Swyx Technology Conference 2011 „Smart Call Routing with Persistent Variables“ Tom Wellige, Swyx Solutions AG

This session is going to be webcasted. Because of that I would kindly like to ask you to switch off your mobile phones (really off - not just silent) to prevent any negative interference on the audio recording. THANK YOU! Smart Call Routing with Persistent Variables

Agenda The main tool - the Graphical Script Editor (GSE) Extendability - How to add own VBScript Code If things do not work - Error Handling and Tracing Get organized! - GSE Rule Parameters and GSE Actions Spread your work! - Install own rules/actions using the IpPbx File Explorer Put everything together! - e.g. Persistent Variables Make it easy! - usage of Persistent Variables Don‘t invent the wheel a second time! - some examples Want more? - hints and help Smart Call Routing with Persistent Variables

Maintool is GSE But from my point of view it only gets interesting beyond the GSE, beyond it‘s standard features This session is about to show the possibilities to extend functionality, to make the most out of the GSE, to show the additional tools. Smart Call Routing with Persistent Variables

The main tool - the Graphical Script Editor (GSE) The GSE is the tool to build Call Routing Scripts, from simple to highly complex. Lots of so blocks provide a huge set of functionality. The blocks are graphically connected. Build in functionality includes announcements, recording messages, connect a call, voicemails, remote inquiry, call queues, etc. Missing functionality can be extended! Smart Call Routing with Persistent Variables

Extendability - How to add own VBScript Code (1) Behind the scenes Call Routing Scripts are compiled into VBScripts, so it is quite natural that it is also possible to add own VBScript code into a Call Routing Script. Use the Insert Script Code block to paste in pieces of code anywhere into the script. Smart Call Routing with Persistent Variables

Extendability - How to add own VBScript Code (2) Use the Start block to paste in your VBScript functions. Smart Call Routing with Persistent Variables

Extendability - How to add own VBScript Code (3) Call your VBScript functions from nearly everywhere from within the Call Routing Script. Smart Call Routing with Persistent Variables

Extendability - How to add own VBScript Code (4) Call your VBScript functions from nearly everywhere from within the Call Routing Script. Smart Call Routing with Persistent Variables

Extendability - How to add own VBScript Code (5) GSE Build In Functions Server Script API VBScript Build In Functions Smart Call Routing with Persistent Variables

If things do not work - Error Handling and Tracing (1) Standard error handling disconnects a call on any “run time” error within a Call Routing Script. Run time errors can occur in many situations like database access, file access, invalid calculations, and so on. To be able to create some proper error handling into a Call Routing Script the standard error handling has to be disabled Smart Call Routing with Persistent Variables

If things do not work - Error Handling and Tracing (2) Proper error handling in Call Routing Scripts depends on the script itself. Runtime errors occur in the VBScript code part of this script. So, how to get the error from the VBScript code part of the script back into the graphical part of the script ? The most easiest way is to: Write a function around a “run time error” endangered code snippet. This function returns either true or false, depending if an error occurred or not . Use an Evaluate block to route the result into the graphical part of the script Smart Call Routing with Persistent Variables

If things do not work - Error Handling and Tracing (3) Smart Call Routing with Persistent Variables

If things do not work - Error Handling and Tracing (4) How to figure problems on a running system ? Make use of SwyxWare’s trace mechanism. Trace as many information as necessary/possible. Do not only trace errors but also success. The more information you trace the more easy it will become in the future to figure what’s going wrong Smart Call Routing with Persistent Variables

If things do not work - Error Handling and Tracing (5) Smart Call Routing with Persistent Variables

Get organized! - GSE Rule Parameters and GSE Actions (1) Make re-useable rules. Values that need to be modified per user/usage should be extracted from the rule and made rule parameters. Smart Call Routing with Persistent Variables

Get organized! - GSE Rule Parameters and GSE Actions (2) Smart Call Routing with Persistent Variables

Get organized! - GSE Rule Parameters and GSE Actions (3) Smart Call Routing with Persistent Variables

Get organized! - GSE Rule Parameters and GSE Actions (4) Smart Call Routing with Persistent Variables

Get organized! - GSE Rule Parameters and GSE Actions (5) An action can be seen as a subroutine. It can be easily used in many different scripts of different users. It encapsulates complicated stuff in just one GSE block, e.g. the remote inquiry Smart Call Routing with Persistent Variables

Get organized! - GSE Rule Parameters and GSE Actions (6) Smart Call Routing with Persistent Variables

