asterisk users - Jan 2005 - Auto callout - reminder - is it possible?

I'm trying to get a script working on a website to send out automatic 
email reminders to customers reminding them monthly to change furnace 
filters.  I haven't got one running successfully, yet.

That made me think - could it be done with a phone call using Asterisk? 
A monthly automated phone call to remind people to change their furnace 
filter?

I have no ability to figure this out myself, but can it be done?  Has it 
been done?  Can I just search for an Asterisk application to do it and 
customize it for my own use?

Check sample.call in the asterisk tarball... edit the file, move it to
/var/spool/asterisk/outgoing and it'll dial and connect de callee with
the extension of your choice...

Greetings


On Mon, 24 Jan 2005 02:57:13 -0600, Roger Hanson <roger@makarios.us>
wrote:
> I'm trying to get a script working on a website to send out automatic
> email reminders to customers reminding them monthly to change furnace
> filters.  I haven't got one running successfully, yet.
> 
> That made me think - could it be done with a phone call using Asterisk?
> A monthly automated phone call to remind people to change their furnace
> filter?
> 
> I have no ability to figure this out myself, but can it be done?  Has it
> been done?  Can I just search for an Asterisk application to do it and
> customize it for my own use?
> 
> _______________________________________________
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> Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com
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On Mon, 24 Jan 2005, Andrew Kohlsmith wrote:
> As far as integrating with a website or database -- that is a piece of
cake.
> Your backend logic just determines when a call is needed and gerates the 
> approprate .call file.  Just remember to create it in /tmp or something, 
> close it and then MOVE it to the outgoing spool instead of creating and 
> working on it in the outgoing spool.
You need to create the temporary file on the same device as the call spool 
resides on. Otherwise the move from the temporary location the the call 
spool will not be an atomic operation but rather a read-write-unlink 
sequence. This has been discussed earlier on the mailing list.

Just make a temporary directory next to the call spool directory and 
create the files there.

Peter

>> On January 24, 2005 08:38 am, Roger Hanson wrote:
>>> I did see the wiki items: "asterisk auto-dial out deliver
message"
>>> and
>>> "Asterisk Auto-dial out" and think I may be able to
muddle my way
>>> through getting that working (although that may be questionable)
but
>>> is
>>> it feasable to integrate this wit a website, where a user enters a 
>>> phone
>>> number in a form, then asterisk somehow gets this information from 
>>> the
>>> website and it gets added to a database or some way for Asterisk to
>>> gather that information and make the phone calls automatically? 
>>> Maybe
>>> with another option on what type of notification it would be 
>>> (furnace
>>> filter, 1 month reminder, 2 month reminder) based on a variable in 
>>> the
>>> form?
>>
>> The callout in the wiki blows goatass -- at least the voicemail 
>> one --  I have
>> a cron script which looks for messages in the watched "INBOX"
folders
> and
> generates a callout every 5 minutes until the message is listened to 
> (at
> which time it is moved to the Old folder).
>
> As far as integrating with a website or database -- that is a piece of 
> cake.
> Your backend logic just determines when a call is needed and gerates 
> the
> approprate .call file.  Just remember to create it in /tmp or 
> something,
> close it and then MOVE it to the outgoing spool instead of creating 
> and
> working on it in the outgoing spool.
>
> -A.
 OK - I've made some progress.  I was able to use the wiki page 
"Asterisk
 auto-dail out deliver message" to record the messages, successfully.

 Now, I can't figure out this auto-dial thing.  Nothing happens when I
 move the call file to the /outgoing/ directory

