MySQL Twilio Integration: 5 Easy Steps

Communication is one of the most important factors that enable organizations to connect and maintain a proper workflow. Earlier the tools like bandwidth, podium and a few others were used in order to communicate. With the launch of Twilio the market changed and at its current market share, Twilio is a leader by a large margin.

Twilio is a tool that provides an API that can be programmed and integrated with the enterprise’s software in order to provide exhilarating customer service along with painting a proper communication. Twilio can be integrated with many software solutions to improve its functional bandwidth. MySQL Twilio integration is one such option. 

By performing MySQL Twilio integration, it becomes easier to query information from MySQL and streamline the information flow. This article provides a comprehensive overview of MySQL, Twilio, and steps for MySQL Twilio integration.

What is MySQL?

MySQL is a leading database management system solution currently available in the marketplace. It was launched in the year 1995, and since then it has become the learning solution for DBMS-related problems. MySQL uses the structured query language ( SQL) to query, monitor, and perform operations on data that is present in the database. It is open-source software that provides it with a large user base and also provides it to stay up-to-date.

MySQL when used for commercial aspects, requires you to pay monthly charges to enable to use of the modeling capabilities of MySQL. MySQL provides a lot more capabilities and features along with a highly reliable and scalable solution making it the first preference for enterprises.

MySQL is a simple platform that is better than solutions like oracle database and Microsoft SQL server as it has the provision to connect it to any programming language, at no additional costs. MySQL being an open-source platform has lots of connections and is widely connected to Linux, Unix, and Windows platforms. It also has the options for deployments wherein the online or on-premise system can be chosen to determine the mode.

Key features of MySQL

High Performance:

MySQL is a very powerful solution that provides very high processing speeds and an easy-to-use interface. Also, there is a provision for hosting multiple clients along with the ability to use MySQL from anywhere around the world.

Compatibility: 

MySQL is an open-source solution, that has the provision for additional compatibility with other applications. It has the ability for low-latency transactions.

Scalability: 

MySQL platform has the provision for upscaling and downscaling based on the loads at a given movement dynamically. It also adapts to all the operating systems and improves its scalability aspects. 

Learn more about MySQL.

What is Twilio?

Twilio is a leading business communication platform that is based in the US. It employs a cloud platform to provide services. Twilio is a CPaaS ( Cloud Platform as a Service) that has about 200,000 active corporate consumers. Enterprises like Netflix, Shopify, Twitter, and others use Twilio for business communication.

Twilio enables the developers to build the communication process that can help in the following:

• All the phone calls can be made and received.
• All the text messages can be sent and received.
• Email campaigns are launched.
• End-to-end customer connection can be done efficiently.
• Helps is user verification and automating marketing campaigns.
• Combining web services using APIs

Twilio enables the business to focus effort on customer communications, meeting targets, partner communications, and other enterprise processes instead of focusing on the communication methods and solving problems with mobile operators.

Twilio also offers services that reduce the expenses, both in terms of time and money, associated with the application development process in an enterprise. A few services are

• There are APIs that provide communication between enterprises’ operations using messages, voice chats, emails, and a few others.
• The connectivity options like virtual phone numbers and SIP trunking are provided and the best part is these are programmable.
• It provides APIs that improve the authentications, message control, and call routing tasks.

Key Features of Twilio

A few features of Twilio are mentioned below:

Omnichannel communication

The APIs provided by Twilio enables the developers to create new communication channels and monitor multiple channels at once.

Twilio Programmable Chat

Twilio offers a programmable chat feature that helps in designing and creating chatbots. This service has the necessary tools that can create a sophisticated chatbot. This service is easy to set up. It has a feature known as deferred message function, that is not available on other messenger platforms. These chatbots can send push notifications, show the status online/offline, show the message history, and many others.

Programmable Voice API

Twilio provides an API that can be programmed, to support calls from browsers, apps, phones, and others. It also helps in creating a monitor calling system.

Steps for MySQL Twilio Integration

Prerequisites

• Twilio account
• MySQL on Local System
• ngork on Local System

Step 1: Working with Twilio Functions

Twilio Function is a feature that provides a runtime environment for running scripts. we will use this for MySQL Twilio Integration.

Building apps with Functions

Here’s a syntax of what a Twilio Functions script looks like:

exports.handler = function(context, event, callback) {
  // code
  // invoke callback function
}

The handler method starts the function. This method accepts the arguments like the context object, the event object, and a callback function.  

Step 2: Configure a local MySQL instance

The local instance of MySQL should be running and accessible via the internet. This is important for MySQL Twilio Integration. Run the following query to check the ports.

SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'skip_networking';

For this example of MySQL Twilio Integration, The above query should result in skip_networking value= off by default.

SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'port';

The above query should result in a port value set to 3306 by default.

