How to send MMS over DUBS to ofono?

kjhg84j9

Hey guys,

I'm just looking for an example on how to send MMS messages via DBUS to ofono. I've found one example online but I'm unable to get it working. There are lots of test details in the ofono git but they dont really help me in figuring out how to send MMS messages, just eveything else.. Is anyone able to provide an example in python or another language or help me get this one working?

I was able to receive MMS by monitoring the dbus with GVariant and just working backwards from the data it sends. I could do the same thing for sending.... Monitor everything, slowly work down the name, interface, etc, and try and duplicate what the messaging app is sending but there has to be a better way, right?

I'm doing all my testing on a nexus 5.

Cheers!

lduboeuf

Have you looked at github repos such as https://github.com/ubports/telepathy-ofono/tree/xenial/tests

i'm interested if you find something, good luck
Have you tried AppDev Telegram channel ?

For an overview ( old resource but guess it is close to what it is now ) : https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Touch/Specs/MMSInfrastructure

kjhg84j9

I have not seen that github repo before. I'll need to have a better look at it but it looks like it has an function to send MMS messages. Thanks!

I have seen that other link. however, I read it when I was just getting started with my project and forgot all about it. Looking at my code now I'm listening on org.ofono.mms.Service for MMSes. I remember seeing telepathy interfaces but I ignored them. I'll have to take another look and see, I might have done this the hard way.

I'm thinking the python script above is trying to send a message on the wrong interface now. I'm also reading about smil files and trying to understand what they do. I just ignored them when I was receiving the MMS because I didn't need the data.

I plan to have everything up on gitlab when I'm done and it will be heavily documented mostly because I'm learning and I have no idea what I'm doing. Commenting code helps me learn and remember what I'm doing.

Cheers!

kjhg84j9

Receiving MMSes are only consistent on the interface I'm using so I guess I have the right one.

sending seems to follow the spec. Later this weekend I'll write something to toss the same data at the interface and see what happens.

method call time=1580999265.470354 sender=:1.152 -> destination=com.canonical.TelephonyServiceHandler serial=903 path=/com/canonical/TelephonyServiceHandler; interface=com.canonical.TelephonyServiceHandler; member=SendMessage
   string "ofono/ofono/account0"
   string "This is an outbound mms message."
   array [
   ]
   array [
      dict entry(
         string "chatType"
         variant             int32 2
      )
      dict entry(
         string "participantIds"
         variant             array [
               string "613xxxyyyy"
               string "613xxxzzzz"
            ]
      )
      dict entry(
         string "threadId"
         variant             string "mms:a389e2a7ac4ef7055304eab4f57c27f9"
      )
   ]




method call time=1581001468.154282 sender=:1.152 -> destination=com.canonical.TelephonyServiceHandler serial=980 path=/com/canonical/TelephonyServiceHandler; interface=com.canonical.TelephonyServiceHandler; member=SendMessage                                               
   string "ofono/ofono/account0"                                    
   string "Small out mms"                                                                                                               
   array [                                                          
   ]                                                                
   array [                                                                                                                              
      dict entry(                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               
         string "chatType"                                                                                                              
         variant             int32 2                                
      )                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
      dict entry(                                                                                                                       
         string "participantIds"                                                                                                        
         variant             array [                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
               string "613xxxyyyy"                                                                                                      
               string "613xxxzzzz"                                  
            ]                                                       
      )                                                             
      dict entry(                                                   
         string "threadId"                                          
         variant             string "mms:a389e2a7ac4ef7055304eab4f57c27f9"                                                              
      )                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
   ]

lduboeuf

If one day you can do something about mms being lost when cellular data is off that would be awesome https://github.com/ubports/telepathy-ofono/issues/9
Good luck for your research

kjhg84j9

@lduboeuf I will definitely take a look after my app is done.

