One very easy way of sending text messages from a VisualWorks application is to simply send email to a provider that forwards the email to your cell phone. See my previous blog for an example of SMTP in VW.

One such provider is Verizon Wireless. Email sent to yourPhoneNumber@vtext.com will get forwarded. Messages are truncated to 250 characters and attachments are of course ignored. I figured that most cell phone providers would have similar service but from a quick look it seems that most have web interfaces but not many an email interface. However, there are companies out there that offer the service. One such company is www.ipipi.com. What is interesting about them is that email will be forwarded to your cell phone depending on rules that are setup.

We plan to shortly be able to alert our users of production issues via text messaging by leveraging SMTP in VisualWorks.