Creating and Sending Notifications

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Creating and Sending Notifications

Installation

Current web applications use many different channels to send messages to the users (e.g. SMS, Slack messages, emails, push notifications, etc.). The Notifier component in Symfony is an abstraction on top of all these channels. It provides a dynamic way to manage how the messages are sent. Get the Notifier installed using:

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$ composer require symfony/notifier

Channels: Chatters, Texters, Email, Browser and Push

The notifier component can send notifications to different channels. Each channel can integrate with different providers (e.g. Slack or Twilio SMS) by using transports.

The notifier component supports the following channels:

Tip

Use secrets to securely store your API's tokens.

SMS Channel

Caution

If any of the DSN values contains any character considered special in a URI (such as +, @, $, #, /, :, *, !), you must encode them. See RFC 3986 for the full list of reserved characters or use the urlencode function to encode them.

The SMS channel uses Texter classes to send SMS messages to mobile phones. This feature requires subscribing to a third-party service that sends SMS messages. Symfony provides integration with a couple popular SMS services:

Service Package DSN
AllMySms symfony/all-my-sms-notifier allmysms://LOGIN:APIKEY@default?from=FROM
AmazonSns symfony/amazon-sns-notifier sns://ACCESS_KEY:SECRET_KEY@default?region=REGION
Clickatell symfony/clickatell-notifier clickatell://ACCESS_TOKEN@default?from=FROM
Esendex symfony/esendex-notifier esendex://USER_NAME:PASSWORD@default?accountreference=ACCOUNT_REFERENCE&from=FROM
FakeSms symfony/fake-sms-notifier fakesms+email://MAILER_SERVICE_ID?to=TO&from=FROM or fakesms+logger://default
FreeMobile symfony/free-mobile-notifier freemobile://LOGIN:API_KEY@default?phone=PHONE
GatewayApi symfony/gateway-api-notifier gatewayapi://TOKEN@default?from=FROM
Infobip symfony/infobip-notifier infobip://AUTH_TOKEN@HOST?from=FROM
Iqsms symfony/iqsms-notifier iqsms://LOGIN:PASSWORD@default?from=FROM
LightSms symfony/light-sms-notifier lightsms://LOGIN:TOKEN@default?from=PHONE
Mailjet symfony/mailjet-notifier mailjet://TOKEN@default?from=FROM
MessageBird symfony/message-bird-notifier messagebird://TOKEN@default?from=FROM
MessageMedia symfony/message-media-notifier messagemedia://API_KEY:API_SECRET@default?from=FROM
Mobyt symfony/mobyt-notifier mobyt://USER_KEY:ACCESS_TOKEN@default?from=FROM
Nexmo symfony/nexmo-notifier Abandoned in favor of Vonage (symfony/vonage-notifier).
Octopush symfony/octopush-notifier octopush://USERLOGIN:APIKEY@default?from=FROM&type=TYPE
OvhCloud symfony/ovh-cloud-notifier ovhcloud://APPLICATION_KEY:APPLICATION_SECRET@default?consumer_key=CONSUMER_KEY&service_name=SERVICE_NAME
Sendinblue symfony/sendinblue-notifier sendinblue://API_KEY@default?sender=PHONE
Sms77 symfony/sms77-notifier sms77://API_KEY@default?from=FROM
Sinch symfony/sinch-notifier sinch://ACCOUNT_ID:AUTH_TOKEN@default?from=FROM
Smsapi symfony/smsapi-notifier smsapi://TOKEN@default?from=FROM
SmsBiuras symfony/sms-biuras-notifier smsbiuras://UID:API_KEY@default?from=FROM&test_mode=0
Smsc symfony/smsc-notifier smsc://LOGIN:PASSWORD@default?from=FROM
SpotHit symfony/spot-hit-notifier spothit://TOKEN@default?from=FROM
Telnyx symfony/telnyx-notifier telnyx://API_KEY@default?from=FROM&messaging_profile_id=MESSAGING_PROFILE_ID
TurboSms symfony/turbo-sms-notifier turbosms://AUTH_TOKEN@default?from=FROM
Twilio symfony/twilio-notifier twilio://SID:TOKEN@default?from=FROM
Vonage symfony/vonage-notifier vonage://KEY:SECRET@default?from=FROM
Yunpian symfony/yunpian-notifier yunpian://APIKEY@default

