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Header Enrichment (HE)

[!NOTE] What is Header Enrichment? Header Enrichment allows your website or web application to automatically detect a Dialog customer's mobile number when they visit your site using mobile data. It enables zero-friction, one-click logins and subscription confirmations without requiring users to type their phone number or wait for an SMS OTP.

1. How It Works (Overview)

sequenceDiagram
    autonumber
    actor User as Customer (Dialog Mobile Data)
    participant Dialog as Dialog Cellular Network
    participant Server as Your Web Server
    participant Ideabiz as Ideabiz APIs (Payment / SMS)

    User->>Dialog: Browses to your website
    Dialog->>Server: Forwards request & injects encrypted 'msisdn' header
    Server->>Server: Reads, decodes, and formats the MSISDN
    Server->>Ideabiz: Calls Charging or SMS API using formatted MSISDN
    Ideabiz-->>Server: Transaction confirmation

[!IMPORTANT] Key Operational Requirements: 1. Dialog Mobile Data Only: The visitor must browse using Dialog mobile cellular data (3G/4G/5G). It will not work over Wi-Fi or fixed broadband connections. 2. URL Whitelisting: You must provide your website URL to the Ideabiz team beforehand so Header Enrichment can be provisioned for your domain/IP.

2. Key Terminology (Jargon Buster)

  • MSISDN: The telecom term for a mobile telephone number.
  • Encrypted MSISDN: For user privacy and security regulations, Dialog does not expose the customer's raw, plain phone number. Instead, a temporary encrypted token is provided. This token is accepted by Ideabiz Payment and SMS APIs.
  • HTTP Header: Background metadata sent by the browser or network to your server with every web request (like the return address on an envelope).
  • Base64 & URL Encoding: Standard methods to safely transmit special or binary characters across the internet without corruption.

3. MSISDN Transformation Process

When a customer visits your whitelisted website over Dialog mobile data, Dialog injects an HTTP header named msisdn.

Follow this step-by-step transformation pipeline to prepare the token for API usage:

Raw Header (Base64) ──> Base64 Decode ──> URL Encode ──> Add Prefix for Ideabiz APIs
Step Action Description Example Output
Step 1 Receive Header Extract the incoming msisdn header from the HTTP request. dmwdovap66bFrvw=
Step 2 Base64 Decode Decode the Base64-encoded string. vl^]£÷¬á®À­ÿ
Step 3 URL Encode Apply standard URL encoding to the decoded characters. vl%1D%A3%F7%AC%E1%AE%C0%AD%FF

4. Using the MSISDN in Ideabiz API Calls

Depending on where you pass the MSISDN (in a JSON request body or inside the request URL), the formatting rules differ slightly:

A. In an API Request Body (JSON)

Prepend etel:+9477- to the Step 3 URL-encoded value.

Format: 

etel:+9477-[URL_ENCODED_MSISDN]

Example: 

etel:+9477-vl%1D%A3%F7%AC%E1%AE%C0%AD%FF

B. In an API Request URL (Path or Query Parameter)

When placing the MSISDN directly in the URL: 1. Prepend etel:9477- (Note: Do NOT include the + sign here). 2. URL encode the entire resulting string again.

Format: 

urlencode('etel:9477-[URL_ENCODED_MSISDN]')

Example: 

etel%3A9477-vl%251D%25A3%25F7%25AC%25E1%25AE%25C0%25AD%25FF

5. Code Implementation Examples

PHP Example

<?php
// 1. Read the incoming msisdn header injected by Dialog
$rawHeader = $_SERVER['HTTP_MSISDN'] ?? null;

if ($rawHeader) {
    // 2. Base64 decode and URL encode with the 9477 prefix
    $decoded = base64_decode($rawHeader);
    $urlEncodedMsisdn = urlencode("9477-" . $decoded);

    // Ready to be used in Ideabiz API requests:
    // For Request Body: 'etel:+' . $urlEncodedMsisdn
    // For Request URL:  urlencode('etel:' . $urlEncodedMsisdn)
    echo "Ready for API: " . htmlspecialchars($urlEncodedMsisdn);
} else {
    echo "No MSISDN header found. Please ensure you are connected via Dialog Mobile Data.";
}
?>

Java Example

import java.net.URLEncoder;
import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
import org.apache.commons.codec.binary.Base64;

// 1. Read the header from the incoming request
String rawHeader = request.getHeader("msisdn");

if (rawHeader != null) {
    // 2. Base64 decode using ISO-8859-1 character set
    byte[] decodedBytes = Base64.decodeBase64(rawHeader);
    String decodedStr = new String(decodedBytes, StandardCharsets.ISO_8859_1);

    // 3. Prefix and URL encode
    String msisdnWithPrefix = "9477-" + decodedStr;
    String urlEncodedValue = URLEncoder.encode(msisdnWithPrefix, "ISO-8859-1");

    System.out.println("Ready for API: " + urlEncodedValue);
}

6. Dialog Mobile Network IP Ranges

To ensure security and verify that incoming web requests are legitimately originating from Dialog's cellular network, you can check the visitor's IP address against Dialog's mobile IP blocks:

  • 175.157.0.0/16
  • 182.161.0.0/19
  • 122.255.44.0/22

[!TIP] If a visitor's IP falls outside these ranges, they are browsing via a broadband Wi-Fi provider or an international connection, and Header Enrichment will not trigger.

7. How to Test Header Enrichment

Use this test script to verify your setup before integrating with full payment or SMS flows.

Testing Checklist

  • [ ] Upload the script below as test_he.php to your whitelisted web server.
  • [ ] Take a smartphone equipped with an active Dialog SIM card.
  • [ ] Turn OFF Wi-Fi.
  • [ ] Turn ON Mobile Data.
  • [ ] Open the mobile browser and visit https://yourdomain.com/test_he.php.

Verification Script (test_he.php)

<?php
$clientIp = getenv('REMOTE_ADDR');
echo "<h3>Dialog Header Enrichment Test</h3>";
echo "<strong>Client IP:</strong> " . htmlspecialchars($clientIp) . "<br><br>";

if (empty($_SERVER['HTTP_MSISDN'])) {
    echo "<p style='color: red;'><strong>Status:</strong> NO MSISDN HEADER RECEIVED.</p>";
    echo "<p><strong>Troubleshooting:</strong></p>";
    echo "<ul>";
    echo "<li>Ensure Wi-Fi is turned OFF on your mobile device.</li>";
    echo "<li>Ensure your phone is browsing using Dialog Mobile Data (4G/5G).</li>";
    echo "<li>Verify that your website URL has been enabled for Header Enrichment by the Ideabiz team.</li>";
    echo "</ul>";
    exit;
}

$rawMsisdn = $_SERVER['HTTP_MSISDN'];
echo "<p style='color: green;'><strong>Status:</strong> Header Detected Successfully!</p>";
echo "<strong>Raw Base64 Header:</strong> " . htmlspecialchars($rawMsisdn) . "<br>";
echo "<strong>URL Encoded:</strong> " . htmlspecialchars(urlencode($rawMsisdn)) . "<br>";
?>