January 2018 Summaries

The tutorial covers how to use Python's mock and httpretty libraries to test Django app parts that communicate with external services. It uses a simple Django app called "Hacker News Hotline" to fetch today's headlines from Hacker News and serve them behind a TwiML endpoint, allowing anyone calling the Twilio number to hear the latest headlines on Hacker News. The tutorial also introduces Django's RequestFactory class and how it can be used to test Django views without making actual HTTP requests.

Twilio has added support for Google Authenticator and other Time based One Time Passcode (TOTP) compliant applications in its Authy API. This update allows users to opt-in for two-factor authentication using an authenticator app, reducing friction and increasing security. The new feature is easy to implement, requiring only a few lines of code, and can be enabled by switching it on in the Twilio console. Using the Authy app provides additional security benefits, including push authentication and secure self-service recovery options. Customers can also use the Authy SDK for total control over their application's authentication experience.

Adding screen sharing to a Twilio Video application involves several steps, including checking for support in different browsers, getting the user's screen, and publishing it to the room. The process starts by setting up a new repository with the necessary dependencies, including Node.js, Chrome extension, Ngrok, and Twilio credentials. The script then checks if the browser supports screen capture and uses the corresponding API to get the stream. If supported, it publishes the track to the local participant in the room. The application also includes buttons for sharing and unsharing screens, which are toggled based on the user's permission. Once set up, the application can be tested by setting up a video chat with a friend or yourself across two browsers, where one can share their screen with the other.

As Twilio's Associate General Counsel, Sheila Jambekar likens handling personal information to handling radioactive material like uranium, emphasizing the importance of building awareness among developers about privacy protection. She highlights eight similarities between personal information and uranium, including that both are powerful sources of "fuel" for businesses, come in different forms with varying levels of risk, require special training to handle, should not be stockpiled unless necessary, need a clear understanding of where they are at all times, can lead to leakage if not handled properly, and should be disposed of safely once no longer needed. By adopting these principles, developers can become more privacy-aware and build more secure applications that protect users' personal information.

The author, Kyle Kelly-Yahner, built a phone line that plays only Smashmouth's "All Star" to understand humanity's fascination with the song. The line received 1,200 calls in a few months, sparking curiosity and leading to an investigation into human behavior. The data collected from the calls revealed interesting insights, such as the song's popularity varying by region, with the Northeast loving it more than other areas. The author also found that people's reactions to the song ranged from love to hate, with some listening for long periods while others lasted only a second. The experiment raised questions about human behavior and sparked curiosity among social scientists.

Send SMS Order Confirmations Using moltin and Twilio` is a tutorial on how to integrate Moltin's eCommerce API with Twilio's SMS API to send order confirmations via text message. The tutorial guides the reader through setting up an Express application, creating a Moltin customer with a phone number, and sending an SMS using Twilio. It also covers testing the integration using Ngrok and deploying the application to Heroku. The tutorial aims to reduce friction for customers by providing them with order numbers and details via text message without requiring login credentials.

To protect their identity when making phone calls using Twilio's API, developers can use proxy servers like Fiddler to mask their connection. By installing VS Code, .NET Core, and other tools, developers can create a C# application that makes phone calls with Twilio's API behind a proxy server. The application uses the Twilio NuGet package to authenticate and make calls, while the proxy server intercepts HTTP traffic sent to and from the machine it is running on, protecting the developer's identity. With the updated code, when the application runs, all web traffic, including calls to Twilio, flows through the proxy server, masking the developer's identity.

Twilio Programmable Wireless SIM Card allows users to deploy and manage fleets of cellular connected devices, power connectivity for the Internet of Things, and enable highly customized communications use cases. However, due to Twilio's announcement that they will end support for Programmable Voice and SMS with the Programmable Wireless SIM on October 1, users can no longer use this tutorial to make native voice and SMS calls on a phone or tablet. The SIM card is not meant to be used as a replacement for a cell phone provider but rather as a tool for developers to help out friends or power IoT projects. To set up the Twilio Programmable Wireless SIM Card, users must first acquire and register a SIM card, select a rate plan with voice and messaging enabled, buy a Twilio phone number, and configure the SIM by pointing to the SIMs section of the Console, selecting the Programmable Voice & SMS tab, and clicking on the red + button. Users can then send text messages from their phone by replacing `YOUR_NUMBER_HERE` with their Twilio phone number in the TwiML template for routing messages as seen in an image. Similarly, users must replace `YOUR_NUMBER_HERE` with the phone number from the previous section to make phone calls and create another TwiML bin to receive SMS and make phone calls.

