Cloud Answerphone

Overview

This project was started as a Web Service to answer my UK cellphone number whilst living in Australia. I had moved the number onto Twilio so I decided to build an Azure function that would have a request sent to it everytime my number would be called.

Dependencies

• .NET 8 SDK installed (Download .NET SDK)
• Ngrok Installed (For local builds) (Download NGROK)
• Azure subscription (Create Azure account)
• Twilio subscription (Create Twilio account)

Setup

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/antland01/CloudAnswerPhone

2. Navigate to the project directory:

   cd CloudAnswerPhone

3. Restore dependencies:

   dotnet restore

4. Set up Azure Function CLI (Azure Functions Core Tools):

   npm i -g azure-functions-core-tools --unsafe-perm true

Configuration

1. Azure Resources Setup:

• Create an Azure Function App in the Azure portal.
• Obtain the connection string and URL for your Azure Function

2. Twilio Setup:

• Sign up for Twilio if you haven't already - (Create Twilio account)
• Also setup the numbers you will use with the service to use it to its full you will need at least 2 numbers one to send the notifications and one to call to.
• Go to the Account Info on the main page and note down the Account SID and the Auth Token as they will both be used for the Function.

3. Local Configuration:

• Create a local.settings.json file in the project root.
• fill in with the below template.

  {
   "IsEncrypted": false,
  "Values": {
   "AzureWebJobsStorage": [Connection String from Azure for the Azure Function],
   "FUNCTIONS_EXTENSION_VERSION": "~4",
   "TwilioAuth": [Auth Token from Your Twilio Account],
   "TwilioSID": [SID from Your Twilio Account],
   "MyNumber": [Number you want the Text messages to go to when you get a call],
   "MyNotificationNumber": [Twilio Number for sending notifications from],
   "FunctionURL": [The URL of the Function, Either get this from Azure or NGROK],
   "FUNCTIONS_WORKER_RUNTIME": "dotnet-isolated"
  
  }
  }

Running Locally

1. Run the Azure function locally. Note down the port number being used for the function AnswerPhone.

   dotnet build
   func start

2. Run NGROK with the port number used, Default is 7071.

   ngrok.exe http 7071

3. Go to Twilio and navigate to thw phone number you wish to use and set the webhook URL to NGROKURL/api/AnswerPhone

Deployment

To deploy the Azure Function to Azure, you can use various methods including:

• Azure DevOps Pipelines
• GitHub Actions
• Visual Studio Publish
• Azure CLI
• Azure Portal

Choose the deployment method that best fits your workflow and follow the appropriate steps for deployment.

Author

Anthony Smith