To enable a texter, add the correct DSN in your .env file and configure the texter_transports:

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# .env
TWILIO_DSN=twilio://SID:TOKEN@default?from=FROM
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# config/packages/notifier.yaml
framework:
    notifier:
        texter_transports:
            twilio: '%env(TWILIO_DSN)%'

The TexterInterface class allows you to send SMS messages:

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// src/Controller/SecurityController.php
namespace App\Controller;

use Symfony\Component\Notifier\Message\SmsMessage;
use Symfony\Component\Notifier\TexterInterface;
use Symfony\Component\Routing\Annotation\Route;

class SecurityController
{
    #[Route('/login/success')]
    public function loginSuccess(TexterInterface $texter)
    {
        $sms = new SmsMessage(
            // the phone number to send the SMS message to
            '+1411111111',
            // the message
            'A new login was detected!'
        );

        $sentMessage = $texter->send($sms);

        // ...
    }
}

The send() method returns a variable of type SentMessage which provides information such as the message ID and the original message contents.

Chat Channel

Caution

If any of the DSN values contains any character considered special in a URI (such as +, @, $, #, /, :, *, !), you must encode them. See RFC 3986 for the full list of reserved characters or use the urlencode function to encode them.

The chat channel is used to send chat messages to users by using Chatter classes. Symfony provides integration with these chat services:

Service Package DSN
AmazonSns symfony/amazon-sns-notifier sns://ACCESS_KEY:SECRET_KEY@default?region=REGION
Discord symfony/discord-notifier discord://TOKEN@default?webhook_id=ID
FakeChat symfony/fake-chat-notifier fakechat+email://default?to=TO&from=FROM or fakechat+logger://default
Firebase symfony/firebase-notifier firebase://USERNAME:PASSWORD@default
Gitter symfony/gitter-notifier gitter://TOKEN@default?room_id=ROOM_ID
GoogleChat symfony/google-chat-notifier googlechat://ACCESS_KEY:ACCESS_TOKEN@default/SPACE?thread_key=THREAD_KEY
LinkedIn symfony/linked-in-notifier linkedin://TOKEN:USER_ID@default
Mattermost symfony/mattermost-notifier mattermost://ACCESS_TOKEN@HOST/PATH?channel=CHANNEL
Mercure symfony/mercure-notifier mercure://HUB_ID?topic=TOPIC
MicrosoftTeams symfony/microsoft-teams-notifier microsoftteams://default/PATH
RocketChat symfony/rocket-chat-notifier rocketchat://TOKEN@ENDPOINT?channel=CHANNEL
Slack symfony/slack-notifier slack://TOKEN@default?channel=CHANNEL
Telegram symfony/telegram-notifier telegram://TOKEN@default?channel=CHAT_ID
Zulip symfony/zulip-notifier zulip://EMAIL:TOKEN@HOST?channel=CHANNEL

Chatters are configured using the chatter_transports setting:

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# .env
SLACK_DSN=slack://TOKEN@default?channel=CHANNEL
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# config/packages/notifier.yaml
framework:
    notifier:
        chatter_transports:
            slack: '%env(SLACK_DSN)%'

The ChatterInterface class allows you to send messages to chat services:

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// src/Controller/CheckoutController.php
namespace App\Controller;

use Symfony\Bundle\FrameworkBundle\Controller\AbstractController;
use Symfony\Component\Notifier\ChatterInterface;
use Symfony\Component\Notifier\Message\ChatMessage;
use Symfony\Component\Routing\Annotation\Route;

class CheckoutController extends AbstractController
{
    /**
     * @Route("/checkout/thankyou")
     */
    public function thankyou(ChatterInterface $chatter)
    {
        $message = (new ChatMessage('You got a new invoice for 15 EUR.'))
            // if not set explicitly, the message is send to the
            // default transport (the first one configured)
            ->transport('slack');

        $sentMessage = $chatter->send($message);

        // ...
    }
}

The send() method returns a variable of type SentMessage which provides information such as the message ID and the original message contents.

