Twilio binding for Azure Functions

• 11/21/2017
• 5 minutes to read
• Contributors
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This article explains how to send text messages by using Twilio bindings in Azure Functions. Azure Functions supports output bindings for Twilio.

This is reference information for Azure Functions developers. If you're new to Azure Functions, start with the following resources:

• Create your first function
• Azure Functions developer reference
• C#, F#, Node, or Java developer reference
• Azure Functions triggers and bindings concepts

Packages

The Twilio bindings are provided in the Microsoft.Azure.WebJobs.Extensions.Twilio NuGet package. Source code for the package is in the azure-webjobs-sdk GitHub repository.

For local development in Azure Functions version2.x, the package is used to register the binding extension. For C# class library development in Functions 1.x and 2.x, support for the binding is added by installing the package.

Note that source code follows WebJobs SDK version numbering: WebJobs SDK version 2.x is equivalent to Azure Functions 1.x, so Functions 1.x code is in the v2.x branch in the repository. Master and dev branches contain code for Web Jobs 3.x, which is the same as Functions 2.x.

Example

See the language-specific example:

• C#
• C# script (.csx)
• JavaScript

C# example

The following example shows a C# function that sends a text message when triggered by a queue message.

[FunctionName("QueueTwilio")]
[return: TwilioSms(AccountSidSetting = "TwilioAccountSid", AuthTokenSetting = "TwilioAuthToken", From = "+1425XXXXXXX" )]
public static SMSMessage Run(
    [QueueTrigger("myqueue-items", Connection = "AzureWebJobsStorage")] JObject order,
    TraceWriter log)
{
    log.Info($"C# Queue trigger function processed: {order}");

    var message = new SMSMessage()
    {
        Body = $"Hello {order["name"]}, thanks for your order!",
        To = order["mobileNumber"].ToString()
    };

    return message;
}

This example uses the TwilioSms attribute with the method return value. An alternative is to use the attribute with an out SMSMessage parameter or an ICollector<SMSMessage> or IAsyncCollector<SMSMessage> parameter.

C# script example

The following example shows a Twilio output binding in a function.json file and a C# script function that uses the binding. The function uses an out parameter to send a text message.

Here's binding data in the function.json file:

Example function.json:

{
  "type": "twilioSms",
  "name": "message",
  "accountSid": "TwilioAccountSid",
  "authToken": "TwilioAuthToken",
  "to": "+1704XXXXXXX",
  "from": "+1425XXXXXXX",
  "direction": "out",
  "body": "Azure Functions Testing"
}

Here's C# script code:

#r "Newtonsoft.Json"
#r "Twilio.Api"

using System;
using Newtonsoft.Json;
using Twilio;

public static void Run(string myQueueItem, out SMSMessage message,  TraceWriter log)
{
    log.Info($"C# Queue trigger function processed: {myQueueItem}");

    // In this example the queue item is a JSON string representing an order that contains the name of a 
    // customer and a mobile number to send text updates to.
    dynamic order = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(myQueueItem);
    string msg = "Hello " + order.name + ", thank you for your order.";

    // Even if you want to use a hard coded message and number in the binding, you must at least 
    // initialize the SMSMessage variable.
    message = new SMSMessage();

    // A dynamic message can be set instead of the body in the output binding. In this example, we use 
    // the order information to personalize a text message to the mobile number provided for
    // order status updates.
    message.Body = msg;
    message.To = order.mobileNumber;
}

You can't use out parameters in asynchronous code. Here's an asynchronous C# script code example:

#r "Newtonsoft.Json"
#r "Twilio.Api"

using System;
using Newtonsoft.Json;
using Twilio;

public static async Task Run(string myQueueItem, IAsyncCollector<SMSMessage> message,  TraceWriter log)
{
    log.Info($"C# Queue trigger function processed: {myQueueItem}");

    // In this example the queue item is a JSON string representing an order that contains the name of a 
    // customer and a mobile number to send text updates to.
    dynamic order = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(myQueueItem);
    string msg = "Hello " + order.name + ", thank you for your order.";

    // Even if you want to use a hard coded message and number in the binding, you must at least 
    // initialize the SMSMessage variable.
    SMSMessage smsText = new SMSMessage();

    // A dynamic message can be set instead of the body in the output binding. In this example, we use 
    // the order information to personalize a text message to the mobile number provided for
    // order status updates.
    smsText.Body = msg;
    smsText.To = order.mobileNumber;

    await message.AddAsync(smsText);
}

JavaScript example

The following example shows a Twilio output binding in a function.json file and a JavaScript function that uses the binding.

Here's binding data in the function.json file:

Example function.json:

{
  "type": "twilioSms",
  "name": "message",
  "accountSid": "TwilioAccountSid",
  "authToken": "TwilioAuthToken",
  "to": "+1704XXXXXXX",
  "from": "+1425XXXXXXX",
  "direction": "out",
  "body": "Azure Functions Testing"
}

Here's the JavaScript code:

module.exports = function (context, myQueueItem) {
    context.log('Node.js queue trigger function processed work item', myQueueItem);

    // In this example the queue item is a JSON string representing an order that contains the name of a 
    // customer and a mobile number to send text updates to.
    var msg = "Hello " + myQueueItem.name + ", thank you for your order.";

    // Even if you want to use a hard coded message and number in the binding, you must at least 
    // initialize the message binding.
    context.bindings.message = {};

    // A dynamic message can be set instead of the body in the output binding. In this example, we use 
    // the order information to personalize a text message to the mobile number provided for
    // order status updates.
    context.bindings.message = {
        body : msg,
        to : myQueueItem.mobileNumber
    };

    context.done();
};

Attributes

In C# class libraries, use the TwilioSms attribute.

For information about attribute properties that you can configure, see Configuration. Here's a TwilioSms attribute example in a method signature:

[FunctionName("QueueTwilio")]
[return: TwilioSms(
    AccountSidSetting = "TwilioAccountSid", 
    AuthTokenSetting = "TwilioAuthToken", 
    From = "+1425XXXXXXX" )]
public static SMSMessage Run(
    [QueueTrigger("myqueue-items", Connection = "AzureWebJobsStorage")] JObject order,
    TraceWriter log)
{
    ...
}

For a complete example, see C# example.

Configuration

The following table explains the binding configuration properties that you set in the function.json file and the TwilioSms attribute.

When you're developing locally, app settings go into the local.settings.json file.

Next steps