[asterisk-users] BLF and Call Queues

[Jonas Kellens]

Hello,

I'm trying to monitor a Call Queue with BLF-button to see if there are
calls inside the call queue.

This I have :

extensions.conf

exten => 566,hint,Queue:voipq1

On the CLI I see :

***@908001-blf : Queue:voipq1 State:Unavailable Watchers 1


But when a call enters my queue "voipq1", then my BLF-light stays green
in stead of turning red or blinking red.

Is there something I'm missing to "monitor" a call queue ?



Kind regards,
Jonas.

[Alec Davis]

Post by Jonas Kellens
I'm trying to monitor a Call Queue with BLF-button to see if there

are calls inside the call queue.

Currently asterisk doesn't support hint's on queues, unless done externally.
See my review 'Support a hint on a queue'
https://reviewboard.asterisk.org/r/1619/
which also then allows a call via a BLF button to pickup a call from a
queue.

Alec Davis

[Jonas Kellens]

Post by Alec Davis

Post by Jonas Kellens
I'm trying to monitor a Call Queue with BLF-button to see if there

are calls inside the call queue.
Currently asterisk doesn't support hint's on queues, unless done externally.
See my review 'Support a hint on a queue'
https://reviewboard.asterisk.org/r/1619/
which also then allows a call via a BLF button to pickup a call from a
queue.

Alec,

I've seen this post. That's why I thought it was possible. I'm using 1.8.11

What is the difference between this post and asterisk 1.8.11 ?


Kind regards,
Jonas.

[Alec Davis]

Post by Jonas Kellens
I've seen this post. That's why I thought it was possible.
I'm using 1.8.11
What is the difference between this post and asterisk 1.8.11 ?

The patch hasn't been accepted by the community, thus isn't in asterisk
trunk or any asterisk branches.

Alec

[Alec Davis]

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Saturday, 18 August 2012 10:36 p.m.
To: 'Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion'
Subject: RE: [asterisk-users] BLF and Call Queues

Post by Jonas Kellens
I've seen this post. That's why I thought it was possible.
I'm using 1.8.11
What is the difference between this post and asterisk 1.8.11 ?

The patch hasn't been accepted by the community, thus isn't
in asterisk trunk or any asterisk branches.
Alec

Jonas;
In case you had't seen it, the patch is available from review board
https://reviewboard.asterisk.org/r/1619/ using the 'Download Diff' link at
the top right of the review.
Or directly form here https://reviewboard.asterisk.org/r/1619/diff/raw/

Alec

[Jonas Kellens]

Post by Alec Davis

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Saturday, 18 August 2012 10:36 p.m.
To: 'Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion'
Subject: RE: [asterisk-users] BLF and Call Queues

Post by Jonas Kellens
I've seen this post. That's why I thought it was possible.
I'm using 1.8.11
What is the difference between this post and asterisk 1.8.11 ?

The patch hasn't been accepted by the community, thus isn't
in asterisk trunk or any asterisk branches.
Alec

Jonas;
In case you had't seen it, the patch is available from review board
https://reviewboard.asterisk.org/r/1619/ using the 'Download Diff' link at
the top right of the review.
Or directly form here https://reviewboard.asterisk.org/r/1619/diff/raw/
Alec

Thank you Alec.

is there also some kind of manual on how I can use this "patch" ? I
don't want to mess up a perfect running system.


Do you also know why it hasn't been accepted ? Seems like this
functionality is asked for on different forums. Wanting to watch a queue
for calls is not that strange.



Kind regards,
Jonas.

[Alec Davis]

Thank you Alec.

Post by Jonas Kellens
is there also some kind of manual on how I can use this
"patch" ? I don't want to mess up a perfect running system.

If you're asking how to apply this patch?
Download patch to your working src directory

Example:
cd /usr/src/asterisk
patch -p0 < download.diff.txt
make
make install

Post by Jonas Kellens
Do you also know why it hasn't been accepted ? Seems like this
functionality is asked for on different forums. Wanting to
watch a queue
for calls is not that strange.

Not sure why?
Maybe I didn't promote it enough.
Maybe my examples aren't simple enough.

Alec

[Jonas Kellens]

Hello

concerning this question of aug 2012, I am now using 1.8.32.2 and it
seems that the code of app_queue.c has changed.

The function ast_devstate_changed() is no longer used. Can anyone tell
me what it is replaced with ?