 I have a file made in /var/spool/asterisk/tmp01 called 1.call.  Here it
 is:
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Channel: ZAP/go/9337367 Callerid: 9524458585 MaxRetries: 5 RetryTimie: 300
WaitTime: 45 Context: outboundmsg1 Extension: s Priority: 1
---------------------------------------------------------------------- I copy it
to /var/spool/asterisk/outgoing and it magically disappears (or does not
appear?) in /var/spool/asterisk and nothing happens.  I have another CLI window
to asterisk and nothing passes by - just dead. Now, I'm using AMP, if that
matters. I've added the following to extensions.conf:
-------------------------------------------------------------------
[record-outboundmsgs] ; Record voice files ; ; Before using this the first time
;    mkdir /var/lib/asterisk/sounds/outboundmsgs ;    chown
asterisk_user:asterisk_user /var/lib/asterisk/sounds/outboundmsgs ;    (Where
asterisk_user = the user that asterisk runs under: = root for many
installations) ; ; In a context for incoming calls put something like ;  include
=> record-outboundmsgs ; ; Then call ;   2051 to Record a new outbound msg1 ;
2052 to Record a new outbound msg2 ; ;   2061 to Record the msg played when the
recipient acks the message ;   2062 to Record the "How to ACK message"
; ; After dialing one of the extensions above: ;   Wait for the record start
tone ;   Record your message ;   Press # to stop recording ;   Listen to an
automatic playback of your new message ; ; outbound msg1 exten =>
2051,1,Wait(2) exten => 2051,2,Record(outboundmsgs/msg1:gsm) exten =>
2051,3,Wait(2) exten => 2051,4,Playback(outboundmsgs/msg1) exten =>
2051,5,wait(2) exten => 2051,6,Hangup ; ; outbound msg2 exten =>
2052,1,Wait(2) exten => 2052,2,Record(outboundmsgs/msg2:gsm) exten =>
2052,3,Wait(2) exten => 2052,4,Playback(outboundmsgs/msg2) exten =>
2052,5,wait(2) exten => 2052,6,Hangup ; ; ; Msg played when msg is acked
exten => 2061,1,Wait(2) exten => 2061,2,Record(outboundmsgs/thankyou:gsm)
exten => 2061,3,Wait(2) exten => 2061,4,Playback(outboundmsgs/thankyou)
exten => 2061,5,wait(2) exten => 2061,6,Hangup ; ; Msg played after
outbound msg: "Press 1 to replay or 2 to acknowledge receiving this
message" exten => 2062,1,Wait(2) exten =>
2062,2,Record(outboundmsgs/how_to_ack:gsm) exten => 2062,3,Wait(2) exten
=> 2062,4,Playback(outboundmsgs/how_to_ack) exten => 2062,5,wait(2) exten
=> 2062,6,Hangup
-------------------------------------------------------------- Which is working
correctly.  I can see that I've recorded and saved the above files in the
correct places. In extensions.conf, I added this line:
------------------------------------------------------------ include
extensions_callout.conf
------------------------------------------------------------- Because I thought
that may survive an AMP reload? Then I created another .conf file, called
extensions_callout.conf as shown:
--------------------------------------------------------------- [outboundmsg1]
exten => s,1,DigitTimeout,5 exten => s,2,ResponseTimeout,10 exten =>
s,3,Answer exten => s,4,Wait(1) exten => s,5,Background(outboundmsgs/msg1)
exten => s,6,Background(outboundmsgs/how_to_ack) exten => 1,1Goto(s,5)
exten => 2,1,Goto(msgack,s,1) exten => t,1,Playback(vm-goodbye) exten
=> t,2,Hangup [msgack] exten => s,1,Playback(outboundmsgs/thankyou) exten
=> s,2,Playback(vm-goodbye) [record-outboundmsgs] ;Before using this the
first time ; mkdir /var/lib/asterisk/sounds/outboundmsgs ; chown
asterisk_user:asterisk_user /var/lib/asterisk/sounds/outboundmsgs ;In a context
for incoming calls, put something like ; include => record-outboundmsgs ;
Then call ; 2051 to Record a new outbound msg1 ; 2052 to Record a new outbound
msg2 ; 2061 to Record the msg played when the recipient acs the message ; 2062
to Record the "How to ACK message" ; ; After dialing one of the
extensions above: ; Wait for the record start tone ; Record your message ; Press
# to stop recording ; Listen to an automatic playback of your new messsage ; ;
outbound msg1 exten => 2051,1,Wait(2) exten =>
2051,2,Record(outboundmsgs/msg1:gsm) exten => 2051,3,Wait(2) exten =>
2051,4,Playbacak(outboundmsgs/msg1) exten => 2051,5,Wait(2) exten =>
2051,6,Hangup ; ; ; Msg played when msg is acked exten => 2061,1,Wait(2)
exten => 2061,2,Record(outboundmsgs/thankyou:gsm) exten => 2061,3,Wait(2)
exten => 2061,4,Playback(outboundmsgs/thankyou) exten => 2061,5,Wait(2)
exten => 2061,6,Hangup ; ; ; Msg played after outbound msg: Press 1 to replay
or 2 to acknowledge exten => 2062,1,Wait(2) exten =>
2062,2,Record(outboundmsgs/how_to_ack:gsm) exten => 2062,3,Wait(2) exten
=> 2062,4,Playback(outboundmsgs/how_to_ack) exten => 2062,5,Wait(2) exten
=> 2062,6,Hangup ; ;
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Am I way
off base here?  I'm new to asterisk and definately over my head. Help? I can
supply more information as needed.Sorry that this went to the non-commercial
list - I didn't catch that.

