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CONTAX IVR Technical Guide

1. Okay now were going to supply the greeting you want played anytime the number is called But first take note that the Greeting icon uses wave files wav You may record your own greetings and save it as wav files using the Recorder software with the CONTAX IVR software We will discuss later in the chapter how to do this 30 For now let s keep things simple by using the wav files in the example call flows included in the CONTAX IVR installation Now select the Greeting1 icon by clicking on it On the Property Pane the top window in right side of the design pane properties of the Greeting1 icon would appear al Greeting Greeting Caption Greeting Description Variable Assign KeepLive False Play Filename Stop by Key True keep Stop Key True Lise vvayePath False Figure 4 2 What is important now is the Play Filename property Click on the blank Value box on its right side Click once more and a blank white space would appear with the ellipses three dots box on the right Variable Assign KeepLive False Play Filename F Stop by Ker True Click on the ellipses and an Open File dialogue box will open with the default CONTAX IVR installation directory From the folders in the box open Samples then open the Greeting folder Select the morning wav and click Open You will notice that the Play Filename variable would now contain the directory where the morn
2. CalleriD CallerName CalledID CalledName CallData and ServicelD ProgramDir as it s name suggests is simply the directory where your CONTAX IVR application is located for example C Program Files ContaxIVR 2 1 WavePath is also a directory but one where the wav files are saved The default path is ProgDir Waves WebServer is either the computer where the web pages you want to access is stored The default value is 120 0 0 1 but you can also use a URL Universal Resource Locator like http www eletech com ChanneINo specifies the channel being used by the running CONTAX IVR application the default value is 1 The values of the remaining variables CallerlD CallerName CalledID CalledName CallData and ServicelD are left vacant as default but putting values in these variables could be useful particularly in monitoring the calls 56 Apart from the default variables you can define a new variable in the property table by adding this to the variable table in order to be shared throughout the call flow As you have done in the previous chapters you add variables by moving the mouse pointer to the last row of the variable table and clicking on it The cursor will appear on the last row either on the variable field or on the value field Press the down arrow key to create a new row of variable and value fields Press the up arrow key or Delete key to delete a created row After creating a variable in your variable table you
3. Cell icon Start and LinkOut have only right side pin Cell icon End and Linkin have only left side pin Left side pin is the entrance of a cell icon Right side pin or pins is are the exit or exits of the cell icon Depending on conditions the program will exit from one of the right side pins during runtime Connecting a cell icon s right side pin to another cell icon s left side pin means linking two program sets with the right cell being executed after the left cell 2 icons execute first then next Every cell icon has one or several pins for its connection with other cell icons The pin area includes pin itself and the dark gray pin text area shown below Note that some cell icon s pin areas have pin itself only and have no pin text area with them e g Start End Linkin LinkOut and SubFlow a Start Mext je Timetut j To connect pins between two cell icons click the pin area at the right side of one cell icon move your mouse pointer towards the pin area at the left side of the other cell icon A pink bent line will 22 follow your mouse pointer trace When your mouse pointer touches the pin area of the other cell icon click your mouse again Shark Peck q You will see that the pink trace line be fixed and turned to gray as shown below Thus the two cell icons are connected via their respective specified pins Start Next q If the pink line appears perhaps by your unintentional click
4. Sender Variable the Date of the message Date Variable the Subject Subject Variable the Body of the message 71 Body Variable the attachment Attachment Variable if any and the directory where you want the attachment saved Attachment Path as shown in the example below Retrieve content RecwEhail Property Retrieve Body False WessageCount Variable sender Variable Sender Date Variable EMailbate Subject Variable Subject Hody Variable Body Attachment Path ProgDir Attachment Variable Attachment To make things clearer let us examine another example 9 4 3 Application No 8 Receive Email You may wonder where would a CONTAX IVR application for receiving email be useful Consider for example that you are a salesman and working in the field Now you have a client who emailed you the things he want to buy from your company but you have no PC to retrieve the email nor a remote terminal where you can log on to your POP3 server to read the message With a Receive Email application CONTAX IVR can retrieve your email Using a touch tone phone you can dial your company and let CONTAX IVR TTS capabilities to read the message to you This capability is shown in the example call flow RecvMail ivx Open the Samples folder in the directory of CONTAX IVR Open the Email folder and double click on the folder labelled RecvMail Click the RecvMail ivx to open the application in the Flow Designer You wil
5. TimeOut Use Transfer wav as the value of the Play Filename property of Greeting1 Next you would have to specify a variable where you would keep the value of the keys pressed Think of a variable as a box in the computer s memory that holds a data value You must supply a label or name for each variable to enable the computer to know which box to look in when you need the data contained in a certain variable You will find out more about variables in later chapter For now confine yourself to the variable where you would put the value of the keys the caller pressed To do this select the GetKeys1 icon in the design pane Notice that the Property and Variable table for the GetKeys1 is now displayed in the right side of the design pane The nine default variables displayed are common to all control cells but none of these would serve your purpose You can add a new variable by clicking on the value column of the last variable displayed in this case Call Data and then pressing the down arrow key in your keyboard A pair of new blank cells is created Click in the Variable column and type the name of your variable For the present purpose name the variable as Key1 Keep the Value column blank CallData Key Next go to the Property table and click on the value column of the Key Variable property You may have to click and drag the slider down on the side of the Property table to see the Key Variabl
6. 1 3 Building a Library Of SUDHOWS sivncosainweraacinsirindiecenensiiiiimnDunsbtaupenbiansecnmigesnmtatacwsatden 54 Chapter 7 Variables and Expressions cccccceseeeeeeeeeeeeneeeeeneeeeeseeseseeeaaseeseaeeeeeneesonesseneensaes 56 Tel ons 6 TNE PANE eiaa ei E a aieiaa 56 7 1 1 Adding Variables to The Variable Table ccccccccsccccsscnsescnsuscnsusccsesccnscsesesaeess 56 Fete ASSINO T VADE ads cacao cieie i AaddawseGscesie nl adetadedaesedaeadt 57 ft SING ne EXprosSsion BUNOT sssccedideesuscescacado iedealnicsenuseeacasadeewdatadeicoseudeieeasd enue 57 1 4 LOCal and Global VAN AO OG xc sscccied dees reacted ccenebasidecdetiosasentacatanoek eria 60 7 1 5 Application No 5 Another Variant Of AUtOTranStel cc1ccccccsseeeeeeneeeseneeeesanes 60 Chapter 8 Working with Databases cceccceseeeeeeeeeeeeneeeeeneeeeaeeeeee essen eesaaesssaeeseanessoeeaaaes 65 8 1 What is a Database ovis eisiccnieienstessdanestien deanavssndanssasndnoesGxeieuassieisesievediassdsetssnedseiebes 65 8 2 Creating a Database acess eat teeter ie orden caine ead oiiaate eee oxigemteenetraiet 66 8 3 Harnessing the Power of a Database cccccccseeccccseeeeeeseeeeeeseeeeeeeaeeeeesaeeeeeneess 68 Chapter 9 Working with Fax E mail and SMS ccceccccseeeeseeeeeeeneeeceneeeceeesceneeseeneeseneensaes 71 BT ee NN diet EE EEEE E S T1 9 2 Application No Fax on Demand ic caccuscisasicetancanctzataasacteracsucteneedssdaalenanetataueoucensxan
7. SMS message you want to send by double clicking on the value field of the Contents property and then clicking the ellipses The Text builder dialog box appears Enter the content on the Text String box You can insert variables among the text to have a programmable content by selecting variables from the Available variables box and then clicking the Add button You can also copy the content of a file and paste it to the Text String box There is no limit to the maximum number of characters you can enter in the Text String box But most mobile phone limits the message to no more than 140 160 characters in length depending on the mobile service system If a double byte mobile phone set is used e g in China Japan Korea Taiwan Hong Kong etc the character length is around 70 The mobile phone will not send all extra characters exceeding the character length limit 9 6 Web Integration CONTAX IVR also has the capability to tap into the Web to extend its functionality via the CallURL control cell Shark deck This cell links to an URL Uniform Source Locator or the Internet address you want the call flow to call 82 The Internet address or Web page may be an Active Server Page ASP that contains HTML hypertext mark up language and embedded programming code written in VBScript or Jscript When Microsoft s Internet Information Server IIS encounters an ASP page requested by the browser from this cell it executes the embed
8. Short Message Service to a target mobile phone and then the cell exits from its Next pin If it fails to send the SMS then it exits from its Fail pin This control cell can send SMS message in the following configuration You may use the basic configuration shown above as a Subflow to add to your existing application However this feature is compatible only with the more popular Nokia Phones Compatible Nokia mobile phones include the following models Nokia 3xxx 3210 3310 etc Nokia 51xx Nokia 61xx Nokia 62xx Nokia 71xx Nokia 8xxx Specify the correct model of the mobile phone you are using in the SMS Model property The mobile phone is installed beside CONTAX IVR runtime server connected to one of the COM ports on the server Just click on the value field of the SMS Port property to select a serial port on CONTAX IVR runtime server to send short messages from the server via the mobile 81 You can connect up to 8 mobile phones with COM1 through COM8 Connection is either through the proper data cable or via infrared ports You should indicate the proper connection in the SMS Mode property Please refer to the mobile phone manual for the appropriate connection modes The SendSMS control cell dials the desired mobile phone number as indicated in the value field of the Target property Here you may use a variable to hold the desired mobile phone number determined via a DBQuery operation You can compose the
9. Will Smith 25 Electrical engineer Dave 34 Museum curator Matthews Jan Morrison 42 Chef Bill Clinton 19 Student Don Marcus 32 Game programmer Becky 25 Model Bouchard The six rows are the records in the EMPLOYEE table To retrieve a specific record from this table for example Dave Matthews a user would instruct the database management system to 65 retrieve the records where the NAME field was equal to Dave Matthews If the instruction is to retrieve all the fields in the record the employee s name age and occupation would be returned to the user SQL is the language that tells the database to retrieve this data Note The initials stand for Structured Query Language and the language itself is often referred to as sequel It was originally developed for IBM s International Business Machine DB2 product a relational database management system or RDBMS SQL is a nonprocedural language in contrast to the procedural languages such as COBOL Common Business Oriented Language and C Nonprocedural means what rather than how For example SQL describes what data to retrieve delete or insert rather than how to perform the operation You don t have to learn SQL entirely in order to create CONTAX IVR applications that uses databases At most you just have to lean a few basic SQL commands Likewise you might have to learn about using common programs which are actually implementations of SQL 8 2 Creatin
10. and you do not want to connect it to any other cell icons before it turns fixed and gray just click one more time at any point free from any left side pin area on the design pane the pink line will disappear 3 4 5 Delete a Trace Line between 2 Cell icons Click the Delete Trace Line button on the top toolbar You will see the mouse point turns to a pair of small scissors on the design pane Move the scissors mouse pointer to touch the trace line you want to delete Click on the trace line and the trace line will be deleted as shown below Shark Adak q 3 4 6 Moving Selected Icons _ Select the cell icon you want to move Place your mouse pointer within the selected cell icon s rectangular area N Drag the selected cell icon to your desired location then drop it Please be careful not to place your mouse pointer at any right pin area before you drag the selected cell icon Because thus will generate a pink line to connect to another cell icon So place your mouse 23 pointer at the cell name caption area will be an easy way to drag or move the selected cell icon Moving a single cell icon will change the relative position for this cell icon to other cell icons All link traces connected to this cell icon will automatically be rerouted If you want to drag or move multiple cell icons at the same time place your mouse pointer at the cell name caption area of any of the selected cell icons Move multip
11. as if they were pasted to the same call flow Copying cell icons save you time since you do not need to fill in the property and variable table from scratch Simply Edit or change the captions and or variables in the property tables and or variable table to form a similar call flow 24 3 5 Property Table Pane The property table pane is next to the design pane and is located on the upper right portion of the Flow Designer main window Each cell created on the design pane carries its own property table A cell s property table will appear on the property table pane if you click to select a cell icon on the design pane 3 x Getkeyel Getkeys ad GetKeysl Getkeys GSEIDTMF1 GetDO TMF Caption JE Getkeysi Getheys h D Recorder Recorder Description sendTanel SendTone Variable Assign Transferi Transfer Walhalla k KeepLive Clear key buffer first False hax Length E End Key Clear key Delay Check ims TimeOut ims Key Variable GUick Keys Invalid Keys KeepLive False Clear key butter first False hax Length E End Key Clear Key Delay Check rms TimeOut ims Key Variable GIUICk Keys Invalid Keys v A Sample Property Table A Sample drop down cell list Figure 3 3 A cell s property table records property values and parameters for that cell The number of properties parameters for different kind of cell varies Different kinds of cells carry various property and parameter items Differe
