Channel identifier

In the Enterprise Communications API this channel can be referenced using: whatsApp

This identifier can be used in the rules array, channelOptions and customBody sections.

Send a WhatsApp message

To send a WhatsApp message through the Enterprise Communications API you must ensure that:

your channel rules include the whatsApp channel
you specify either a phoneNumber in international format or a profileId with a phone number in the to section of your request.

The message itself can be of two different types.

Message types

The message type you can send is governed by whether you are in a conversation with a WhatsApp user or not. A conversation on WhatsApp is considered to be occurring for 24 hours after the last inbound message you received from a WhatsApp user.

Outside of a conversation window you can only send template messages. Within a conversation window, either template or session messages can be sent.

Template messages

If you’re not in a conversation with a WhatsApp user then you may only send a pre-approved template-based message. As part of the onboarding process we register your templates with WhatsApp for you, and provide you with the template ID's and the template namespace.

Currently, templates can only be text based and may be defined in multiple languages. Templates can also contain parameters to allow personalization and specifics to be included in the message.

Send a template message

To use the Enterprise Communications API to send a template message you must include a special message part which is used to identify the template required and pass the parameters required for that template.

Learn more in Multi-part messages.

The MIME type for the message part is whatsapp/template. As only the WhatsApp channel can use this MIME type, you must include a channel filter using the channels array and include the value whatsApp.

The following additional fields are required in the data field of the message part:

Field	Description	Example value	Required
namespace	The namespace for your template. In combination with your template name, this makes it unique throughout WhatsApp. You can find this value in the templates section for your WhatsApp channel.	de0464f9_3d87_cb42_b0d7_d7651ab3337a	Yes
templateName	The unique name of the template you want to send. You can find this value in the templates section for your WhatsApp channel.	dispatch_confirmation	Yes
languageCode	The desired language you want the template sent in. You must have pre-registered the language variant of the template prior to using it. Contact your Customer Success representative to do this.	en	Yes
parameters	This is the array of parameters to be merged into your template. Ensure the order of the values in the array matches the order you want them merged into the template. The parameters can be of the following types: - default – a string value. - currency – a currency value that is localised automatically. - date_time – A date time that is localised automatically.Each value passed should be an object with a `default` field and the plain text version of the value required. For example:`{ "default": "A text field" }` If you want to use one of the localisable types then you need to pass additional details along with the default value, such as currency code Learn more in the section Localizable Parameters. Include values for all the parameters in the template, ensuring the types match those you registered.	[ { "default": "Dave" }, { "default": "1234" } ]	No

🚧
Variable ordering is important
When passing parameters with your template message sends it is critical to order the parameters match those used in your template.

Localizable parameters

When sending a template with parameters you may want to send values that need adapting depending on the recipients locality, such as currency values or dates. WhatsApp supports localization of currency and date/time parameters, but you must pass additional details for these localizable parameters.

All parameters objects must contain a default value, which is used should any issues be encountered trying to localize the parameter. This should be a generic plain text representation of the value.

Currency values

In order to send a localizable currency value you need to includes the following fields in your parameter object:

Field	Description	Example value	Required
default	Generic plain text representation of the date time value which is used if localization isn’t possible.	199 USD	Yes
currency	A currency object to describe the currency value and source currency.	"currency": { "currency_code": "USD", "amount_1000": 100990 }	Yes

currency object

Field	Description	Example value	Required
currency_code	The ISO currency code your charge is based on.	USD	Yes
amount_1000	The amount to charge in one thousandths of the currency, for example, $9.99 is 9990 , worked out by 9.99 * 1000.	9990	Yes

Date/time values

In order to send a localizable date time value you need to include the following fields in your parameter object:

