[asterisk-users] Proper AGI use with MySQL

[lists at infoway.net]

Sorry, just to make sure this is clear, in #2 below, when I said "We would like for the AGI script to stay running for the life of the call...", I also meant after the call is transfered to the customer service queue. This is so because we need to note that the call ended (update callend = NOW()) regardless of whether the call stayed only in the IVR or the caller spoke with a customer service agent.

Thanks again

On Mon, May 14, 2007 5:40 pm, lists at infoway.net said:

> Hi,
> 
> We have a "simple" AGI script that provides some IVR functionality. It connects to
> a MySQL database in order to create a call record and capture IVR data.
> 
> During the IVR process, we need to store the time the call started, so basically
> we INSERT a new MySQL row with callstart = NOW(), uniqueid = AGI(agi_uniqueid). As
> the user selects different options, we update the row to reflect the user's
> selection. There are a couple of options within the IVR that allows the user to
> speak with a live customer service rep. So, in those cases, we do a AGI exec to
> Dial out to the customer service queue and transfer the caller there. In the
> dialplan, we have extension h, execute DeadAGI which basically looks up the
> agi_uniqueid and updates the time the call ended in MySQL (e.g. callend = NOW()).
> 
> All this seems to be working. However, we just don't feel we are doing things
> properly and reading up on the wiki more about AGI and dialing out, etc, just
> makes me feel we could be doing things better.
> 
> Here are some of the things we think we could be doing better but are not sure:
> 
> 1) Ideally, we would like for the AGI script to know when the call hangs up so
> that it properly updates "callend" without having to run the DeadAGI command in
> the h extension.
> 
> 2) We would like for the AGI script to stay running for the life of the call and
> keep in memory all the user's IVR selections until the call is hung up. At which
> point, we could actually INSERT the row in MySQL with all the data, instead of
> constantly hitting the database with updates.
> 
> 3) We read on the wiki the following: "If the AGI application dials outward by
> executing Dial, control over the call returns to the dialplan and the script loses
> contact with the Asterisk server. The script continues to run in the background by
> itself and is free to clean up and do post-dial processing." In our IVR, we always
> exit with -1. So, this statement confused us. Does it mean that when we transfer
> the call to the queue, we should actually return 0 instead of -1 to indicate that
> the AGI is still running? Can anyone explain this further?
> 
> 4) When should we close the database handle? Currently, we have it at the end of
> the AGI script and also as part of the DeadAGI script. However, which one is
> actually closing it, we don't know.
> 
> Comments are extremely welcomed and appreciated.
> 
> Thanks
> 
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