12. can set an initial value to this variable Click to select the value field for the variable you want to set an initial value to Click the field again to edit the field You will notice that an empty field with a blinking cursor at the first character of the field appears Enter either a number or a string in this field as an initial value for this variable You can set another variable or string combination of other variables as the initial value here by using a pair of square parentheses to enclose a variable name in the value fields e g set the initial value for variable A to be Dial B for C when B 123 and C Mary then A Dial 123 for Mary A will change its content when B or C changes its content e g when B 1 800 7661234 C help then A Dial 1 800 7661234 for help Later you can use Speech text to speech function to read variable A 7 1 2 Assigning a Variable Variables can be assigned in the value fields at the right portion of a cell s property table When you do so you must use a pair of square parentheses to enclose a variable name in the value fields for example EmployeelD UserPIN ZIPCode etc By doing so the program will not mistakenly treat the variable as a text string Whenever a Cell is executed in a call flow its variable assign field will be executed once too 7 1 3 Using the Expression Builder You can use the Expression builder dialog box to create an expression in the value field
13. of Recorder cell with C Create a LinkOut cell labeled as C near the End control cell Connect the two cells Your control cells may look like this Shark feck Stark Peck q Shark Ade q 49 You have just finished your new application a new version of the your first automatic call transfer program but more complex and with an additional function of recording messages from the caller Save your application and run the Phone Emulator for debugging until you are satisfied that the call flow is doing what it was designed to do Remember the characteristics of the control icons you ve used because you would meet them again in the next chapter when we begin making advanced call flows 50 Unit IV Advanced Call Flow Design Now that you have gotten down some of the basic skills in developing common applications for CONTAX IVR it s time to get to more interesting things In the following discussions you will to learn the following 6 Use sub flows Define and manage variables Chapter 6 Subflow Keeping Complex Things Simple Creating a call flow that would automatically take care of most communication needs of a good sized company may be too daunting a task because of its complexity not to mention the tangle of lines connecting the various control cells you would use But there is a way to manage things and keep it simple use a sub flow 6 1 What is a Subflow A Subf
14. the Busy and NoAnswer messages the computer would then play the respective wav files specified in each cell This takes care of the required prompts for busy and no answer calls 48 Recording Messages However you must remember that you also want CONTAX IVR to leave a recording of his name and phone number for possible call back And before the recording you want to give instructions to the caller You can address this problem by doing the following Connecting another message cell to the Next pins of both the Busy and NoAnswer cells Label the new message cell as RecOpt and use the RecName wav for playing back the message Creating a Recorder cell and connecting its Start pin with the Next pin of RecOpt message cell Note A Recorder cell as it name says records a wav file and stores it in the specified folder The default folder is C Program Files Eletech ContaX IVR Waves Of course you can also specify your own directory where all recorded messages will be stored Please refer to the User Guide on how to do this You can end the recording anytime by pressing any key if you select the value of the Stop by Key property as True If False the message will be recorded till its end the value of MsgLength property in seconds For the present purpose keep the value of Stop by Key as True After recording the message the program should end To do this create a new Linkln cell and label this C Connect the Next pin
15. the runtime activities of the channel displayed on the Console tab window 87 CONTA IVR v2 1 RunTimeEngine Channels Console Registration Options About Debug Message Select Channel i Call flay Device Channel Save to file Clear Hide Shutdown There are four check boxes you may select for the following options Call flow displays the call flow components log Device displays Device information Channel display Channel information Save to file save the Log Data to a file named install directory ChX log file path is same as RunTimeEngine exe 88
16. the two expressions with COPY NOW 12 2 COPY NOW 15 2 returns the exact time of the day in hours and minutes It might be quite long but this is how programmers exploit the way computers and programs like CONTAX IVR generates and handles data With enough imagination logic and persistence an application developer for CONTAX IVR can address most of the requirements of a company s telephony and interactive information systems 64 Chapter 8 Working with Databases Another feature of CONTAX IVR that makes it a powerful application development platform for interactive information system is its ability to work with databases In this chapter you will get to know the following What is a database How to use a database using DBQuery 8 1 What is a Database Simply defined a database is a collection of records A record on the other hand is a set of related information Think of a database simply as a set of data separated into sets that resemble a table structure This table structure consists of individual data elements called columns or fields A single set of a group of fields is known as a record or row For instance to create a relational database consisting of employee data you might start with a table called EMPLOYEE that contains the following pieces of information Name Age and Occupation These three pieces of data make up the fields in the EMPLOYEE table shown below EMPLOYEE table Name Age Occupation
17. then generate a message informing the caller that the line is busy You can do this by linking another Message cell with the Busy pin of the Transfer cell Label the Message cell as Busy and select the Busy wav file for playback In the same manner create another Message cell labeled as NoAnswer and connect it with the similarly named pin of the Transfer cell This time use the NoAnswer wav as the response Linkin LinkOut As an alternative it might be a good idea to use the Linkout and Linkin cells again to prevent the confusion of criss crossing connection lines Here s one way of doing it 1 Cut the connections between the Transfer cells on the one hand and the Busy and NoAnswer message cells on the other Select the two message cells and drag them in a vacant space in the design pane Create a new LinklIn cell and label it A Connect the Busy pins of the five Transfer cells to A Make another LinklIn cell and label it B connect all the NoAnswer pins of the Transfer cells to B Make a LinkOut cell and label it A Connect it with Start pin of Busy cell Make another LinkOut cell and label it B Connect it with Start pin of NoAnswer cell When the Transfer cell detects a busy signal it would exit through its busy pin When it finds the Linkin cell connected it would look for a LinkOut cell with the same name and continue its execution Finding the LinkOut cells connected to
18. you go along developing applications your collection of subflows would grow and enable you would not only develop applications faster but more confidently Because you have already tested each of the subflows and have debugged them made them error free there are lesser areas in your application where bugs could occur 55 Chapter 7 Variables and Expressions Variables as you learned from the previous chapter is like a hole in the computer s memory or a virtual box that can contain data Variables hold two kinds of data numeric numbers or strings letters combination of letters and numbers Variables can help you simplify the design of your CONTAX IVR application by holding data you may want to compare or evaluate to determine where the program would branch into 7 1 Variable Table Pane You will see variables of each call flow control in the variable table pane which is below the property table pane and is located on the lower right portion of the main window Usually each IVR file contains a single call flow which carries its own variable table The values in a call flow s variable table are shared among the call flow and its sub flows You can define and edit a variable table on the variable table pane by clicking its value fields then entering values in those fields 7 1 1 Adding Variables to The Variable Table The following are the default variables for any call flow ProgDir WavePath WebServer ChannelNo
19. 0 0 1 Channela PhoneNumber Program End servicelD 0 Figure 4 3 End Object End 33 Click the Call button on the Phone Emulator to run the call flow Notice that the Start icon of the call flow turned yellow followed by the Greeting1 icon You will hear a greeting in Chinese the recorded message is in Chinese but it says Good morning anyway If you want to really get a step by step running of the application check the Step by Step box When this box is checked the simulator stops at each step or break point To run the flow against you need to stop the current call flow Just click the highlighted End O button then click the Run button again Note that the Phone Emulator has a Debug Window where you can see in code how the program proceeded The Debug window will tell you if there is any error in your application like a Syntax error The Debug window is very useful to application development because it will test the application you designed and you will catch the errors before the program is fielded for actual use 4 1 4 Recording Your Message But how do you record your own wav files for use in your application CONTAX IVR has bundled its own Voice Recorder in the software package but you may also use other voice recording software like Microsofts Sound Recorder normally included in the standard installation of Microsoft Windows Operating systems Win9x WinME Win2000 WinXP Please refer to the inc
20. 1 1 Applicaton No T Greng Renee emer mere eer eee een ete eee RANEE TEER REE A 29 4 1 2 Saving the Finished Application ccccccccccccsecccseeeccsuscecseeessseeesseeeesesesseessaeeees 32 4 1 3 Proof of the Pudding Simulating Your Call FIOW cccsccccsseecscnecceseeeesnseeeseeeees 32 4 1 4 Recording Your MCSSAGEC sccccececeecseeeccescnsnsensusecsussasensusenssenausensuseasassanaess 34 4 1 5 Using Text To Speech scsciec ntctcss nds ccenetoeccdeontacdnaiedeseceseonsbie sine adentsdacielatenetebeodecae 35 Chapter 5 Choice and COnSequenCe ssssssssenssennnnrnnnrnnnrnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn nenanem nnne 37 A O TEO T aea E NA al 5 1 1 Application No 2 Automatic Call Transfer ccccccccccsecccsseeccsneecceeesseeeeesnsessaeees 37 5 1 2 Application No 3 Doing The Same Thing Differently cccccccccseccccseeeeeseeesaeees 41 5 1 3 GetKeys versus GetDTMF stasis iregencnisceset Sndegseratnetsnens tp sedeniiesmatidenaatuwens 42 Unit IV Advanced Call Flow Design ccceesceceeeeeeeeneeeeeneeeeeneeseaseesaaescaseeesaaeseeanessoanessoeenes 50 Chapter 6 Subflow Keeping Complex Things Simple cccscccessseeeceseeceneeseeneeseeeeneees 51 OL ee Pele sranie nA O EAEE 51 6 1 1 Application No 4 Automatic Transfer with Voice Mall 1cccccccceeceseeeeneeseneesens 51 6 1 2 Saving and Naming SUDPOWS 2 cccccccscseccceusccseesensnenenensncneuensueusessnensesensuans 53 6
21. AX IVR works why not try one of the sample applications included in the installation CD First run CONTAX IVR Flow Designer Click Start gt Programs gt ContaxlVR2 1 gt Flow Designer Inside the Flow Designer click File Open from the drop down menu When the dialogue box opens browse into the installation directory of CONTAX IVR Click on the Transfer folder and then click Open You will see a file named Transfer IVX Click on this file and then click Open When the Tranfer VX call flow opens you will see this BARA BAXA A HWA Flow Control Shark Mext Shark MHext ce Quick TimeOut LinkOut Shark Mext 1 Counter JE Figure 2 6 Now click on the Run button the green triangle in the top panel The program Simulator see figure below will open 10 Phone Emulator D CONTAX IVR 1amnples lransfert Transfer YX Transter es Step by Step Call Shark Rye xk Shark Blexk Skark Mexr a iek 5 TimeOut Global Variable Variable Value ProgDir DACONTAH wWaveFath ProgDir Figure 2 7 Press the Call button Transfer IVX call flow will now execute sensing that a call has come through from one of its channels You will hear the greeting Welcome to Eletech Please dial the extension number Note that when the message is playing the Speech1 module turned yellow indicating that it is the active module You will know that a module is executing a process when it turns yellow If yo
22. CONTAX IVR Technical Guide User s Manual First Edition C 2002 2004 Eletech Enterprise Co Ltd All Rights Reserved Contents Tel TE O 0 et 619 reer nee meeener E O ates eareneer esr errtere rer seer 4 Chapter 1 What is Contax Ve ices bic ccc esecitecs dire ec cee rieeet cesuctie nats nteteyecuessteecdemcndinenctsedutiecndess 5 Be T aE ss ates pia E E 1 2 What makes Contax IVR stand out from other similar products c cccccseees 5 Chapter 2 Installing Contax VR wissscnicsnaisninasisenschaesinnsiacincaniaosapensedendennsahantenmssiersnneboniennt nasbasieananan 7 2 1 System A a Nas ecard ee asipaaedoxtds sda ttc nenneiecuisnetendrand ie oniet an eaumateentte T AT NE O OD ai eee Oe eee ee ae en reo ea eed ta 7 A 1A F St IMPrOsSsSIOnsS CON TAX IVR orses E iE i 10 Unit Il Contax IVR Flow Designer iicscccssscccsccccccsccastcsrecccesstccschecceeacwectdcccsetesccacmedsteccssetceasbeseexnees 13 Chapter 3 Main WindoOW sssssssusennnnnnnnsnnnnnnnnrnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn nenn n ennnen 13 3 1 renumber Cells Controls Properties and Variables cccccceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 14 e E E BI EAA SA AA ASI AN E IEE E IAN AT 15 NS re ae 91 COTO E O i E E E ener er ere 16 AS rag a COR TO TOS areae e ter ome eee ees ere ee nee eee tera nee cree 18 ts Pato wl F616 T 8 2 Cae Meee aera rr E ee ee ee ore ree oe Ee eae a eee eae ere 19 3 3 Getting the Hang of It Exploring Flow DeSIQ