Field	Description	Example value	Required
default	Generic plain text representation of the date time value which is used if localization isn’t possible.	1st January 2019, 14:45	Yes
date_time	A date_time object to describe the date and time using individual component parts.	"date_time": { "component": { "day_of_week": 5, "day_of_month": 25, "year": 1977, "month": 2, "hour": 15, "minute": 33 }	Yes

date_time object

Field	Description	Example value	Required
component	A component object to describe the date and time using individual component parts.	"component": { "day_of_week": 5, "day_of_month": 25, "year": 1977, "month": 2, "hour": 15, "minute": 33 }	No

component object

Field	Description	Example value	Required
day_of_week	The day of the week as an integer where 1 = Monday and 7 = Sunday.	5	No
day_of_the_month	The day of the month as an integer.	25	No
year	The year as a four digit integer.	1977	No
month	The month as an integer.	2	No
hour	The hour as an integer based on the 24 hour clock.	15	No
minute	The minute as an integer.	33	No
calendar	The type of calendar you want to use, defaults to Gregorian. Choose from GREGORIAN or SOLAR_HIJRI.	GREGORIAN	No

Example template sends

{
  "to": {
    "phoneNumber": "447123123123"
  },
  "rules": [
    "whatsApp"
  ],
  "messageParts": [
    {
      "channels": [
        "whatsApp"
      ],
      "type": "whatsapp/template",
      "data": {
        "namespace": "de0464f9_3d87_cb42_b0d7_d7651ab3337a",
        "templateName": "dispatch_confirmation",
        "languageCode": "en",
        "parameters": [
          {
            "default": "Dave"
          },
          {
            "default": "1234"
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}

{
  "to": {
    "phoneNumber": "447123123123"
  },
  "rules": [
    "whatsApp"
  ],
  "messageParts": [
    {
      "channels": [
        "whatsApp"
      ],
      "type": "whatsapp/template",
      "data": {
        "namespace": "ce0464f9_3d87_fb42_b0d7_d7651ab3337a",
        "templateName": "dispatch_confirmation",
        "languageCode": "en",
        "parameters": [
          {
            "default": "February 25, 1977",
            "date_time": {
              "component": {
                "day_of_week": 5,
                "day_of_month": 25,
                "month": 2,
                "year": 1977
              }
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  ],
  "metadata": {
    "data": "My correlation data"
  }
}

{
  "to": {
    "phoneNumber": "447123123123"
  },
  "rules": [
    "whatsApp"
  ],
  "messageParts": [
    {
      "channels": [
        "whatsApp"
      ],
      "type": "whatsapp/template",
      "data": {
        "namespace": "de0464f9_3d87_cb42_b0d7_d7651ab3337a",
        "templateName": "dispatch_confirmation",
        "languageCode": "en",
        "parameters": [
          {
            "default": "$9.99",
            "currency": {
              "currency_code": "USD",
              "amount_1000": 9990
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  ],
  "metadata": {
    "data": "My correlation data"
  }
}

Send media templates

If you have chosen to use media in your WhatsApp templates then to pass the additional information you must use the custom body option.

📘
The JSON you need to pass in the custom body to use a media template is described in Meta’s developer documentation.

We automatically populate the to field within the custom body block, so you don’t need to specify it.

The following example is of a call to send a media template with an image header and two parameters in the body.

{
  "to": {
    "phoneNumber": "447123123123"
  },
  "rules": [
    "whatsApp"
  ],
  "customBody": {
    "whatsApp": {
      "type": "template",
      "template": {
        "namespace": "ce0464f9_3d87_fb42_b0d7_d7651ab3337a",
        "name": "appointment_booked",
        "language": {
          "policy": "deterministic",
          "code": "en"
        },
        "components": [
          {
            "type": "header",
            "parameters": [
              {
                "type": "image",
                "image": {
                  "link": "https://files.readme.io/6102a7e-dotdigital_logo_stacked_reversed_RGB.png"
                }
              }
            ]
          },
          {
            "type": "body",
            "parameters": [
              {
                "type": "date_time",
                "date_time": {
                  "fallback_value": "2021-09-02",
                  "day_of_week": 4,
                  "day_of_month": 2,
                  "year": 2021,
                  "month": 9,
                  "hour": 12,
                  "minute": 00
                }
              },
              {
                "type": "text",
                "text": "London"
              }
            ]
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

Session messages

Session messages can be sent within a WhatsApp conversation session, which lasts 24 hours from the last inbound you received from a WhatsApp user. Session messages are designed to be used to allow businesses to send the information necessary to answer a WhatsApp user’s queries and therefore are free format.

