Customized content for text messaging

[geobark]

Is it possible to insert blank lines, or even just carriage return/line feeds, in customized content so it shows up in text messages?  I would like to format messages better and the line feeds get lost in sending the messages.  Attached is an example of a customized message, and examples of the notification I receive on my phone.  I'd like what I see on the phone to better match the customization.  And, I do understand long lines of text will wrap regardless.  Can anyone help?

By the way, for "What I see on phone", the first (top) message was plain text, the second HTML, and the last (bottom) was XML.  Not sure why only the program name, and not the body too, shows up with the XML option checked.

On final thought.  I noticed an "HTML" in the system configuration portion.  So, I attached a screen shot of that too.

My firmware and UI are both "Insteon_UD994 v.5.3.4 (2021-07-07-14:46:02 )"

 

[asbril]

Would Pushover resolve your issue ?

[jec6613]

Both CR and LF and supported in the GSM-7 character set; however, the paragraph mark that's inserted by just hitting Enter to feed to the next line is not.

First thing I'd try is to ensure you're using the CR character by typing the message with Shift+Enter for each new line.

Another possibility is that you're sending to an SMS gateway that strips formatting - I know Verizon in the US actually has two distinct gateways, one for SMS and one for MMS, that handle pure text messages differently.

[geobark]

asbril, I don't know what Pushover is, but I'll look into it.

[geobark]

I tried Shift+Enter in the customization box and it does nothing.  I also tried every way I know of to insert a CR and LF.  I tried all combinations of ASC(13), ASC(10), chr(13), chr$(10), $chr(13), @0x0a, etc.  I believe UI is stripping out special codes and reassembling my message.

Any other thoughts?  Is there someone at Universal Devices I can query?  Documentation is a bit "skimpy" on Customizations as far as I can tell.

[asbril]

37 minutes ago, geobark said:

asbril, I don't know what Pushover is, but I'll look into it.

Puishover is a powerful Node server for sending messages to your phone. It may be a bit complicated to set up the first time, but it works well.

[MrBill]

@geobark  Looks like your sending to a SMS gateway which might be altering the message.  Is that the case?  if so which carrier?  with ATT use @mms.att.net instead of @txt.att.net with version send your message to @vzwpix.com instead of vtext.com.

bottom line: if you're using a gateway to send messages via text you'll soon be complaining of missing or delayed messages.   Text gateways are not viable.  Instead discover Pushover as suggested by @asbril.  It can be used via the Notification nodesever, or you can create Network Resources directly and skip the node server.

Yet another excellent solution is to download an email client such as SparkMail on your phone.  Create a separate email address to use with that and turn notifications on.  (I.e the only thing you will use SparkMail for is to receive notifications from your ISY. Use your existing email client that probably doesn't notify for email for everything else.

[geobark]

MrBill, my carrier is Cellcom.  Which is @cellcom.quiktxt.com.  I have no idea if this is a SMS gateway.  How do I check for that?  However, inspired by your SMS comment, I scrounged around and accidentally found a workaround.

Workaround (or actual solution) found!  When using the above "@cellcom.quiktxt.com" I get the messages without CRLF.  But, I discovered Cellcom has another message method, which is "@pics.cellcom.com".  When I use that, I get the attached result on my phone.  I have no idea why it works.  But all of it is actual text, not pictures.  This includes the

"This is

a message

to test..."

portion I wanted formatted.

Edited September 15, 2022 by geobark
typos

[MrBill]

19 minutes ago, geobark said:

MrBill, my carrier is Cellcom.  Which is @cellcom.quiktxt.com.  I have no idea if this is a SMS gateway.  How do I check for that?  However, inspired by your SMS comment, I scrounged around and accidentally found a workaround.

Workaround Found!  When using the above "@cellcom.quiktxt.com" I get the messages without CRLF.  But, I discovered Cellcom has another message method, which is "@pics.cellcom.com".  When I use that, I get the attached result on my phone.  I have no idea why it works.  But all of it is actual text, not pictures.  This includes the

"This is

a message

to test..."

portion I wanted formatted.

 

Definitely an SMS and MMS text gateways.  SMS will reformat messages and break long messages into messages shorter than 160 characters.  MMS does none of that and allows up to 1024 characters in a single message.  MMS also allows pictures, but doesn't require one to be sent.  Your solution is exactly what I was getting at without knowing your carrier.

