[asterisk-users] click to call

[Gordon Henderson]

On Fri, 1 Jun 2007, Anton Krall wrote:

> So Guys, no go on this topic?

I trialled a click-to-dial application recently. It generated a lot of 
controversy on the list (search the archives) because various people said 
it couldn't be done/wouldn't work, etc. Then there were whinges about the 
commercial nature of the application (it's licensed, not free, and details 
were being posted to the -users list) and so on. Personally, I didn't see 
why as the creators of the code were simply replying to questions asked by 
list members, however...

(That's probably why you've not gotten many replies ;-)

So the thing I trialled was a button on a web page which downlaoded a 
soft-phone program written in Java to your browser. The soft-phone uses 
the IAX protocol to connect to an asterisk server, then depending on the 
javascript that you write to encapsulate the button on the web page, you 
have the ability to specify username & password (to authenticate back to 
the asterisk server) and number to dial - the number you dial could even 
be entered via more javascript on the webpage, and the asterisk server at 
the back-end can then do what it needs to do with the number - dial an 
extension in a "closed" system, or even initiate a dial-out to the PSTN, 
if the server as such a connection and the connection is authorised. The 
end-user pushing the button doesn't need to see any of this at all - it 
can all be embedded in the javascript behind the button.

You can specify callerId too, or dial different numbers, so the person 
answering the call could use this information to know what web page you 
are on for example. You can even embed it into an email signature with a 
different number then you could tell if they are calling you in reply to 
an email, and so on. (And much as I hate big HTML based email signatures, 
if done correctly this could be quite effective - and it doesn't need to 
download the Java - about 120KB until you click on the button)

(They have a demonstration client which works with the Tesco VoIP service 
- you enter your Tesco username/password, then get a phone application 
with buttons, etc. The Tesco VoIP system unusually uses IAX rather than 
SIP as their transport mechanism!)

I tried the application on a WinXP box, Linux box and Mac, and as long as 
the sound system was setup to work with the headset & microphone, it "just 
worked" - At last, Java doing what it was supposed to be doing, working 
correctly cross platform!

Some of the whinges to the list were that a soft-phone couldn't possibly 
be written in Java as Java was too heavyweight - well, this is the latter 
part of the first decade of the new millennium and Java has come a long way 
since it was first released, and they couldn't be further from the truth - 
in use on my 2GHz Linux box, it was using about 2-3% CPU, and at 120KB to 
download, is no worse than your average mid-resolution camera image these 
days.

If this is what you're after, then go to

   http://www.mexuar.com/products_connect.shtml

They were happy to give me a time-limited trial of the software, which I 
used, and found worked really well. You will need to write some html and 
javascript to encapsulate it into your own web page, but that's not hard 
to do and examples are provided.

Now all I need is some clients to sell it to ;-)

Gordon

>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com
> [mailto:asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Anton Krall
> Sent: Jueves, 31 de Mayo de 2007 10:58 a.m.
> To: 'Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion'
> Subject: RE: [asterisk-users] click to call
>
> The idea is to put some kind of embedded app on the website so customers
> with mics can just click an icon or image and connect to our sales people or
> customer support staff...
>
> So far for what I've seen, there is some misconception of the terms.. click
> to dial can mean if you see a number on a webpage, click on it and your
> softphone will dial it.. but can also mean click on the image and it will
> connect you to the sales people, for example.
>
> I'm looking for the latter.
>
>  
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com
> [mailto:asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of mail-lists
> Sent: Jueves, 31 de Mayo de 2007 10:18 a.m.
> To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion
> Subject: Re: [asterisk-users] click to call
>
> Anton Krall wrote:
>> I have been looking around for examples or code on making a click to call
>> application for web sites... has anybody had any luck on this topic? Is
>> there any open source code out ther that could do this?
>>
> What we have done in the past is created url's like this : sip:4044565941.
>
> Xlite will register itself as the sip handler on your system.
>
> If you want a generic click to call (ability to call numbers on any
> given website) check out moziax
> -----------------
>
>