Email Channel

The email channel uses the Symfony Mailer to send notifications using the special NotificationEmail. It is required to install the Twig bridge along with the Inky and CSS Inliner Twig extensions:

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$ composer require symfony/twig-pack twig/cssinliner-extra twig/inky-extra

After this, configure the mailer. You can also set the default "from" email address that should be used to send the notification emails:

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# config/packages/mailer.yaml
framework:
    mailer:
        dsn: '%env(MAILER_DSN)%'
        envelope:
            sender: 'notifications@example.com'

Push Channel

Caution

If any of the DSN values contains any character considered special in a URI (such as +, @, $, #, /, :, *, !), you must encode them. See RFC 3986 for the full list of reserved characters or use the urlencode function to encode them.

The push channel is used to send notifications to users by using Texter classes. Symfony provides integration with these push services:

Service Package DSN
Expo symfony/expo-notifier expo://Token@default
OneSignal symfony/one-signal-notifier onesignal://APP_ID:API_KEY@default?defaultRecipientId=DEFAULT_RECIPIENT_ID

To enable a texter, add the correct DSN in your .env file and configure the texter_transports:

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# .env
EXPO_DSN=expo://TOKEN@default
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# config/packages/notifier.yaml
framework:
    notifier:
        texter_transports:
            expo: '%env(EXPO_DSN)%'

Configure to use Failover or Round-Robin Transports

Besides configuring one or more separate transports, you can also use the special || and && characters to implement a failover or round-robin transport:

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# config/packages/notifier.yaml
framework:
    notifier:
        chatter_transports:
            # Send notifications to Slack and use Telegram if
            # Slack errored
            main: '%env(SLACK_DSN)% || %env(TELEGRAM_DSN)%'

            # Send notifications to the next scheduled transport calculated by round robin
            roundrobin: '%env(SLACK_DSN)% && %env(TELEGRAM_DSN)%'

Creating & Sending Notifications

To send a notification, autowire the NotifierInterface (service ID notifier). This class has a send() method that allows you to send a Notification to a Recipient:

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// src/Controller/InvoiceController.php
namespace App\Controller;

use Symfony\Component\Notifier\Notification\Notification;
use Symfony\Component\Notifier\NotifierInterface;
use Symfony\Component\Notifier\Recipient\Recipient;

class InvoiceController extends AbstractController
{
    #[Route('/invoice/create')]
    public function create(NotifierInterface $notifier)
    {
        // ...

        // Create a Notification that has to be sent
        // using the "email" channel
        $notification = (new Notification('New Invoice', ['email']))
            ->content('You got a new invoice for 15 EUR.');

        // The receiver of the Notification
        $recipient = new Recipient(
            $user->getEmail(),
            $user->getPhonenumber()
        );

        // Send the notification to the recipient
        $notifier->send($notification, $recipient);

        // ...
    }
}

The Notification is created by using two arguments: the subject and channels. The channels specify which channel (or transport) should be used to send the notification. For instance, ['email', 'sms'] will send both an email and sms notification to the user.

The default notification also has a content() and emoji() method to set the notification content and icon.

Symfony provides the following recipients:

NoRecipient
This is the default and is useful when there is no need to have information about the receiver. For example, the browser channel uses the current requests' session flashbag;
Recipient
This can contain both the email address and the phone number of the user. This recipient can be used for all channels (depending on whether they are actually set).

Configuring Channel Policies

Instead of specifying the target channels on creation, Symfony also allows you to use notification importance levels. Update the configuration to specify what channels should be used for specific levels (using channel_policy):

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# config/packages/notifier.yaml
framework:
    notifier:
        # ...
        channel_policy:
            # Use SMS, Slack and email for urgent notifications
            urgent: ['sms', 'chat/slack', 'email']

            # Use Slack for highly important notifications
            high: ['chat/slack']

            # Use browser for medium and low notifications
            medium: ['browser']
            low: ['browser']

Now, whenever the notification's importance is set to "high", it will be sent using the Slack transport:

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// ...
class InvoiceController extends AbstractController
{
    #[Route('/invoice/create')]
    public function invoice(NotifierInterface $notifier)
    {
        // ...

