Send a WhatsApp message with failover

In this example you will send a WhatsApp message that fails over to sending an SMS.

In the Workflow object, message objects can be placed in any order to suit your use case. Each message object must contain a failover object, except for the last message, as there are no more message objects to failover to.

NOTE: The first time you send a message to a user, WhatsApp requires that the message contains a template. This is explained in more detail in the Understanding WhatsApp topic.

Example

Ensure the following variables are set to your required values using any convenient method:

KeyDescription
VONAGE_APPLICATION_ID

The Vonage Application ID.

FROM_NUMBER

Replace with number you are sending from. E.g. 447700900002

TO_NUMBER

Replace with the number you are sending to. E.g. 447700900001

WHATSAPP_NUMBER

The WhatsApp number that has been allocated to you by Vonage. For sandbox testing the number is 14157386102.

NOTE: Don't use a leading + or 00 when entering a phone number, start with the country code, for example 447700900000.

Prerequisites

If you do not have an application you can create one. Make sure you also configure your webhooks.

Write the code

Add the following to send-whatsapp-message-with-failover.sh:

View full source

Run your code

Save this file to your machine and run it:

bash send-whatsapp-message-with-failover.sh

Try it out

When you run the code it will attempt to send a message via WhatsApp. If this fails then a message will be sent via SMS to the destination number.