Would've liked to add this as a reply to this thread, but it has been locked without explanation.

Anyway does anyone know of any registrars which make it easy to update the MX record for your .TEL? I'm currently with Webnames.ca, but I'm not seeing that option in their control panel (support request pending). Just thought I'd ask here to see if any registrars have made this easy?

Update: Webnames support responds that they plan to let me modify the DNS in 1-2 months (by which time I could have moved to Domainmonster) for a $5/year fee. Asked them what they plan to do about the SOAP API in that case.

domainmonster.com works for me for e-mail forwarding...

Hi flanker,

even if your registrar does not support setting MX entries in the panel you always can set them via the SOAP API. I wrote a tiny tool, that does that, and it works fine, cause my registrar only uses the standard panel, too.
At the moment this tool is only "quick and dirty", but I started working on a application with GUI which is for the sole purpose of managing MX entries. But that might take some time till it is complete, since I chose using WPF/WCF (I'm completely unfamiliar with that).

Hi flanker,

Welcome to telsters and thank you for bringing some great questions.

That thread was locked because a question was asked and the response came from the top. There didn't really seem like much expansion that could go from that point and that simple thread can now serve as a good reference point for that very commonly asked question.

I also did some minor moderation on your inquiry since it seemed more workshop appropriate. The workshop area is a more hands on area and your question definitely seemed like a great inquiry for the technical telster types.

I for one, would like to know more about the tool you have written. You may be able to answer some SOAP questions for me

Hi Steve,

as I said the tool is really "quick and dirty", because the changes/settings you want to make regarding MX entries have to be done in source code so far, but it works. This was just for a test and to learn how the SOAP API works and of course to set a MX record to my mail server. It can so far query for existing, set new, and change old records, but as said you have to modify the source currently, depending on what you want.

Regarding the SOAP API, I'm using Visual Studio and it does pretty much everything for you automatically, so you can fully concentrate on using it with built-in classes/types (I'm using C#) instead of fooling around with SOAP directly. It really convenient, and encapsulates the full SOAP API.

If you want to go the same direction, you have two choices:
1.) Use wsdl.exe of the .net framework SDK to build the classes directly. (The resulting source file should work with any IDE)
2.) Directly use a web-reference inside VS (It uses WCF then, but that binds you pretty much to the VS IDE I guess)

I tried both just to determine if it works. Option 1 requires an additional step that I have stated in the DEV-Forum at telnic. Additionally the SOAP API package that is provided on the DEV-page differs slightly from the specification, so I would suggest to use the wsdl files from a live hoster/registrar and just wipe the address part. I don't know if the issue is already fixed in the SOAP API package yet.

For the GUI I chose WPF and the second option. Pretty much I use the project to learn something about WPF. Therefore -and because I only work in my free time on it- it surely will take some time till it gets finished.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Hey, T3quila.

I am an expert C++ coder, and know a little C#, and have done windows forms before. I would love to share code, and/or help develop this.

sim@dietrich.tel

Hi Steve. Thanks for the clarification and moving this thread appropriately.

tel_me: Thanks for the info about Domainmonster. I'd consider moving there after the 60-day limit had T3quila not enlightened me about the SOAP API.

T3quila: Thanks to you for bringing the API to my attention! Once my .tel finally begins resolving, I'll probably work on creating a tool similar to yours in PHP. If all goes well, I'll set it up on a page somewhere for others. Will keep you posted.

Edit: I will probably not be implementing this in PHP as my host doesn't have the native SOAP libraries installed, and I don't feel like compiling my own PHP. If you read to the bottom of this thread, you'll see that I was able to reach a resolution without writing any code.

Hi tel_me,

my background is pretty much the same as yours, I program usually in C/C++ (I'm coming from the signal processing domain) and have done already a little GUI programming in C# & .net framework 2.0/Windows Forms.
The idea for this project was for me to have a inducement to get engaged in WPF/WCF (.net framework 3.5) since I have no clue of it at all, and I think it can't hurt to know at least basic XAML and that stuff.

Coming to the SOAP part:
It is extremely easy to use SOAP with the tools that are delivered with Visual Studio and .net framework SDK. Everything is encapsulated in classes. You only have to instantiate the Client class, set the credentials and the endpoint of the connection and the rest is pretty much done for you.

