Creating an appointment reminder app with Python SDK

Creating the project structure

We're going to create the project folder and add a simple directory structure.

1. Navigate to the directory in which you'd like to store your project.
2. Create a folder called sinch-appointment-reminder and navigate into it.
3. Create the following directory structure:

sinch-appointment-reminder
    │   .env
    │   appointment_server.py
    │
    ├───static
    │       style.css
    │
    └───templates
            patient_details.html
            success.html

As you complete the tutorial, you'll learn what each of the files and folders does.

Environment Setup

We'll now install the prerequisites for the application.

Creating a Python virtual environment

In Windows and Mac you can create a virtual environment with the command

python -m venv venv

In Linux you can create a virtual environment with the command

virtualenv --python python venv

Now you need to activate the virtual environment.

In Windows, run the command:

venv\Scripts\activate

In Linux, the command is:

source venv/bin/activate

Now that your virtual environment is activated, you can install the dependencies your application needs to function.

Installing Flask

This is a Flask application so you need to install Flask. You can do this with pip.

pip install flask

Installing Python-dotenv

We'll be loading environment variables, so you need to install Python-dotenv. You can do this with pip.

pip install python-dotenv

Installing the SDK

To effectively leverage Sinch SMS capability with Python, you need to install the SDK. You can do this with pip.

pip install sinch

Client information

Before initializing a client using this SDK, you'll need three pieces of information:

• Your Project ID
• An access key ID
• An access key Secret

You'll add these values to the file described in the next section (along with others).

Adding the environment variables

1. Open the .env file.
2. Paste the following text into the .env file:
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   KEY_ID='YOUR_key_id'
   KEY_SECRET='YOUR_key_secret'
   PROJECT_ID='YOUR_project_id'
   DEBUG=True
   COUNTRY_CODE_EU='YOUR_EU_country_code'
   COUNTRY_CODE_US='+1'
   FROM_NUMBER='YOUR_sinch_number'
   SMS_REGION='YOUR_sms_region(us/eu)'

3. Populate the fields in the file with your own values. Refer to the table below for guidance:

   Field	Description
   KEY_ID	Your access key ID, used for authentication. Refer to the Client information section for more information.
   KEY_SECRET	Your access key secret, used for authentication. Refer to the Client information section for more information.
   PROJECT_ID	Your project ID. Refer to the Client information section for more information.
   DEBUG	Set to True to enable debugging.
   COUNTRY_CODE_EU	If you live in the EU or UK, this is the country code of your home country. For example the UK country code is +44.
   COUNTRY_CODE_US	If you live in the US, this is the country code of your home country. For the US, it's +1.
   FROM_NUMBER	Any number you've assigned to your Sinch account. Find the number on your Customer Dashboard by clicking the service plan ID link and scrolling to the bottom of the page.
   SMS_REGION	The region in which you would like to send SMS messages. Either us or eu.