Integrate Twilio in C# ASP.NET Core MVC Project to Send SMS

Step 1. Install dependencies

To be able to integrate Twilio in the project, you will need some dependencies, that will help Twilio run.

• Click on Tools.
• Select "Nuget Package Manager".
• Click "Manage Nuget Package for solution".
• In the Browse section, search for Package "Twilio" and install the solution.
• Then, search "Twilio.AspNet.Mvc" and install it too.

Now that you have installed all the necessary dependencies. Let's move to the next step.

Step 2. Code to Send SMS

In the "TwilioIntegrationController", write your code for sending SMS. Here, I am putting all my code in one file. But you should put the necessary code where it should be.

using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
using Twilio;
using Twilio.Rest.Api.V2010.Account;

namespace TwilioIntegration.Controllers
{
    public class TwilioIntegrationController : Controller
    {
        [Route("send-SMS")]
        public IActionResult SendSMS()
        {
            string sId = ""; // add Account from Twilio
            string authToken = ""; //add Auth Token from Twilio
            string fromPhoneNumber = "+120*******"; //add Twilio phone number

            TwilioClient.Init(sId, authToken);
            var message = MessageResource.Create(
                body: "Hi, there!!",
                from: new Twilio.Types.PhoneNumber(fromPhoneNumber), 
                to: new Twilio.Types.PhoneNumber("+9175********") //add receiver's phone number
            );
            Console.WriteLine(message.ErrorCode);
            return View(message);
        }
    }
}

Code Explanation

In the above code,

• Add 'using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;', 'using Twilio;', 'using Twilio.Rest.Api.V2010.Account;' to use Twilio API in the code.
• Then, I have created a method named SendSMS().
• In the method, I created three string variables - sId, authToken, and fromPhoneNumber to store Twilio account SId, Auth Token, and Twilio phone number. I have placed all three in this method, but you should store them in an appsettings file and access them from there.
• Then, initiate TwilioClient by passing your account SId and Auth Token using this lineTwilioClient.Init(sId, authToken);.
• In the next line "MessageResource.Create()" is a method call to create a new SMS message using the Twilio API. It indicates that we are creating a new message resource. We are passing the message body, from phone number and to phone number in it. It creates the message and sends it using the Twilio API.
• In the next line, I have consoled the ErrorCode, if any error occurs during the sending of SMS.
• If you got this exception while executing the method, Permission to send an SMS has not been enabled for the region indicated by the 'To' number. Click here to resolve this- solution

Step 3. Call the above method

Call the method that we created earlier from your code to send SMS from wherever you want in your code, and Twilio will send the SMS to the account that you mentioned earlier.

In the above image, you can see the message is sent successfully from the project and the body is the same as we mentioned in our code. But as we are using a trial account, hence, Twilio adds the prefix "Sent from your Twilio trial account-" in all the messages that you will send from your trial account. Hence, for real-life projects, it is better to buy a plan.

Conclusion

In this article, we have seen how to create a Twilio account, set it up, and integrate Twilio with the code in the C# MVC project. By following simple steps to set up a Twilio account and implementing Twilio's API, developers can easily send and receive SMS messages, offering a valuable tool for improving project functionality and user experience.

Like this, you can also integrate Twilio in other languages too. The process is almost similar. You can also use Twilio to send WhatsApp messages and voice messages, etc by simply integrating it into your project. This integration empowers developers to leverage Twilio's robust cloud communication platform to enhance their projects across various programming languages, facilitating effective communication and user engagement.