MKRGSM bug with accents

[zolanet]

Hello,
I will be using an Arduino MKR GSM 1400 on an installation that is in french.
I have come across a bug in the library where accents are not sent unless I use emojis:

using the receive SMS example https://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/MKRGSMExamplesReceiveSMS

If I send the following message:
"Teste avec accès aux accents"

The Serial Monitor returns:
"Teste avec accs aux accents"

But if I send:
"Teste avec accès aux accents 😜"

The serial Monitor returns the following hex values:
"0054006500730074006500200061007600650063002000610063006300E80073002000610075007800200061006300630065006E007400730020D83DDE1C"

Which I can decode to:
"Teste avec accès aux accents 😜"

Is there a way to force hex values to be returned instead of text?
It's seems that it's the only way to get accents to show up...

Regards
Marc

[zolanet]

Following up. The following sentence:
"J'ai décidé d'aller au café, mais il est rempli à craquer. Ça demande de la patience. Il y a des gens qui attendent dans l'entrée! C'est complètement fou!"
returns:
"J'ai dcid d'aller au caf, mais il est rempli craquer. a demande de la patience. Il y a des gens qui attendent dans l'entre! C'est compltement fou!"
But, if I use a "ê":
"J'ai décidé d'aller au café, mais il est rempli à craquer. Il faut être patient. Il y a des gens qui attendent dans l'entrée! C'est complètement fou!"
It returns:
"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"
Which decodes to:
"J'ai décidé d'aller au café, mais il est rempli à craquer. Il faut être patient. Il y a des gens qui attendent dans l'entrée! C'est complètement fou!"

Going further, the following accented letters return as HEX values
À Â â È Ê ê Ë ë Ï ï Î î Ô ô Ù Û û ç

The following accented characters are completely deleted from the string if used by themselves:
à è É é Ü ü ù Ç

The latter are all part of the GSM_7 Encoding: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM_03.38#GSM_7-bit_default_alphabet_and_extension_table_of_3GPP_TS_23.038_.2F_GSM_03.38
So it seems that ê and emojis force hex output which is expected since they are not part of the GSM_7 encoding.

Please let me know how to force the arduino to output Hex values instead of characters

regards

[Rocketct]

Hi @zolanet like replied here #31 for the special character, we doesn't support the extended character set because the read() function use a buffer of bytes, you could implement a logic that handles the unicode code points from the _incomingBuffer in the GSM SMS class, and recognize the characters that you need.

[zolanet]

Thanx for the reply @Rocketct,
This may be a bit beyond my skills. Is it as simple as:

int GSM_SMS::read()
{
  int bufferLength = _incomingBuffer.length();

  if (_smsDataIndex < bufferLength && _smsDataIndex <= _smsDataEndIndex) 
  {
		switch(_smsDataIndex)
		{
			case "é":
				return "00E9"
				_smsDataIndex++
				break;
			default:
				return _incomingBuffer[_smsDataIndex++]
				break;
		}
  }
  return -1;
}

if not, can you give a simple example.

regards

[salvq]

I would also welcome help here...

@zolanet , have you found out the way to convert the special characters like you suggested above ?

I am trying to convert special characters to ASCII to get human readable message rather than HEX code.

Thanks

[Rocketct]

Sorry for late response, @zolanet you should check the value in incoming buffer like:

if (_incomingBuffer[_smsDataIndex++] == **special_Char_code**) {
   return **the value you need**
}
return _incomingBuffer[_smsDataIndex++]

[Rocketct]

@zolanet i make some test i got the following results:

• with the actual configuration the character set by the modem allow the to receive only ** GSM default alphabet (3GPP TS 23.038)**
  this means that different from what i report before, is the modem that filter the received message;

• to allow the reception of the special character defined in the standard **(USO/IEC10646) **, you have to:

