[asterisk-users] SendImage()

[Rob Hillis]

Philipp Kempgen wrote:
> SendImage() in 1.4:
>
> ---cut---
>   SendImage(filename): Sends an image on a channel.
> If the channel supports image transport but the image send
> fails, the channel will be hung up. Otherwise, the dialplan
> continues execution.
> The option string may contain the following character:
>     'j' -- jump to priority n+101 if the channel doesn't support image transport
> This application sets the following channel variable upon completion:
>     SENDIMAGESTATUS        The status is the result of the attempt as a text string, one of
>         OK | NOSUPPORT
> ---cut---
>
> in 1.6:
>
> ---cut---
>   SendImage(filename): Sends an image on a channel.
> Result of transmission will be stored in SENDIMAGESTATUS
> channel variable:
>     SUCCESS      Transmission succeeded
>     FAILURE      Transmission failed
>     UNSUPPORTED  Image transmission not supported by channel
> ---cut---
>
> Is there any reason to break backwards compatibility?
> Why is "SUCCESS" better than "OK" and "UNSUPPORTED" better than
> "NOSUPPORT"?
> IMHO there was no need to change anything except for adding
> the "FAILURE" return status.
>
> Might be a -dev question though

This is typical of the criticism that has been levelled at Digium time 
and time and time again - making changes that don't really add any 
functionality, but break compatibility.

I had a hell of a time migrating a couple of systems from 1.2 to 1.4 - 
so much that I have no plans at all in the near future of migrating them 
from 1.4 to 1.6.

Even the comments made at the time suggesting a parsing tool be provided 
to point out where changes to dialplan code would be required got a 
"nice idea" response, but nothing has been forthcoming.

This habit of breaking functionality for limited or no reason, plus 
making the results from functions far /less/ useful (note my previous 
complaints about the REALTIME() function) and more difficult to use is 
the biggest problem with Asterisk bar none.