I haven't looked into it yet but there's also a bug with the messages app. if you receive a group MMS and you don't already have the room created it will fail silently. There's info in the logs but basically the Messages app cant find the room and fails, it doesn't try to create it. everything else seems fine it just doesn't build the room. if you do this yourself you'll receive future messages to that group chat but you need to know who to add without any sort of notification.

I'm just getting into coding and the open source community so everything is all very new to me. I'm not sure of the process to look for bugs and open one if none exist but I'll get there

Thank you again!

lduboeuf

https://github.com/ubports/ubuntu-touch is the entry point for bugs.
Some of them are directly set in related repository, but for a better audience (more a end user bug report) it is better to look at that repo first.

kjhg84j9

Alright, so, I got it.

I'm going put some notes here to help others should they need it. telepathy-ofono is a middle man for the ubuntu message app. I'm not using that here, my goal is to build something for the PinePhone no matter what OS they choose. With that, I'm talking directly to ofono.

Here is the dbus call you need to replicate. This is a group MMS message sent with text.

method call time=1580999265.497178 sender=:1.19 -> destination=org.ofono.mms serial=407 path=/org/ofono/mms/302220546062670; interface=org.ofono.mms.Service; member=SendMessage
   array [
      string "613xxxyyyy"
      string "613xxxzzzz"
   ]
   array [
      struct {
         string "text_0.txt"
         string "text/plain"
         string "/home/phablet/.local/share/telepathy-ofono/attachments/attachmentLh3156"
      }
      struct {
         string "smil.xml"
         string "application/smil"
         string "/home/phablet/.local/share/telepathy-ofono/attachments/attachmentnS3156"
      }
   ]

the path (/home/phablet/.local/share/telepathy-ofono/attachments/) does not matter. The directory above is from telepathy-ofono so you can put it anywhere.

The plaintext file (attachmentLh3156) is just that, the text of the message you want to send.

MMS message testing

The smil.xml (attachmentnS3156) will change depending on the amount of attachments (not recipents). If you're just sending text, like above your smil file will look like

<smil>   <head>     <layout>         <region id="Text" width="100%" height="100%" fit="scroll" />     </layout>   </head>   <body>       <par dur="3s">       <text src="text_0.txt" region="Text" />     </par>   </body> </smil>

As an example, if you want to send a picture in this group chat you'd have to change the smil file to:

<smil>   <head>     <layout>         <region id="Image" width="100%" height="100%" fit="meet" />     </layout>   </head>   <body>       <par dur="5000ms">       <img src="pic.jpg" region="Image" />     </par>   </body> </smil>

and of course you'd need to attach a picture. Pictures are limited in their size for me, I can only send pictures under 300KB. This is just the jpg file you're sending you dont have to do anything fancy.

The code I used is VERY lazily modified from the python script I posted in my question. There are errors and some of the code isn't use. my only goal was to test it, not make it look pretty I'm going to spend my weekend translating this to C and cleaning it up.

 phablet@ubuntu-phablet:~$ cat ./sendmms.py
#!/home/phablet/.cache/libertine-container/learning/rootfs/usr/bin/python
import sys
import dbus
import csv
if (len(sys.argv) < 4):
        print "Usage: %s"\
                " <recipient>,..."\
                " <smil-file-path>"\
                " <<content-id>,<content-type>,<file-path>>,..."\
                % (sys.argv[0])
        print "Sample(Related): %s"\
                " \"+33611111111,+33622222222\""\
                " \"smil.txt\""\
                " \"cid-1,text/plain,text.txt\""\
                " \"cid-2,image/jpeg,image.jpg\""\
                % (sys.argv[0])
        print "Sample(Mixed): %s"\
                " \"+33611111111,+33622222222\""\
                " \"\""\
                " \"cid-1,text/plain,text.txt\""\
                " \"cid-2,image/jpeg,image.jpg\""\
                % (sys.argv[0])
        sys.exit(1)
bus = dbus.SessionBus()
manager = dbus.Interface(bus.get_object('org.ofono.mms', '/org/ofono/mms'),
                                        'org.ofono.mms.Manager')