Kind regards

Post by Alec Davis

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Saturday, 18 August 2012 10:36 p.m.
To: 'Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion'
Subject: RE: [asterisk-users] BLF and Call Queues

Post by Jonas Kellens
I've seen this post. That's why I thought it was possible.
I'm using 1.8.11
What is the difference between this post and asterisk 1.8.11 ?

The patch hasn't been accepted by the community, thus isn't
in asterisk trunk or any asterisk branches.
Alec

Jonas;
In case you had't seen it, the patch is available from review board
https://reviewboard.asterisk.org/r/1619/ using the 'Download Diff' link at
the top right of the review.
Or directly form here https://reviewboard.asterisk.org/r/1619/diff/raw/
Alec
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[Matthew Jordan]

----- Original Message -----

Sent: Saturday, August 18, 2012 6:26:40 PM
Subject: Re: [asterisk-users] BLF and Call Queues

Post by Jonas Kellens
Do you also know why it hasn't been accepted ? Seems like this
functionality is asked for on different forums. Wanting to
watch a queue
for calls is not that strange.

Not sure why?
Maybe I didn't promote it enough.
Maybe my examples aren't simple enough.

Sometimes things just slip off the radar and need to get pushed back to
the top of the stack. Bumping the review or pinging people in #asterisk-dev
usually works.

In this particular case, the following comment might have made people think
that you were going to put a new version up for review:

"This is slightly flawed, in that a queue with all agents on a call (that
don't allow multiple calls), when another call comes in, the hint will flash,
but cannot be picked up, as there isn't a ringing extension."

--
Matthew Jordan
Digium, Inc. | Engineering Manager
445 Jan Davis Drive NW - Huntsville, AL 35806 - USA
Check us out at: http://digium.com & http://asterisk.org

[Alec Davis]

Post by Jonas Kellens

Post by Alec Davis

Post by Jonas Kellens
Do you also know why it hasn't been accepted ? Seems like this
functionality is asked for on different forums. Wanting

to watch a

Post by Alec Davis

Post by Jonas Kellens
queue for calls is not that strange.

Not sure why?
Maybe I didn't promote it enough.
Maybe my examples aren't simple enough.

Sometimes things just slip off the radar and need to get
pushed back to the top of the stack. Bumping the review or
pinging people in #asterisk-dev usually works.
In this particular case, the following comment might have
made people think that you were going to put a new version up
"This is slightly flawed, in that a queue with all agents on
a call (that don't allow multiple calls), when another call
comes in, the hint will flash, but cannot be picked up, as
there isn't a ringing extension."

The patch works perfectly to see if a person is in a queue.
Taking that a little further, picking up the queue only works if an agent is
ringing.
However, when no agent is ringing, that's where the pickup will fail.
Directed Pickup can only pickup devices that are ringing.

Is this senario a queue issue, or a directed pickup issue? I was unable to
decide.

In our use case, it hardly ever happens.
The main use for us is the night bell queue, which is a dahdi extension with
just a ringer, no handset, so always needs to be picked up.

Alec

[Jonas Kellens]

Post by Alec Davis

Post by Jonas Kellens

Post by Alec Davis

Post by Jonas Kellens
Do you also know why it hasn't been accepted ? Seems like this
functionality is asked for on different forums. Wanting

to watch a

Post by Alec Davis

Post by Jonas Kellens
queue for calls is not that strange.

Not sure why?
Maybe I didn't promote it enough.
Maybe my examples aren't simple enough.

Sometimes things just slip off the radar and need to get
pushed back to the top of the stack. Bumping the review or
pinging people in #asterisk-dev usually works.
In this particular case, the following comment might have
made people think that you were going to put a new version up
"This is slightly flawed, in that a queue with all agents on
a call (that don't allow multiple calls), when another call
comes in, the hint will flash, but cannot be picked up, as
there isn't a ringing extension."

The patch works perfectly to see if a person is in a queue.
Taking that a little further, picking up the queue only works if an agent is
ringing.
However, when no agent is ringing, that's where the pickup will fail.
Directed Pickup can only pickup devices that are ringing.
Is this senario a queue issue, or a directed pickup issue? I was unable to
decide.
In our use case, it hardly ever happens.
The main use for us is the night bell queue, which is a dahdi extension with
just a ringer, no handset, so always needs to be picked up.
Alec

In my case, I just want to see if there is a call waiting in a queue.
Call pickup I've already worked around it (I store information in a
MySQL DB to do the pickup).

So I'm just looking on how to make a BLF-button blink or turn red, to
show to my customer that there are still calls inside the queue waiting.

Can I only apply on Asterisk 1.8.5 ? Or can I apply to my Asterisk
1.8.11 also ?


