AfricasTalkingGateway-Python

A Python module for communicating with the AfricasTalking API

Click here to read the full documentation.

Installation

Install from PyPi using pip, a package manager for Python.

pip install africastalking

Or, you can download the source code (ZIP) for AfricasTalkingGateway-python, and then run:

python setup.py install

You may need to run the above commands with sudo.

Getting Started

Getting started with the AfricasTalkingGateway API couldn't be easier. Create a AfricasTalkingGateway and you're ready to go.

API Credentials

The AfricasTalkingGateway needs your credentials. You can either pass these directly to the constructor (see the code below) or via environment variables.

from AfricasTalkingGateway import AfricasTalkingGateway, AfricasTalkingGatewayException

username = "MyAfricasTalking_Username";
apikey   = "MyAfricasTalking_APIKey";

gateway = AfricasTalkingGateway(username, apikey)

We suggest storing your credentials as environment variables. Why? You'll never have to worry about committing your credentials and accidentally posting them somewhere public.

Send an SMS

# Import the helper gateway class
from AfricasTalkingGateway import AfricasTalkingGateway, AfricasTalkingGatewayException

# Specify your login credentials
username = "MyAfricasTalking_Username";
apikey   = "MyAfricasTalking_APIKey";

# Specify the numbers that you want to send to in a comma-separated list
# Please ensure you include the country code (+254 for Kenya in this case)
to      = "+254711XXXYYYZZZ,+254733XXXYYYZZZ";

# And of course we want our recipients to know what we really do
message = "I'm a lumberjack and it's ok, I sleep all night and I work all day"

# Create a new instance of our awesome gateway class
gateway = AfricasTalkingGateway(username, apikey)

# Any gateway errors will be captured by our custom Exception class below, 
# so wrap the call in a try-catch block
try:
    # Thats it, hit send and we'll take care of the rest. 
    recipients = gateway.sendMessage(to, message)
    for recipient in recipients:
        # Note that only the Status "Success" means the message was sent
        print 'number=%s;status=%s;messageId=%s;cost=%s' % (recipient['number'],
                                                            recipient['status'],
                                                            recipient['messageId'],
                                                            recipient['cost'])
except AfricasTalkingGatewayException, e:
    print 'Encountered an error while sending: %s' % str(e)

Digging Deeper

The full power of the AfricasTalkingGateway API is at your fingertips. The full documentation explains all the awesome features available to use.