23. D and connect each of them with the Next exit pins of the speech icons Above the End icon put another LinkOut icon labeled D Connect the two icons Save your finished application as Autotransfer ivx Run the Phone Emulator to test it Try out the various options until you are sure the call flow is doing what you designed it to do Now you have a better idea of how an actual CONTAX IVR application is designed and made 5 1 2 Application No 3 Doing The Same Thing Differently 41 There are many ways to skin a cat and so it is with application development In the previous example you used the control cell GetDTMF to transfer the call to a local number That is one of the simplest way to let handle caller choice particularly when used in connection with the Transfer cell and route calls automatically to the desired numbers But you can also use other controls to handle caller choice Used in tandem the GetKeys and Condition cells can handle from simple to more complex choice of action to the caller Since you would be using the GetKeys cell with the Condition cell as a sort of traffic policeman to direct where the call flow would have to go take a look at the comparison of some of the characteristics of GetKeys with GetDTMF control cells These factors would help you decide later what control cell to use when designing applications with provisions for handling caller inputs 5 1 3 GetKeys versus GetDTMF So what
24. Instead of using the Expression builder if you direct enter a number as a string in the value field of the property table please remember to use a pair of apostrophes e g 123 to enclose the number If you use the expression builder to enter a number string a pair of apostrophes will automatically be added Enter a Function Click to select a function from the function list in the function section of the Expression builder dialog box The description of that function will also appear at the lower portion of the function section Click the Add button to add the function onto the expression pane The function containing a number of vertical bars separated by commas appears in the expression pane You can replace any with an expression by direct entering it or by using the Expression builder again to enter it Enter a Variable Click to select a variable from the available variable list in the variable section of the expression builder dialog box Click the Add button to add the variable to the expression pane Enter an Operator Click an operator button in the operators section of the Expression builder dialog box to add the operator onto the expression pane Enter Expressions in a Property Table lf you want to enter more expressions after one expression is entered in the expression pane then press the Enter key on your keyboard to change to the next line of the expression pane to enter the next expression Repeat the
25. Pyexk In effect you would have something like this 52 Peck tart Pext pE Save the application as Sub_flow ivx See how simple it is to make a new one by using a Subflow 6 1 2 Saving and Naming Subflows In defining subflows it is crucial that you indicate the correct file name ivx and directory of where you saved the new call flow Supply only the filename if the Use ProgDir value is True The default directory is ProgDir C Program Files Eletech ContaX IVR This is where the new call flow would be saved and where CONTAX IVR would look once it finds a Subflow control in the application If you save your call flow in another folder or directory you would have to use False as the value of the Use ProgDir and indicate in the ProgDir value the actual folder or directory where you saved the call flow For example ProgDir D Contax IVR Subflows Application No 5 Time Check Here s a short application that you may use as a sub routine immediately after your Start cell and before another Message cell that gives the typical message Welcome to Name of Company This application simply determines the time of the day and gives the appropriate greeting Good Morning Good Afternoon or Good Evening By using this short application you can be sure to give the correct greeting to the caller anytime he calls Open the application Timecheck ivx and you will see that it consists merely of t
26. a local or outside line and executes another call flow After this the module exits on its Next pin Fax Formats The SendFax and RecvFax control cells support the following file formats Text txt TIFF tiff JPEG jpg GIF gif BMP bmp PCX pcx DCX dcx When the SendFax control cell is activated it looks into its Source File property where the image file to be sent in any of the above formats are specified 9 2 Application No Fax on Demand To illustrate just how fax on demand works open CONTAX IVR Flow Designer and open the Samples folder Open Sendfax1 ivx This fax on demand application actually consists of three separate ones Sendfax ivx is the main application that calls two other applications one through a Subflow control and the other through the MakeCall control 72 Run the application You will notice that after the call and the welcome message is played your call flow will execute the SubFlow named faxdoc ivx Skark Casel Case2 m amp Gases Cased CaseS Caseb Skark Pdexck eee Quick jhe Time Oye Else This subflow informs the call of available documents from which he could choose by entering a certain number on the phone s touch pad after which the subflow ends and goes back to the main flow But take note that under Condition1 the variable faxdoc is assigned to the selected document You will notice later that the same variable is pass
27. above method until all your desired expressions are entered After all expressions have been entered in the expression pane then click the OK button at the bottom of the expression builder dialog box You will notice that all expressions are entered onto the value field of a cells property table and that a semicolon separates them between two adjacent expressions 59 7 1 4 Local and Global Variables Variables can either be made local or global If you have an application consisting of a main call flow and several call flows you may wish to assign a variable that would be used entirely within a single sub flow Such variable is called a local variable But you may also want to pass the content of the variable to the main call flow for processing Variables that are shared by several call flows are called global variables For example you may want to assign the variable Email_doc in a subflow giving the caller choice of available documents he want to be sent to him through e mail Then when the subflow exits you can pass the Email_doc variable by assigning it to other call flow control cells in the main call flow to enable the application to send the appropriate document 7 1 5 Application No 5 Another Variant of AutoTransfer For this application you will find how using variable could make life simpler for you Again we would go back to the basic application you have made the AutoTransfer application You may have foun
28. appear and you can type your message there or paste any other prepared message that you have made in another email application or even a word processor program If there is any you could also specify an attachment through the property table pane To successfully send the message you have to specify in the property table the SMTP server you are using CONTAX IVR uses the default number 25 as port of the SMTP server 9 4 2 Receiving Email Although sending electronic mail is relatively simple receiving email is a little bit more complicated You have to remember that the RecvEMail control cell has two basic functions 1 to query the server if you have any email message and 2 to retrieve the email from your email box You can specify what specific action you want done to query the server or retrieve messages in the value field of the cell s Action property The RecvEMail control cell receives email from a POP3 Post Office Protocol server specified in the POP3 Server property The default port for the POP3 server is 110 Ask the system administrator for the name of your POP3 server and the port it uses You should also specify the User ID for the email account and the appropriate Password As an alternative you may specify a variable to get the caller s input via the GetKey cell and compare it to a database of email User ID s and passwords In the property table you can also indicate the variables to store the Sender
29. apter Variables and Expressions 3 2 The Side Toolbar The toolbar along the left side of the main window contains tool cells for the designer to select i CONTAX IVR i CONTAX IVR CONTAX IVR File Edit View Pu File Edit View Rr File Edit View Pu Ce a amp D a D B amp Flow Control d Greeting Recorder Geto TMF metkeyvs DBOQuery 444 SendFax Counter aii SendTone gt on RecvFax Condition ee y Transfer Sal SendEMail Media Control Call Control Media Control Figure 3 2 There are Flow Control Call Control and Media Control cells Flow Control cells are used to determine how your IVR application will run Call Control cells are used to interact with the telephone Media control cells are used for adding voice fax SMS email and database capabilities to your IVR application The default main window displays the 7 Flow Control cells as shown on the above left picture Click the Call Control button to switch to view the Call Control cells To view more Call Control cells just click the down arrow at the bottom right corner of the side toolbar as shown on the above middle picture Click the Media Control button to switch to view the Media Control cells as shown on the above right picture Click the Flow Control or Call Control button to switch back to view the Flow Control cells or the Call Control cells You can select one of the cells by clicking it from the
30. aseb E lsc Stark beck K Next you have to provide for the possibility that the caller would press the correct local numbers If he presses 101 the computer would put this value in the variable Keys1 and compare it with the Key Variable you have specified Since you said Case1 would be true if the value of Keys1 or Keys1 equals 101 the cell would exit by its Case1 pin Similarly if the caller presses 102 the computer would then exit Case2 pin if 103 on the Case3 pin and so on You can affect the proper call transfer by using the Transfer cell Link Transfer cells with Case1 until the Case5 pins Note The most important property of the Transfer cell is Target e Se aa a Ue I m l e e Target 101 You can put in its value column the actual number of the phone where the call would be transferred or any variable to hold the intended phone number If you fail to put any specific phone number or variable the call won t be connected to the intended local or outside line The Transfer cell detects if the desired number called is answered busy or if nobody is answering the phone If the call is answered the requirement of the program to automatically 47 transfer call is met and so you can terminate the call flow by linking an End cell with Transfer cell s Next pin If the number is busy the Transfer cell exits through its Busy pin Under the program requirement you must
31. ation using TTS instead of wav file as greeting do the following Go back to the steps of creating your Goodmorning application and do steps 1 and 2 Instead of using cells in Flow Control bar for step three click Media Control bar and click on Speech cell Click on the design pane and Speech1 cell appears Do steps 5 to 7 Select Speech cell On the property pane click twice on the Value column of the Text property Click on the ellipses that appeared and a Text Builder dialogue box opens 35 Text builder Variable Text String Available variables WebS erver Channel ao Phone umber ServicelD Calleri D Caller ame CallediD Called ame CallD ata i Cancel Figure 4 4 6 Click inside the Text String box and type Good Morning Click OK 7 Save the application as Goodmorning2 Run Goodmorning2 Did you hear the computer voice saying good morning 36 Chapter 5 Choice and Consequence If all your application would do is greet the caller there is no point in having a computer system do it Remember that in Chapter 1 we said that CONTAX IVR designed to provide applications for taking over repetitive tasks that humans used to do In the following discussion you will go into the process of creating CONTAX IVR application for the normal communication need of an office In actual situations things are not so simple or straightforward So expect that d
32. ation you are using is probably ODBC compatible 8 3 Harnessing the Power of a Database CONTAX IVR can tap into databases to extend the kind of information basic telephony alone cant provide even with the use of automated PBX systems PABX and answering machines This capability of tapping into the information stored in databases is what makes CONTAX IVR applications a truly interactive one where the caller can retrieve information of his choice CONTAX IVR can look into the information contained in a database through the DBQuery Shark Next control cell When a call flow gets to this control cell it executes a Database operation and then exits from its Next pin If the operation result is out of range not found or database empty the cell then exits from its OOR pin If the operation is not successful the cell then exits from its Fail pin To illustrate how DBQuery works open the CONTAX IVR Call Flow Designer and click File gt Open From the ContaxIVR 2 1 folder double click the Samples folder When the folder opens double click on the DBConnect folder and open the DBConnect ivx file 68 You should see the following call flow beuen Stark Next Shark Next a Stark Next ve PE OO tart Hert Stark Mek Je Stark Rext JE Run the program It tells the caller the number of records in the database and tells the contents of one column the name of the language How does it do it Let
33. ator line to your desired position when the mouse pointer turns to the following a 3 5 1 Drop Down Cell List There is a drop down cell list at the top of the property table pane as shown above If there are many cells in a call flow you can also switch to a specified cells property table by clicking its name from the drop down cell list 3 6 Variable Table Pane The variable table pane is below the property table pane and is located on the lower right portion of the main window It displays the variable table for a call flow Usually each IVR file contains a single call flow which carries its own variable table The values in a call flow s variable table are shared among the call flow and its sub flows You can define and edit a variable table on the variable table pane by clicking its value fields then entering values in those fields ProgDir vWaveP ath ProgDirvVvavesi Webserver 127 0 0 1 Channela FhoneMumber SericelD calleriD CalerMame CallediD CalledMarme CallData ii Figure 3 4 Manipulating the variable table like adding variables assigning variables and similar topics will be discussed in later chapters after you have learned the basics that of developing simple CONTAX IVR applications Zi Unit Ill Basic Application Development Now that you have tried your hand at using the CONTAX IVR Flow Designer you are ready to go into developing flow control applications to fit specific needs I
