[asterisk-dev] Customizable Voicemail Menu

[Jonathan Thurman]

On Fri, May 29, 2009 at 6:23 PM, Giuseppe Sucameli <brush.tyler at gmail.com>wrote:

> Hi,
> I'm Giuseppe Sucameli and I'm taking part to GSoC 2009 for the Asterisk
> Project.
>

Welcome aboard!


>
> My proposal is adding fully configurable menus to the Asterisk voicemail
> application.
>

> In the current app_voicemail the menu is built into the C code and
> difficult
> to modify.
> The alternative application minivm adds some degree of configurability,
> but this has to go in the dialplan configuration file, which may not be
> available to unprivileged users. In any case, mixing the voicemail and
> dialplan
> configuration is undesirable in terms of managing configuration files.
>

I agree with Sean Bright and not sure why unprivileged users would be
modifying anything on the server.  Could you elaborate on what your goal is
on this?


>
> We can keep the voicemail configuration separate  from the dialplan,
> so the dialplan writer will only have to dispatch the call, and the
> voicemail
> config will do the rest.
> Then one can import/write/modify the voicemail config without having to
> bother (or needing to have permission) to touch the dialplan itself.
>
> Two file are attached (only text/plain files):
> > brief.txt
>                explain the voicemail_menu.conf file structure and its the
> most
>                important functionality
>
> > voicemail_menu.conf.txt
>                is an example of config file to customize the voicemail menu
>

There are some inconsistencies with your example which makes it a little
hard to follow.  You have the start = ast_vm but no ast_vm section defined,
did you mean vm_menu?  Also a reference to vm_setup_options when I think you
meant vm_opt.

>
> I hope the explanation is average, maybe I have write too much or few :)
> I wait for your questions and proposals.
>

The detail was great, thanks!

>
> Thanks for your attention.
>

I am really looking forward to customization of voicemail.  It will make
migrating customers much easier.  However, I think this is a bit in depth.
So here is an idea.  For basic users: Make it so that you can change the
digits dialed for the current menu items, and have the prompts say the right
thing.  For advanced users: export the menu items as dialplan functions
(maybe have a global variable in voicemail.conf to turn this on/off?) so
that users can create a more dynamic voicemail application if they so
choose.  It would also be nice to add some more (admin controlled) abilities
for the users to change more options (like turning on/off attachments for
your mailbox)

Whatever happens, I am glad to see this project moving forward!  I would be
happy to help test.

-Jonathan
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