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SMS tutorials >

Sending SMS from Excel

This tutorial illustrates how to send and receive SMS from a Microsoft Excel worksheet using the SMSLibX ActiveX component (DLL library).

The tutorial shows how to:

• build step-by-step a new Excel worksheet sending/receiving SMS;
• integrate SMS sending/receiving into an existing Excel worksheet;
• download some ready-to-use Excel SMS examples and adapt them to your needs.

The reference environment is Microsoft Excel 2000.
A minimal expertise on VBA programming (Visual Basic for Applications) is required.

Installing SMSLibX

1. Download and install SMSLibX on your PC.
2. (Optional) Download and install our Excel SMS examples (sending/receiving SMS from VBA source code).
3. Connect and install your GSM modem or phone to your PC.
   If you don't have a compatible GSM modem/phone, then you can use SMSLibX in simulation mode.

Integrating SMSLibX into Excel

1. Open an existent Excel worksheet or create a new one.
2. Switch to the VBA source code (Tools > Macro > Visual Basic Editor), then select your worksheet in the Project tree.
3. Set up a reference to SMSLibX library (Tools > References menu).
   If you can't find SMSLibX into the list, please search it with the Browse button.

Now you're ready to use SMSLibX objects and methods directly in your source code.

Sending and receiving SMS from Excel (VBA)

The following VBA source code might be used into an Excel worksheet module, in order to send and receive SMS messages. With few modifications this code can be inserted in a VBA class module too.

The WithEvents clause is essential in order to catch events raised by the SMSModem object.

' Declare SMSModem object
Public WithEvents Modem As SMSModem


' Send SMS
Private Sub cmdSendMessage_Click()
	
  ' Open modem communication
  Set Modem = New SMSModem
  Modem.LogTrace = True
  Modem.OpenComm ModemType, ModemPort, , smsNotifyAll
	
  ' Send message
  Call Modem.SendTextMessage(PhoneNumber, MessageText)


End Sub


' Receive SMS by event
Private Sub Modem_MessageReceived(Message As SMSLibX.SMSDeliver)
  MsgBox "New message received from " & Message.Originator & ":" _
    & vbCrLf & vbCrLf & Message.Body, _
    vbInformation, "New message received"
End Sub
          

Using SMSLibX in your VBA editor

For a brief introduction on SMSLibX usage we recommend the Quick start section from SMSLibX Help.

SMSLibX is fully integrated into the Microsoft VBA development environment:

• To display contextual help on a selected SMSLibX item, just click F1.
• To browse SMSLibX library items, please open the Object Viewer (F2) and select SMSLibX library.
• You can use code completion when writing code using SMSLibX objects (Ctrl+SPACE, Ctrl+J etc.)

Two examples: Excel worksheets sending/receiving SMS

The following Excel worksheets provided with VBA source code are available for download:

• Example1
  Minimal example sending and receiving SMS.
  
  
• Example2
  Medium-complexity example sending and receiving multiple SMS.
  
  

Both examples are pre-configured for simulation mode (they do not send real SMS).

Once you got them working on yoir PC, you can configure them in order to use your actual GSM modem/phone by opening the worksheet source code (Tools > Macro > Visual Basic Editor menu) and modifying the 'TO DO' items.

If you experience some troubles, please refer to the "Troubleshooting" section.

SMSLibX events and VB6 programming

Please read these notes carefully – they are very important for a good SMSLibX programming practice!

MsgBox and received SMS messages

If your VBA application makes use of MsgBox and InputBox, please note that VBA suppresses events from timers, forms, controls and ActiveX components while one of these dialogs is open.
Events are not simply delayed but definitively suppressed (please see Microsoft Knowledge Base 76557 article).

Due to this disagreeable behaviour, if a MsgBox is open your application may loose events notifying received messages - and any other event generated by SMSLibX.

As work-around, we suggest redefining the VBA MsgBox function and replacing it with the MessageBox API from Windows (which does not suppress events: please see Microsoft Knowledge Base 76557 article for details).
A concrete MsgBox re-definition example is available in the example source code
distributed with this tutorial.

Yielding control in your loops

If your VBA application cycles over a list of SMS messages to be sent - or performs some other time-consuming operations - then you should provide a DoEvents statement in your loop (or time-consuming operaton).

This will permit SMSLibX to continue raising its events in real-time (such as received messages, delivery reports and modem status events).

Moreover, your SMSLibX event listeners (the code you write inside an event procedure) should never contain time-consuming operations, since SMSLibX relies on the event calling thread for further message capture and notification.

Troubleshooting

SMSLibX registration problems

When opening the examples you might experience some troubles due to missing SMSLibX registration on your system.

Should the following errors appear:

1. [...] Cannot find project or library...
2. ActiveX component cannot create object...

please restore SMSLibX references as explained in the first part of this tutorial.

Other problems with SMSLibX

Please refer to the Troubleshooting section of SMSLibX Help.