34. d CallerlD rec_file In the same manner on the Property table you will find that the corresponding value of the Key Variable property is the value of the variable ext_no specified by the following entry ext_no This means that the keys pressed would be stored in the ext_no variable Now select the Transfer cell Again look at the Property table Notice that in the value column of the Target property ext_no is indicated meaning the desired local number is made equal to the values of the keys the caller earlier pressed stored in the variable ext_no So when the Transfer cell executes its operation it would look into the value of the Target property to find out where the line should be transferred But instead it would be directed to look into the ext_no variable and use the value inside this virtual box as the local number which the caller wants to contact 61 Run the application in the Phone Emulator Look closely into the Debug window You may have to resize the divider between the main window and the Debug window to see better the information you want to find out When you press the Start button and the greeting is played input 123 as the local number When you do so you will find the following in the Debug window Debug window Getheys Object Getheys1 User Input 123 Set ext no a The first line means that it is the GetKeys1 control cell that is active at that time User Input is the keys
35. d by clicking on it you will see 4 small square blocks at its corners as shown above To deselect a cell icon you need to click on a point on the design pane anywhere outside the cell icon s imaginary rectangular area defined by its 4 corners You can also search and select a cell icon from a number of cell icons in a call flow by clicking its caption name in the cell drop down list on the property table pane To select multiple cell icons you can do it with either way of the following 1 Click on a point outside the cell icons drag the pointer to make a dot sided rectangular to contain all the cell icons you want to select then release your mouse Shark Peck 2 Click to select one of the cell icons its 4 small square block corners appear Move your mouse pointer to another cell icon hold down the control key lt Ctrl gt and then click on the cell icon Continue move your mouse pointer and hold down the lt Ctrl gt click on the next cell icon until all cell icons you want to select are selected 21 Stark Bek q 3 4 3 Deleting cell icons 1 Select the cell icons you want to delete 2 Click the delete button on the top toolbar The cell icon and the property content in its property table will be deleted All trace lines connected to this cell icon will be deleted too 3 4 4 Place Link Trace between 2 Cell icons A cell icon represents a set of predefined actions Most cell icons have pins in both sides
36. d it quite complicated for so simple a task And true enough it is There is a more simple and elegant design to do the same thing By using variables to store the key pressed the local number chosen by the caller and passing the value of such variable to the Transfer call flow s Target property you eliminated the need to use a Transfer cell for each local number All you need is one Let s look at a simple application that is actually a variation of the previous applications you have been doing Open the CONTAX IVR Flow Designer Click File gt Open The Open File dialogue would open at the default installation directory of ContaxIVR2 1 Double click the folder Samples and when a new set of folders open double click on the TransRec folder Select to open the TransRec IVX file inside the folder 60 The whole TransRec call flow consists of the following P starts Sout Mew Sat Mer Seat Mews Sat Mie Sot Me Endi 1 l 1 al i Riik ie 4 m Y A a i Day Jj 2 ae Timsu MS sl 1 Bd est ti Po os OP Yet this very few collection of call flow controls does the same job as the AutoTransfer application with Recording capability This was made possible by the use of variables Let s find out that variable which made all the difference First stop click on the GetKeys1 control and look at the Property and Variable Table panes Notice that on the Variable table pane a variable ext_no has been adde
37. ded program This will allow the call flow to interact with databases and other programs via the called Web pages The CallURL enables the CONTAX IVR application to derive data or information otherwise not possible with the use of DBQuery control cell alone To enable the control cell to call the proper Internet address enter the desired address in the value field of the Web URL property Study the example provided in the Samples folder of the CONTAX IVR to find out how CallURL control cell works and how you can use this to provide more functionality for your applications Open the CallURL folder and click the ivx file of the same name The application calls an ASP page that calculates how many more days would come before your birthday Applications using CallURL controls are some of the more advanced techniques in CONTAX IVR application development and should be properly dealt with more extensively in development guides for more experienced programmers 9 7 Other Control Cells Apart from those discussed previously CONTAX IVR has provided other control cells to enable application developers to address almost every conceivable communication needs The following control cells may be used for more advanced application designs For now we will simply discuss their characteristics 9 7 1 Conference Shark Kexk This cell connects a call with an extension or with an outside phone You can specify the desired extension number or o
38. dfax2 ivx is actually a very simple call flow that merely uses the number MakeCall has dialed and sends the fax It consists of the following elements tart Bleak Fail 9 3 Receiving a Fax Just as it can automate sending a fax CONTAX IVR handle receiving of faxes automatically through the use of the RecvFax control cell Start Mext Fail The RecvFax control cell receives incoming fax and saves the Fax to an assigned file The fax file is saved in the directory specified under the cells Destination path property like C Recv_docs for example 74 The fax filename is determined by the Name Mode property You can choose from either the Channel Serial page mode or the Channel MonthDay page mode Mame mode Channel Serialpage Output file type Destination nath Channel Monthbaypage If you choose the Channel Serial page mode each fax page will be saved with the filename automatically assigned by Channel Number a Serial number accumulated from the total fax events in the system and page number So a fax file with the name 5 28 1 means the first page for fax serial number 28 received on channel 5 Under the Channel MonthDay page mode each fax page will be saved with the filename taken from the channel used the day and time and the number of the page A fax file name of 7 04101731 1 means the first page of the fax received on 17 31 of April 10 through channel 7 The time stamp is taken when
39. e property 45 x Getkeyst Getheys KeepLive False Clear key buffer first False k hax Length g R End Key Clear key Delay Check ms TimeOut ims Key Variable Diele Lea Figure 5 2 Type the name of the variable you earlier created enclosed in brackets Key1 and hit the Enter key The brackets direct the computer to look for the value of the variable Key1 2 Next connect a Condition cell to the GetKeys cell Shark Peak ie Start Casel Case a Guick Oo amp Cases TimeOut Cased Case5 Caseb Elz Go into the Property table If necessary drag the slider down to see the Case1 Case6 properties On the Value column of the Case1 property click and type the following Key1 101 This tells the computer that when the caller presses the keys 101 Condition cell would exit on its Case pin Remember that in our requirement the company has five local numbers 101 102 103 104 and 105 So for Case2 make the value of Keys1 equal to 102 103 for Case3 and so on until Cased What if the caller pressed the wrong number If he does Condition1 cell would exit by its Else pin So here you can connect another greeting cell to give an error message and a prompt to try anew Label the Greeting cell as ErrorMsg and the Wrong wav file in the Wave folder 46 Stark Boek Stark beck Stark Case Casta K ee Suter Oo amp Cases TimeQyek p Cased CaseS C
40. eave the use of functions for more experienced application developers Still we will discuss the expressions used here just to give you a taste of how expressions and functions work If you looked closely at the Debug window when you are running the application you would have noticed that after the TTS message Your talk will be recorded played the program puts the following line Set rec_file 12310101153 In other words it puts the value 12310101153 into the variable rec_file Debug window Speech Test Your talk will be recorded Wave file DACON Tax WA v2 AttstempO 44 waw played Speech Ok Set rec fle 12310101153 Recorder Object Recorder Wave file DECON TAs WA v2 155amples T ransA ecw aves 2310101153 wav Recording Wave file DECONT As WA v2 155amples T ransA ecw aves 2310101153 way Record Stop Figure 7 1 And then later the Recorder records the file 12310101153 wav as its output If we break down the first part of the wav filename in the following manner 123 1010 1153 things begin to get clear It is now obvious that the first three digits of the filename is the extension number the caller pressed Remember that the first part of the expression says rec file ext no The second set of four digit number is the date meaning October 10 You see when the function Date is invoked it returns data in the following format yyyy mm dd 00 00 00 So you have a string with 16 cha
41. ed to the main application and used to determine the proper document to send to the caller Variable Assign faxdoc IFi Doclb 1 When the faxdoc ivx exits the execution of the main program sendfax1 ivx continues faxdoc ivx Casel Casta m S Cases f Cased Case Caseb Shark Aleck 2 Els The GetKeys1 gives the caller a choice of having the document faxed right away or on a later callback the input is then processed by Condition1 If the caller wants to get the fax immediately on the same line the Speech4 module instructs him to send a fax tone by pressing the Start button of his fax machine and the SendFax1 module kicks in to send the fax Notice that in each of the control cells from GetKeys1 to SendFax all were using the global variable faxdoc to determine which fax files to send 73 Stark Mext J8 Pext Mex UnAyvail Stark Peck aoe Buick TimeQuk tart If the caller wants to receive the fax on another number the MakeCall control cell can take care of that In the above example the Speech module provides the instructions for the caller to input his number which the GetKeys2 cell processes and passes on to the MakeCall1 control cell The latter dials the number the caller provided and triggers into action another call flow the sendfax2 ivx specified under the control cell s Call flow Filename property Call flow Filename sendfaxa VA Sen
42. egin with a simple one Create a Greeting call flow one that automatically answers a call with a greeting Open the Flow Designer You ll notice a blank design pane indicating you are ready to develop a new application From the Flow Control cells click Start Move the cursor over to the design pane and click the mouse anew You should see the Start icon appear in the design pane Now click the Media Control button The panel displays the various Media Control icons and from there click Greeting 29 Again move the cursor over to the design pane to the right of the Start icon and click The Greeting icon would appear with the label Greeting1 Click the Flow Control button and click End from among the cells Move the cursor to the design pane to drop the End icon Click on the pin of the Start icon and drag your mouse to the right You will see a purple line trailing the point of the cursor no matter how you move it Bring the cursor to the Start pin of Greeting1 and click A gray line should now connect the two icons Tip You may find it difficult to connect the icons if you click on the point of the pin Try clicking on the body of the pin instead Connect the Next pin of Greeting1 to the End icon Now you should have something like this J CONTAX IVR v2 1 FlowDesigner File Edit View Run Help AaB BEAD PA Flow Control Call Control d Greeting Recorder Figure 4 1
43. ends 72 JSR ON eh E paper nee penta pu seit bes anseaanstane biwll EA A 14 J4 Warko wih E Mail sssrin REEE tel aaaiuiaiseaicioueetiatemsrincesixuiuens 15 9 4 1 Application No 7 Send MAY i icaiiscirasensnicosierd wrectetndioncenacsesstaviine sR acteadteamianecavinels 76 E WAE A E E ANE OEA E A A E E A E E T NET 1 9 4 3 Application No 8 Receive EM alll cccccccssccsscsccsecneuscnausensuscceesausesausensusensussanss 78 9 5 Sending Information using SMS Short Messaging System cccccsseeeeeeeeees 80 Ty ae erence E E E ae eed E E E tarde 82 ar r C ogi fs C aaia ee eR eee eee ie aea ANa 83 BT cases pec acete tetas nse EE E ates era dds aa caaeapdgs as A tetas ees 83 BT E ae ose sie ove at evn snes A E EER 84 Unit V Program Deployment and Monitoring ccccsceceeeeeeeeeeeeeeceeeeeneeeeneseeneeeeneseeeeseneesnaes 85 Chapter 10 Program Deployment cccccceeseeeseeeeeeseeseeeseneneeeseesseeseaneeseneeessoaaeeseasneessneneenes 85 Unit l Introduction Guide to Developing Applications for Contax IVR Welcome to CONTAX IVR the next generation Interactive Voice Response IVR system that allows you to create customer service oriented applications combining voice fax email and SMS This guide lets you harness the power of CONTAX IVR even if you don t have any previous programming experience On the other hand seasoned programmers will also find this guide useful in helping them speed up their under
44. eveloping CONTAX IVR application for regular office communication needs would be more complex compared to the process in making the Greeting call flow In offices with private branch exchange the operator would normally ask the caller for either the person or the local number of the department he wants to contact and transfer the call accordingly 5 1 Conditions and Loops CONTAX IVR _ has the power to automatically handle such choices or conditions Likewise Contax IVR call flows can be designed to handle situations where the flow must go back to a certain point or make a loop like when a caller presses the wrong numbers and must be instructed to press the correct ones again By using conditions and loops you can design applications allowing the caller to choose from among alternative actions 5 1 1 Application No 2 Automatic Call Transfer In order to find out how CONTAX IVR can handle a more complex situation with conditions and loops design an application that automatically transfers incoming calls to the proper local number For this purpose design a call flow to automatically handle incoming calls to XYZ Computer Company and transfers the call to any of its four departments Sales Accounting Management and Technical or to a live operator 37 You can design your Automatic Transfer Call Flow by breaking the task into a series of logical steps 1 Receive incoming call Greet the caller Present caller
