Templates

What are templates and how to use them.

What are Templates?

Templates are pre-designed message formats that businesses use for automated communication with customers.

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A template consists of...

1. Meta Data

1

name

The name of your template.

• Requests must have a unique name / language pair

• name can only contain lowercase, underscore characters, and numbers

2

description

Give your template a descripton (like what it's for).

3

language

The language the template is in, if the language of the template does not match the language chosen, META will reject the template.

Supported Languages: META Documentation

4

category

Each template can be one of three categories, each having their own rules

• MARKETING

• UTILITY

• AUTHENTICATION

5

status

When a template is created, it will be given a PENDING status and then META will either APPROVE or REJECT the template.

• PENDING

• APPROVED

• REJECTED

Reasons for Rejection: META Documentation

2. Components

A templates structure is determined by its components . The request can have up to four objects, either HEADER, BODY, FOOTER or BUTTONS.

AUTHENTICATION Templates have their own rules. See link below.

Create Templates

HEADER

• Optional

• Maximum of 1 tag

• Must have a format of either TEXT, DOCUMENT, IMAGE, VIDEO

• Limited to 60 Characters

• The image format will require an example image url from https://www.channel360.co.za/api/templates/upload. The url must then again be used in campaign creation as a tag.

BODY

• Required

• Can have multiple tags

• Limited to 1024 characters

FOOTER

• Optional

• Limited to 60 characters

BUTTONS

• Optional

• Limited to 25 characters

• Maximum of 1 tag

Header Parameters

Headers don't need an example property, you simply add the parameter and off you go:

{
   "type":"HEADER",
   "format":"TEXT",
   "text":"Hello {{1}}",
   "example":{
      "header_text":[
         "Pete"
      ]
   }
}

Body Parameters

Body requires an example:

{
   "type":"BODY",
   "text":"Is this your number {{1}}? We would love to give you a call!",
   "example":{
      "body_text":[
         [
            "0852345678"
         ]
      ]
   }
}

Button Parameters

Button requires an example:

 {
     "type": "BUTTONS",
     "buttons": [
     {
                "type": "URL",
                "text": "View Dashboard",
                "url": "https://channel360.co.za/organization/{{1}}",
                "example": [
                    "639700347749ed00181de224"
                ]
        }
    ]
}

3. Tags

Tags are used in conjunction with the component parameters. They are essentially a means to add dynamic data into the HEADER, BODY and BUTTONS.

Tags can be created for the HEAD, BODY and BUTTONS content types

• index should start at 1 and increment up

• index of tag should match the order that you want to populate replacement tags for the HEAD / BODY / BUTTONS

Tag Structure

head: [
    {
        index: number;
        type: string;
        value?: string;
        url?: string;
        prompt?: string;
        fields?: string[]; //used for csv fields or subscriber fields depending on type
    }
];
body: [
    {
        index: number;
        type: string;
        value?: string;
        url?: string;
        prompt?: string;
        fields?: string[]; //used for csv fields or subscriber fields depending on type
    }
];

Tag Fields

Field	Description	Notes
index	Indexed used to populate replacement tags in template	Head and body
type	Type of Tag (see below)	The head tags cannot be populated with a csv
value	Used to store the value for 'hard-coded/on-campaign-creation' fields
url	Used to specify the url for tag types ( csv | image, video)	The following endpoint should be used to upload any files required by templates: {{url}}/v1.1/templates/upload This endpoint returns a list of the uploaded files along with their public url which must be specified
prompt	Used to populate the prompt when assigning a value to this tag on campaign creation	Used for csv/subscriber fields
fields	Array of fields to be used for tag replacement

Tag Types

Option	Description	Notes
csv	CSV Merge file uploaded to s3 and url saved against record	populate fields with the desired field + populate url with the key returned by {url}/v1.1/templates/upload
hard-coded	Hard Coded value (setup at on template creation)	populate value field with string value
on-campaign-creation	On Campaign Creation	populate the value with the text you would like to use when passing the tags object on campaign creation
image	Image uploaded to s3 and url saved against record	populate url field with the location returned by {url}/v1.1/templates/upload
video	Image uploaded to s3 and url saved against record	populate url field with the location returned by {url}/v1.1/templates/upload
subscriber-field	Subscriber field to use for tag replacement	populate fields with the subscriber field you want to replace - currently available fields are as follows: mobileNumber, firstName, lastName

Upload endpoint.

This endpoint facilitates the uploading of files for later use in templates.

Upload Template

post

API call to Upload a Template

Body

filestringOptionalExample: CompanyLogo.png

Responses

200

Successfully Uploaded Template

application/json

post

HTTPcURLJavaScriptPython

POST /v1.1/templates/upload HTTP/1.1
Host: www.channel360.co.za
Content-Type: multipart/form-data
Accept: */*
Content-Length: 26

{
  "file": "CompanyLogo.png"
}

200

Successfully Uploaded Template

{
  "uploadedFiles": {
    "fieldname": "file",
    "originalname": "CompanyLogo.png",
    "encoding": "7bit",
    "mimetype": "image/png",
    "size": 94234,
    "bucket": "channel360-template-tags",
    "key": "2022-11-14T14:31:35.967Z-CompanyLogo.png",
    "acl": "private",
    "contentType": "application/octet-stream",
    "contentDisposition": "null",
    "contentEncoding": "null",
    "storageClass": "STANDARD",
    "serverSideEncryption": "null",
    "metadata": {
      "fieldName": "file"
    },
    "location": "https://channel360-template-tags.channel360-template-tags.s3.af-south-1.amazonaws.com/2022-11-14T14%3A31%3A35.967Z-CompanyLogo.png",
    "etag": "\"14772585a3432789898f56f26870g97987\""
  }
}

Want to ingest a Template?

This endpoint updates your list of templates with META's list of your templates.

Ingest Template

post

API call to ingest template

Path parameters

orgIdstringRequired

Body

filestringOptionalExample: test_file

Responses

200

Successfully ingested template

application/json

post

HTTPcURLJavaScriptPython

POST /v1.1/org/{orgId}/whatsapp/templates/ingest HTTP/1.1
Host: www.channel360.co.za
Content-Type: multipart/form-data
Accept: */*
Content-Length: 20

{
  "file": "test_file"
}

200

Successfully ingested template

{
  "messageTemplates": {
    "name": "test_file",
    "components": {
      "type": "HEADER",
      "format": "IMAGE",
      "example": []
    },
    "language": "en_US",
    "status": "APPROVED",
    "category": "MARKETING",
    "id": "2907957541046"
  }
}

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Want to get your Template approved?

The link below specifies all that needs to be known about getting your templates approved.

Get your template approved

Message Template Guidelines - WhatsApp Business Platform - Documentation - Facebook for DevelopersFacebook for Developers

Get started in

WhatsApp has rules! We cannot just make any message we want and send them off to millions of people. It must meet the criteria. Only then can we send millions of messages.