Example of usage with wsdl.exe generated .cs file (The endpoint is already embedded in this case, so it doesn't need to be set. For the tool you have two choices: Use autoprovisioning where available and/or let the user type in the address):



As you can see, that's not rocket science.
What I'm struggling right now is the convenience/GUI-part and therefore WPF.
Right now I try to set DataTemplates for a nice presentation GUI and that everybody can use it without the need to have VS. I want to make it flexible, so that if someone wants to extend it to a full blown administration panel replacement that person has not too much trouble.
Do you know if you can inherit DataTemplates similar to Styles with BasedOn? I didn't find a way yet.

@flanker
Regarding PHP: Unfortunately I have no clue what tools/functions are available that wrap the SOAP stuff. I would guess there are also tools available that will handle it accordingly, so that you do not have to parse and generate the requests and answers manually given the wsdl files. If that's the case, the usage is similarly simple and you can concentrate on a nice GUI, too.


I hope that was some help for you guys.

[OT] My Domain Status in two of my new domains is right now set to "Ok" but that prevents from registering with TelFriends with the message that the domain registration is not complete yet. Although the domains already resolve correctly. Anyone experienced something similar?

Sorry T3qulia, mine have been pendingCreate for over a day now, so I can't help you there.

Wondering if you could answer some questions for me though, since you've had some success here. The developer docs at Telnic seem to lack a lot of critical information. For example, I have no idea where to send my SOAP requests. What's the default SOAP endpoint URL for the TelHosting app?

Edit: Found the answer to the above in this thread

Also, which library provides the TelClient class? I'm not seeing any method of authenticating to the TelHosting software using simple SOAP queries. Is this correct? I know tel_me had basically the same question in the thread linked above.

Edit: I answered my own question regarding TelHosting authentication for SOAP queries in this other thread.

Edit (hat trick): For anyone who comes across this thread in the future, if all you want is all I wanted, you can easily update your MX record without writing a single line of code using the SoapUI program. Create a new project using the WSDL from your http://telhostingurl.com/client?wsdl and then send a storeRecord query with an HTTP "Authorization" header containing your base64-encoded TelHosting username:password. Actually, if you're just configuring (MX or otherwise) a handful of personal .tels, SoapUI will probably do everything you need. It's only if you're looking to develop an application for widespread use that you'd actually need to write any code. Hope this was helpful.

Hi flanker,

sorry that my answer was unclear. My experience with SOAP is zero, too.
As I stated, if you use VS and the provided tools, the SOAP request is automatically generated and the credentials are filled in correctly in the header when you set them. That's what I meant with convenience and everything encapsulated

Just to wrap it up:
As hasseily wrote already, the endpoint addresses are usually:
http(s)://[YOUR_TELHOSTING_PROVIDER_CONTROL_PANEL_DOMAIN]/client?wsdl
To find this address you can also try to find the autoprovidioning entry:
Query for: _soap._nspapi.[YOUR TEL DOMAIN].tel via a simple DNS query.
If it is available and you get an answer, it will state where to find the soap endpoint for that .tel domain.

For the Telfriends API (friending/privacy) (same for everybody):
http(s)://www.telfriends.org/member?wsdl
http(s)://www.telfriends.org/init?wsdl

The library code I stated earlier was constructed using wsdl.exe (which is delivered with the .net framework SDK) with the wsdl files. To be more specific, here is how to get it:
Use either disco.exe (also comes with the .net SDK) to get the current wsdl files of your provider at the endpoint of that domain or download them on telnic.org in the API section (zip-package with all files).
Run wsdl.exe over those files (use the /protocol:SOAP12 switch and give the file-path of the filename with //?/C:/myPath/where/I/have/downloaded/theFiles/client.wsdl instead of just C:/myPath/where/I/have/downloaded/theFiles/client.wsdl).
The resulting .cs file will have the all the necessary classes, constructors and data types so that you can use it as I have showed it in the post before.
Alternatively you can bind the webservice directly in VS as webreference to a project. Then you don't have to use wsdl.exe/disco.exe manually. It will be done automatically by VS and the resulting files are added to the project. That's even easier. The difference is, that the latter method will use WCF and therefore the classes are slightly different, but as easy to use.
That was the main reason why I chose using C#: The toolchain is very comfortable.

Sorry, my experience is centered around Visual Studio since it does all the work for you and you do not have to bother with the SOAP stuff yourself basically. From that point of view the API documentation with it's field descriptions is all you need and you can use it right away without bothering about all the connection and authentication stuff.

Hope that helped you a little bit more.
Just ask if you have further questions.