1. change the character set, add in the GSM_SMS::available() in the very begin of the function; the line MODEM.send("AT+CSCS=\"UCS2\""); this will changes how the modem message body,
2. read the value from the incoming buffer convert in the char you want;

practically the one written above means:

while ((c = sms.read()) != -1) {
      //Serial.print((char)c);
      //outbuf += String(c);
      counter++;
      if(c == 48){
        outbuf +='0';
      }
      if(c == 69){
        outbuf +='E';
      }
      if(c == 56){
        outbuf +='8';
      }
     
    }
    if (outbuf == "00E8") {
      Serial.println("è");
    }



    Serial.println("\nEND OF MESSAGE");

    // Delete message from modem memory
    sms.flush();
    Serial.println("MESSAGE DELETED");
  }

the output enabling the at debug will be:

without changing the set char:
AT+CMGL="REC UNREAD"

+CMGL: 2,"REC UNREAD","11111111",,"20/03/09,14:08:31+04"

changing the set char:
AT+CSCS="UCS2"
OK
AT+CMGL="REC UNREAD"
+CMGL: 2,"REC UNREAD","00310031003100310031003100310031",,"20/03/09,14:27:48+04"
00E8

pay attention how "11111111" become "00310031003100310031003100310031" (removed my number, this an example i have check the duality and it works) where 0031=1 in the standard ISO-8859-1 notice that the difference between the first and the seconds read is the presence of 00E8 that is 'é' ,

the example i had used is the following :

// include the GSM library
#include <MKRGSM.h>

#include "arduino_secrets.h"
// Please enter your sensitive data in the Secret tab or arduino_secrets.h
// PIN Number
const char PINNUMBER[] = SECRET_PINNUMBER;

// initialize the library instances
GSM gsmAccess(true);
GSM_SMS sms;

// Array to hold the number a SMS is retreived from
char senderNumber[80];

void setup() {
  // initialize serial communications and wait for port to open:
  Serial.begin(9600);
  while (!Serial) {
    ; // wait for serial port to connect. Needed for native USB port only
  }

  Serial.println("SMS Messages Receiver");

  // connection state
  bool connected = false;

  // Start GSM connection
  while (!connected) {
    if (gsmAccess.begin(PINNUMBER) == GSM_READY) {
      connected = true;
    } else {
      Serial.println("Not connected");
      delay(1000);
    }
  }

  Serial.println("GSM initialized");
  Serial.println("Waiting for messages");
}

void loop() {
  int c;

  // If there are any SMSs available()
  if (sms.available()) {
    Serial.println("Message received from:");

    // Get remote number
    sms.remoteNumber(senderNumber, 80);
    Serial.println(senderNumber);

    // An example of message disposal
    // Any messages starting with # should be discarded
    if (sms.peek() == '#') {
      Serial.println("Discarded SMS");
      sms.flush();
    }
//----------------------- made the string and find the equivalent char value ------------------------
    String outbuf = "";
    // Read message bytes and print them
    while ((c = sms.read()) != -1) {
      //Serial.print((char)c);
      //outbuf += String(c);
      if(c == 48){
        outbuf +='0';
      }
      if(c == 69){
        outbuf +='E';
      }
      if(c == 56){
        outbuf +='8';
      }
     
    }
    if (outbuf == "00E8") {
      Serial.println("è");
    }
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Serial.println("\nEND OF MESSAGE");

    // Delete message from modem memory
    sms.flush();
    Serial.println("MESSAGE DELETED");
  }

  delay(1000);

}

[Rocketct]

hope this help

[Wortoll]

Hi there,
I had the same problem while making a sms-printer. (mkr1400 sms to Adafruit thermal printer)

Thanks to information above! I managed to fix this by:

• Changing the character set in the GSM_SMS.cpp file by adding MODEM.send("AT+CSCS=\"UCS2\""); right under GSM_SMS::available()

• Converting the incoming UCS2 data to characters of choice with the use of 2 arrays.
  This is done by grouping each 4 incoming chars to a "blokje".
  Comparing this "blokje" to the first "blokjesDB" to find its location and retrieving the corresponding character from the "outputDB". Characters not in the "blokjesDB" are printed as #. Emoticons are UTF16 and 8 chars long, so they are returned as ##.

