get array of inputs from http request - Twilio - php

Question

First time doing this. I am having a tough time trying to complete this. Three days on this now. I transitioned the php Twilio/sdk over to Laravel and have successfully sent a text with Twilio's api to my phone. I am now figuring out how to receive the reply text.
(I tried the laravel packages for this and they only send the text, not receive the reply)
I am getting an error on my code.
Undefined index: From
If I move the header to my view I get a whoops error.
I also tried replacing the REQUEST with
$name = in_array(Input::get('name'), $people) ? Input::get('name') : 'default';
Here is my receiving function
public function getReceiveSMS() {
// make an associative array of senders we know, indexed by phone number
$people = array(
"1111111111"=>"Curious George",
"1111111111"=>"Boots",
"1111111111"=>"Virgil",
"1111111111"=>"Stephen",
);
// if the sender is known, then greet them by name
// otherwise, consider them just another monkey
if(!$name = $people[$_REQUEST['From']]) {
$name = "Monkey";
}
// now greet the sender
header("content-type: text/xml");
echo "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>\n";
return View::make('account.sms.receive-sms');
}
}
Here is my view
#extends('layout.main')
#section('content')
<Response>
<Message><?php echo $name ?>, thanks for the message!</Message>
</Response>
#stop

Answer 1

I don't know about Twilio's API, but it seems the error is just basic PHP, and you're being held back by the fact that Laravel is far less lenient than regular PHP, meaning undefined variables and indexes will halt processing just like a fatal error would.
If in fact the sender can be unknown, and when that does happen the From index won't ever be set, the following should prevent your code from triggering a Notice:
// if the sender is known, then greet them by name
// otherwise, consider them just another monkey
if(!isset($_REQUEST['From']) || !$name = $people[$_REQUEST['From']]) {
$name = "Monkey";
}
As for your malformed XML, try this instead of a simple View::make():
return Response::view('account.sms.receive-sms', compact('name'))->header('Content-Type', 'text/xml');