Let’s create and use a database for MySQL Twilio Integration by executing the following script:

create database Hevo;
use Hevo;

Once the database Hevo is selected, create a user table and insert some values. This can be done by executing the following script.

CREATE TABLE Users (
phone_number VARCHAR(15) NOT NULL, 
first_name VARCHAR(30) NOT NULL, 
last_name VARCHAR(30) NOT NULL, 
PRIMARY KEY (phone_number)
 );

INSERT INTO Users (phone_number, first_name, last_name)
VALUES ("+12345678902", "Pooja", "Srinath");

Step 3: Expose network services with ngrok

TCP tunnels help in viewing network services that run over a TCP network. Ngork is a tool that offers secured tunneling for a development environment on a local system. MySQL Twilio Integration will use ngork to find the connections.

$ ngrok tcp 3306

The output of the script returns the following details in the terminal:

The port numbers are subject to change – these are ephemeral ports. Hence, we recommend copying the values that are seen in your terminal. for this MySQL Twilio integration, the port no. 3306 is used.

To validate that the exposed service is available from the broader internet, run the following script to affirm that MySQL is accessible:

mysql --protocol=tcp --host=0.tcp.ngrok.io --port=15432 --user=root -p

Step 4: Create Your Twilio Functions

Configure the Function environment variables

Configure all the environment variables on the configuration functions portal of Twilio for MySQL Twilio Integration.

The key-value pairs provide the details of the DB config obtained by validating exposed services using ngork for MySQL Twilio Integration

The entries of the configure section are provided in the table below:

Key	Value
database	User
host	0.tcp.ngrok.io
password	password
port	18187
user	root

Step 5: Configure the Function dependencies

Configure all the node dependencies on the configuration functions portal of Twilio for MySQL Twilio Integration.

Step 6: Create a new Function in the Twilio Console

Upon configuring the above values, create a Twilio Function to connect to a local DB MySQL for MySQL Twilio Integration and also perform the necessary actions.

Paste the below code into the code console for MySQL Twilio integration.

const mysql = require("mysql");

exports.handler = async function(context, event, callback) {
  context.callbackWaitsForEmptyEventLoop = false;
  const config = {
    host: context.host,
    port: context.port,
    user: context.user,
    password: context.password,
    database: context.database
  };

  console.log("connected", config);
  try {
    const db = new Database(config);

    db.connection.connect();
    const users = await db.query("select * from users");
    await db.close();
    console.log(users);
    callback(null, users);
  } catch (e) {
    callback(e);
  }
};

class Database {
  constructor(config) {
    this.connection = mysql.createConnection(config);
  }
  query(sql, args) {
    return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
      this.connection.query(sql, args, (err, rows) => {
        if (err) return reject(err);
        resolve(rows);
      });
    });
  }
  close() {
    return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
      this.connection.end(err => {
        if (err) return reject(err);
        resolve();
      });
    });
  }
}

From the above code of MySQL Twilio integration, we can read the values from a database.

In the line const users = await db.query('select * from users');, we wait for the connection to be established to query the entries of the table users. Below is the code to write to the database.
const mysql = require("mysql");
exports.handler = async function(context, event, callback) {
  context.callbackWaitsForEmptyEventLoop = false;
  const config = {
    host: context.host,
    port: context.port,
    user: context.user,
    password: context.password,
    database: context.database
  };

  console.log("connected", config);
  try {
    const db = new Database(config);
    db.connection.connect();
    const user = {
      phone_number: "+12222222222",
      first_name: "Happy",
      last_name: "debugging"
    };
    const users = await db.query("insert into users set ?", user);
    await db.close();
    console.log(users);
    callback(null, users);
  } catch (e) {
    callback(e);
  }
};

class Database {
  constructor(config) {
    this.connection = mysql.createConnection(config);
  }
  query(sql, args) {
    return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
      this.connection.query(sql, args, (err, rows) => {
        if (err) return reject(err);
        resolve(rows);
      });
    });
  }
  close() {
    return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
      this.connection.end(err => {
        if (err) return reject(err);
        resolve();
      });
    });
  }
}

In both the codes provided for MySQL Twilio Integration above, we have used the object-oriented programming approach in Javascript.

Step 7: Debugging your Functions

If you face an error – “MySQL 8.0 – Client does not support authentication protocol requested by server; consider upgrading MySQL client“, after the code for MySQL Twilio Integration use the following code

ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password BY 'password';
-- then
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Conclusion

Twilio is a leading enterprise communication solution, that is very popular among large companies. MySQL is a popular database management system that is reliable and scalable. MySQL Twilio Integration helps in sending the information from the database as push messages and catering to the customer base more efficiently. This article provided a step-by-step guide on MySQL Twilio Integration.

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