[Asterisk-Dev] Re: AgentLogin to MeetMe conference?

[Tony Mountifield]

Steve, thanks for the clearer description:

In article <Pine.LNX.4.61.0504120855010.24512 at fs.sedwards.com>,
Steve Edwards <asterisk.org at sedwards.com> wrote:
> My appologies for my lack of clarity last night. I'll try again.
> 
> I'm setting up a chat service. Customers can chat either "1 on 1" or
> in a group.
> 
> When a customer dials in, they choose the "theme" of the call and if
> they want a "1 on 1" or a "group" chat.
> 
> For "1 on 1," agents log in using agentlogin(). Queues.conf allows me
> to say which "theme" an agent may handle calls from.
> 
> I'd like to have the same functionality for group. I'd like the agent
> to log in using something like agentlogin. The agent would then be
> sent to the conference serving the theme they have been assigned to
> (like queues.conf). The agent would sit there, administering the
> conference until the agent logs out.

OK, so an agent never moves between 1 on 1 and a group within the same
call. They are in either one or the other for the duration of their
login.

Does the agent know whether they are assigned to 1-1 or group? If so,
they could dial a different number in each case.

Or are you trying to make the choice transparent to the agent, so that
the routing is assigned by management?

> The "extension logic agent" approach from the wiki would probably do,
> it just appears to me to be a "messsy" approach and difficult for my
> staff to maintain.

I think you probably need to go down this route.

> I'm thinking that adding some code to agentlogin maybe with an option
> letter that says to connect the agent to a conference instead of
> putting the agent into a queue resource pool would be a cleaner
> approach? Maybe something in the 500 lines of __login_exec()?
> 
> To me, the concept of an agent seems applicable to conferences as well
> as queues.

Perhaps your kind of agent. However, the Agent module within Asterisk
is specifically a queuing subsystem. For conferences there is no queuing;
the agent and the conference are either there or not.

I think your application is best solved using extension logic rather than
customisations to the agent system source code. Write a front-end to hide
any messiness from your staff.

Further discussion about an extension-based approach should of course
take place in -users rather than -dev.

Cheers
Tony
-- 
Tony Mountifield
Work: tony at softins.co.uk - http://www.softins.co.uk
Play: tony at mountifield.org - http://tony.mountifield.org