Contacts
Digium Phones provide a Contacts application that integrates speed-dial, device busy-lamp field and user presence. The Contacts application is related to the Status application in that both are concerned with presence. The Status application is concerned only with setting the local user's presence. The Contacts application is concerned with the presence status of other users - those to which it's been programmed to subscribe.
Contacts without presence subscriptions may be loaded locally onto the phone by the phone's user; however, this is not recommended. Most deployments of Digium phones will see the administrator specifying XML lists of contacts to load onto phones. Here, we will discuss the methods to direct the phone to load contacts as well as the contents of the contacts XML files.
Beginning with the DPMA 1.3, Digium phones can support storing phone-added contacts on the Asterisk server. To support server-side storage of contacts that are added, by the user, locally on the phone, the editable option for a phonebook must be set to 1 and an identifier, as set by the id option must be unique for the phonebooks loaded by that phone.
Loading a Contact List
Contacts files that the phone should load are separate files, defined by DPMA or configured in the phone's main configuration XML file. For DPMA, Contacts files are specified for a phone configuration using the phone configuration parameter:
- contact
as noted above. Multiple "contact" lines may be used for each phone configuration. For XML configuration, Contacts files are specified using the <contacts> element.
Rapid Dial Keys
Rapid Dial, or BLF, key subscriptions are set using the phone configuration parameter:
- blf_contact_group
If the Smart BLF capabilities of the phone are being used, whereby a BLF Items sheet is being loaded onto the phone, then each and every contact to be placed on a Rapid Dial key must be explicitly defined. If no BLF Items sheet is loaded onto a phone, as-is the case with phones using firmware prior to 1.4.0, then the order of the contacts in this group is important. In that case, the named contacts here fill in the BLF-keys in the same order as given in the xml, and those contacts are subscribed to, in order.
Contacts XML skeleton
A basic Contacts XML structure is defined here:
And, a more fleshed-out example looks like:
Contacts Element
Option | Values | Description |
---|---|---|
group_name | string | Defines the name of a contacts group. This name is used in the Contacts application to organize contacts by group |
editable | boolean | Sets whether or not the group can be editable from the phone. If the phone is configured for server-side contacts storage and the editable option is set for a group, a contact may be added to that group from the phone |
id | string | Unique identifier for a group |
Contact: Child Element of <contacts>
Option | Values | Description |
---|---|---|
server_uuid | string | Optional. Specifies the uuid of the server to which this contact is attached. If this is a contact on a DPMA-enabled server, this should be the same as the server_uuid of that server. If server_uuid is set for contacts, it must also be set in the DPMA general section. If it is only set in one location (contact or general) instead of both, forwarding of voicemails to contacts is not permitted. |
id | string | Sets a unique identifier for the contact, used by blf_item definitions |
prefix | string | Sets the prefix title for a contact, e.g. "Mr." |
first_name | string | Specifies the first name for a contact |
second_name | string | Specifies a second name for a contact |
last_name | string | Specifies a final name for a contact |
suffix | string | Sets a suffix for a contact, e.g. "Jr." |
contact_type | sip, special | Specifies the type of contact. SIP contacts can be subscribed to for device and user presence (when DPMA is in use). Special contacts are subscribed to for device presence only. |
organization | string | Sets an organization for a contact |
job_title | string | Specifies a job title for a contact |
location | string | Sets a location for a contact, e.g. "Las Vegas" |
notes | string | Allows for provision of notes about a contact |
account_id | string | If the contact is associated with a contact local to the system, the PJSIP endpoint name for a contact |
subscribe_to | SIP URI | If the contact is to have a SIP subscription associated with it, the SIP URI |
Emails
Email: Child Element of <email>
Option | Values | Description |
---|---|---|
address | string | The e-mail address of the contact |
label | string | A description of the e-mail address, e.g. "Work" or "Home" |
primary | boolean | Sets an email as the primary e-mail for a contact. Only one primary email per contact is permissible. |
Actions
Action: Child Element of <actions>
Option | Values | Description |
---|---|---|
id | string | mandatory, unique identifier for the action, used by blf_item definitions. One id with the reserved name "primary" should be used for each contact, to designate the primary action, that occurs when no other action is matched. |
dial | string | optional, number to be passed to the phone application and dialed for this action |
dial_prefix | string | optional, number to be prepended before dial, where be passed to the phone application and dialed for this action |
app_id | string | optional, identifier for an application to which events or functions are sent. The identifier should be either one of the phone default applications (contacts, voicemail, parking, status, queues) or should be the identifier of a user-loaded custom application. |
label | string | mandatory, pertinent information about the number for the Contacts application, e.g. SIP Extension, Cell; appears to the left of the number or application within the contact's information screen |
name | string | mandatory, a name for this action, used as its language key within applications, e.g. custom applications; appears to the right, in square brackets, of the number or application within the contact's information screen |
Headers: Child Element of <actions>
Header: Child Element of <headers>
Option | Values | Description |
---|---|---|
key | string | Key value of the header applied to the action |
value | string | optional, value to be matched with the key, may incorporate wildcard values |
Wildcard Variables
Wildcard Variables can be used in Action Headers as part of the "substitute_value" of a Header. The following variables are allowed:
- %_ACCOUNT_USERNAME_% - The username of the account that is performing the action.
- %_ACCOUNT_SERVER_% - The server host of the account that is performing the action.
- %_ACCOUNT_PORT_% - The server port of the account that is performing the action.
Display Rules
Beginning with phone firmware 1.4, the Contacts application works in concert with the Smart BLF functionality provided by the rapid dial keys. As actions are assigned to a contact, those actions are, by default, displayed when viewing the contact's information.
Whereas actions are tied to BLF keys using the Smart BLF capabilities, allowing differing functions depending on the state of the phone and/or of the target phone, Display Rules allow selective display of actions within the Contacts application also depending on the state of the phone and/or of the target phone. A common scenario for this is the display of Intercom or Monitor actions. When a contact is idle, it is reasonable that a user's phone might have an action to Intercom that contact, but might not have an action to Monitor that contact - if the contact isn't on a call, there's no reason to try to barge into a non-existent call. And, while that same contact is on the phone, it is reasonable that a user's phone might have an action to Monitor that contact - if the contact is already on a call, it's not necessarily a good idea to Intercom their phone.
Display Rules are configured using an XML fragment. For DPMA users, the fragment is loaded from the file_directory as specified by the contacts_display_rules phone option. XML configuration users may simply append the display_rules child node to the "contacts" appconfig.
Display Rules XML Example
Display Rules are parsed top down. and act as a black list. Unless an action_id is present here, it will displayed at all times. A way to show an action in only one state is to set it's show=0 then take that same action and show=1 in a specific state.
Display Rules Configuration
Option | Values | Description |
---|---|---|
id | unique id | A unique identifier for this display_rule, e.g. 0, 1, 2, etc. |
action_id | A valid action as defined in the phone's Contacts file | Sets the action_id for the display rule to act upon |
phone_state | idle, hold, transfer, incoming/transfer, incoming, connected, dialing, calling, failed | Defines the state of the local phone during which the rule will be acting. If not specified in a rule, all states are matched. Note that this list of states differs from the larger list of states available for BLF key action mappings. |
target_status | unknown, idle, on_hold, ringing, on_the_phone | Optional. Sets the status of the subscribed to contact that must be matched for this display rule to be in effect |
show | Boolean | If set to yes, shows a particular action; if set to no, hides the action. To hide an action for all states and only show it for some states, first declare the action to have a false show, then declare it to have a true show for only a particular state or states. |