To use the Enterprise Communications API to send a session messages you can use either the standard body field to send text-based messages, or for multimedia use multi-part messages.

Learn more in Multi-part messages.

The following message types are supported by WhatsApp:

Text, with optional URL preview.
Image (JPG, JPEG, PNG), with optional text comment.
Audio (AAC, M4A, AMR, MP3, OGG, OPUS)
Documents (PDF, DOC(X), PPT(X), XLS(X))

Text formatting

WhatsApp supports simple text formatting in text-based messages that can be used to help you communicate more effectively.

The following formatting annotations are supported:

Format	Annotation	Example
Bold	* (Asterisk)	Your order has shipped priority
Italics	_ (Underscore)	This is an estimated delivery date
~Strike through~	~ (Tilde)	~~Shipping charge £10.00~~
`Code`	``` (3 x Back quotes)	`console.log("test");`

Example Session message sends

{
  "to": {
    "phoneNumber": "447123123123"
  },
  "rules": [
    "whatsApp"
  ],
  "body": "A text session message via WhatsApp"
}

{
  "to": {
    "phoneNumber": "447123123123"
  },
  "rules": [
    "whatsApp"
  ],
  "body": "A _formatted_ text session message via *WhatsApp*"
}

{
  "to": {
    "phoneNumber": "447123123123"
  },
  "rules": [
    "whatsApp"
  ],
  "body": "Check out this video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJLcwqgVOKM",
  "channelOptions": {
    "whatsApp": {
      "enableUrlPreview": true
    }
  }
}

{
  "to": {
    "phoneNumber": "447123123123"
  },
  "rules": [
    "whatsApp"
  ],
  "messageParts": [
    {
      "type": "image/png",
      "url": "https://files.readme.io/6102a7e-dotdigital_logo_stacked_reversed_RGB.png"
    }
  ]
}

{
  "to": {
    "phoneNumber": "447123123123"
  },
  "rules": [
    "whatsApp"
  ],
  "messageParts": [
    {
      "type": "image/png",
      "url": "https://files.readme.io/6102a7e-dotdigital_logo_stacked_reversed_RGB.png"
    },
    {
      "type": "text/plain",
      "data": "My image caption"
    }
  ]
}

{
  "to": {
    "phoneNumber": "447123123123"
  },
  "rules": [
    "whatsApp"
  ],
  "messageParts": [
    {
      "type": "audio/mp3",
      "url": "https://sample-videos.com/audio/mp3/crowd-cheering.mp3"
    }
  ]
}

{
  "to": {
    "phoneNumber": "447123123123"
  },
  "rules": [
    "whatsApp"
  ],
  "messageParts": [
    {
      "type": "application/pdf",
      "url": "http://cdn.dnky.co/docs/example.pdf",
      "name": "Overview.pdf"
    }
  ]
}

📘
Message length
The maximum length of a text based WhatsApp message supported is 4096 characters.

Channel options

The following additional channel options can be used to control the WhatsApp channel’s most common options.

To use the channel options, create an object with your options in the request’s channelOptions section in the whatsApp property:

Property	Type	Description
phoneNumber	string	The registered WhatsApp phone number to send the message from. Default from channel configuration is used if not specified.
enableUrlPreview	Boolean	If set to `true`, any URL's sent in a text session message have a URL preview rendered underneath.

{
  "to": {
    "phoneNumber": "447123123123"
  },
  "rules": [
    "whatsApp"
  ],
  "body": "A text session message via WhatsApp",
  "channelOptions": {
    "whatsApp": {
      "phoneNumber": "447860041651"
    }
  }
}

{
  "to": {
    "phoneNumber": "447123123123"
  },
  "rules": [
    "whatsApp"
  ],
  "body": "Check out this video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJLcwqgVOKM",
  "channelOptions": {
    "whatsApp": {
      "enableUrlPreview": true
    }
  }
}

Custom body

The Enterprise Communications API automatically creates WhatsApp messages for you if you only define the body property or multi parts when sending a message, but you can override this if you use the customBody property and define a whatsApp object within it

This can be useful for accessing features in the channel we don't support in our common message format.

Details of how to create a WhatsApp business message can be found in Meta’s developer documentation.

