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.
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.
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.
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