Why is my Twilio nodejs transcribing attempt calling the client twice? - node.js

Question

It is calling the client twice and making 1 37 second (in twilio dashboard) phonecall with two transcripts one 22 seconds long the other 5 seconds long, anyone have any ideas?
The phonecall when I make a straight phonecall and record lasts 19 seconds. Thats what my transcript should be 19 seconds longs. Its looping around somewhere.
I used real credentials and real phone numbers.
var twilio = require('twilio');
var client = require('twilio')(accountSid, authToken);
const VoiceResponse = require('twilio').twiml.VoiceResponse;
client.calls.create({
url: 'http://107.170.228.177:80/sendT',
to: '[phone]',
from: '[phone]'
})
app.post('/sendT', urlencodedParser, function(req, res) {
console.log('made to send t')
const rt = new VoiceResponse();
rt.record({
transcribe: true,
transcribeCallback: '/rT'
});
res.status(200);
res.send(rt.toString());
console.log('RT string' + rt.toString());
})
app.post('/rT', urlencodedParser, function(req, res) {
console.log('made to receiveT post');
var ttemp = req['body'].TranscriptionText;
console.log('transcription text ' + ttemp);
var masterFile = __dirname + "/master/t.json";
fs.writeFile(masterFile, ttemp, function(err) {}) //
res.status(200);
res.send();
});
NodeJS output
RT string<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><Response><Record transcribe="true" transcribeCallback="/rT"/></Response>
made to send t
RT string<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><Response><Record transcribe="true" transcribeCallback="/rT"/></Response>
made to send t
RT string<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><Response><Record transcribe="true" transcribeCallback="/rT"/></Response>
made to receiveT post
*call transcript*
made to receiveT post
*call transcript*

Answer 1

Twilio developer evangelist here.
What is happening here is very specific to the <Record> TwiML that you are using.
When the recording is finished being made, Twilio will make an HTTP request to the action attribute that you set on the <Record> to see what to do with the call now. In the case of no action attribute, Twilio will make that request to the current document URL, that is your /sendT endpoint in this case.
This is what it causing the loop, the <Record> then appears again to Twilio and times out after 5 seconds, at which point the call is decided to be over. Now you get two recordings, including 5 seconds of silence.
To fix this, you should either add an action attribute that points to an endpoint that just returns the TwiML to <Hangup/>.
app.post('/sendT', urlencodedParser, function(req, res) {
const rt = new VoiceResponse();
rt.record({
transcribe: true,
transcribeCallback: '/rT',
action: '/hangup'
});
res.status(200);
res.send(rt.toString());
})
app.post('/hangup', function(req, res) {
const hangup = new VoiceResponse();
hangup.hangup();
res.status(200);
res.send(hangup);
})
Or, you can keep no action URL and just check the request to see if it has already made a recording and hang up conditionally based on that.
app.post('/sendT', urlencodedParser, function(req, res) {
const rt = new VoiceResponse();
if (typeof req.body.RecordingUrl !== 'undefined') {
rt.hangup();
} else {
rt.record({
transcribe: true,
transcribeCallback: '/rT',
action: '/hangup'
});
}
res.status(200);
res.send(rt.toString());
})
Let me know if this helps at all.