Send SMS from J2EE application

[Liang Anmian]

Hi guys,

Hope you will help me out. I'm quite new to J2ME programming. I have searched the web for answers to my question, but I do not know which is relevant, so I wish to ask here.

I'm now doing a little school project which requires both J2EE and J2ME. It's a very simple application. The J2EE server has a MySQL database that stores your friendss birthdays. Cron job is used to run a simple servlet once everyday. If any of your friends' birthday happen to fall on that very day, the J2EE server will send an SMS to you, reminding you that today is your friend's birthday.

However, I've a newbie question here. What tools must I install on the J2EE server before I can send SMS from the server to a mobile phone?

I will be equally contented if someone can point me to a website that explains this. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot.

PS: I know this question is very silly, but please pardon me, as I have absolutely no experience in J2ME programming.

[Lasse Koskela]

There's no standard API for sending SMS using J2SE/J2EE.

In order to send SMS messages in general, someone needs to talk to a mobile operator's SMSC (SMS Center) and that usually requires a commercial agreement between the parties as well as installing an SMS Gateway on your server-side. Therefore, it's often easier to use a service provider such as MobileWay or SimpleWire (which obviously involves purchasing a license but that's a lot easier than getting through certain mobile operators' bureaucracy...) and let the service provider worry about connecting to the SMSC.

[Michael Yuan]

Originally posted by Lasse Koskela:
There's no standard API for sending SMS using J2SE/J2EE.

Actually, there is one: JSR 212

http://www.jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=212

I know because I am a member of the JSR expert group. If you are going to JavaOne, there is a presentation on JSR 212. I think Nokia also has a reference implementation based on the Nokia Server Services SDK. However, we have to wait for the carriers to adopt it.

[Lasse Koskela]

Originally posted by Michael Yuan:
Actually, there is one: JSR 212

Wow. And it's already gotten a final approval!
Any idea how long it would take for this JSR to become "mainstream"?

[Liang Anmian]

Hi guys,

I still have no luck accomplishing this. I will like to know more about server sending SMS. In most cases, how does a server send an SMS? Does it send by attaching a mobile device to the server and pass commands to the mobile device? Or does it send in any other ways?

I am doing this feature for my final year project, so I do not have any budget to pay for any services online. I was wondering if there's any workaround. One way is connect the mobile device to the server, and send AT commands directly. But I seriously have no idea how to do that, let alone using J2EE to do that. If there's a 3rd party package file (API) for me to download and use for free, it will be merrier (although it will be very rare). Or is there any other ways?

Thanks for any help offered.