TextMarks is pleased to announce the beta release of our V2 API.

Whereas our old APIs allowed clients to perform a few actions like subscribing users and broadcasting messages, this new API exposes almost every possible action you might want to perform on your users, TextMarks, groups, and more.  And with easier-to-parse JSON responses and free PHP and Python client libraries, it couldn’t be quicker and simpler to integrate with TextMarks.

We’ll continue to maintain our old APIs for legacy applications, but we strongly recommend clients upgrade to our new APIs.  Developers considering new integrations should absolutely use our new V2 API.

Find out more in our Developer Center:

http://www.textmarks.com/dev/docs/api2/

Each TextMark now has its own RSS feed!  The feed carries the alerts and messages posted to that TextMark.

This opens up a world of possibilities for developers seeking easy ways to integrate with TextMarks as well as users who want to view messages on custom home pages (such as My Yahoo or iGoogle) or feed integration tools (FeedBurner, etc.).

You’ll find a link to each TextMark’s RSS feed on its public page (http://www.textmarks.com/YOURKEYWORD) as well as the management console section “Review Messages”.

Let us know how you’re using these new RSS feeds.

Developers,

TextMarks is pleased to announce the alpha release of our new V2 API:
http://alpha.api2.textmarks.com/help/

This new API is designed to replace our more basic existing API, which will be phased out over time.

Much of what’s new is based on the excellent feedback we’ve received already from developers like you.  Your comments are appreciated and will help shape the final product to the be as useful and clear as possible.  Feel free to leave comments on this blog entry or send to our developer support.

Note: While this release is fully functional, it is an alpha release and as such is subject to change (including but not limited to error codes, argument names, method names, response formats, etc.)

TextMarks Pro Service clients now have even more power and control over the end-user experience.

The “Reply Y to confirm subscription” messages sent to new users can now be customized to include the name of your service, a brief description, or even a clickable link specific to each user!

To use this new functionality:

1. You must subscribe to TextMarks Pro Service.
2. Make an API call to Messaging.subscribe() using the new “desc” parameter.

Based on the feedback we’ve been receiving, this will be a welcome addition that should allow clients to provide fully customized experiences for their end users, all with very little work on their part thanks to TextMarks’ powerful API and platform.

Troubleshooting Tip:  If you’re an active Pro Service client trying to get this to work but aren’t receiving any text messages, you may be experiencing our SPAM filter (you’ll thank us later).  One way to clear your phone# to receive more subscription confirmation messages is to type your phone# into a widget for a different TextMark (such as those in our “Widgets” tab).

A new Drupal module is available to help web sites easily integrate TextMarks functionality and broadcast SMS text messages to their users.  (Drupal is a popular open source content management platform.)

This module provides three screens in Drupal:

1. A settings screen to track your API connection settings (see below)
2. A screen to send messages to all subscribers of your TextMark
3. A screen to subscribe a mobile number to your TextMark (the mobile user must opt-in)

Drupal Module Settings

Great work, Justin!

The TextMarks XML-RPC API now has a new method to send an SMS to a single user.

The Messaging package now supports both the original 1) Messaging/postAlert() to broadcasts to all subscribers of a specific TextMark, as well as 2) the new Messaging/sendText() method to send to a single subscriber.

The PHP Client Library has been updated to provide easy access to this new call.

Example code:

<?php
require "TextMarksAPIClient.class.php";

// Authenticate to TextMarks API:
$sMyApiKey = 'MyAPIKEY_12345678';
$sMyTextMarksUser = 'mytmuser';
$sMyTextMarksPass = 'mytmp@$$word';
$sKeyword = 'MYKEYWORD';


// Send an SMS to a single TextMark subscriber:
$sTo = '415-555-1212';
$sMessage = "Order 534 ready for pickup! --EnviroClean 800-555-1212";
$tmapi = new TextMarksAPIClient_Messaging( $sMyApiKey, $sMyTextMarksUser, $sMyTextMarksPass );
$tmapi->sendText($sKeyword, $sTo, $sMessage);
?>

Full documentation is available at the following resources:

Developer Center:
http://www.textmarks.com/dev/

XML-RPC API Overview:
http://www.textmarks.com/dev/docs/api/

XML-RPC API Method Reference:
http://www.textmarks.com/dev/docs/api/ref/

New sendText() Method:
http://www.textmarks.com/dev/docs/api/ref/Messaging/sendText/

Want to let your blog readers subscribe to your blog’s RSS via SMS?  TextMarks user Michael Yuan used the TextMarks API to create a WordPress plugin to do just that.

It’s very easy to use.  Below is a screenshot of the admin’s settings.  Visit Michael’s blog to get the plugin and installation instructions.

Great work, Michael!