their order is picked up or arriving.

Now let's look at other features that you might want to add to your application.

Where to next?

We've got lots of Ruby and Rails content here on the Docs site.  Sadly, we wanted to cut it down - here are just two other excellent tutorials you might enjoy:

 

Workflow Automation with Ruby and Rails

Increase your rate of response by automating the workflows that are key to your business. In this tutorial, learn how to build a ready-for-scale automated SMS workflow for a vacation rental company.

 

Masked Phone Numbers with Ruby and Rails

Protect your users' privacy by anonymously connecting them with Twilio Voice and SMS. Learn how to create disposable phone numbers on-demand so two users can communicate without exchanging personal information.

Did this help?

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