Sorry, I don't know what happened to my line returns.  Here's that 
message readable.
> On January 24, 2005 08:38 am, Roger Hanson wrote:
>> I did see the wiki items: "asterisk auto-dial out deliver
message"
>> and
>> "Asterisk Auto-dial out" and think I may be able to muddle my
way
>> through getting that working (although that may be questionable) but 
>> is
>> it feasable to integrate this wit a website, where a user enters a 
>> phone
>> number in a form, then asterisk somehow gets this information from 
>> the
>> website and it gets added to a database or some way for Asterisk to
>> gather that information and make the phone calls automatically? Maybe
>> with another option on what type of notification it would be (furnace
>> filter, 1 month reminder, 2 month reminder) based on a variable in 
>> the
>> form?
>
> The callout in the wiki blows goatass -- at least the voicemail one --  
> I have
> a cron script which looks for messages in the watched "INBOX"
folders
> and
> generates a callout every 5 minutes until the message is listened to 
> (at
> which time it is moved to the Old folder).
>
> As far as integrating with a website or database -- that is a piece of 
> cake.
> Your backend logic just determines when a call is needed and gerates 
> the
> approprate .call file.  Just remember to create it in /tmp or 
> something,
> close it and then MOVE it to the outgoing spool instead of creating 
> and
> working on it in the outgoing spool.
>
> -A.
OK - I've made some progress.  I was able to use the wiki page
"Asterisk
auto-dail out deliver message" to record the messages, successfully.

Now, I can't figure out this auto-dial thing.  Nothing happens when I
move the call file to the /outgoing/ directory

I have a file made in /var/spool/asterisk/tmp01 called 1.call.  Here it
is:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Channel: ZAP/go/9337367
Callerid: 9524458585
MaxRetries: 5
RetryTimie: 300
WaitTime: 45
Context: outboundmsg1
Extension: s
Priority: 1
----------------------------------------------------------------------

I copy it to /var/spool/asterisk/outgoing and it magically disappears
(or does not appear?) in /var/spool/asterisk and nothing happens.  I
have another CLI window to asterisk and nothing passes by - just dead.

Now, I'm using AMP, if that matters.

