February 2021 Summaries

This summary provides an overview of building a GraphQL server using the code-first approach, deploying it on Heroku and Vercel, and consuming its endpoints with NextJS and Apollo. The application includes features such as user authentication, chat functionality, and SMS notifications through the Vonage API. The project utilizes Prisma 2 for database management, GraphQL-shield for permissions, and React and Nodejs for frontend and backend development. The article concludes by highlighting the importance of taking the application to the next level with additional functionalities like password reset and friend additions.

Vonage has launched its first program, Vonage for Startups, designed to support early-stage companies by providing access to resources, people, and Communications APIs. The program aims to educate startups about the benefits of using Vonage's APIs, offering curated content, tailored support, a community of peers, and bespoke resources. Through partnerships with accelerators, incubators, VCs, and other startup-enabling organizations, Vonage for Startups will provide workshops, 1:1 sessions, and preferential access to products, helping startups build their products faster and connect with the Vonage ecosystem. The program is tailored for early-stage startups and offers a four-pillar approach to support them in learning, building, supporting, and connecting with the community. Anybody can join the community and benefit from educational material, event participation, and more, while eligible startups can register their interest to receive a tailored package, including credits and hands-on support.

Vonage's Developer Relations infographic for 2020 highlights the company's achievements in supporting its developer community, including a 29.3% increase in API calls made by developers using Vonage Communications APIs, with over 8.7 million installs of libraries/SDKs and 3.1 million pages of documentation consumed. The company also expanded its reach through virtual events, giving talks in 117 countries and supporting 68 events worldwide, resulting in a massive 86% increase in online audience. New initiatives such as the Vonage Voyagers program were introduced, providing support to new developers from around the world. Additionally, Vonage's live streaming offerings grew significantly, with 155 streams broadcast on Twitch, watched by over 128,666 minutes of content. The company looks forward to building on its success in 2021.

You'll learn how to automate sending vocabulary through Vonage, using n8n's visual workflow designer, which doesn't require prior programming knowledge. The newest tech-related vocabulary is obtained from HackerNews, and the LingvaNex API translates it into your preferred language. An Airtable base serves as a blank canvas to store your vocabulary for all eternity. You'll automate sending out tech-related vocabulary in SMS messages using Vonage. To build this workflow, you'll need an n8n account, a LingvaNex account with a free plan, and an Airtable account. The workflow consists of eight nodes: Cron Trigger, Hacker News, Function, Lingvanex, Set, Airtable, Function, and Vonage. You can customize the workflow by renaming the node types and adding expressions to dynamically set parameters. Once you've built the workflow, you can save it regularly and run it daily with a cron trigger. The final results will be stored in an Airtable sheet, where you can view your vocabulary. This tutorial provides a fun way to level-up your vocabulary using automation and n8n's visual workflow designer.

Vonage is deprecating its US Shared Short Code API due to T-Mobile and AT&T's new code of conduct prohibiting shared originators of A2P traffic. This change affects customers using the US Shared Short Code API for SMS communications, including Two-Factor Authentication. To migrate, users must switch to one of the available alternative APIs, such as the SMS API or Verify API, which offer more flexibility and features. The SMS API requires adjustments to code and configurations for sending and receiving SMS messages, while the Verify API provides a new method for managing verification requests and codes. Users can purchase new numbers from the Developer Dashboard to send and receive SMS messages and register custom templates within their project. For further information on using these APIs, users should refer to the Developer Dashboard and Pricing pages.

The Vonage Ruby SDK has released version 7.3.0, which introduces an auto-pagination feature for API list methods to make gathering data more streamlined. This feature is designed to reduce cognitive load and simplify the process of retrieving large amounts of data from the Vonage APIs. With auto-pagination, developers can make a single request to retrieve all records without having to track pages and records per page. The feature can be turned off by passing an `auto_advance: false` argument in the method call, allowing for more control over pagination. The Ruby SDK is continuing to develop its features to align with its goal of making tasks easier and more streamlined, and developers are encouraged to join the community on GitHub and the Vonage Community Slack.

