The SMS file format
This article illustrates how the FoxBox saves the SMS in a text file format, whose main components are:
- Header: containing metadata used by the internal engine;
- Body: the pure content of the message.
Outgoing and incoming SMS have a different internal structure.
Regarding the first group, please consider the SMS below:
From: FoxBox To: 390123456789 Alphabet: ISO Hello World!
While this is an example for the second group:
From: 399876543210 From_SMSC: 39565258552585 Sent: 25-12-12 12:00:00 Received: 25-12-12 12:00:05 Subject: GSM1 Alphabet: ISO Hello World!
Each header line has a particular meaning, here is a complete list of them:
| Generic headers | |
|---|---|
| From | Sender ID, useful for internal logs and when customized sender is available |
| To | Phone number of the receiver |
| Flash | If set to YES, the message will automatically open on receiver's display (if supported by his mobile phone) [default: NO] |
| Alphabet | Specify the character encoding used in the text [default: ISO LATIN ANSI] |
| SMSC | Phone number of the outgoing SMSC |
| Report | If set to YES, a status report is requested for the message [default: NO] |
| Autosplit | Code defining how to split messages (just for text messages) [default: 0] |
| Specific headers for incoming messages | |
| From | Phone number of the sender |
| From_SMSC | Phone number of the outgoing SMSC |
| Subject | Logical name of the modem that received the message [default: GSM1] |
| Sent | Timestamp of when message was sent |
| Received | Timestamp of when the message was received by the FoxBox |
All the phone numbers have to be specified in International Format, without the “+”.
The supported character sets are:
- ISO LATIN ANSI: up to 160 characters, with autosplit;
- GSM: up to 160 characters, with autosplit;
- UCS: up to 70 characters, with autosplit;
- BINARY: 8bit binary data, not suitable for text but for ringtones and data trasmission.