TwiML Generator

A tool to help generate sample code for creating TwiML with Twilio's Helper Libraries

Supported Helper Library Versions

Helper Library	Version
twilio-csharp	5.x
twilio-java	7.x
twilio-node	3.x
twilio-php	5.x
twilio-python	6.x
twilio-ruby	5.x

Requirements

The generator tool will try to test the generated snippets using a local environment for every language's SDK version.

In order to use the testing functionality, you need to install each Helper Library.

Helper Library Installation

Click to see installation instructions for each Helper Library and related dependencies

twilio-csharp

• twilio-csharp GitHub Repo
• Requirements:
  • .NET Core 1.0+
• twilio-csharp installation:
  • From within this project's root directory run the following command:

    dotnet add package Twilio

twilio-java

• twilio-java GitHub Repo

• Requirements:

  • Java 8

    To install Java 8, run the following command:

    brew tap adoptopenjdk/openjdk
    brew install adoptopenjdk/openjdk/adoptopenjdk8 --cask

• twilio-java installation:

  1. Go to mvnrepository.com and click on the version of the Helper Library you need.
  2. In the table at the top of the page, find Files and click on jar (may need to click on View All and select the twilio-<version number>-jar-with-dependencies.jar file?)
  3. Create a lib directory in the root of this project and place the .jar file in it.

twilio-python

• twilio-python GitHub Repo

• Requirements:

  • Python 3.7+

• twilio-python installation:

  • Install twilio sdk with pip

    (Note: If you followed the Installation instructions for this repo, twilio-python is already installed!)

    pip3 install twilio

twilio-ruby

• twilio-ruby GitHub Repo

• Requirements:

  • Ruby 3.1 and rbenv

    To install rbenv, run the following command:

    brew install rbenv
    rbenv init

    Follow the instructions printed out from rbenv init for setting up the rbenv shell integration.

    NOTE: You must also add the output of rbenv init to your ~/.bash_profile, even if you use another shell, such as .zsh. The generator script uses Python's subprocess module, which will only load your bash_profile to run commands.

    Then, install your desired Ruby version:

    rbenv install 2.6.3  # or other preferred version; the twilio-ruby works with ruby >1.9.3
    rbenv global 2.6.3  # or whichever version you installed
    rbenv rehash  # installs shims -- run this after installing a new ruby version with rbenv
    gem update --system  # update the RubyGems system software

• twilio-ruby installation:

  Run the following command:

  gem install twilio-ruby

  or install a specific twilio-ruby version:

  gem install twilio-ruby -v 5.76.0

twilio-php

• twilio-php GitHub Repo

• Requirements:

  • PHP 8

    To install PHP 8, run the following command:

    brew install php
    

  • Composer

    Run the following command:

    brew install composer

• twilio-php installation:

  In the root directory of this project, run the following command:

  composer require twilio/sdk

  This will create composer.json and composer.lock files.

twilio-node

• twilio-node GitHub Repo

• Requirements:

  • Node.js 14+

    To install Node.js, run the following command:

    brew install node

• twilio-node installation:

  In the root directory of this project, run the following command:

  npm install twilio

twilio-go (Coming soon?)

twilio-go GitHub Repo

Installation

Create a Python virtual environment:

python3 -m venv venv

Activate the environment and install requirements:

source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

Use the tool to create and/or verify Helper Library code

You can run the tool via the command line or use it as a Python library.

For either option, you first need to create a TwiML file.

Create a .xml file containing the TwiML for which you want to generate Helper Library code.

• Include the XML declaration line at the top of the file.

  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

• <Response> and </Response> tags must be present.

• Use example.com domains for any sample URLs.

• ⚠️ Unfortunately, the Helper Libraries don't do any sort of enforcement around required or associated attributes. You will only be made aware of errors once Twilio executes the TwiML (e.g. during a call). Therefore:

  • Make sure that you are including any required attributes and/or a body if necessary.
  • If any attribute implies the use of another attribute, make sure to include it in the example. E.g. You wouldn't/shouldn't use statusCallbackEvent without also using the statusCallback attribute.
  • Don't force errors onto our customers. Not sure if the TwiML actually works? Hook up a Twilio Phone Number to a TwiML Bin and test it out yourself.

⚠️ When you add the TwiML file to the api-snippets repo, you need to change the file extension to .twiml.

Generate the Helper Library code via the command line

You can generate the Helper Library code by running the generator.py file.

In your terminal, run a command with the following format:

./generator.py <your .xml filepath> -l <Helper Library language>

Languages

The -l option specifies the Helper Library for which you wish to generate code. The allowed values are:

• python
• ruby
• csharp
• java
• php
• node

Example:

./generator.py assets/dial-basic.xml -l node

Output location

By default, the tool outputs the Helper Library code into the /generators/<Helper Library language> directory.

You can specify an output location with the -out flag:

./generator.py <your .twiml filepath> -out <output filepath> -l <Helper Library language>

Example:

./generator.py assets/dial-basic.xml -out ./assets/dial-basic/dial-basic.4.x.js -l node

⚠️ When you add the Helper Library code files to the api-snippets repo, the file extension must include the Helper Library version, e.g. some-example.4.x.js.

Generate Messaging TwiML samples

The vast majority of TwiML verbs are for Voice. If you would like to create a new TwiML code sample for Messaging rather than for Voice, you can pass in the --messaging flag:

./generator.py <filepath of TwiML file> -out <filepath of code to verify> -l <Helper Library language> --messaging

Verify existing Helper Library code via the command line

This tool will automatically verify each code sample as it is created. You can also test an existing code sample without generating new sample code with the --verify flag.

The format is:

./generator.py <filepath of TwiML file> -out <filepath of code to verify> -l <Helper Library language> --verify

Example:

./generator.py assets/call_on_hold.xml -out assets/call_on_hold.py -l python --verify

Use the tool as a Python library

Below is a small example on how to use this tool in your Python code:

from twiml_code_generator import TwimlCodeGenerator

my_twiml_file = 'assets/record_voicemail.xml'
code_generator = TwimlCodeGenerator(my_twiml_file, language='python')

# Print out the generated code
print(code_generator)

# Write a file with the generated code
code_generator.write_code()

# Run the generated code and verify the output xml against the source
# Only: Python, PHP, Node
code_generator.verify()

Updating the project for new Helper Library Versions

(Coming soon)

License

MIT