Paddy Sherry, a developer at Leader Internet, introduces the SG Widget, a SendGrid subscription widget designed to streamline email address collection for businesses, making it an essential tool in the marketing funnel. The widget allows website administrators to easily integrate a sign-up form onto their sites, regardless of the site's CMS or platform, by simply embedding a few lines of HTML and connecting with Twilio SendGrid's Marketing Campaigns API. This universal solution ensures secure, fast, and customizable email collection while maintaining the design aesthetic of any website. The SG Widget addresses the lack of a dominant, flexible sign-up widget in the market by providing a reusable tool that reduces development time and offers seamless integration, thereby enabling businesses to efficiently manage and grow their email marketing lists without requiring extensive coding knowledge.

A Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) attack occurs when an attacker sends a request on behalf of a user to a web application without their knowledge or consent, often using a hidden form. To protect against CSRF attacks, developers can use CSRF tokens, which are randomly generated strings sent as cookies that must be included in subsequent requests made by the browser. By implementing CSRF tokens, developers can prevent attackers from performing malicious requests on behalf of users. The text demonstrates how to implement CSRF tokens in an Express.js application using middleware such as csurf and cookie-parser, and shows how this can help protect against CSRF attacks.

"Using Tcl/Tk to Rapidly Prototype Twilio-Powered SMS and MMS Sending Application" is a guide that demonstrates how to rapidly prototype an SMS and MMS sending application using the Tcl programming language and the Tk graphical toolkit. To start, you need to sign up for a Twilio account or use an existing one, purchase or find a SMS-capable number, and set environment variables such as TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID, TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN, and TWILIO_PHONE_NUMBER. The guide then covers the prerequisites for this tutorial, including installing required packages like tls, http, base64, and Tk. It also provides an example session in bash on Mac OSX 10.11.6 to clone the demo repository and run the application. The main focus of the guide is on creating a GUI with Tcl and Tk, then quickly sending out a text message using the Twilio APIs. The code includes functions like build_auth_headers, submit_form, and send_sms, which are reusable in other applications. The guide concludes by highlighting the possibilities of integrating communications into an application using Twilio's REST APIs, regardless of the programming language or platform used.

Twilio API developer Jarod Reyes shares his favorite local scripts and shortcuts for managing a development environment, including dotfiles, shell commands, and git tricks. He uses these tools to simplify tasks such as cloning repositories with submodules, committing changes, and looking up phone numbers with Twilio's lookup feature. Reyes also shares two useful scripts: one that buys a random phone number from a country and another that sets up the URL handlers for voice and SMS with this little snippet.

The residents of Friendswood, Texas, came together with city officials to recover from Hurricane Harvey's devastating flooding in 2017. The City's Emergency Department was stretched thin, but neighbors and residents volunteered to help, including a local software engineer named Joshua Lyman who built a Twilio-powered prototype for a disaster dispatch hotline. The hotline helped direct volunteers and citizens to assistance efforts, with over 200 homes mucked out during the recovery process. Even after the water rescues were complete, the City asked Joshua to keep the call center live as a precautionary measure.

There are several developer stories featured in this edition of the Developer Digest, including a celebration of tools and frameworks that developers rely on, such as Hanami and Flask. A text-based Skyrim game, Insignificant Little Vermin, was also created using code by Filip Hracek. Additionally, tutorials cover topics like automated currency exchanges with AWS Lambda and Fixer.io in JavaScript, deploying Python and Flask apps to Docker containers, and a guide for front-end developers on how to properly deploy their applications. The Digest also highlights the work of developers such as Tess Rinearson who has integrated her doorbell with Twilio, allowing her to receive notifications when food is delivered. Furthermore, Kotlin engineers shared their insights in a Q&A session, while David Dias provides a checklist for front-end developers to ensure they deploy their applications correctly.