asterisk users - Aug 2012 - Asterisk 11 queue calls - emulate Dial(b) functionality

I currently run an Asterisk 10 system with hotdesking functionality set up. 
Several of the users have worked with a system in the past that supported BLF on
their IP phones, and would like their current phones to behave in a similar
fashion.  Right now I have a really kludgy system that mostly works, but
doesn't consistently trigger the cleanup macro to "clear" the
device state on the end of a call.  Rather than continue to beat my head against
the wall playing "which context isn't firing an h extension to dump
calls into the cleanup macro", I decided to investigate Asterisk 11 for the
new Dial() b function and the new hangup handler CHANNEL variable.

I have the hints working more or less correctly on direct calls to/from the
phones, making use of the b and U functions in Dial() and some judicious use of
GROUP channel variables and CHANNEL(hangup_handler_wipe).  But, on my live
system, sometimes the users receive calls from a queue, and I don't see any
way with the queue calls to emulate the b functionality in Dial() to be able to
set the agent extension's device state to RINGING when the queue call gets
created.  Obviously, I can use membergosub to set the agent to "INUSE"
after they pick up the call (like Dial() U), but is there anything that I can
use to manipulate the channel that is calling the agent while/before it is
ringing?

Thank you,

Noah Engelberth
MetaLINK Technologies

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> I currently run an Asterisk 10 system with hotdesking functionality
> set up. Several of the users have worked with a system in the past
> that supported BLF on their IP phones, and would like their current
> phones to behave in a similar fashion. Right now I have a really
> kludgy system that mostly works, but doesn?t consistently trigger
> the cleanup macro to ?clear? the device state on the end of a call.
> Rather than continue to beat my head against the wall playing ?which
> context isn?t firing an h extension to dump calls into the cleanup
> macro?, I decided to investigate Asterisk 11 for the new Dial() b
> function and the new hangup handler CHANNEL variable.
> 
> 
> 
> I have the hints working more or less correctly on direct calls
> to/from the phones, making use of the b and U functions in Dial()
> and some judicious use of GROUP channel variables and
> CHANNEL(hangup_handler_wipe). But, on my live system, sometimes the
> users receive calls from a queue, and I don?t see any way with the
> queue calls to emulate the b functionality in Dial() to be able to
> set the agent extension?s device state to RINGING when the queue
> call gets created. Obviously, I can use membergosub to set the agent
> to ?INUSE? after they pick up the call (like Dial() U), but is there
> anything that I can use to manipulate the channel that is calling
> the agent while/before it is ringing?
You could use local channels as queue members.  Then you can use Dial(b)
when the call goes out to the actual extension.

Richard