45. ex q Skark Mex Fail The Speech1 control reads to the caller the details of the email message Date Sender Subject Attachment the next cell plays the wave file attached to the email Next the call flow executes another Condition cell Stark Case Cased m amp Cased Cased Cases Caseb Else Skark Keck pe Take careful note that the Condition2 cell compares the value of a the variable we have been tracking with the value of the MsgCount variable the first RecvEMail control cell has retrieved earlier Casel a MsqCount If the value of a has not exceeded that of MsgCount the call flow would go back to the RecvEMail control cell to process another email message and so on until all the messages from the POP3 server for the specified email address were processed 9 5 Sending Information using SMS Short Messaging System With the increasing use of mobile phones it has become possible for companies to be in touch with their employees and clients even when they are out of the office However calls to mobile phones are generally more expensive than calls to local numbers In some cases it is cheaper for the company to take advantage of the SMS capabilities of mobile phones to send messages 80 CONTAX IVR also included in its arsenal of features the ability to send SMS This is made possible through the SendSMS control cell Shark Peck om 2 Fail This cell sends SMS
46. f the Invalid Voice property GetKeys plays the message GetDTMF doesn t have this built in capability for message playback when an invalid key press is detected To understand better the error handling capability of GetKeys run Flow Designer and make the following call flow Shark Mex ppn Duick Timely fh Define keys 6 7 and 8 as Invalid keys Invalid Keys 6 7 9 Record the following message Sorry you pressed the wrong key Please try again Save it as Wrong wav in the ContaxlVR Wave folder Select the same file in the same location after you click the value column of the Invalid Voice property Save the call flow as Experiment1 Run it and press any of the invalid keys defined You should hear a playback of the Wrong wav file Now you are ready to design a variant of the Automatic Transfer call flow To make things interesting add a voice recording feature in the call flow Here are the requirements Design an automatic transfer call flow for the XYZ Computer Corporation Caller option consists of call transfer to the four departments specified in Application No 2 or to a live operator Instead of 1 digit input use the following keys to effect call transfer 101 for Sales Department 102 for Accounting 43 103 for Management 104 for Technical 105 for Operator Use voice messages wav files for instruction Give error message for pressing invalid keys and prompt caller to retry For busy or
47. g a Database There are many popular implementations of SQL or programs for the creation management and use of databases Each of these SQL implementations have their own unique capabilities as well as limitations One of these popular implementation of SQL is Microsoft Access a PC based data base management system DBMS It is relatively easy to use featuring graphical user interface and wizards to help the user in creating and managing databases Another company Oracle has several implementation of SQL like their Oracle 9i Database but their products are normally used in large corporate databases but this is normally used in large corporate databases For our purpose you can use Microsoft access to create databases that you can access and manipulate using CONTAX IVR DBQuery control cell Please refer to Microsoft Access help files for specific instructions on creating and manipulating databases 66 The following is a simple table of a database created using Microsoft Access Microsoft Access Lang Table File Edit View Insert Format Records Tools Window b av English 2 Japanese 2r Traditional Chinese 40 French 45 Thal AutoNumber Important Points To Remember in Creating a Database In designing your database it is important to document or provide key information like the following a the purpose of the database and who will be using it b description of each table within the database e
48. he following control cells 53 Skark Mert JE Shark Mex Shark Cased Cased oO amp Cased Cased The application uses variables the function NOW and an expression to get the correct time The values returned from the expression are compared to the following values 1200 and 1800 If the value is less than 1200 the appropriate greeting played is Good Morning if greater than 1200 but less than 1800 equal to 6 00 p m in military time Good Afternoon and if greater than 1800 Good Evening You will learn more about variables functions and expressions in the next chapter After reading the next chapter it would be a good idea to open the Timecheck ivx application anew and run it to find out how it works 6 1 3 Building a Library of Subflows When you design your CONTAX IVR applications as a collection of subflows you won t have to design future applications from scratch Since there is similarity in the communication needs of most businesses or departments of a certain company you need only to use previous subflows you have designed probably with minor modifications to develop required applications You would likewise save time developing the applications For example your library of Subflows could consist of the following Automatic transfer subflow Send fax subflow Receive fax subflow Send e mail subflow Greeting subflow Record message subflow Send SMS subflow 54 As
49. iar with the first two call control cells so let us focus on the SendEMail control This cell sends email via the SMTP simple mail transfer protocol server specified in the Property pane It detects whether or not you are connected to the Internet and if not dials your default connection to send the email The sender s email address and the recipient including those who will receive a carbon copy CC or blind carbon copy BCC are specified in the respective value fields in the property table as shown below From Address contaxwritveletech com Fecipient contaxwigieletech com CCLIst BccList To send the same email to several recipients indicate the various email addresses separated by a commMa Note You can use a string variable to represent an email address or many email addresses For example sales to represent all email addresses for the sales department 76 Email address variables can be used with database operation to create powerful e commerce or v commerce tools For example when a caller purchases a product an email will automatically be sent to the product s supplier and or its dealer The email Subject and or content Body may be different regarding whom it is sent to You also need to specify in the property table any the Subject and the Body of the email To write the body of the message double click on the value column of the Subject property and then click on the ellipses The Text Builder would then
50. ing wav file is located Play Filename elt iate mite l You have just created your first call flow 31 4 1 2 Saving the Finished Application But before running or testing the application you made you must save it first Bear in mind however that other programmers may be developing IVX applications in the same computer To provide details about your finished application click View Information on the menu bar of the main window An Information dialog box appears Enter the details for your ivx file and click OK You can even keep track of the changes you ve made on the call flow you are working on by checking the Auto increment version number box Version 1 0 0 To save your call flow click File above the Top Toolbars of the CONTAX IVR Flow Designer From the drop down list click Save As A Save As dialogue box will open The default filename is NoName t Save oh ame File name F Save as type Call lows Fides IME Cancel But you can change this with any name you want For our purpose type Goodmorning and click Save Note that the default directory where your application was saved is in the CONTAX IVR installation directory You may create a new directory to save your finished application Use that directory in selecting the application you want to run or edit 4 1 3 Proof of the Pudding Simulating Your Call Flow Once you have sa
51. ke the actual application by running the CONTAX IVR Flow Designer selecting the appropriate control icons and linking them Click Start cell and put icon in design pane Click Media Control button Click Speech icon and drop it next to Start icon Link the two icons 38 Select the Speech icon From the Variable panel click vacant value column of Text property Click on the ellipses and a Text Builder dialogue box will open Click inside the Text String box and type the following Welcome to XYZ Computer Corporation If you Know the local number you want to call please dial it now Dial 1 for Sales Department 2 for Accounting 3 for Management 4 for Technical Or dial 5 if you need to talk to the operator Your text box should look something like this Text String Welcome to 4 Computer Corporation Fou know the local number you want to call please di Dial Thor Sales Department 2 for Accounting 3 for Management 4 for Technical Or dial 5 if you need to talk to the operator E i Cancel Figure 5 1 Click OK Select GetDTMF cell from Call Control panel and drop icon next to Speech icon Link them Note GetDTMF waits for a key press from the telephone keypad and exits in the pin corresponding to the button pressed If you don t link some of the exit pins pressing their corresponding number in the keypad would be interpreted as an invalid key press and GetD TMF would exit in the Inva
52. keCall Switch Media Control cells Speech 1 DBQuery be CallURL gt SendFax Shark Nek Skark Flext Clase Shark Keck Shark Mext Fil Transfers a call to another extension via a PBX Connects a call with another extension via a PBX Calls via another channel to execute a new call flow Connects two channels Converts text to speech and reads it to the caller Executes a database operation Links to a web page using defined URL Sends a fax 18 RecieveFax SendEMail RecieveEMailil SendSMS 3 3 Top Toolbar D e Bhg RecvEaxt Receives a fax Skark Pext Fail SendEMaili Sends an email Shark Beak RecvEMaill Receives an email Shark deck Fail SendSMs1 sends a Short Message Text Shark Pest Message p HY cm amp Fail amp xX Est f b The toolbar at the top of the main window has several buttons These buttons have something to do with File operations moo p amp Opens a new IVR file Opens an existing IVR file Saves the current IVR file Saves the current IVR file as another filename Prints out the IVR call flow layout as a document The following buttons are used to Edit the applications you are designing d Cuts the selected cell icon s its property table s and link trace s on the design pane Copies the selected cell icon s its property table s and link trace
53. l notice that immediately after the Start button you already have a RecvEMail cell labeled Receive mail count 78 Shark Kexk Fail Casel Cased Cased Cased Cas eS Caseb Stark Mext Be Else Skark Keo 2 If you click on this cell and look into the property table you will find out that it s meant only to query the POP3 server for messages as indicated in the value of the Action property Action Auer Message Count Y The flow then activates Condition1 where the application branches to two separate flows If there is no email message the call flow triggers the Speech cell to inform the caller that there aren t any messages for him But if there are incoming email messages Condition exits through its Case2 pin and activates the Speech3 cell telling the caller that he has a number of messages Another RecvMail control cell Retrieve content then executes with the Action property set to Retrieve Mail to get the incoming emails from the POP3 server Take note that under the Property table the variable a is assigned to the Message Index property and that in the Variable Assign property the following a a 1 Note The variable assignment is meant to increment increase sequentially the count of the message processed so that the call flow can stop when all the email messages are processed You will encounter the same variable later 79 Shark Mex JE Skark M
54. le cell icons at the same time will keep their relative positions and link traces among the moved dragged cell icons the same 3 4 7 Cut Copy Cell Icons and Link Traces 1 Select the cell icons you want to cut copy 2 Click the cut or copy button on the top toolbar The cell icon and the property content in the cell s property table please refer to section Property Table Pane will be cut copied All trace lines connected from outside to the selected cell icons will be deleted after cut copy All trace lines connected among the selected cell icons remain the same and will be stored in the memory buffer clip board after cut copy You can paste them to other positions on the design pane of the same call flow as well as of other call flows 3 4 8 Paste Cell lcons and Link Traces After cutting or copying the selected cell icons click the paste button on the top toolbar The selected cell icons that have been cut or copied will appear at the position 20 pixels lower and right to that of the original cell icons You can drag move these cell icons and link traces to your desired position after they are pasted The cell icon and the property content in its property table please refer to section Property Table Pane as well as all trace lines connected among the cut copied cell icons will be pasted If you paste the cut copied cell icons to another call flow they will appear at the same relative position on the design pane
55. lid pin To further understand the properties of GetDTMF cell please refer to the corresponding section in the Contax IVR User s Guide 39 From Call Control panel click Transfer icon and drop it to the right of the GetDTMF icon Make four more Transfer icons Note Transfer cell does what its name suggests transfers a call to the specified extension number or to an outside phone Specify the desired local or outside line by clicking on the Value column beside the cell s Target property and typing the number Connect number 1 exit pin of GetDTMF to first Transfer icon GetDTMF exit pin number 1 to second Transfer icon and so forth until 1 5 exit pins are connected to a corresponding Transfer icon Put an End icon next to the right of the first Transfer icon Connect the Next pin of the Transfer icon to End On the right side of the first Transfer icon put a Linkin icon and connect it with the Busy pin Note A LinkIn icon goes out to a LinkOut cell of the same name in the same call flow You can change the default name or letter of the Linkln icon by clicking the Value column corresponding to the LinkName property and typing the desired letter For our present purpose use the default letter A You may opt not to use a Linkin or LinkOut controls but they are useful particularly in avoiding a confusion of the lines connecting the various icons used in the application Make another Linkin icon below the first and connec
