[asterisk-dev] Interesting feature for app_dial - Time indication event

[Nir Simionovich]

Hi All,

Here's a funky little feature I've been thinking about lately, mainly 
concentrated for the prepaid/postpaid market.

As you all know, app_dial accepts the L() parameter, allowing the call 
to be limited to a specific duration. The problem is that we can't 
really change that time limit of the call, as it is in progress. True, 
we can easily go about and monitor the call from the manager, however, 
that requires a massive amount of processing on the information system 
side - especially if we are talking about high performance carrier level 
prepaid systems.

What I was thinking of was adding a new option to the Dial application, 
that looks something like this:

E(x:action_flag)

With the above, as the call is performed, every x mSec and event called
DialProgress (or otherevent) will be fired onto to Manager, where the 
event will include the "ACTION_ID" variable, which will include the 
value indicated by "action_flag".

With this methodology, we gain two new added values:
1. We are able to monitor the time of a call via the Manager interface,
    using discrete measurement units.
2. We are able to provide the developers a method of limiting the call
    duration, even without having the Media pass through Asterisk, like
    when using the L() option.

What do you think, is that doable? i've been trying to take a look in 
app_dial.c, however, I'm totally un-familiar with that application code, 
so I'm slightly at a loss there.

-- 
Kind Regards,
   Nir Simionovich
   Asterisk Community Founder and Maintainer - Israel

   (e) nir.simionovich at gmail.com
   (w) http://www.simionovich.com