I've added the following to extensions.conf:
-------------------------------------------------------------------
[record-outboundmsgs]
; Record voice files
;
; Before using this the first time
;    mkdir /var/lib/asterisk/sounds/outboundmsgs
;    chown asterisk_user:asterisk_user
/var/lib/asterisk/sounds/outboundmsgs
;    (Where asterisk_user = the user that asterisk runs under: = root
for many installations)
;
; In a context for incoming calls put something like
;  include => record-outboundmsgs
;
; Then call
;   2051 to Record a new outbound msg1
;   2052 to Record a new outbound msg2
;
;   2061 to Record the msg played when the recipient acks the message
;   2062 to Record the "How to ACK message"
;
; After dialing one of the extensions above:
;   Wait for the record start tone
;   Record your message
;   Press # to stop recording
;   Listen to an automatic playback of your new message
;
; outbound msg1
exten => 2051,1,Wait(2)
exten => 2051,2,Record(outboundmsgs/msg1:gsm)
exten => 2051,3,Wait(2)
exten => 2051,4,Playback(outboundmsgs/msg1)
exten => 2051,5,wait(2)
exten => 2051,6,Hangup
;
; outbound msg2
exten => 2052,1,Wait(2)
exten => 2052,2,Record(outboundmsgs/msg2:gsm)
exten => 2052,3,Wait(2)
exten => 2052,4,Playback(outboundmsgs/msg2)
exten => 2052,5,wait(2)
exten => 2052,6,Hangup
;
;
; Msg played when msg is acked
exten => 2061,1,Wait(2)
exten => 2061,2,Record(outboundmsgs/thankyou:gsm)
exten => 2061,3,Wait(2)
exten => 2061,4,Playback(outboundmsgs/thankyou)
exten => 2061,5,wait(2)
exten => 2061,6,Hangup
;
; Msg played after outbound msg: "Press 1 to replay or 2 to acknowledge
receiving this message"
exten => 2062,1,Wait(2)
exten => 2062,2,Record(outboundmsgs/how_to_ack:gsm)
exten => 2062,3,Wait(2)
exten => 2062,4,Playback(outboundmsgs/how_to_ack)
exten => 2062,5,wait(2)
exten => 2062,6,Hangup
--------------------------------------------------------------

Which is working correctly.  I can see that I've recorded and saved the
above files in the correct places.

In extensions.conf, I added this line:
------------------------------------------------------------
include extensions_callout.conf
-------------------------------------------------------------
Because I thought that may survive an AMP reload?

Then I created another .conf file, called extensions_callout.conf as
shown:
---------------------------------------------------------------
[outboundmsg1]
exten => s,1,DigitTimeout,5
exten => s,2,ResponseTimeout,10
exten => s,3,Answer
exten => s,4,Wait(1)
exten => s,5,Background(outboundmsgs/msg1)
exten => s,6,Background(outboundmsgs/how_to_ack)
exten => 1,1Goto(s,5)
exten => 2,1,Goto(msgack,s,1)
exten => t,1,Playback(vm-goodbye)
exten => t,2,Hangup

[msgack]
exten => s,1,Playback(outboundmsgs/thankyou)
exten => s,2,Playback(vm-goodbye)

[record-outboundmsgs]
;Before using this the first time
; mkdir /var/lib/asterisk/sounds/outboundmsgs
; chown asterisk_user:asterisk_user
/var/lib/asterisk/sounds/outboundmsgs
;In a context for incoming calls, put something like
; include => record-outboundmsgs
; Then call
; 2051 to Record a new outbound msg1
; 2052 to Record a new outbound msg2
; 2061 to Record the msg played when the recipient acs the message
; 2062 to Record the "How to ACK message"
;
; After dialing one of the extensions above:
; Wait for the record start tone
; Record your message
; Press # to stop recording
; Listen to an automatic playback of your new messsage
;
; outbound msg1
exten => 2051,1,Wait(2)
exten => 2051,2,Record(outboundmsgs/msg1:gsm)
exten => 2051,3,Wait(2)
exten => 2051,4,Playbacak(outboundmsgs/msg1)
exten => 2051,5,Wait(2)
exten => 2051,6,Hangup
;
;
; Msg played when msg is acked
exten => 2061,1,Wait(2)
exten => 2061,2,Record(outboundmsgs/thankyou:gsm)
exten => 2061,3,Wait(2)
exten => 2061,4,Playback(outboundmsgs/thankyou)
exten => 2061,5,Wait(2)
exten => 2061,6,Hangup
;
;
; Msg played after outbound msg: Press 1 to replay or 2 to acknowledge
exten => 2062,1,Wait(2)
exten => 2062,2,Record(outboundmsgs/how_to_ack:gsm)
exten => 2062,3,Wait(2)
exten => 2062,4,Playback(outboundmsgs/how_to_ack)
exten => 2062,5,Wait(2)
exten => 2062,6,Hangup
;
;
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Am I way off base here?  I'm new to asterisk and definately over my
head.

Help?

I can supply more information as needed.