Posts / May 4, 2010

FrontlineSMS Reminders Plugin

FrontlineSMS is powerful open source software that turns an ordinary laptop and mobile phone into a low cost communications hub. It’s used by NGOS around the world to send and receive text messages for such efforts as human rights monitoring, disaster relief, education programs and fundraising campaigns. It’s also at the heart of FrontlineSMS:Medic which is revolutionizing global health by empowering rural healthcare workers.

So when my friend Lucky Gunasekara asked if I could develop a much requested reminder plugin, I jumped at the opportunity. For one, it gave me an excuse to dive into the Frontline source code. And two, it would benefit the entire community.

The Frontline Reminders Plugin allows you to schedule email and SMS reminders for a specific date range occurring once, hourly, daily, weekly or monthly.

There was a bit of a learning curve to develop the plugin, especially with my somewhat limited Java, Hibernate and Thinlet experience. Thankfully Alex Anderson and Dieterich Lawson were great help answering my questions on the Frontline Google Group.

The plugin definitely has room for improvement, and I already have a few ideas for additional occurrence types; Every Weekend, Every Weekday, Every Sunday, etc.

You can checkout the source code at: http://github.com/dalezak/FrontlineSMS-Reminders