print bus
print manager

#services = manager.GetServices()
services = "org.ofono.mms.Service"
#path = services[0][0]
path = "/org/ofono/mms/302220546062670"
service = dbus.Interface(bus.get_object('org.ofono.mms', path),
                                                'org.ofono.mms.Service')
recipients = dbus.Array([],signature=dbus.Signature('s'))
reader = csv.reader([sys.argv[1]])
for r in reader:
        print "Recipient list: %s" % r
        for i in r:
                recipients.append(dbus.String(i))
if sys.argv[2] == "":
        print "Send MMS as Mixed"
        smil = ""
else:
        print "Send MMS as Related"
        print "Smil path: %s" % (sys.argv[2])
        file = open(sys.argv[2],"r")
        smil = dbus.String(file.read())
attachments = dbus.Array([],signature=dbus.Signature('(sss)'))
for a in sys.argv[3:]:
        print "Attachment: (%s)" % a
        reader = csv.reader([a])
        for r in reader:
                attachments.append(dbus.Struct((dbus.String(r[0]),
                                                dbus.String(r[1]),
                                                dbus.String(r[2])
                                                ), signature=None))

print "hello"
path = service.SendMessage(recipients, attachments)
print "hello2"
print path
phablet@ubuntu-phablet:~$

and finally the command I used to send it:

phablet@ubuntu-phablet:~$ ./sendmms.py "613xxxyyyy,613xxxzzz" "" "smil.xml,application/smil,/pic.smil" "pic.jpg,image/jpeg,/pic.jpg" 
<dbus._dbus.SessionBus (session) at 0xb66ba090>
<Interface <ProxyObject wrapping <dbus._dbus.SessionBus (session) at 0xb66ba090> :1.4 /org/ofono/mms at 0xb66b4410> implementing 'org.ofono.mms.Manager' at 0xb66bc6b0>
Recipient list: ['613xxxyyyy', '613xxxzzz']
Send MMS as Mixed
Attachment: (smil.xml,application/smil,/pic.smil)
Attachment: (pic.jpg,image/jpeg,/pic.jpg)
hello
ERROR:dbus.proxies:Introspect error on :1.4:/org/ofono/mms/302220546062670: dbus.exceptions.DBusException: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply: Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken.
hello2
/org/ofono/mms/302220546062670/3c49e41edd7b06b4d51eaf3b28d1fd3b
phablet@ubuntu-phablet:~$

EDIT:

here is the smil for a picture and some text in an MMS. the filenames inside the smil dont matter.

<smil>   <head>     <layout>         <region id="Image" width="100%" height="100%" fit="meet" /><region id="Text" width="100%" height="100%" fit="scroll" />     </layout>   </head>   <body>       <par dur="5000ms">       <img src="5129919622724107199.jpg" region="Image" />     </par><par dur="3s">       <text src="text_0.txt" region="Text" />     </par>   </body> </smil>

Edit2: very rough C code from someone whos just learning.... Back to building my app! thanks everyone!

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <gio/gio.h>
#include <string.h>

static gchar *object_name       = "org.ofono.mms";
static gchar *object_path       = "/org/ofono/mms/302220546062670";
static gchar *object_interface  = "org.ofono.mms.Service";


int main(  ) {


  GOptionContext *opt_context;
  opt_context = g_option_context_new ("Web-Messages-send_mms");

  GError *error;
  GDBusProxy *proxy;

  proxy = NULL;
  error = NULL;


  proxy = g_dbus_proxy_new_for_bus_sync (G_BUS_TYPE_SESSION,
                                         G_DBUS_PROXY_FLAGS_NONE,
                                         NULL, /* GDBusInterfaceInfo */
                                         object_name,
                                         object_path,
                                         object_interface,
                                         NULL, /* GCancellable */
                                         &error);




  GVariant *variant;
  GVariantBuilder *builder;
  builder = g_variant_builder_new(G_VARIANT_TYPE("as"));
  g_variant_builder_add(builder, "s", "613xxxyyyy");
  g_variant_builder_add(builder, "s", "613xxxzzzz");
  variant = g_variant_new("as", builder);
  g_variant_builder_unref(builder);