        $notification = (new Notification('New Invoice'))
            ->content('You got a new invoice for 15 EUR.')
            ->importance(Notification::IMPORTANCE_HIGH);

        $notifier->send($notification, new Recipient('wouter@example.com'));

        // ...
    }
}

Customize Notifications

You can extend the Notification or Recipient base classes to customize their behavior. For instance, you can overwrite the getChannels() method to only return sms if the invoice price is very high and the recipient has a phone number:

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namespace App\Notifier;

use Symfony\Component\Notifier\Notification\Notification;
use Symfony\Component\Notifier\Recipient\RecipientInterface;
use Symfony\Component\Notifier\Recipient\SmsRecipientInterface;

class InvoiceNotification extends Notification
{
    private $price;

    public function __construct(int $price)
    {
        $this->price = $price;
    }

    public function getChannels(RecipientInterface $recipient)
    {
        if (
            $this->price > 10000
            && $recipient instanceof SmsRecipientInterface
        ) {
            return ['sms'];
        }

        return ['email'];
    }
}

Customize Notification Messages

Each channel has its own notification interface that you can implement to customize the notification message. For instance, if you want to modify the message based on the chat service, implement ChatNotificationInterface and its asChatMessage() method:

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// src/Notifier/InvoiceNotification.php
namespace App\Notifier;

use Symfony\Component\Notifier\Message\ChatMessage;
use Symfony\Component\Notifier\Notification\ChatNotificationInterface;
use Symfony\Component\Notifier\Notification\Notification;
use Symfony\Component\Notifier\Recipient\RecipientInterface;

class InvoiceNotification extends Notification implements ChatNotificationInterface
{
    private $price;

    public function __construct(int $price)
    {
        $this->price = $price;
    }

    public function asChatMessage(RecipientInterface $recipient, string $transport = null): ?ChatMessage
    {
        // Add a custom subject and emoji if the message is sent to Slack
        if ('slack' === $transport) {
            $this->subject('You\'re invoiced '.strval($this->price).' EUR.');
            $this->emoji("money");
            return ChatMessage::fromNotification($this);
        }

        // If you return null, the Notifier will create the ChatMessage
        // based on this notification as it would without this method.
        return null;
    }
}

The SmsNotificationInterface, EmailNotificationInterface and PushNotificationInterface also exists to modify messages sent to those channels.

Disabling Delivery

While developing (or testing), you may want to disable delivery of notifications entirely. You can do this by forcing Notifier to use the NullTransport for all configured texter and chatter transports only in the dev (and/or test) environment:

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# config/packages/dev/notifier.yaml
framework:
    notifier:
        texter_transports:
            twilio: 'null://null'
        chatter_transports:
            slack: 'null://null'

Using Events

The Transport` class of the Notifier component allows you to optionally hook into the lifecycle via events.

The MessageEvent::class Event

Typical Purposes: Doing something before the message is send (like logging which message is going to be send, or displaying something about the event to be executed.

Just before send the message, the event class MessageEvent is dispatched. Listeners receive a MessageEvent event:

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use Symfony\Component\Notifier\Event\MessageEvent;

$dispatcher->addListener(MessageEvent::class, function (MessageEvent $event) {
    // gets the message instance
    $message = $event->getMessage();

    // log something
    $this->logger(sprintf('Message with subject: %s will be send to %s, $message->getSubject(), $message->getRecipientId()'));
});

The FailedMessageEvent Event

Typical Purposes: Doing something before the exception is thrown (Retry to send the message or log additional information).

Whenever an exception is thrown while sending the message, the event class FailedMessageEvent is dispatched. A listener can do anything useful before the exception is thrown.

Listeners receive a FailedMessageEvent event:

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use Symfony\Component\Notifier\Event\FailedMessageEvent;

$dispatcher->addListener(FailedMessageEvent::class, function (FailedMessageEvent $event) {
    // gets the message instance
    $message = $event->getMessage();

    // gets the error instance
    $error = $event->getError();

    // log something
    $this->logger(sprintf('The message with subject: %s has not been sent successfully. The error is: %s, $message->getSubject(), $error->getMessage()'));
});

The SentMessageEvent Event

Typical Purposes: To perform some action when the message is successfully sent (like retrieve the id returned when the message is sent).

After the message has been successfully sent, the event class SentMessageEvent is dispatched. Listeners receive a SentMessageEvent event:

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use Symfony\Component\Notifier\Event\SentMessageEvent;

$dispatcher->addListener(SentMessageEvent::class, function (SentMessageEvent $event) {
    // gets the message instance
    $message = $event->getOriginalMessage();

    // log something
    $this->logger(sprintf('The message has been successfully sent and have id: %s, $message->getMessageId()'));
});
This work, including the code samples, is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 license.
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