Get organized! - GSE Rule Parameters and GSE Actions (7) Smart Call Routing with Persistent Variables

Spread your work! - Install rules/actions using the IpPbx File Explorer (1) After having finished a rule export it as RSE file. To install it for another user create a new rule and import the RSE file. There is no other way to distribute rules! After having finished an action download two files from the database by using the IpPbx File Explorer: actionNAME.ase actionNAME.vbs To install it for another or all users use the IpPbx File Explorer to upload these files into the USER scope or the GLOBAL scope. Smart Call Routing with Persistent Variables

Spread your work! - Install rules/actions using the IpPbx File Explorer (1) Smart Call Routing with Persistent Variables

Put everything together! - e.g. Persistent Variables (1) After having seen how to extend GSE functionality, how to do it in an organized way and how to distribute this new functionality on other SwyxWare machines it is time to take a look on some examples doing exactly this. There are lots of such extensions already available (for free or commercial). One of the freely available extensions are the so called Persistent Variables A persistent variable keeps it’s content even after an application/script has been terminated, while a common variable will loose it’s content and is empty on the next start of an application/script. Smart Call Routing with Persistent Variables

Put everything together! - e.g. Persistent Variables (2) The persistent variables are implemented as a GSE Action and can therefore be used in any extended call routing script. One step of installing them on a SwyxWare machine is to upload two files (ase and vbs) into the SwyxWare database using the IpPbx File Explorer. By uploading these files into the global scope the persistent variables can be used in any script of any user. There is of course a little bit more to do to install them, but that’s just related on how these persistent variables work and have nothing to do with SwyxWare. You will get everything you need (setup, documentation, examples) from the Swyx Forum page: Projects - Call Routing Extensions - Documentation - Persistent Variables Smart Call Routing with Persistent Variables

Make it easy! - usage of Persistent Variables (1) The project provides an easy to use VBScript class (PersistentVariable) which stores it's content into a database and retrieves it from there. The visibility, i.e. scope, of a persistent variable can be configured finely grained: User Global Namespace A variable with the scope User is accessible form all scripts of the current user. A user scope variable of another user with the same name does not interfere. A variable with the scope Global is accessible from all scripts of all users. A variable with the scope Namespace is accessible from any script (of any user) defining the same namespace. A variable being stored in another namespace but with the same name does not interfere. Smart Call Routing with Persistent Variables

Make it easy! - usage of Persistent Variables (2) The default scope is User, i.e. each user has his own set of persistent variables without need to worry to interfere with other user's scripts. So, how to use them? Put the Persistent Variables GSE Action into you call routing script. Smart Call Routing with Persistent Variables

Make it easy! - usage of Persistent Variables (3) Afterwards you can declare a persistent variable more or less just like you would declare a common VBScript variable: To store something in it, just do it like you would do it with a common variable: Smart Call Routing with Persistent Variables

Make it easy! - usage of Persistent Variables (4) And reading from a persistent variable works the same: Or directly within a GSE block: Smart Call Routing with Persistent Variables

Make it easy! - usage of Persistent Variables (5) Example: Night Switch Smart Call Routing with Persistent Variables

Make it easy! - usage of Persistent Variables (6) Example: Night Switch Manager Smart Call Routing with Persistent Variables

Don‘t invent the wheel a second time! - Some examples… (1) There are lots of examples available! The SwyxPEDIA wiki tries to gather all of them together at one single point: SwyxWare Development Just a few examples… IsAgentFree IsCallTransferred IsExternalRedirectionConfigured IsRedirectedFrom Smart Call Routing with Persistent Variables

Don‘t invent the wheel a second time! - Some examples… (2) And even more examples… Call logging into database Caller verification against database Twitter incoming calls Launch command line application from within an ECR script Launch an URL from within an ECR script Conference Room Manager Open Queue Longest Idle And much much more! Smart Call Routing with Persistent Variables

Want more? - hints and help (1) The Swyx Knowledge Base! http://www.swyx.com/support Scroll the page down! Smart Call Routing with Persistent Variables

Want more? - hints and help (2) Swyx Forum http://www.swyx-forum.com SwyxPEDIA - Wiki (examples) Forum (help/discussion) Projects (inspiration/examples) Swyx Partner Net Forum https://partnernet.swyx.com/forum SwyxECR for Developers Training (2 days, instead of 1 hour) Smart Call Routing with Persistent Variables

Thank you for your interest! Join me between the sessions for a chat Meet me in the forums Take part in my training Smart Call Routing with Persistent Variables