CI/CD pipelines are essential for organizations to deliver high-quality software at a high velocity, automating the integration of development and deployment processes through an automated pipeline. GitHub Actions is a powerful tool for building CI/CD flows, allowing developers to create custom workflows that automate testing, linting, building, and deploying their code. By using GitHub Actions, teams can speed up their development, integration, and deployment processes, reducing errors and improving overall efficiency. The process involves creating a workflow in YAML format, specifying triggers, jobs, and steps, and then integrating with other tools such as npm and GitHub Pages for deployment. Caching dependencies can help improve the performance of the pipeline, while modularizing the CD process allows for better maintainability and error handling. By following this tutorial, teams can create a customized CI/CD pipeline that meets their specific needs and helps them deliver high-quality software faster.

In a rapidly evolving software ecosystem, traditional testing approaches are no longer sufficient to ensure quality products while maintaining speed and growth. Vonage's SDET team developed the Qualocity layered testing approach to address this challenge. This approach consists of three multi-dimensional layers: Coding Discipline, Non-Functional tests, and DevOps Discipline. The layers focus on unit testing, functional testing with mocking, non-functional tests such as load and stress tests, and DevOps practices like gradual releases and monitoring. By implementing these layers, teams can improve quality while maintaining velocity and delivering high-quality products to market quickly.

Angular has made significant strides in supporting Web Components by passing all tests with a score of 100%, ensuring compatibility with the technology. To integrate Web Components into an Angular application, developers must import the CUSTOM_ELEMENTS_SCHEMA and use the ViewChild decorator to access the component's native element. The binding syntax for data and events involves square brackets and attributes, allowing for rich data and primitive values to be passed to the component. Additionally, Angular provides methods for calling custom Web Component methods, making it an ideal choice for building and using Web Components within its ecosystem.

This tutorial teaches developers how to build an interactive voice response system using Go and the Vonage Voice API, allowing users to interact with their phone calls through text input and speech output. The developer needs a Vonage API account and a virtual phone number to complete this project. The code handles incoming voice calls by routing them to a webhook endpoint that instructs the user to press any key, records the caller's input, and then responds back to the user with the input they provided.

In a world where video conferencing has become a norm, allowing participants to join via phone is an essential feature for many, especially when computer connectivity isn't possible. This tutorial covers how to achieve this using Vonage's Video API and Voice API, enabling users to dial into a conference number and enter a PIN to join the session. The process involves setting up a backend with Express and EJS templates, generating a random 4-digit PIN for each session, creating a SIP connection, and handling incoming calls via the Voice API webhooks. With the correct configuration and setup, participants can join a video session using their phone and enter a PIN to be heard by other participants in real-time.

This summary highlights the importance of communication in project growth, particularly through automation using APIs. It showcases GitHub Actions as a tool that allows developers to trigger actions based on specific events and integrate it with the Vonage Messages API for sending WhatsApp messages. The article demonstrates how to set up a simple Node.js application, create an action runner, and configure GitHub Actions to send a WhatsApp message when a test script fails after pushing a commit to a repository. The integration of GitHub Actions and the Vonage Messages API enables developers to automate tasks, such as notification and communication, making project management more efficient.

This tutorial demonstrates how to build a text-to-speech voice application using Hanami, the Vonage Ruby SDK, and the Voice API. To start, users need to create a Vonage Voice Application with voice capabilities and provision a virtual phone number. They then install the Vonage Ruby SDK as a gem dependency in their Hanami app and provide their Vonage API credentials. Next, they generate a database for languages using the Hanami generator and define an index controller to expose language data. The application also includes views for the root index page and success view after form submission. In the create controller, users can instantiate a credentialed instance of the SDK and use it to send phone calls with text-to-speech functionality. With this setup, users can build fully functional voice applications using the Vonage Voice API with Hanami.