56. ll flow control cell itself or in the succeeding ones You may also opt to specify an initial value for your variable which you may call later to determine the steps the call flow may take Keep Live determines if the call flow would continue even if the telephone is hung up during the call flow s execution When the telephone is hung up during a call flow execution the program will check the current cell s KeepLive value If the value is false then the call flow will end accordingly The default value for KeepLive is false If the telephone is in hang up status and the KeepLive field of the currently executing cell is selected to be true then the program won t end until it executes a next cell with a false KeepLive value The KeepLive feature can be useful in relation to database operations to prevent the call flow from ending immediately after the telephone is hung up and thus enable the call flow to execute a count for example or other functions like recording the failed call after the hang up You can define and edit a property table on the property table pane by clicking its value fields and then entering values in those fields Property details and how they influence a call flow will be discussed in later chapters 26 If an item in the field is too long to be displayed completely you can always adjust the column s width by moving the mouse pointer to the edge of the top field and then dragging and dropping the separ
57. low is similar to a subroutine in computer programming languages a procedure separate from the main program but which the main program can call to do something After it has done its job the subroutine passes back the ball so to speak to the main program A Subflow control actually represents a separate call flow CONTAX IVR calls After the subflow finishes execution the main call flow continues its own This is by far the most important characteristic of the sub flow control This means you can develop a complex application by making a few simple ones and stringing them together to work as a single application 6 1 1 Application No 4 Automatic Transfer with Voice Mail To illustrate how a Subflow can simplify creation of an application we are going to combine the AutoTransfer application with the Record call flow You can actually use the recording portion see figure below of the second one to extend the functionality of the AutoTransfer call flow by using a Subflow 51 eter erer etre errr rere errrerrrrrererrrerrrrrer rire terrier eerie Shark Boeck i You can define the above portion of the Record call flow as a subflow simply by copying and pasting it to make a new application like the following Shark Boek q Save the new application under a new filename For our example you may save the above call flow as Recorder ivx Then go to the following portion of the Autotransfer before the Linkln Skark
58. luded Help file if you don t know how to record your voice using Sound Recorder CONTAX IVR own voice recorder operates similarly with Microsoft s own recording software You can replace the greeting with your own recorded wav file by doing the following steps 1 Open the Goodmorning IVX file Select the Greeting1 icon Click twice on the Play Filename property 2 Go to the folder where you recorded your message and select the appropriate wav file Click Open The file directory appears in the Play Filename property Click File Save on the Top Toolbar to save the changes you ve made Run the application anew The greeting you ll hear is the message you have recorded 34 4 1 5 Using Text To Speech You can also create a similar Goodmorning application by using the text to speech TTS capability of CONTAX IVR instead of playing back a wav file as your greeting CONTAX IVR supports Microsoft Speech API SAPI engine Microsoft Windows XP already includes Text to Speech TTS function For other Windows operating systems you can install the TTS function from CONTAX IVR CD run setup exe under SAPI51 folder to install Microsoft Speech SDK5 1 and run setup exe under SAPI51LangPack folder to install Microsoft Speech SDK5 1 Language Pack Using the Speech icon just write the greeting you want played and the computer will read playback the text as voice In order to create the a similar applic
59. n 84 Unit V Program Deployment and Monitoring Unlike com or exe files CONTAX IVR applications are not executable files and so they do not run by themselves alone In the preceding two short chapters you will learn the following Deploying application through the Runtime Engine Monitoring applications Chapter 10 Program Deployment You can select which application to use through the CONTAX IVR Runtime Engine If you click the shortcut of the Runtime Engine it would run in the background and you will only notice it as a small telephone handle icon in the system tray CONT As IVR v2 0 HAL gt 6 28 4M However if you double click the tray icon the Runtime Engine panel pops up and you will see the following CONTAX IVR v2 1 Run TimeEngine Channels Console Registration Options About 0 Status Curent CallFlow Incomir lt Add Channel Remove Channel Channel Setting Channel Stop 85 Click the Add Channel button and the dialogue box opens Add Channel Device Types Microsoft TAFI 2 0 Microsoft TAPI 2 0 NMS CTAccess Library TAPIS IPCONF L NMS CT Access Librar TAPI2Z H323 Line Add Cancel Select the appropriate channel and it will be added into the Runtime Engine panel CONTA WR v2 1 Run TimeEngine Channels Console Registration Options About Current CalkFlow Incomir Ci 1 TAPIZIPCONF LINE Depending on your license and v
60. n CONTAX IVR can also be configured to work with PBX systems to provide transfer and conferencing capabilities Chapter 2 Installing Contax IVR 2 1 System requirements The following are needed to run CONTAX IVR e Intel Pentium Ill 450 MHz 128 MB RAM 10 MB HD Space e Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional or Server and IIS 5 0 or higher e Analog Voice boards with TAPI driver Fax modems with COM port driver for fax applications Microsoft SAPI 5 0 standard in Windows XP provided with CONTAX IVR CD PBX system for call transferring and conferencing features 2 1 1 Installation Steps Insert CONTAX IVR CD in your CD ROM drive Double click setup exe file to start the installation process CONTAX IVR v2 1 install wizard will then appear Follow the instructions to complete your installation i CONTAX IWR v2 1 InstallShield Wizard Welcome to the InstallShield Wizard for CONTAS IVR v2 1 The InstallShield R Wizard will allow you bo modify repair or remove CONT AS IVR v2 1 To continue click Next Back Figure 2 1 Contax IVR InstallShield Wizard After you click Next you will see the following T CONTAX IWR v2 1 InstallShield Wizard Customer Information Please enter your information User Name Organization Install this application For Anyone who uses this computer tall users only for me 3 Figure 2 2 Contax IVR InstallShield Wizard Type in
61. n the following chapters you will create CONTAX IVR applications progressing from the simplest to the more complex ones Chapter 4 Your First Application When you develop applications for the CONTAX IVR using the Flow Control Designer you are in effect developing computer programs To develop computer applications other programmers use programming languages like C Python Visual Basic or Java Most of these programming languages are encoded or written using lines of text and then compiled or translated into another language the computer can understand and use But others like Visual Basic provide programmers with graphical user interface GUI to allow development of applications using click and drop operations allowing easier development CONTAX IVR Flow Designer is similar to these later types offering you GUl based tools to enable you to develop your applications If you already have some programming background you may skip the discussion below and go to the first sample application You will still benefit by looking at the examples to find out how each application is made by linking the various cell controls 4 1 Break it Down For those who might not have any programming background programming may be an intimidating word But don t worry Programming is in fact a natural ability you already have It is simply the process of breaking down what you want done into a series of steps or actions For exam
62. nel cscccccsseeeeeeeeeeecseseeeseees 20 A ee ee i gots t gle CO a 6 gh arene ee ee ee een Meee ee etm Renee eee emer ee Rey ee ene ey tere eet 20 32 EIGC and Deselect Col ICONS iste sree tre asactie ceiver snactusaavee ieee a Eia ea 21 dana POUNG CET IOON T sisirin rriren errin r a EREET EEE rE eee 22 3 3 4 Place Link Trace between 2 Cell ICONS ccccccccccssscccseseccsnsecnsesessensccsesessnesesanseess 22 3 3 5 Delete a Trace Line between 2 Cell ICONS ccccccccccseecccseseensesecseesesssessnssesanseens 23 J246 Moving Selocilod CONG o secxctovatid ov esrceredamcededeapseieieneseent EEEE REE A EEA EEEE RR EE 23 3 3 7 Cut Copy Cell Icons and Link TAC CS ric cescedatdcwsvnestinesulenasasintasnqesica ssiaenudaucdasuntniness 24 340 Faste Cell icons and LINK TACOS ccc sits cnehaniadersdiestncctaudenicesutainumdcttiiestinbebedesictesocens 24 J4 FPropariy Table FANE ic castasancntnbssanersesamin rs slossctalapsiainionsn tissu atten iaeanectiaets 29 T 8 78 6 1B OW Ca EG ii E Meee Re Pee Meet E EE EEE 27 3 3 Valable Table NS ate pac sate ectatnnes annain EANAN AAN AA NRA 27 Unit Ill Basic Application Development cccccceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeneeceeeeeneeeeneeeesseeneeseneseneeseneesanes 28 Chapter 4 Your First Application siccsceciceseccescecnctcesesccesacecenescrscarcccucesacecddeeaveiacueatceconeesceecmuseeteces 28 Bge aB S A AE EEI EENE E EET AONE A E A EE TET 28 dT Takna Ne FIUNO suriris AAE AR EAEE ini 29 d
63. nt cell of the same kind carries the same property items and the same number of properties with different property values at least the table name Caption will be different Among property items include Caption table name KeepLive TimeOut value Max key Length Quick Keys Invalid Keys etc All cells share four common properties namely Caption Description Variable Assign and Keep Live 25 Caption is the label you may assign to the call flow control cell The default name is the name of the call flow control cell and a number from 1 increasing with the number of the same call flow control you used within a single call flow For example Condition1 Description is similar to Caption in that they both provide a tag for the call flow control cell However Description allows you to provide an explanation for the purpose of the cell providing better documentation of your application so that if someone else would have to use the application you designed or to alter it to suit a new need that arose he would have information on why you used that specific call flow control In programming terms the property Description is analogous to comments lines that do not actually form part of the program but was included to make either remind the programmer of the purpose of either the preceding or following routines or steps Variable Assign is the property where you may specify a variable that would be used either within the ca
64. of a property table Click to select the value field of the variable assign property in a property table Click the value field again to edit the field You will notice that an empty field with a blinking cursor at the first character of the field appears Also a button with ellipses three periods mark appears at the 57 right edge of the empty value field You can direct enter an expression in this field You can also double click the empty field or just click the ellipses button and then the expression builder dialog box appears Expression builder Constant Operators Humenc Add Function Variable Available functions Available variables ProgDir WaveP ath WebS erver LENGTH Channel o UPFER Phone umber LOWER ServicelD CHH Calleri D GETITEMCOUNT b Caller ame CallediD IF Condition TrueResult FalseResult Called ame hen the function is evaluated t returns CallD ata TrueResutt if Condition else FalzeResutt a we PEELERELLL Add Expression Hew Remove Clear OK Cancel Figure 7 1 Enter a Constant Click the constant field in the constant section of the Expression builder dialog box to enter a constant If you enter a number as a string here you need to select this constant to be string instead of numeric type Click the down arrow in the constant section Select and click String from the drop down list Click the Add button to add this constant to the expression pane 58
65. oice board you may be able to run several active channels and call flows at the same time You can run the desired call flow by clicking on the channel and then on the Channel Setting button Once you do the following dialogue box appears 86 Channel Setting Channel Information Channel No 1 Device Mame TAPI2 IPCONF LINE Channel Configration Description Phone Number 5443950 Incoming Call flowy file DACONTAX IVR v2 1 GamplesiKeyPress keyP re J CaIURL WebSever 1270 01 22 2 2 lnternal prefix dialing Pe Outgoing prefix dialing ee Voice Encoding Format PCM 8kHz 8Bit ono o o FasDevice ComFort Unused if Enabled Inbound i Enabled Outbound Apply to all channels Ok Cancel Click on the ellipses in the right side of the Incoming Call flow file box and an open file dialogue box will open Go into the directory of where your call flow application ivx file was saved and click on the desired call flow Click Open and the application s directory will be reflected into the Incoming Call flow file box Indicate the appropriate PBX PSTN phone number in the Phone Number box Fill in the other boxes as necessary For other settings please refer to the CONTAX IVR Users Guide Click the Ok button and your application is now up and running To monitor or debug an running application click the Console tab From the Select Channel drop down list click to select a channel You will see
