[dev] Phone call tracker for Horde client

[Ben Klang]

On Apr 28, 2010, at 3:35 AM, Mailingliste TBits.net GmbH wrote:

> As has been suggested by the guys over at kolab-devel, we shall also post this here.
> 
> As this company exalts the "Kolab groupware server" above all else, and such uses Horde as its web-based client, I have been roped into writing a phone call tracker application "for Kolab" (i.e. for Horde). Problem is, Kolab uses H3. Hence the application is targeted at H3.
> 
> The application is intended as sort of a logging mechanism for phone calls being made. For more information, see the enclosed README and OUTLINE files. Beware, however, that those were written for the kolab-devel folks. :P
> 
> True to the Kolab PHP distribution, it lacks a storage driver based on a real DBMS and true to the suit-wearing portions of our (or any) company, it has been 'd****d down' and generally modified quite a bit. Notably, its very concept has been somewhat diluted, partly because of the questionable (or at the very least incomprehensible) API of many a Horde component (especially the Kolab/IMAP integration engine).
> 
> It has been stated that the "Shout" application already does some thing or the other concerning phone calls, but I frankly haven't been able to test this as it seems to require H4 as well as SQL, both of which the Kolab installations we use lack. Naturally, Shout doesn't seem to have a project website, either. So, no mission statement, no documentation, nothing. As such, I don't know to what extend it overlaps with Gossip.
> 
> Bottom line: "Take it or leave it", i.e. you tell me -- is it worth merging?
Hi Simon,

Thanks for your contribution.  I took a quick look at your code and it doesn't seem to overlap at all with Shout or Operator.

Shout and Operator are both pieces of software I wrote/maintain.  They are just now getting to a point where they are useable.  Here's what they do:

Operator reads Call Detail Records and reports on them.  It allows some simple graphing, some searching, and exporting to CSV.

Shout is an attempt to create a user interface for Asterisk in Horde.  Right now it has no direct interface with Asterisk.  Instead it writes values to a database which are in turn read by my own AGI scripts which are written in Adhearsion/Ruby.  The system should be modifiable to work with other backends, but that would need to be worked out by someone else.  Future work may enable Shout to see the status of currently active calls with a direct AMI connection, if I get around to it :)

From glancing at your sources, it looks to me like your application is more of a message logger than specifically a telephone system app.  The messages come in by phone for you, but there is no direct integration with the phone system, unless I missed something?

/BAK/

-- 
Ben Klang
Alkaloid Networks LLC
ben at alkaloid.net
404.475.4850
http://projects.alkaloid.net