Examples of sends using WhatsApp custom bodies:

{
  "to": {
    "phoneNumber": "447123123123"
  },
  "rules": [
    "whatsApp"
  ],
  "customBody": {
    "whatsApp": {
      "preview_url": true,
      "text": {
        "body": "You have to check out this amazing messaging service https://www.whatsapp.com/"
      }
    }
  }
}

🚧
Ensure you specify a to block
When using the customBody option with the WhatsApp channel you still need to specify the phoneNumber in the to block as this is used for profile identification.

Receipts and inbounds

Inbound messages

Allows you to receive messages sent from WhatsApp users to your hosted WhatsApp phone numbers. Messages are delivered to a URL of your choosing using the webhook system.

Receipts

If you need to to know the status of messages you've sent using one of our APIs, you can request that delivery receipts are forwarded to a URL of your choosing using the webhook system.

You can receive the following types of receipts:

Sent
Delivered
Read
Expired
Failed

Specific channel data

The WhatsApp channel carries the following extra channel specific data in the [message.sent](https://docs.cpaas.dotdigital.com/reference/one-api-messages) webhook event which may be of use in your integrations.

The channel data can be found in the message.sent webhook event in the payload > channelData node:

"channelData": {
    "whatsApp": {
      "virtualDeviceNumber": "447123123123",
      "isTemplateMessage": true,
      "isWithinConversationWindow": false,
      "phoneNumberCountryCode": "GB"
    }
  }

{
    "eventId": "802dd5d4-6c4b-4dc5-894b-45cb9093edc6",
    "accountId": 1234,
    "apiSpaceId": "ae1f5482-2438-41ce-ac1a-9137491f701d",
    "name": "message.sent",
    "payload": {
        "id": "0cae9944-e9cc-4e02-8b57-6b6fdda5bf83",
        "details": {
            "channel": "whatsApp",
            "channelStatus": {
                "id": "gBEGRHcVF4YFAgkZWbkNtLCDl3Q",
                "status": "sent",
                "timestamp": "1553856524"
            }
        },
        "channelData": {
            "whatsApp": {
                "virtualDeviceNumber": "447123123123",
                "isTemplateMessage": true,
                "isWithinConversationWindow": false,
                "phoneNumberCountryCode": "GB"
            }
        },
        "metadata": {
            "data": "My correlation data"
        },
        "updatedOn": "2019-03-29T10:48:44.000Z"
    },
    "revision": 3,
    "etag": "\"2e-1+NMqmJkP6uO+VSvP40vKRcl0nw\"",
    "timestamp": "2019-03-29T10:48:44.963Z"
}

The data:

Path	Field	Description
whatsApp	virtualDeviceNumber	The identifier WhatsApp is using to target the device you sent to.
whatsApp	isTemplateMessage	Boolean indicating whether the message sent was a template based message or not.
whatsApp	isWithinConversationWindow	Boolean indicating whether the message was sent within a conversation window or not.
whatsApp	phoneNumberCountryCode	The two-character country code for the phone number you sent to.

WhatsApp

Channel identifier

Send a WhatsApp message

Message types

Template messages

Send a template message

🚧
Variable ordering is important

Localizable parameters

Currency values

Date/time values

Example template sends

Send media templates

📘
The JSON you need to pass in the custom body to use a media template is described in Meta’s developer documentation.

Session messages

Text formatting

Example Session message sends

📘
Message length

Channel options

Custom body

🚧
Ensure you specify a to block

Receipts and inbounds

Specific channel data

Channel identifier

Send a WhatsApp message

Message types

Template messages

Send a template message

🚧Variable ordering is important

Localizable parameters

Currency values

Date/time values

Example template sends

Send media templates

📘The JSON you need to pass in the custom body to use a media template is described in Meta’s developer documentation.

Session messages

Text formatting

Example Session message sends

📘Message length

Channel options

Custom body

🚧Ensure you specify a to block

Receipts and inbounds

Specific channel data

🚧
Variable ordering is important

📘
The JSON you need to pass in the custom body to use a media template is described in Meta’s developer documentation.

📘
Message length

🚧
Ensure you specify a to block