String blokjesDB [137] = {"0020","0021","0022","0023","0024","0025","0026","0027","0028","0029","002A","002B","002C","002D","002E","002F","0030","0031","0032","0033","0034","0035","0036","0037","0038","0039","003A","003B","003C","003D","003E","003F","0040","0041","0042","0043","0044","0045","0046","0047","0048","0049","004A","004B","004C","004D","004E","004F","0050","0051","0052","0053","0054","0055","0056","0057","0058","0059","005A","005B","005C","005D","005E","005F","0060","0061","0062","0063","0064","0065","0066","0067","0068","0069","006A","006B","006C","006D","006E","006F","0070","0071","0072","0073","0074","0075","0076","0077","0078","0079","007A","007B","007C","007D","007E","00A1","00C0","00C1","00C2","00C3","00C4","00C5","00C7","00C8","00C9","00CA","00CB","00CC","00CD","00CE","00CF","00D0","00D1","00D2","00D3","00D4","00D5","00D6","00D9","00DA","00DB","00DC","00DD","00DF","00E0","00E1","00E2","00E3","00E4","00E5","00E7","00E8","00E9","00EA","00EB"};     
String outputDB [137]  = {   " ",   "!",   " ",   "#",   "S",   "%",   "&",   " ",   "(",   ")",   "*",   "+",   ",",   "-",   ".",   "/",   "0",   "1",   "2",   "3",   "4",   "5",   "6",   "7",   "8",   "9",   ":",   " ",   "<",   "=",   ">",   "?",   "@",   "A",   "B",   "C",   "D",   "E",   "F",   "G",   "H",   "I",   "J",   "K",   "L",   "M",   "N",   "O",   "P",   "Q",   "R",   "S",   "T",   "U",   "V",   "W",   "X",   "Y",   "Z",   "[",   "/",   "]",   "^",   "_",   "",    "a",   "b","c","d","e","f","g","h","i","j","k","l","m","n","o","p","q","r","s","t","u","v","w","x","y","z","{","|","}","~","!","A","A","A","A","A","A","C","E","E","E","E","I","I","I","I","D","N","O","O","O","O","O","U","U","U","U","Y","s","a","a","a","a","a","a","c","e","e","e","e"};

void messageContentPrinter()
{
    int c;
    int positie=0;
    String blokje;

    // Read message bytes and print them    
    while ((c = sms.read()) != -1) 
    {
           bool found_output = false;
              
           blokje.concat(String(char(c)));
           positie++;

              if(positie==4) //filled "blokje" with 4 characters
              {
              Serial.print("blokje: "); Serial.print(blokje); Serial.print(" => ");
              
                      //lookup in blokjesDB
                      for(int i=-1; i<137;i++)
                      {
                        
                        if(blokje.equals(blokjesDB[i])==1)  
                          { 
                            //Serial.print(" output: "); 
                            Serial.println( outputDB[i] ); 
                            found_output = true;
                            break; 
                          }   

                      }
                      
                      if(found_output == false)
                         {
                           Serial.println("#"); //characters not in the "blokjesDB" are printed as #
                         }
              positie=0;
              blokje="";
              }
    }
    sms.flush();
    Serial.println(" MESSAGE DELETED");
    
}

• there was also an issue where the modem seemed to stop working after a day and a half. implementing a watchdog makes sure the system gets rebooted, its crude but it should work. Funny enough now the code is working for 4 days without any problems.. (maybe its also because the recent library update, I don't know)

QUESTION

• Is there a way to receive a timestamp from the server? (It is possible to request an epoch timestamp, but conversions are not that easy. I noticed when there is an error the server can send a timestamp in the error, so maybe its possible to receive a timestamp that way?)

[Wortoll]

EDIT:
it seems I should have started a new issue. => #118

also I made a function of the translator so you can send whatever data (like ie. the senderNumber) to it.
I'll post this asap!