66. ome of the more advanced systems may support email as well However CONTAX IVR is truly the next generation IVR allowing users to create applications that combine the power of voice fax email SMS and seamless database access in innovative and cost effective ways CONTAX IVR also provides text to speech capabilities allowing your IVR applications to read out loud documents to callers eeee Show comparison by picture of Contax ivr vs other ivrs In addition CONTAX IVR provides an easy to use visual tool for designers to create and for administrators to monitor and manage IVR applications f you are a developer you can simply click and drop cell icons from the toolbar into the design pane and click on the pin of cell icons to connect them to form desired graphical call flow charts After this simple process you can run simulation to verify trace debug and or edit the call flows you have designed waeeee Show picture of drag drop simplicity You can easily configure CONTAX IVR according to your needs whether application based web based or both The CONTAX IVR Flow Designer is where you can design edit and test IVR applications on stand alone computers before copying finished applications to servers that would run it CONTAX IVR supports voice boards that are TAPI Telephony API compliant TAPI is an application programming interface developed by Microsoft and Intel to allow for computer telephony integratio
67. ple if you want to drink instant coffee you might do the following steps Boil water Pour hot water into a cup or mug Get instant coffee 28 With a teaspoon measure desired amount of coffee into the water Add sugar and stir If desired add creamer or milk Enjoy your hot cup of coffee In programming or designing applications for the CONTAX IVR you follow similar a similar route break down the task into a series of logical steps When using computer programming languages making the actual application means writing the proper code for each step In CONTAX IVR creating the application is just a matter of selecting the control icons corresponding to each step and linking them Of course you may have to do some tweaking on the default setting of each control icon for the application to do exactly what you want This matter will be discussed in later chapters 4 2 Taking the Plunge As in other skill like swimming there is only one way to learn it get in the water and swim In other words just do it And that is what we are going to do here Follow the instructions Don t worry if you re not yet familiar with the characteristics of the control cells used Refer to the CONTAX IVR Users Guide when you need to find out more details on the properties of each control cells and how they can be changed or tweaked in order to get a certain outcome 4 1 1 Application No 1 Greeting For your first programming task let us b
68. r such purpose Chapter 9 Working with Fax E mail and SMS CONTAX IVR also has the capability to automate the sending and receiving of fax and e mail as well as using the short messaging system feature of compatible Nokia phones making CONTAX IVR an all around communications platform In this chapter you would become familiar with the workings of the following control cells SendFax RecvFax MakeCall SendEMail RecvEMail SendSMS 9 1 Sending Faxes With CONTAX IVR integrated fax features you can design an application to enable fax on demand services to send faxes anytime of the day to allow customers to select from available documents and have their selection faxed on to them immediately or by later call back Sending a Fax CONTAX IVR sends a fax document through its SendFax Module Stark Alex Fail However the SendFax module does not have the capability to dial a fax number This job is done by a previous control cell In case the call flow application sends fax on the same number that started the call the SendFax module can simply be used after informing the caller to give a fax tone But when the application 71 calls for a call back sending the fax later on the same number or through another fax number the sending of faxes can be done usually by using the MakeCall control cell Next UnA vail The MakeCall cell is actually a kind of a SubFlow control cell When triggered it calls either
69. racters all in all The COPY function returns a portion sub string of a string containing a number of characters Count staring at Index I or in the format Copy Substring Index Count 63 Thus the expression COPY DATE 6 2 would return a substring of the function DATE starting from the sixth character consisting of only two characters If you count the format of the DATE function you will find out that what the expression COPY DATE 6 2 merely returns the month portion of the DATE function The second similar expression COPY DATE 9 2 returns two characters representing the exact day of the month So assuming that today is October 10 2002 all the expression COPY DATE 6 2 COPY DATE 9 2 would return is the value 1010 The last set of four digit number is the time the call was recorded How is it so The function NOW returns a data of the same format with the DATE function However although the DATE function has a provision for time in the last eight characters of the format or 00 00 00 the figures remain zero On the other hand the NOW function returns not only the actual date but also the correct time Thus the expression COPY NOW 12 2 returns two characters from the NOW function starting from the 12 one representing the hours On the other hand the expression COPY NOW 15 2 returns two characters from the NOW function starting from the 15 character representing minutes Combining
70. rlD Callariame E edi Media Control CatedName Call Control CallData Call Flow WoName I v Figure 3 1 Condition You can adjust the size of each pane by moving the mouse pointer to the border between two panes then dragging and dropping the border line to your desired position while the mouse ra pointer turns to one of the following 3 1 renumber Cells Controls Properties and Variables If you have programmed in Visual Basic before then you will feel right at home with IVR In CONTAX IVR a cell refers to a pre defined set of actions represented by a single box Contax IVR provides a large number of cells that do everything from playing a WAV file accepting user touch tone input to sending faxes and email Cells are also Known as controls and the 2 terms are used interchangeably throughout this guide Each cell contains several properties A property is a characteristic of a cell such as the cell s name the WAV file to play etc Properties make creating IVR applications easier because it allows you to customize those characteristics of a cell that is specific to your requirements while the rest remain the same Therefore creating CONTAX IVR applications mainly involve choosing cells connecting them and changing its properties to achieve the desired outcome Variables are placeholders that allow you to store pieces of information You will learn more about variables in a later ch
71. s on the design pane 19 Fel Pastes the copied cell icon s and link trace s to the position at 20 pixels lower and right of the original cell icon s The cell s property table s is are also be pasted x Deletes the selected cell icon s and link trace s on the design pane as well as its their property table s on the property table pane I Selects All in the Edit drop down function list al Deletes a trace line between two cell icons These two buttons are used to toggle the View meaning show or hide tables Shows properties Table f Shows Global Variable Table And these are the buttons used to Run or stop the application b Runs the current call flow g Ends the current call flow 3 4 Getting the Hang of It Exploring Flow Designer As in any learning process the best way to learn is to just do it Let us begin by doing the common tasks 3 4 1 Creating Cell icons From the side toolbar click on a cell button once move the mouse pointer towards the design pane you will notice that the mouse pointer turns to a small cell symbol on the design pane as shown below E Move your mouse pointer to a desired position which will be an insertion point on the design pane click your mouse again the desired cell icon will appear with its upper left corner at the insertion point 20 Skark Kexk 3 4 2 Select and Deselect Cell icons On the design pane after a cell icon is placed or it is selecte
72. s the basic difference between a GetDTMF cell and a GetKeys cell Both cells processes caller input from the phone s touch tone keypad which the call flow can use to decide what actions to execute Number of Inputs GetDTMF could handle only a single input Even if the caller presses several key the GetDTMF cell will remember only the first key pressed and ignore the others On the other hand the GetKeys cell could handle a certain number of touch tone inputs or key presses You can specify the number of inputs GetKeys by altering the values of the Max Length property The default value is 8 Error Handling Both control cells can determine invalid key presses As you may have observed in Application No 2 GetDTMF interprets as invalid input any key pressed when its corresponding exit pin is not connected to any other control cell When an invalid key is pressed GetDTMF exits from its Invalid pin GetKeys has its own built in property for handling invalid key presses However you must specify the invalid keys for the control cell to treat itas such To do this click the value column of 42 the Invalid Keys property and type in the invalid numbers For example the voice menu uses key 1 through key 5 You can define 6 7 8 as Invalid Keys use comma between two keys When GetKeys detects an invalid key press it loops back to the Start pin and waits for another input If you specify a wav file to play in the value column o
73. side toolbar and while holding down the mouse button moving the mouse pointer towards the design pane then releasing the mouse button to place that cell at any point on the design pane This operation is often called drag and drop Then an icon for that cell appears on the design pane with the cell icon s upper left corner positioned at the insertion point The table below lists a summary of the cell buttons on the side toolbar the corresponding cell icons and their function descriptions Flow Control Cells Cell Button Icon Function Description Start Starts a call flow 8 End D Ends a call flow Linkin se KA Goes to LinkOut cell with the same name in the same call flow Linkout a Comes from LinklIn cell with the B same name in the same call flow Counter Counter Counts a loop Condition Sub flow Sub flow Call Control cells Greeting Recorder GetDTMF GetKeys SendTone if J al J m Casel Cased Cased Cased Caze Case Skark yexk q Shark Keck ppan Duick TimeOut Executes on condition Counts a loop Goes to a sub flow another call flow in the same channel line Plays a greeting Records an audio message as a wav file Gets a single touch tone input DTMF from a caller s phone keypad Gets a certain number of touch tone DTMF inputs from a callers phone keypad Sends DTMF tones t7 Transfer 2 Conference Ma
74. sing a combination of fixed voice menus and real time data from databases The caller responds by pressing digits or keys on the telephone More advanced IVR systems also allow the user to interact using words or short phrases through a technology known as Automatic Speech Recognition ASR IVR systems allow callers to get the information they need 24 hours a day 7 days a week They are also used to save costs on personnel by eliminating the need for people to constantly answer simple repetitive questions Most IVR systems are run in personal computers PCs equipped with special voice boards used to process voice signals from its telephone interfaces Voice boards also contain DSP digital sound processor chips These specialized processors connect to the telephone system which actually switches the calls IVR systems may also be networked on LANs Local Area Networks and Was Wide Area Networks Usually a PC based IVR system is connected to one or more analog extensions on the corporate phone system private branch exchange PBX A Web based IVR system may also connected to the Internet A voice board can also interact with a PBX by for example sending flash hooks and dials digits detecting hang up signal and notifying termination of a call It can also answer initiate and terminate a call 2 2 What makes Contax IVR stand out from other similar products The vast majority of IVR systems on the market today support only voice S
75. standing and familiarity of CONTAX IVR including the elements and principles needed to design test and deploy CONTAX IVR applications This guide follows the natural skill learning process that you experienced in learning most of what you know now from learning how to read how to ride a bike how to drive or how to swim You have learned these skills because somebody helped you do so Somebody read the letters and the words for you and told you what the words meant and then you repeated until you yourself can pronounce the words Somebody helped you ride a bike and pushed and told you to pedal until you can keep it running straight and without falling Similarly this guide walks you through the paces of creating simple applications using the basic programming elements in CONTAX IVR In the early chapters of this guide step by step instructions of how to create CONTAX IVR applications are presented However the instructions would become less detailed as you become more familiar with the elements and procedures involved You would run the applications test them to find out what works and what makes them fail to do so After getting to try all the examples provided you would have acquired the basic skills and knowledge to design CONTAX IVR applications on your own Chapter 1 What is Contax IVR 2 1 What is an IVR IVR stands for Interactive Voice Response an automated telephone information system that speaks to the caller u
76. t it to the NoAnswer pin of the first Transfer icon Make sure the label of the LinkIn icon is B change its Link Name property if needed Repeat steps 12 to 14 until each of the three exit pins of the five Transfer icons are similarly connected Put another Speech icon below the GetDTMF icon default name is Speech2 connect the latter s Invalid exit pin to the former s Start pin Open the Text Builder of the Text property On the Text String box type the following Sorry you pressed an invalid key Try again 40 Put a Counter cell next to Speech2 Connect the Next pin of Speech2 to the Start pin of the Counter 1 cell Put a Linkin icon next to Counter and label it C Connect it to the Next exit pin of Counter Put another Linkin icon next to Counter1 and label it D Connect it to the Over pin of Counter Between Speech1 and GetDTMF icon and slightly above them put a LinkOut icon Label it C Connect it to the Start pin of GetDTMF Put two more Speech icons below Speech2 Open text builder for Speech3 Type the following Sorry the line is busy now Open text builder for Spoeech4 Type the following Sorry nobody is answering the phone Put a LinkOut icon labeled A before Speech2 icon Connect LinkOut with Start pin of Speech3 Do the same for Speechd4 icon but label the LinkOut icon B Beside Speech3 and Speech4 icons put a Linkln icon labeled