  GVariant *value1;
  GVariant *value2;

  value1 = g_variant_new ("(sss)", "smil.xml", "application/smil", "/text.smil");
  value2 = g_variant_new ("(sss)", "text_0.txt", "text/plain", "/text_0.txt");


  GVariant *variant2;
  GVariantBuilder *builder2;
  builder2 = g_variant_builder_new(G_VARIANT_TYPE("a*"));
  g_variant_builder_add(builder2, "*", value1);
  g_variant_builder_add(builder2, "*", value2);
  variant2 = g_variant_new("a*", builder2);
  g_variant_builder_unref(builder2);

  GVariant *package;

  package = g_variant_new ("(**)", variant, variant2);


  gchar *parameters_str;
  parameters_str = g_variant_print (package, TRUE);
  g_print ("parameters_str: \"%s\" \n", parameters_str);
  g_free (parameters_str);




if (proxy == NULL) {
    g_printerr ("Error creating proxy: %s\n", error->message);
    g_error_free (error);
  }
  else {
    g_dbus_proxy_call_sync (proxy,
                            "SendMessage",
                            package,
                            G_DBUS_CALL_FLAGS_NONE,
                            -1,
                            NULL,
                            &error);
  }






    if (proxy != NULL)
      g_object_unref (proxy);
    g_option_context_free (opt_context);












    return 0;
}

Edit again:

For people here from google, I decided to go with Python. My script to bridge to matrix is here. There is a send SMS and a send MMS function that should be helpful.

lduboeuf

wow impressive, thanks for sharing
That 's right, there is lots of issues regarding MMS and UT, but seems that most developers don't use them a lot, still need some volonteers :).

Giiba

It may be you have discovered what is wrong with mms on UT. There are various issues reported all hard to replicate, but in general group mms messages never appear.

That a room is not created upon reciet might just be the answer...

kjhg84j9

@Giiba I must be going mad but I'm sure there was something in the dbus log under phablets home dir. Tail the dbus log and you can watch every MMS arrive and if its a new group it says something like no room found. I found this building my app so I just made a room with the same numbers and I started getting mmses.

I'm not at home so I can't support any of this.

as a side note, my app receives every MMS I toss at it so I dont think there are any big problems with ofono.

Edit: on mobile

Giiba

Do group mms messages come through in your app (ie. multiple recipients)?

Giiba

You are correct sir. I did a test group mms, and sure enough nothing came through to the app but in the dbus log I see the error for each reply (I know the replies were valid as I added my wife to the test and her android phone recieved all of them).

Error creating channel for incoming message  "org.freedesktop.Telepathy.Error.InvalidHandle" "MMS Group not found in cache."

How does your app handle this?

EDIT:
And I see an accompanying error in the messaging app:

file:///usr/share/messaging-app//MultiRecipientInput.qml:289:21: QML Binding: Property 'index' does not exist on TextField.

lduboeuf

@Giiba I think there is an old PR for that https://github.com/ubports/telepathy-ofono/pull/6

Giiba

@lduboeuf I think @kjhg84j9 success points to the problem being the messaging app, not ofono. Not that I understand much of this system.

kjhg84j9

@Giiba said in How to send MMS over DUBS to ofono?:

How does your app handle this?

I'm completely separate from the ubuntu messages app and all my stuff is cli only right now. messages I send dont even show up in the messages app.

You can run dbus-monitor on the phone and watch everything sent over the dbus. my app watches this for messages from org.ofono.mms and then unpacks them.

I have a long road ahead of me before I understand enough to help out with any of this.Also, I want to get the first version of my app up and out of the way before I start doing other things.

Giiba

@kjhg84j9
Don't worry, I am not expecting a quick fix. But this is the first time in a year that I have found log entries regarding mms messaging.

I am now able to see all of the messages I don't get in the error log. That's progress.