2006-03-31 22:24:42

Contents

1. COM port, huh! Are you in 20th century yet? What about Bluetooth, IrDA, USB?

2. The program can't reach the phone: “Permission denied” error is shown

3. The phone's battery becomes empty and the long-time (24x7) service no longer works.

4. Does the program work with your favourite phone model?

5. NOKIAxxxx listed as supported, but seems not to work

6. How to do some extremely tricky thing with this limited action set?

7. I have added (modified) an action, but it doesn't work

8. How to delete incoming messages from the phone's memory?

9. I'm using some third-party component to send out SMS...

10. “Run program” action works well in the Desktop mode, but in the NT service mode it doesn't.

11. Is it possible to use some gateway on the Internet for sending outgoing messages?

12. My phone / database / rule doesn't work as expected! What to do?

COM port, huh! Are you in 20th century yet? What about Bluetooth, IrDA, USB?

No problem, usually. Drivers for IrDA or Bluetooth adapter or USB cable will emulate a COM port. Configure the program to use this COM port, and it should work.

It may be tricky to find out the name of COM port provided by such a driver. The program tries to make it simplier by displaying the ports that actually present with yellow background in the port selection list.

With some drivers, the port will be displayed as present only when the actual connection with the phone is active.

Typically one of the COM3, COM4, COM5 will be used for emulation.

If all this information still doesn't help to identify the port, it's safe to try possible ports in sequence from COM1: to COM16:.

The program can't reach the phone: “Permission denied” error is shown

Well, this may mean “permission denied” actually, but it's more common to have another program using the same port at the same time. Aren't you using some other phone tool at the very moment you try to start SmsRc service?

If no other program is working with the phone, it's likely that you don't have enough privileges to access the port. Consult your system administrator if there is one. Try logging in as Administrator or add your user name to the group of Power Users, if you are administering the computer yourself.

The phone's battery becomes empty and the long-time (24x7) service no longer works.

It's a common situation when you have a data cable that doesn't recharge the phone's battery. The solution is either to get a charging data cable or to switch to IrDA or Bluetooth connection. In the latter case you can recharge the battery with your usual charger, as its socket is free.

For long-time services it's recommended to install a GSM modem (GSM/GPRS module) instead of a phone. GSM modems are more reliable; they don't have battery usually, so you won't have this problem anymore.

Does the program work with your favourite phone model?

Try to find it at the Supported Modems? page. If it's listed as supported, it will work. If it's listed as unsupported, then it won't. If it's not listed, it will work most likely, but I'm unsure. The latter means that we haven't received any reports about this model yet. You may just try the program with your phone, as it doesn't take much time.

NOKIAxxxx listed as supported, but seems not to work

NOKIA phones are a big pain in this aspect. Some phones require Nokia Data Suite (Nokia PC Suite), as this package contains necessary drivers for the phone. No other supported phone is known to require any drivers.

CA42, DKU5, DAU-9P data cable is a sure sign that you need PC Suite. After installing PC Suite and setting up a connection, the emulated COM port will be provided by PC Suite. Set up SmsRc to use this port.

How to do some extremely tricky thing with this limited action set?

Complicated message processing, that can't easily be specified with the provided set of possible actions, should be implemented at some other place.

The obvious solution is Microsoft Access database: once you set up the program to insert incoming messages into the database, you are free to use the full power of the Access macros and VBA to analyze the messages in any complicated way. MS Access form builder make it easy to build any GUI on top of the database.

The next candidate is a “Run program” action that will invoke a program to do message processing. The program may be written in VBScript, JScript, it may be .cmd or .bat file; in all these cases you should include appropriate interpreter into the command line, as in the examples below:
cscript.exe //B //E:vbscript "c:\SMSProject\OnIncoming.vbs" "[%Sender%]" "[%Message%]" cscript.exe //B //E:jscript "c:\SMSProject\OnIncoming.js" "[%Sender%]" "[%Message%]" cmd.exe /C "c:\SMSProject\MyFile.cmd"

The program may use smssend.exe tool to send replies to the incoming message.

I have added (modified) an action, but it doesn't work

When the file is modified, press the button “Use rules that you're editing”. The running service will notice the new version of your file, and all messages since then will be processed using the new action set.

How to delete incoming messages from the phone's memory?

All incoming messages are deleted from the phone's memory as soon as SMS Reception Center reads them in, so you shouldn't worry that the memory will become overflowed.

I'm using some third-party component to send out SMS...

...and I want to use SMS Reception Center to process incoming messages. But SMS Reception Center locks the port, so the component doesn't work.

Don't send messages directly, do it with SMS Reception Center. Read Integration guidelines to learn how to do it. If you use the NT service mode, you may also stop the NT service named smsrcsvc, send a message and start the service again, but it's not recommended.

“Run program” action works well in the Desktop mode, but in the NT service mode it doesn't.

It's the problem in the program you want to run. There are some differences in the environment that may cause the program to misbehave:

The NT service uses the LocalSystem account by default, and the Desktop mode uses the current user's account. Some environment variables that were visible to the program in the Desktop mode have different values in the Service mode, and all registry contents below HKEY_CURRENT_USER is also different.
The NT service can't interact with desktop by default, and the program may require such interaction to work properly.

Open Control panel -> Administrative tools -> Services -> “SmsRc: Handle incoming messages on COMn” to change the service's parameters, making its environment suitable for the program you run.

Is it possible to use some gateway on the Internet for sending outgoing messages?

Yes. SmsRc supports Clickatell.com? web gateway.

My phone / database / rule doesn't work as expected! What to do?

You know, mailto:support@sw4me.com, and don't forget about a debug log.

2005-10-08 05:42:31

edited by AntonKovalenko

2005-10-08 05:42:09

edited by AntonKovalenko

2005-10-08 05:10:32

edited by AntonKovalenko

2005-10-08 05:09:50

edited by AntonKovalenko

2005-10-08 05:07:29

edited by AntonKovalenko

2005-10-08 05:07:11

edited by AntonKovalenko

2005-10-08 04:06:42

edited by AntonKovalenko

2005-10-08 04:04:54

edited by AntonKovalenko

2005-10-08 04:04:30

edited by AntonKovalenko

2005-03-20 10:55:34

edited by AntonKovalenko

2004-11-06 18:30:38

edited by AntonKovalenko

2004-11-06 17:49:05

edited by AntonKovalenko

2004-11-06 15:25:06

edited by AntonKovalenko

Sw4me - SMSReceptionCenter/FAQ

2006-03-31 22:24:42

COM port, huh! Are you in 20th century yet? What about Bluetooth, IrDA, USB?

The program can't reach the phone: “Permission denied” error is shown

The phone's battery becomes empty and the long-time (24x7) service no longer works.

Does the program work with your favourite phone model?

NOKIAxxxx listed as supported, but seems not to work

How to do some extremely tricky thing with this limited action set?

I have added (modified) an action, but it doesn't work

How to delete incoming messages from the phone's memory?

I'm using some third-party component to send out SMS...

“Run program” action works well in the Desktop mode, but in the NT service mode it doesn't.

Is it possible to use some gateway on the Internet for sending outgoing messages?

My phone / database / rule doesn't work as expected! What to do?

2005-10-08 05:42:31

2005-10-08 05:42:09

2005-10-08 05:10:32

2005-10-08 05:09:50

2005-10-08 05:07:29

2005-10-08 05:07:11

2005-10-08 04:06:42

2005-10-08 04:04:54

2005-10-08 04:04:30

2005-03-20 10:55:34

2004-11-06 18:30:38

2004-11-06 17:49:05

2004-11-06 15:25:06