77. the cell completes receiving the fax and before saving the file Since a fax process including the handshaking exceeds a minute there won t be any duplication of a fax file saved The received faxes will be saved under the formats also used by the SendFax module You can specify the type of file under the Output file type property Output tile tpe Destination path Fax class TIFF file thiulti tile bi TIFF file iMulti file TIFF file Single filet i JPEG file Station ID GIF file Cees otal weariakla AniF file PCA file DCX file Multi file ProgDir Enea UC file Single file 9 4 Working with E Mail Apart from the capabilities of CONTAX IVR we have discussed so far it has the added flexibility of the automated sending and receiving of e mail messages through the SendEMail and RecvEMail call control cells To illustrate these capabilities better let us look into another example 75 9 4 1 Application No 7 Send Mail Go into the CONTAX IVR installation directory open the Samples folder Double click the Email folder and open the SendEmail folder inside it Open the SendEmail ivx You should see something like this in the CONTAX IVR Flow Designer Shark Hoxt Shark Hex Shark Hexk 3B The application instructs the caller through Speech1 to record a message Recorder1 after which the call flow automatically sends and e mail message to the caller You are already famil
78. the corresponding blank spaces your name and your organization or business Next you will be presented with a choice on where to install CONTAX IVR The default directory is C Program Files ContaxIVR 2 1 but you may install it in a directory of your choice by clicking the Change button ie CONTAX IVR 1 InstallShield Wizard Destination Folder Click Next bo install to this Folder or click Change to install to a different Folder ta Install CONTAX IVR v2 1 to C Program FilesiContaxIvR 2 1 Figure 2 3 Contax IVR InstallShield Wizard After you have decided on the installation directory of CONTAX IVR click the Next button and the program will install as indicated in the box below T CONTAX WR v2 1 InstallShield Wizard Installing CONTAX I R v2 1 The program features you selected are being installed Please wait while the InstallShield Wizard installs CONTA IVR v2 1 This may take several minutes skatus er eee f E E Installshield Cancel Figure 2 4 Contax IVR InstallShield Wizard When the installation is complete you will see the following T CONTAX WR v2 1 InstallShield Wizard InstallShield Wizard Completed The InstallShield Wizard has successfully installed CONTAX IVR v2 1 Click Finish to exit the wizard lt Back Cancel Figure 2 5 Contax IVR InstallShield Wizard 2 1 2 First Impressions CONTAX IVR To enable you to get a better idea of how CONT
79. the database and stores this number in RCnt When the call flow exits from the Next pin of the DBQuery1 control cell it executes the connecting Speech2 cell This cell does two things play a TTS of the message telling how many records were in the table based on the value of the RCnt variable as shown in the figure below Text There are F Cnt records inthis database The cell then puts the value of RecNo record number variable as 1 and exits into the next cell The next control cell another Speech cell in turn does two things 1 Plays a message using the value of the current value of the RecNo variable plus the value of the first record in the Db1 database under the NAME column This is made possible by the following expression Text Language Reco is Dbi MAME In addition the Variable Assign property of the same cell increments or increases the value of the RecNo variable by re defining it as RecNo RecNo 1 Another DBQuery cell then follows And why is this one necessary The answer lies in the value of the Action property Move Next As the term implies the action commands the computer to look into the next record and loops back into the second Speech2 cell until the call flow exhausts all the records When the computer reaches the end of record it would naturally 70 return a blank record The DBQuery cell would then exit in its OoR Out of Range pin and plays the corresponding message in a Speech cell fo
80. u don t do anything the greeting will be repeated Press any of the buttons in the keypad the number 1 for example Phone Emulator D CONTAX IVR v 11 Mamples Transfert Transter l pzs Tranter Ms Step by Step Hang up Speechi Shark Pext Ekart Maxt 3 l mick r TimeQuk Figure 2 8 Ok Busy Mo Answer If you press the Busy button in the keypad you will hear the greeting Sorry line is busy now The greeting will start again This time after pressing 1 press the Ok button instead The call will end indicating the call flow has transferred the connection to the desired number Thats how a CONTAX IVR call flows handle calls In the following units and chapters you will learn how to use the Flow Designer to make call flows in accordance with specific needs 12 Unit Il Contax IVR Flow Designer Chapter 3 Main Window Click Start gt Programs gt CONTAX IVR v2 1 gt FlowDesigner CONTAX IVR The Flow Designer main window will appear You will notice that there are two toolbars one along the top and another along the left side There are also three panes in the main window the Design pane the Property table pane and the Variable table pane CONTAX IVR v2 1 FlowDesigner File Edit View Run Help 1388S BBX hh x ProgDir DACONTAK IVR WiaveP ath ProgDirWwaves Counter Webserver 127 0 0 1 Channelho oS PhoneNumber sericelD Callea
81. unanswered calls instruct caller to record his name and phone number for call back purpose To begin record first the wav files you are going to use aS messages or prompt Open the recorder of your choice and record the following messages Greeting1 Welcome to XYZ Computer Corporation If you know the extension number you want to reach please dial it now Dial 101 for Sales Department 102 for Accounting 103 for Management 104 for Technical or dial 105 if you want to talk to the Operator Save the file as Transfer wav in the ContaxIVR Wave folder Error Sorry you pressed the wrong keys Please try again Save file as Wrong wav in the Wave folder Busy Sorry the line is busy now Save file as Busy wav in the Wave folder No Answer Sorry no one is answering the phone Save file as NoAnswer wav in the Wave folder Prompt Please state your name and telephone number so we can call you later Press any key when you are finished Thank you Save the file as RecName wav Let us walk through the process of creating this application But instead of the detailed instruction in the previous examples let s use portions of the actual call flow as illustrations Important features of the call flow will be discussed when these are crucial to the execution of the call flow Now begin creating your application 1 Link the following control cells 44 Shark Mext Start Keak W Es
82. us examine the call flow Select the DBQuery1 control cell and look at the values on the Property table pane The first important property of the DBQuery control cell is the Conn Name Connection Name This is the name of the database being queried in this case DB1 This is in fact the first property the computer looks into as when the DBQuery cell executes Conn Name Db Next the computer looks for the SQL Command In this case the value of the SQL Command property is the following SAL Command Select from Lang 69 Note SELECT coupled with FROM is the most basic of all SQL command or statement The Select From statement chooses the table where the computer would look into for information Thus the Select from Lang statement indicates that the query would be made on the Lang table Please refer to the first database example provided above The in the statement tells the database to return all the columns associated with the given table described in the From clause Next the computer would look into the Action property Notice that under this property the value is set to Query Open meaning the call flow opens the database for query and looks into the records it contains Once it makes a successful query into the database the DBQuery puts the number of records it found into the value of the Record Count Variable in this case to the RCnt variable In our example the computer finds that there are five records in
83. utside line in the value field of the Target property e g 2385 or 1 408 766 1234 83 If you set 0 or 9 for Outgoing prefix dialing in the Runtime Engine you do not need to enter the prefix here to get an outside line If you are dialing a local number but the country code and area code are entered in Target then the country code and area code will be screened providing you have set them in your Windows system Start gt Settings gt Control Panel gt Phone and Modem gt DialingRules My Location The system will only dial the local number for you You may enter the local phone number without country code and area code in Target if you are sure it is a local number 9 7 2 Switch Shark Peck Close This cell is used to connect two channels in T1 E1 connection Specify the desired channel number in the value field of the Target Channel property In the Switch Action property you may select from three options available in the drop down list 1 Connect The cell connects the other channel then exits from its Next pin 2 Monitor The cell monitors the other channel then exits from its Next pin If the other channel hangs up the cell then exits from the Close pin 3 Disconnect The cell disconnects the other channel then exits from its Next pin Once you have completed the application you developed you must test it properly and remove the bugs errors or program flaws before using it in actual work situatio
84. ved your application you must test them for possible errors or debug them before deploying them for actual use 32 Bugs in computer lingo are program defects or errors To debug means to correct the program flaws As you have seen in the first example you ran in Chapter 1 CONTAX IVR Phone Emulator is a versatile debugging tool that allows you to follow the processes in the call flow enabling you to see the active flow control icons is active and hear the messages if any being played automatically So let s run your Goodmorning call flow Open the CONTAX IVR Flow Designer Click File gt Open on the menu bar of the main window and an open file dialogue box will appear Click the Goodmorning ivx file from the existing files and its name will appear on the File name field Click the Open button on the file open dialogue box The Goodmorning call flow will appear on the design pane of the main window Click Run button on the top toolbar the Phone Emulator Window appears 4 Phone Emulator D CONTAX IVR v 1 Goodmorning Vx Goodmorning vs ID 12345678 w oodmoring Step by Step Call _ Speechi Skark Alex Debug window Program Start Start Object Start Global Variable Interactive Variable Value A Speech Object Speechi ProgDir Cante Speech Test Good Morning Wave file DACONTAS WA ve 7 SttstempU06S way played vaveP ath FrogDirl Speech Ok Webserver 127
85. with the choice of numbers corresponding to the departments he may contact or the option of talking to a live operator Find out the number the caller dialed If the caller dialed 1 transfer him to the Sales Department If the caller dialed 2 transfer him to the Accounting Department If the caller dialed 3 transfer him to the Management Department If the caller dialed 4 transfer him to the Technical Department If the caller dialed 5 transfer him to a live operator 2 If the caller dialed other numbers say Sorry and instruct him to dial the correct one anew and go back to Step 2 If the caller pressed the wrong key thrice go to end of the call flow and hang up If the desired number rings and answered go to the End of the call flow If the desired number is busy say Sorry and go to the End of the call flow If the desired number rings but does not answer go to the End of the call flow End of call flow Programmers normally prepare such a list in the form of a flow chart a diagram consisting of differently shaped blocks each representing a specific action connected by lines to show sequence of execution Even if you have no programming background it is a good idea to make your own custom flowchart It would serve as a visual guide to help you create your actual application in the Flow Designer You can just draw square or rectangular blocks to represent each step and label them accordingly Now you can ma
86. xplaining its purpose and the internal structure of each table including all fields and the type of data each field contains You should also break your data into separate components or tables to reduce repetition of data This factor may seem trivial in small databases but when you consider the demands for storage space of a large corporation and the costs involved a properly designed database would not only result in saving money but also result in easier management and retrieval of data Open Database Connectivity ODBC With so many vendors selling their own implementation of SQL there should be a way in which a database made in one implementation can be recognized and used by another ODBC is a functional library designed to provide a common Application Programming Interface API to database systems It communicates with the database through a library driver just as Windows talks to a printer via a printer driver Depending on the database being used a networking driver may be required to connect to a remote database With ODBC you can use the same code to perform queries against a Microsoft Access table or an Informix database with little or no modification However it cannot be helped that most 67 vendors would add some their own extensions to the SQL standard so you should always consult the documentation before beginning to work with a new data source ODBC has been adopted into many products and the SQL implement
87. you pressed The third line sets the value of the variable ext_no to be 123 or equivalent to the keys you pressed When you press the OK button when the Transfer cell is active you would receive a prompt that your message is being recorded Pressing another key would end the recording similar to the Record application you have made earlier Using Expressions You might have noticed the rec_file variable This is simply the variable that assigns a filename to the wav file that the Recorder cell would have as an output after recording the message of the caller Notice that in the Assign Variable portion of the Property table the value is in the lengthy expression rec_file ext no COPY DATE 6 2 COPY DATE 9 2 COPY NOW 12 2 COPY NOW 15 2 An expression is a statement that the computer evaluates to get a certain value It may contain a variable a constant and a function You already know what a variable is A constant is simply any fixed value For example if you set the expression Emp No 1234 Emp _Name Lina 62 In the first example 1234 is a numeric constant In the second the value Lina is a string constant COPY and DATE are among the functions CONTAX IVR has built into its system to increase the flexibility of call flows and enable designers to tailor made applications for specific needs Please refer to the User Guide for discussion of the specific functions For now let s l

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