Thanks !

Jonas.

[Alec Davis]

Post by Jonas Kellens
So I'm just looking on how to make a BLF-button blink or turn
red, to show to my customer that there are still calls inside
the queue waiting.
Can I only apply on Asterisk 1.8.5 ? Or can I apply to my Asterisk
1.8.11 also ?

It's 4 lines, plus 2 debug statements.

I haven't had time to see if it applies clean against 1.8.5.
We are running it with 1.8 branch.

Alec

[Jonas Kellens]

Post by Alec Davis

Post by Jonas Kellens
So I'm just looking on how to make a BLF-button blink or turn
red, to show to my customer that there are still calls inside
the queue waiting.
Can I only apply on Asterisk 1.8.5 ? Or can I apply to my Asterisk
1.8.11 also ?

It's 4 lines, plus 2 debug statements.
I haven't had time to see if it applies clean against 1.8.5.
We are running it with 1.8 branch.
Alec

So I can just add these 4 lines to app_queue.c and this will give me the
ability to use : exten => 566,hint,Queue:voipq1 ??


Kind regards,
Jonas.

[Alec Davis]

Post by Jonas Kellens
So I can just add these 4 lines to app_queue.c and this will give me

the ability to use : exten => 566,hint,Queue:voipq1 ??

Yes, then I assume you know that you need to compile etc.
./configure
make menuselect
make
make install

Alec

[Olivier]

Post by Alec Davis

Post by Jonas Kellens

Post by Alec Davis

Post by Jonas Kellens
Do you also know why it hasn't been accepted ? Seems like this
functionality is asked for on different forums. Wanting

to watch a

Post by Alec Davis

Post by Jonas Kellens
queue for calls is not that strange.

Not sure why?
Maybe I didn't promote it enough.
Maybe my examples aren't simple enough.

Sometimes things just slip off the radar and need to get
pushed back to the top of the stack. Bumping the review or
pinging people in #asterisk-dev usually works.
In this particular case, the following comment might have
made people think that you were going to put a new version up
"This is slightly flawed, in that a queue with all agents on
a call (that don't allow multiple calls), when another call
comes in, the hint will flash, but cannot be picked up, as
there isn't a ringing extension."

The patch works perfectly to see if a person is in a queue.
Taking that a little further, picking up the queue only works if an agent is
ringing.
However, when no agent is ringing, that's where the pickup will fail.
Directed Pickup can only pickup devices that are ringing.
Is this senario a queue issue, or a directed pickup issue? I was unable to
decide.
In our use case, it hardly ever happens.
The main use for us is the night bell queue, which is a dahdi extension with
just a ringer, no handset, so always needs to be picked up.
Alec
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Hi,

What about Queue logs ? How is a picked-up call logged ?

Giving agents the capability to easily pickup a call, without beeing
logged-in, is a big change with both positive and negative side effects.
I would be curious to read opinions about that.

[Lenz Emilitri]

In general I would not use this for a "true" call-center with hundreds of
agents, where it is the ACD's responsibility to route calls to agents and
there are strict policies on agent behavior, but I'm sure there are a
number of cases where this could be useful (eg small call centers, internal
service desks, receptionists, etc...).
Just my two cents,
l.

Post by Olivier
Hi,
What about Queue logs ? How is a picked-up call logged ?
Giving agents the capability to easily pickup a call, without beeing
logged-in, is a big change with both positive and negative side effects.
I would be curious to read opinions about that.

[Alec Davis]

Post by Olivier
Hi,
What about Queue logs ? How is a picked-up call logged ?

The member that was being tried is recorded in queue_log. Not the device
that pickedup the call.
This has been queried on issues.asterisk.org with a result of 'will not
fix'.

-----Original Message-----
Lenz Emilitri
Sent: Tuesday, 25 September 2012 10:48 p.m.
To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion
Subject: Re: [asterisk-users] BLF and Call Queues
In general I would not use this for a "true" call-center with
hundreds of agents, where it is the ACD's responsibility to
route calls to agents and there are strict policies on agent
behavior, but I'm sure there are a number of cases where this
could be useful (eg small call centers, internal service
desks, receptionists, etc...).
Just my two cents,
l.

Picking up a queue can be done without the use of a BLF hint, a ringing
phone next to you is another hint.
But I agree, in an organisation where the ACD is in total control, the
dialplan code shouldn't exist to allow pickup of a queue.

Queue hints code has now been submitted to asterisk-11-beta2 and trunk.

Alec Davis