Version 1.7.4.06 Changes

VX Control Protocol

Please note: This is very much a beta feature. Please report any problems using this feature so that we can address them as soon as possible.

Version 1.7.4.06 adds the VX Control protocol into Pathfinder Core PRO. This protocol allows Pathfinder Core PRO logic flows and user panel controls to monitor and change Vx calls in a studio. Control points such as lines, studios, call states, comments, and call actions are now available to be used by Pathfinder Core PRO via this protocol.

It is important to understand that when you connect to a VX engine on the control port, you have to select which studio to interact with. As a result, if you want to monitor multiple VX engine studios in Pathfinder Core PRO at the same time, a separate TCP connection is required for each studio. Rather than enabling this by default when many customers may not need this functionality, we decided to allow the administrator to enable the studios they wish PathfinderCore PRO to interact with and leave the others disconnected. This conserves resources.

To begin using the VX Control protocol, go to the logic flows tab and select a logic flow view. Add a flow and double click on the end point. Within the tree you will see a new branch called VxEngine Call Control.

Clicking on the [Add Studio] branch will bring up a dialog where you can select which studios you want Pathfinder Core PRO to use and monitor.

Select the VxEngine whose studios you wish to enable from the drop down and then enable the check boxes for the studios you wish to have available. You need to click apply for each engine whose studios you enable or disable. If you have changed the Lwcp password in the VxEngine, you need to supply the correct password in this dialog as well. If you change the password after adding the studios into PathfinderCore PRO, come back to this dialog, deselect the studios and apply and then reselect them using the new password and apply again. This is not a dialog that is specific to this instance of logic flow editing. You are adding or removing that studio support from the system and so it is generally a onetime change and does require some cpu resources while adding or removing the studio. We decided to place this dialog within logic flow because that will be where customers will most frequently be interacting with the VX Control protocol data points.

Once added, the studio and property items will then be available in logic flows under the specified engine:

Warning: Currently if you add new studios to an engine, you need to collapse and re-expand the engine branch to see the new studio. Also if you uncheck (remove) a studio, you may need to refresh the logic flows web page before it is removed from the property tree. Removing (unchecking) a studio removes it from Pathfinder’s control and monitoring entirely which may affect any other flows that use that studio.

Gpio Ring Example

As an example as to how this might be used, you could cause a gpio to light an indicator whenever a given line rings. To accomplish this, you would create a flow where the start point is the line’s callstate property and the endpoint is a gpio.

The flow would look like:

For the translation you would create something like:

Additional flows could be added to trip other gpio pins for different lines.

It is important to note that the properties will differ significantly depending on whether you are selecting a start or end point. There are numerous properties that are “read only” or “write only” and so will only display in either the start or end point editing. Selecting a property in the logic flows tree will also display a brief description as to what the property does.

Panel Example

You can also use these properties in user panels. So for example, you could use a label object and bind the label’s background color to the line call state and the textContent to the caller_id field. A button could then be used to answer and drop the calls. One of our support engineers crafted the following using the html 5 user panel designer during our initial testing.

This uses a large label where the call state is bound to the background color, and smaller transparent labels on top of that are bound to the caller_id, comment, and time properties. An image was also overlaid that swaps between multiple images to represent call state. Finally, additional buttons were added for the additional call actions such as seize, drop, hold, etc. Using these items you can develop a user interface to your liking that works with the vx phone system. This also allows you to create a user interface that mixes console fader control, call control, and other user interface items to achieve your specific needs.

Available Properties

Below find a list of the commonly used properties. Additional properties may be available that are not included in this list, so review the logic flow tree and property descriptions within the tree. Items in this table that are marked as true only in the syntax are write only actions where setting the property to true is a momentary state that triggers the action.

Object	Property	ReadWrite	Description	Syntax
Line	call	W	Call out using a specific hybrid.	<hybridnumber>_ <numbertocall>
Line	caller_id	R	Caller Id	Text
Line	callstate	R	Call State	List of states
Line	comment	RW	Comment for the Line	Text
Line	direction	R	Direction for the Call	NONE INCOMING OUTGOING
Line	drop	W	Drop a line	True
Line	fixed	R	Is line fixed or selectable	True/False
Line	handset	R	Is call on the handset	True/False
Line	hold	W	Hold a line	ON_HOLD_READY ON_HOLD
Line	hybrid	R	Take the next call to the specified Hybrid	List of hybrid ids by name
Line	local	R	Local Phone Number	Text
Line	lock	W	Lock a line	True/False
Line	name	R	Name of the Line	Text
Line	owner_ip	R	IP address of the current line owner	Text
Line	raise	W	Raise a line in priority	True
Line	remote	R	Remote Phone Number	Text
Line	seize	W	Seize a line to reserve it for this client	True
Line	state	R	Line State	List of states
Line	take	W	Take the next call to the specified hybrid	List of hybrid ids by name
Line	time	R	Line Time	Time
Studio	busy_all	RW	Sets and reads studio busy_all state	True/False
Studio	drop	W	Drop a specific hybrid	List of hybrid ids by name
Studio	drop_all	W	Drop all calls	True
Studio	hold	W	Hold the call that is currently on a specific hybrid	List of hybrid ids by name
Studio	message	RW	Instant Message	Text
Studio	mode	W	Set the studio mode for backwards compatibility	TALENT PRODUCER
Studio	mute	RW	Studio Mute	True/False
Studio	show_id	RW	Set or read Show Id	List of show ids by name
Studio	take	W	Take a call	True
Studio	next	R	Position of line that should be answered next	Number