Be aware tho... you'll likely miss messages or have delayed messages from time to time.  I'd always include a time stamp in your message ${sys.date} ${sys.time12} so that you can see how old the message is when it is received.  The reason for the problem is that many spammers abuse the SMS/MMS gateways, lost and delayed messages are simply collateral damage as 3rd party contractors that manage the gateways deal with the spam.

[geobark]

Thanks for your help and the date stamp tip.

[Geddy]

6 minutes ago, MrBill said:

The reason for the problem is that many spammers abuse the SMS/MMS gateways, lost and delayed messages are simply collateral damage as 3rd party contractors that manage the gateways deal with the spam.

Come on @MrBill nobody pays any attention to this "warning" when they're dead set on getting perfectly formatted text messages. I mean, it's all in the formatting. Who cares when the messages arrive?

It's not like there aren't any other alternatives. And it's been documented in several (dozen?) other posts here that text messages are notorious for arriving late. Sure, they might start out instantly, but when it's something truly mission critical it will be that ONE message that comes in hours (or days) later and it's too late to do anything about it. 

@geobark glad you found a "solution" to your issue. But know it's only the solution to the question you asked. The REAL "solution" would be to avoid using email to text gateway and consider other alternatives. You can learn more about Pushover on their site - https://pushover.net/. You can then learn more about how to set it up with the ISY by looking at other posts on the forum or by reading the ISY Cookbook found in the Wiki. There are also some basic steps (might be old) for Pushover found on the wiki site.

Ultimately, the suggestion above by @MrBill to run Spark is a solid suggestion. And @asbril had the solid suggestion for Pushover. Both are probably more reliable than email to SMS/MMS gateway alerts. At least over time. 👍

[MrBill]

10 minutes ago, Geddy said:

And it's been documented in several (dozen?) other posts here that text messages are notorious for arriving late.

The topic can be googled as well. 

I was actually looking for the news story that I've linked before.  I once got a series of messages 7 or 8 months later.  Fortuitously they had time stamps included so i knew they had been stuck somewhere.  A 3rd party contractor that handles gateways had shut down a server with messages still in queue, after the server was repaired and put back in service months and months later the queue was sent.  The shutdown occurred on Valentines day... the news media had a good time reporting on the creepy messages people got... instances of valentines day text from boyfriends that had moved on, and/or even a dead spouse sending valentines wishes.  Found one article.  there were many more.

funny stories like that aside... there are 100's of threads in this forum where people "discover" than they aren't receiving text messages or that they are late... and post to wonder why.... text message notifications are not reliable.

[Geddy]

16 minutes ago, MrBill said:

instances of valentines day text from boyfriends that had moved on, and/or even a dead spouse sending valentines wishes.  Found one article.

9 months later! I bet some of them were welcoming little Valentine's day bundles of joy around the time the text came in!

 

[geobark]

Thanks for all the input everyone.  I really don't look forward to integrating "one more thing".  But I definitely have some mission critical alerts.  They're rarely sent, for example when the furnace goes out.  But, that is one message I can't wait for when I'm away for 3 months!   

If I can figure out integrating CAI digital temperature probes and getting UD Mobile up and running, how hard can Spark be?  Be well.

[Geddy]

@geobark

If the mission critical is only one item (or just a few) then using network resources and UD Mobile notifications would be your best bet. 

You can setup notifications to push to UD Mobile for your devices. Setup is fairly easy and doesn't require additional apps or accounts.

https://wiki.universal-devices.com/index.php?title=UD_Mobile#Notifications_Tab

 

[MrBill]

17 hours ago, geobark said:

They're rarely sent, for example when the furnace goes out.  But, that is one message I can't wait for when I'm away for 3 months! 

Messages like that i send via more than one route to my phone. 

Example: the email notification that is sent to text is actually also sent to the email address using the spark email client, and it's sent via pushover.

for multiple email receipts use a group like this:

Also I don't send a message like "the furnace failed" just once.  I send it every hour until I've stopped it or the problem is resolved. 

Also you mentioned UD mobile, I haven't played with its push notifications yet but it now has the capability of sending Push notifications.  (It's a recent addition to UD Mobile.)

 

[btreinders]

Very disappointing.  Verizon vtext stopped working for me on Sept 6th and now I have no way to send a real text to my wife and children.  I use Pushover but they will not want to install another program just to get my HA "Spam" as they call it.    I guess I could use Pushover and Tasker on my phone to forward the notifications but that seems really painful to setup and maintain.  

Edited September 16, 2022 by btreinders