[Asterisk-Dev] PATCH: added SAY TIME to AGI Interface

[John Todd]

>http://bugs.digium.com/bug_view_page.php?bug_id=0000269
>
>The above bug ID includes a patch to app_agi.c to expose ast_say_time to
>the AGI interface.
>
>Call as: SAY TIME <epoch> <escapedigits>.
>
>--Eric
>
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This is great!  I actually had talked Tilghman Lesher about such an 
application at the dialplan level.  However, he is swamped right now. 
Might you be induced to write a SayTime(epoch|format|zone) 
application? The stuff in voicemail2 is very interesting, and I often 
just want a quick method to say a date within some diaplan logic (not 
inside of an AGI) and the ast_say_date_with_format() seems to solve 
that problem.  My ineptitude with C precludes me from doing this 
myself.  :(  This seems to be a very obvious application that would 
be used frequently, but is missing from the basic application list. 
I suppose I should put this as a an application request on the 
bugtracker, but let's see if it gets any traction here.

Here is my idea (modify as anyone sees fit):

application: SayTime

[Synopsis]:
   Says the date given in the specified format and timezone

[Description]
   SayTime(time[|[format][|[zone][|options]]):  Takes the given time 
(UNIX seconds) and announces it in "long" form which is 
understandable to the listener, with optional formatting and timezone 
data.  Standard language localization is honored.

    If no format is specified, the default format is "HABd".  For a 
short example of format options, see voicemail.conf.

    Timezones are those used by strftime (examples: see 
/usr/share/zoneinfo).  Default timezone is whatever the system is set 
to use.

    The "b" option treats the application as a "background" 
application, meaning that the user can press DTMF keys during 
playback and they will be interpreted as they are with the Background 
application.  Common usage would be for being able to "skip" over a 
date announcement with a keypress.


Example:  SayTime(1063529070|IMp|US/Eastern)
   would say: "Four forty-four PM"

Example:  SayTime(1063529070)
   would say (on a machine set to GMT): "Nineteen fourty-four, 
Saturday, September fourteenth"

Example:  SayTime(1063529070||US/Eastern|b)
   would say "Sixteen forty-four, Saturday, September fourteenth" but 
would allow the user to hit a digit to escape from the date readback


JT