asterisk users - Feb 2012 - AGI: blocking script until playback complete

Greetings list,

I've done AGI scripting before, but in the past I've always wanted 
control to be returned to the dialplan as soon as possible.

However, today I have a scenario where I want the script to remain 
running during the playback of a file so that I can read DTMF at the end 
of playback. However, doing this:

GET DATA en_welcome 5000 6

Results (correctly) in the following in the asterisk console:
     -- <SIP/a.b.c.d-dc027b50> Playing 'en_welcome' (language
'en')

But the AGI continues to run on after this point, not waiting for either 
the sound file to be played, nor for the expected 6 DTMF digits.

Adding a simple 10 second sleep/wait to the AGI allows the sound file to 
be successfully played back.

I'm sure I must be missing something very obvious, buy my google-fu is 
failing me this afternoon.

Suggestions gratefully received :-)

Thanks in advance.

Kind regards,

Chris
-- 
This email is made from 100% recycled electrons

Try passing escape character

GET DATA $filename $timeout $max_digits $escape_character


Regards,
Zohair Raza


On Wed, Feb 22, 2012 at 6:40 PM, Chris Bagnall
<asterisk at lists.minotaur.cc>wrote:
> Greetings list,
>
> I've done AGI scripting before, but in the past I've always wanted
control
> to be returned to the dialplan as soon as possible.
>
> However, today I have a scenario where I want the script to remain running
> during the playback of a file so that I can read DTMF at the end of
> playback. However, doing this:
>
> GET DATA en_welcome 5000 6
>
> Results (correctly) in the following in the asterisk console:
>    -- <SIP/a.b.c.d-dc027b50> Playing 'en_welcome' (language
'en')
>
> But the AGI continues to run on after this point, not waiting for either
> the sound file to be played, nor for the expected 6 DTMF digits.
>
> Adding a simple 10 second sleep/wait to the AGI allows the sound file to
> be successfully played back.
>
> I'm sure I must be missing something very obvious, buy my google-fu is
> failing me this afternoon.
>
> Suggestions gratefully received :-)
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Chris
> --
> This email is made from 100% recycled electrons
>
> --
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On 22/2/12 2:50 pm, Zohair Raza wrote:
> Try passing escape character
> GET DATA $filename $timeout $max_digits $escape_character
Not sure I follow - according to the docs, there is no parameter 
$escape_character

The problem seems to be that GET DATA returns control to the script 
before the audio file has even played, let alone any DTMF tones have 
been entered. I would have expected script execution to be blocked until 
the result from GET DATA was available.

Kind regards,

Chris
-- 
This email is made from 100% recycled electrons

Are you reading STDIN to initialize your AGI?  If not Asterisk may ignore your
AGI commands.  I recommend using one of the many AGI libs out there.

-----Original Message-----
From: asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com [mailto:asterisk-users-bounces
at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Chris Bagnall
Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2012 10:20 AM
To: asterisk-users at lists.digium.com
Subject: Re: [asterisk-users] AGI: blocking script until playback complete

On 22/2/12 2:50 pm, Zohair Raza wrote:
> Try passing escape character
> GET DATA $filename $timeout $max_digits $escape_character
Not sure I follow - according to the docs, there is no parameter
$escape_character

The problem seems to be that GET DATA returns control to the script before the
audio file has even played, let alone any DTMF tones have been entered. I would
have expected script execution to be blocked until the result from GET DATA was
available.

Kind regards,

Chris
--
This email is made from 100% recycled electrons

--
_____________________________________________________________________
-- Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by http://www.api-digital.com -- New to
Asterisk? Join us for a live introductory webinar every Thurs:
               http://www.asterisk.org/hello

asterisk-users mailing list
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   http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users

Chris Bagnall wrote:
> Greetings list,
>
> I've done AGI scripting before, but in the past I've always wanted
> control to be returned to the dialplan as soon as possible.
>
> However, today I have a scenario where I want the script to remain
> running during the playback of a file so that I can read DTMF at the end
> of playback. However, doing this:
>
> GET DATA en_welcome 5000 6
>
> Results (correctly) in the following in the asterisk console:
>      -- <SIP/a.b.c.d-dc027b50> Playing 'en_welcome' (language
'en')
>
> But the AGI continues to run on after this point, not waiting for either
> the sound file to be played, nor for the expected 6 DTMF digits.
>
> Adding a simple 10 second sleep/wait to the AGI allows the sound file to
> be successfully played back.
>
> I'm sure I must be missing something very obvious, buy my google-fu is
> failing me this afternoon.
>
> Suggestions gratefully received :-)
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Chris
> --
Have you tried increasing the timeout value in the command?  To me, it
appears to be too short.  Try setting it to 50000.

-- 
Ron Bergin

On Wed, 22 Feb 2012, Chris Bagnall wrote:
> However, today I have a scenario where I want the script to remain 
> running during the playback of a file so that I can read DTMF at the end 
> of playback.
If by 'remain running' you mean 'do other stuff while the file is
playing'
you can stream the file in a separate thread while continuing with the 
'mainline' code.

If you mean your script is returning to the dialplan before the file is 
finished playing, you're doing something wrong.
> However, doing this:
>
> GET DATA en_welcome 5000 6
>
> Results (correctly) in the following in the asterisk console:
>    -- <SIP/a.b.c.d-dc027b50> Playing 'en_welcome' (language
'en')
>
> But the AGI continues to run on after this point, not waiting for either 
> the sound file to be played, nor for the expected 6 DTMF digits.
>
> Adding a simple 10 second sleep/wait to the AGI allows the sound file to 
> be successfully played back.
Sure sounds like you are doing something wrong. Anytime a 'sleep' helps,
something is definitely wrong.

Most AGI 'weirdness' can be traced to violating the AGI protocol. These 
are the most common mistakes:

0) Not using an established library. Nobody gets it right the first time 
:)

1) Not reading the AGI environment from STDIN before issuing any AGI 
requests.

2) Forgetting that every request must be followed by reading the response.

3) Doing any I/O on STDIN or STDOUT. These channels are connected to 
Asterisk, not any console. Don't even think about popping in a quick 
'debugging printf.'

Looking over my own AGI code, I don't see any examples where I used GET 
DATA. I tend to use STREAM FILE and WAIT FOR DIGIT. I'm a 1.2 Luddite, so 
any bugs I've been exposed to may have been fixed by now.

-- 
Thanks in advance,
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steve Edwards       sedwards at sedwards.com      Voice: +1-760-468-3867 PST
Newline                                              Fax: +1-760-731-3000